Business for Inclusive Local Thriving (BILT)
Living Library
Mapping business-led, demand-driven talent development and inclusive regional growth initiatives across the United States
The Need
Companies are struggling to find, hire, and retain enough workers with 21st century skills to compete in a digital and AI-enabled economy. Many companies are reaching outside their walls to partner with workforce development agencies, higher education institutions, apprenticeship programs, and non-profit providers. There are some good maps of talent supply initiatives, for instance the Workforce Almanac.
What is missing is a map of the demand side—the ways that business leaders that want to hire talent for good jobs are signaling their needs and partnering with the talent ecosystem and investing in social and physical ecosystem enablers that drive regional economic growth and resilience. We need to identify what initiatives exist, where they located, who is leading them, and the outcomes they are producing.
The Library
The Business for Inclusive Thriving Living (BILT) Living Library is a first-of-its-kind clearinghouse containing:
ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT
& SOCIAL ECOSYSTEM
Business-led ecosystem enabler projects like energy transition and environmental health, childcare, housing, and infrastructure
REGIONAL
ECONOMIC ECOSYSTEM
Business-led inclusive economic growth and innovation initiatives that generate equitable prosperity for all Americans
TALENT
ECOSYSTEM
Business-led and demand driven regional talent development and hiring initiatives in partnership with talent ecosystem providers
GOOD JOBS
& UPSKILLING
Company-level hiring practices and good jobs that are safe, pay living wages with benefits, and have career development and growth potential
This beta concept version of the Living Library contains over 200 initiatives gathered from our academic research, convenings of business-led coalitions, and other clearinghouses and partners including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Results for America, StriveTogether, the US Economic Development Administration, America Achieves, and the National Talent Collaborative.
We aim to demonstrate proof of concept and invite business leaders and business-led coalitions to submit new entries of programs and initiatives they want to see featured in the Library.
Why it matters
Business and community leaders and researchers need a comprehensive view of how companies are extending leadership into their communities to boost talent development and inclusive regional growth and resilience.
There are many innovative efforts happening all over the country, but these are often happening in silos, without knowledge of similar programs in other geographies that could be replicated or adapted in their own locale.
In addition, there is little shared understanding about the outcomes of various initiatives, nor the ingredients of success or the causes of failure that could inform leaders of similar initiatives.
Why the BILT Library
The Library aims to present a more comprehensive picture of business-led initiatives across the United States so we can better understand what business leaders are doing and how they can partner with talent development groups to equip more Americans with the skills needed to compete in a global economy.
The Library is an effort to map this territory and offer open access data for practitioners and researchers to use in ways that improve how business leaders can partner with local and regional talent providers, grow regional innovation economies, and boost ecosystem health and energy security.
How it can be used
LEADERS
Business leaders can use the Library database to locate examples of other programs that can inform their local investments in talent and economic growth.
PHILANTHROPIES
Philanthropies can find promising initiatives that can better inform their grant-making strategies. The BILT Library is a great place to find promising initiatives.
TRAINING PROVIDERS
Training providers and workforce agencies can understand what employers are doing in the areas where they have operations for purposes of collaboration and partnership.
RESEARCHERS
Researchers in the field can identify initiatives that could be studied further to understand the landscape of business-led initiatives, how they operate, and their outcomes.
What’s in the Library
225
The Library contains initiatives that are led by companies and coalitions across America.
The Library is now open for new submissions!
Who we are
Dr. Kate Isaacs is a faculty member at MIT Sloan and Tom Giordano is the Executive Director of the Partnership for Rhode Island, a CEO group that is driving inclusive economic innovation statewide. We created the BILT Living Library as an open-source clearinghouse of business-led initiatives on inclusive economic innovation, talent development, and regional growth enablers like childcare, housing, infrastructure and energy resilience. We intend for the Library to enable researchers to identify promising initiatives for further study, and to support regional leaders to identify the best programs that they can scale or adapt to their unique regional needs.
