Engaging Employers in a Cross-sector Postsecondary Attainment Agenda: Lessons from Lumina Foundation's Community Partnership for Attainment Initiative

Drawn from examples of Lumina Foundation grantee communities in the CPA initiative, this Issue Brief focuses on how employers can help communities strengthen partnerships, address equity, and improve attainment of postsecondary degrees and credentials. We collected data through interviews with representatives from all 75 communities shortly after receiving CPA funding, visits to 4 communities, and follow-up interviews focused on employer engagement with 10 communities.In this Brief, we describe why employers are important to community attainment initiatives, and explore considerations for communities who seek to authentically engage employers in these efforts. Employers often play unique roles to support and pursue strategies for improving postsecondary attainment, along with community partners such as public education, higher education, government, and community based organizations. We discuss how to effectively and authentically engage employers in this work, the unique ways that employers contribute to postsecondary attainment initiatives, and how they fit with the collective efforts underway.