A New Deal for Our People: A National Workforce Tour Rooted in Community, Commitment, and Care

What if we stopped asking communities to come to opportunity—and brought opportunity to them?

What if we called employers, schools, funders, and government to a single table—not for a ribbon-cutting, but for a reckoning?

What if, instead of building workforce systems from the top down, we started from the ground up, with the voices of those too often excluded—young people, returning citizens, low-income families, and communities of color?

This is not a dream. It’s a blueprint. And it starts now.

The Vision: A National Workforce Tour Rooted in Healing and Action

Imagine this:

A national tour traveling city to city—co-created with community leaders, nonprofits, and youth. At every stop, employers show up—not to talk about what’s possible, but to commit. To sign agreements saying they’ll hire 5,000 people each, prioritizing those who’ve historically been locked out of opportunity.

In the same space, trade schools, technical colleges, and junior colleges offer on-the-spot acceptance—removing waitlists, waiving fees, and providing real scholarships in real time.

Community-based organizations provide wraparound supports: trauma-informed career coaching, transportation, housing, childcare, and reentry services. Because people aren’t just workers. They’re whole human beings.

And yes—government is there too. Not with bureaucracy, but with infrastructure. Supporting local coordination. Mobilizing national investment. Removing red tape. Funding dreams.

More Than a Job Fair—A National Healing Movement

This is not about job placement. It’s about power redistribution. It’s about creating the kind of coordinated, trauma-aware, dignity-centered system our people deserve.

At each tour stop:

• Community members speak first.

• Hiring managers meet candidates face to face, not through portals or résumé scans.

• Schools provide on-the-spot educational pathways tied to real economic mobility.

• Employers make hiring commitments publicly—and are held accountable.

• Local nonprofits receive funding to sustain supports long after the tour leaves town.

Data is captured. Outcomes are tracked. People are seen. Futures are shaped.

Why This Matters

Because the current system is fragmented, extractive, and exhausting.
Because national workforce strategy cannot be reduced to workforce boards and federal RFPs.
Because we are overdue for a New Deal—not for corporations, but for communities.

We need a movement—not a moment.

One that centers:

• Community voice, not corporate interest

• Place-based innovation, not one-size-fits-all policy

• Healing and housing, not just hiring

The Call

To employers: Don’t wait for the talent pipeline. Be the pipeline.
To schools: Make education immediate and accessible—not conditional.
To nonprofits: You are the backbone—show up and be funded like it.
To government: You are not just a funder—you’re a convener and co-creator.
To the people: This country doesn’t work without you. And we’re done pretending it does.

A national workforce tour isn’t just logistics—it’s liberation.
It’s the convergence of purpose, place, and possibility.
It’s workforce development as community healing.
It’s workforce strategy as love in action.

Let’s stop asking whether it can happen. Let’s start deciding where it starts.