Education fund human v ai proposal 2017

1. The Education
Fund (EdFund)
provides education,
training, and
workforce strategy
for over 125,000
members of District
Council 37, the
nation’s largest
public sector union.
TOGETHER
Transformative Workforce Development
Workforce Training
21st Century Skills
The Education Fund (EdFund), a benefit trust of District Council 37,
provides training and workforce development for 1,000+ job titles
in a dozen industries ranging from Information Technology and
Health to Engineering and Transportation. The EdFund serves over
5,000 members each year, and is undertaking a redesign process
of our training model to support the development of a 21st
century public-sector workforce. Our commitment to close skills-
gaps and increase credentialing among members includes
forecasting how the workforce will need to adapt to continual
technological innovation. The EdFund’s annual budget of $8M+
provides instructor-led courses for members at our central offices
and on college campuses of academic partners located
throughout New York City. Our tuition reimbursement program
also supports the attainment of associate, bachelors, and master’s
degrees for members from accredited institutions, as well as
maintaining required professional licenses and certifications.

2. TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGE
Delivering At Scale
With Measurable Outcomes
The EdFund’s large scale
initiative to support the
development of 21st century
union workers includes a career
pathway model and technology
tools to increase program
participation, measure skills
development, and evaluate
program outcomes.
The Education Fund has undertaken the challenge of mapping over 1,000 career pathways for our
125,000 members working in NYC’s public sector, and has restructured our training model to
include three different types of courses:
1. Foundational Literacy (basic math, reading, writing, computer, and foreign language skills)
2. Industry-Specific Expertise (high-level skills such engineering, health, law, IT, etc)
3. Labor Education Competencies (leadership, critical thinking, creativity, conflict resolution, public
speaking)
This effort also includes improving IT infrastructure to track metrics for skills development, deploy
digital badges to support competency-based education, and monitor the impact of AI and Machine
Learning on government workers. Our planning process is built around a multi-stakeholder
framework that supports collaboration between District Council 37, relevant government agencies,
and foundation partners leading transformation in workforce development.
Incorporating
Innovative Technology
An online community platform will
be developed for members to
increase awareness of training
and promotional opportunities.
Greater technology will be
integrated into classrooms to
enhance adult learning. Digital
badging will be incorporated to
assist with career mapping and
certification of skills development.