About Work Train

Work Train Explained, a two minute video explaining our approach and goals.

Work Train fosters shared prosperity in Central New York by connecting individuals that are unemployed or underemployed to career opportunities, while helping companies grow strong workforces.

Strategically housed within CenterState CEO, our regional chamber of commerce and business innovator, Work Train serves as a workforce intermediary that convenes partnerships between employers, educators and community partners to develop lasting workforce solutions.

Our work with businesses, communities, and partner organizations allows us to identify recurrent workforce challenges and facilitate the development of innovative solutions, systems and policies. Our dynamic model adapts to fit the demands of different industries, while staying responsive to the needs of various populations. We seek to leverage existing community assets to develop solutions and our flexible funding allows us to catalyze non-traditional strategies when needed.

Our Partnership-Based Strategies

Solving complex workforce challenges requires collaboration among diverse sets of partners. Therefore, Work Train convenes businesses, public organizations and nonprofit entities to forge partnerships aimed at developing workforce solutions that will meet the talent needs of employers and increase access to good jobs for members of the community who are presently unemployed or underemployed. These partnerships develop programs and customized interventions that are carefully designed to address specific challenges and maximize opportunities identified through research and consideration of best practices.

Work Train partnerships typically include a combination of employers and education and community partners, each of which plays an active role in the development, implementation and promotion of the program. These partnerships are identified as “Powered by Work Train,” to denote that Work Train has taken an active role within their development. Specifically, Work Train helps with:

  • Convening the right partners and facilitating program design
  • Supporting program implementation and maintaining partnerships
  • When necessary, providing seed capital or gap funding

Work Train aspires to develop partnerships and programs that will eventually become managed and sustained by its partners, even as they continue to be supported by Work Train.