Philanthropy Convening

• Acting Director, Office of Energy Jobs, U.S. Department of Energy (invited)
• Program Officer, Invest in Our Future
• Executive Director, Center for Energy Workforce Development

This session will introduce attendees to the people who are the heartbeat of the energy industry — the lineworkers, technicians, operators, skilled trades professionals, engineers, and emerging leaders whose work keeps communities powered and economies moving. Through personal storytelling, participants will hear how careers in energy have changed the trajectory of workers’ lives, opening doors to stability, purpose, advancement, and economic mobility. These stories will ground the day’s conversations in the human impact of workforce investment and remind philanthropy and industry alike what is possible when people can see, access, and succeed in quality energy careers.

Developing the energy workforce requires more than a collection of successful programs; it requires a coordinated system built for scale. As demand grows for talent across utilities, contractors, developers, manufacturers, data centers, and the broader supply chain, the sector must align around shared strategies that expand awareness, increase access, and prepare workers for roles ranging from GED pathways to advanced technical and professional careers requiring PhDs. This session will examine what it will take to move the sector together, what’s missing in the formula for success — and how philanthropy can help catalyze the kind of cross-industry action needed to meet this moment.

Group Table Question: What work needs to be done to re-write the narrative and prioritize sector-solutioning to build the workforce? Where is philanthropy needed?

The latest “solve for” taking over industry conversations is how to better transition national workforce development strategies into coordinated, sustainable, sector-orchestrated, state-wide action. Most of that responsibility currently falls on industry volunteers. That is no longer a sustainable solution given urgent and immediate needs.

For instance, the adoption of the Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make energy careers visible, accessible, and embedded in education systems across the country — but realizing that promise will require more than national recognition. It will take coordinated state-level implementation that brings together employers, contractors, labor, educators, workforce boards, state agencies, community organizations, and philanthropy around shared priorities. The development of data centers requires more people to be hired for jobs than the number of qualified practitioners that operate in a state. Training providers and community partners are demanding data, strategies, and collaboration in ways for which there is no script. Policymakers are working to understand the new landscape and where they can assist in supporting the sector’s workforce needs, but information and strategy are hard to come by.

This session will explore how states can move from fragmented activity to coordinated action to build the sector’s workforce by systems-change, agenda-driven priorities. Participants will examine what capacity, leadership, data, policy alignment, and investment are needed to support states as they adopt and implement the ENR Cluster while building the durable workforce infrastructure required to meet distinct regional energy needs and prepare workers for quality energy careers.

Group Table Discussion: How can philanthropy and industry help states move quickly from statewide workforce development leadership, including ENR Cluster adoption to coordinated implementation — supporting the leadership, infrastructure, curriculum, partnerships, and investment needed to build energy workforce systems at scale?

As the energy sector works to meet its growing workforce needs, the goal cannot be simply to fill jobs quickly — it must be to build durable pathways into quality careers that create economic mobility for people in every community. Energy careers offer the potential for family-sustaining wages, advancement, stability, and purpose, but those opportunities will not reach all communities without intentional design, trusted partnerships, and sustained investment. This session will explore what it takes to ensure workforce strategies connect underserved, rural, urban, veteran, reentry, and other talent communities to real energy career pathways — while keeping job quality, worker supports, retention, and long-term advancement at the center. Participants will examine how philanthropy, employers, labor, workforce organizations, and community partners can work together to make energy workforce development both a talent strategy and an economic mobility strategy.

Group Table Discussion: What are the systems-change (vs individual project) priorities we can support in ensuring all communities have needed resources to support the energy workforce?