From Alignment to Action: Help BGI Drive Skills-First Implementation in the Workforce

In just one year, the Skills-First Workforce Initiative has moved from a concept to a national proof of process. By facilitating collaboration among major companies, the initiative created shared skills taxonomies for 30 high-impact roles that represent more than one-quarter of the U.S. private sector workforce. Now, the focus is shifting from alignment to action: ensuring these standards are used in the real-world systems that shape hiring, training, and advancement.

To achieve this, The Burning Glass Institute is opening applications for two distinct opportunities designed to embed these shared standards into the infrastructure of the labor market and the work of employers, training providers, and workforce partners.

1. The Skills-First Implementation Fellowship

Partnership and Funding to Implement Skills-Based Practices in Live Networks and Systems

We are seeking applications for a year-long fellowship supporting organizations that serve as "activators" within their ecosystems, including employer coalitions, education networks, workforce boards, and technology platforms.

This fellowship focuses on implementation, not just planning; selected partners must demonstrate the ability to operationalize shared taxonomies within live systems, such as job descriptions, learning platforms, and credential frameworks. The goal is to create consistent, skills-based language across the tools that shape opportunity.

What Selected Fellowship Organizations Receive:

• Funding: Awards of up to $100,000 to support integration efforts.

• Technical Support: Access to individualized data support, mapping tools, and guidance from the Burning Glass Institute.

• National Reach: Participation in a national learning network to share insights and best practices.

Who Should Apply:

• Nonprofit organizations with 501(c)3 status focused on workforce development, learning, or career navigation.

• Organizations capable of acting as force multipliers with broad reach to employers, learners, or workers.

• Applicants ready to actively work on implementation into established ecosystems rather than exploratory pilots.

Key Dates:

• Information Session: December 16, 2025 at 3:00 PM ET. (Registration required via this link).

• Application Deadline: January 9, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET.

Click here for additional eligibility and selection criteria, or use the button below to access the application form.

2. Regional Skill Taxonomy Implementation Cohorts

Deep Partnership to Localize Skills-First Frameworks

BGI is seeking local or regional intermediary organizations to host pilot efforts in two U.S. counties or regions. Selected partners will work closely with our team to bring national Skills-First alignment to the ground level, ensuring that skills-based practices reflect local labor market realities.

This role requires convening employers to co-develop localized versions of the national taxonomies and driving their adoption.

What Selected Regional Partners Receive:

• Deep Partnership: Collaboration with BGI to develop shared skills profiles tailored to locally relevant roles.

• Data & Analytics: Access to national labor market data to identify priority roles and skill gaps.

• Convening & Affiliation: Facilitated work to align on shared skill taxonomies, and the national scaling of those taxonomies via the Skills-First Workforce Initiative.

• Validation: Support in establishing local "skills validation sites" to publicly recognize employers who adopt skills-first practices.

Who Should Apply:

• Intermediaries such as workforce development boards, chambers of commerce, industry associations, or education collaboratives.

• Organizations with the capacity to recruit and convene at least 12 regional employers committed to validating and adopting a shared taxonomy.

• Partners positioned to represent the interests of multiple employers rather than a single institution.

Applications are due January 9, 2025.

Click here for additional information about the regional partnership and our selection criteria.

Have Questions?

For inquiries regarding eligibility or the application process for either initiative, please contact Erik Leiden at eleiden@burningglassinstitute.org