Resources and Recommendation

Join the Ascend Network, an innovative job matching platform that connects job seekers with good and promising careers, while helping Indiana employers find and hire qualified candidates’ participation.

The BEI Workforce Pilot is an intensive, two-year cohort designed to deliver high-value consultation for companies to adopt evidence-based strategies and engage with industry experts to reduce disparities, drive equity, and support companies’ talent strategies.

Conduct racial equity audits and adverse impact analyses to identify any inequities within your own organizations over the lifecycle of an employee (e.g., hiring practices, access to leadership development programs, compensation setting, promotion practices, etc.)

Explore a database of 200 existing education and workforce development programs in Marion County, Indiana that complements the BEI Learning and Talent Opportunities Taskforce’s recommendations for companies to improve education and workforce development outcomes for Black and Hispanic individuals and identifies specific programs and initiatives in which the corporate community can engage.

Interactive data visualization highlighting the pervasive disparities in education outcomes for Black and Hispanic children and adults in Indianapolis and Indiana and the troubling consequences.

Increase access to and persistence through post-secondary education participation through employer-provided benefits and supports (e.g., FAFSA completion support, financial literacy curriculum, tuition assistance programs, etc.)

Expand access to high-quality early learning program participation by an employer-offered benefit program, stratified by family income, that improves the affordability and accessibility of high-quality early learning.

Company certification with Employ Indy’s Good Wages Initiative (provide a sustainable wage of $18/hour + employer-sponsored healthcare benefits for all full-time employees).

Gain access to a roadmap of targeted interventions to support equitable outcomes, improve employee health, and benefit business. The Business Equity for Indy (BEI) Impediments to Health Playbook focuses on outcomes in Covid-19 vaccinations, maternal health, food security, and mental health.

Participate in the Modern Apprenticeship Program and/or start your own work-based or experiential learning initiative.

Engage with the national One Ten initiative which connects Black talent to well-paying job opportunities through their Career Marketplace – no four-year degree required.

Join BEI’s People Community of Practice, a community of practice among the Central Indiana business community to identify, document, and promote best practices related to advancing Black employees in the Indianapolis community. Events are held quarterly.

Consider your workforce’s skills limitations for hiring and serving minority populations by offering implicit bias or anti-racism trainings.

The Learning and Talent task force developed this research paper and its related interactive data tool to analyze education and workforce data to identify disparities in education outcomes for Black and Hispanic children and adults in Indianapolis and Indiana, along with their troubling consequences.

Work-based learning participation through one of the State of Indiana’s framework’s areas: Explore, Engage, Experience