Digital Promise is launching a new collaborative research and development project to co-design and promote Learning and Employment Records (LERs) for greater equity. LERs are digital records of an individual’s skills, credentials, diplomas, and employment history.
Over the next several months, we will partner with leaders in education, research, design, technology, and workforce development to center the user experience and mitigate racial bias in LER design and implementation.
There is a growing need to address systemic inequities in hiring and promotional practices across industries. For example, retail is the second largest industry for Black employment in the United States. Black workers make up 11 percent of the retail labor force, but just six percent of managers. National retailers like Walmart are exploring ways to improve hiring and training practices for workers, and LERs could be used to support this shift. This project will focus on workers who stand to gain the most from a stronger skills-based hiring system, prioritizing BIPOC workers in frontline sectors, such as retail, restaurants, and hospitality and tourism.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s T3 Innovation Network is supporting the scalable, pilot testing of 27 LER pilot teams and more than 50 organizations nationwide conducting pilots and engaging in the LER Resource Hub. Digital Promise will collaborate with LER pilot projects to create design principles and use cases based on the lived experiences, interests, and challenges of BIPOC frontline workers. The results will be widely shared to communicate the value of LERs as a tool for greater equity.
Learn more about this project in our press release.
For more information about our work, please look for updates on the Adult Learning website or sign up for the Adult Learning Spotlight monthly newsletter.
