Employment Opportunities
We believe every Greater Hartford resident should have access to employment that provides a living wage. Black and Latine residents face disproportionate barriers to education and employment opportunities. These barriers start in early childhood and persist throughout high school and college and into the workplace.
Our investments create opportunities across the education and employment continuum. Building on our investments in young children, we work with nonprofits, school districts, employers, and policymakers to help K-12 students and their families have the resources and guidance to persist in school. Our partnership with Hartford Promise — the Greater Futures Scholarship Program — couples scholarships with personalized supports that help high-achieving students get to, through, and beyond college successfully. We expand access to employment by funding workforce skill development programs for adults who face the greatest barriers to finding a job, including those returning to education, young people who feel disconnected from school and work, and people returning from incarceration.
The outcome we seek is:
Increased employment opportunities
What we support
Here are some examples of our Employment Opportunities work:
Hartford Opportunity Youth Collaborative
We awarded a $1.2 million grant to support education and employment programming with a goal to reduce the number of disconnected Hartford youth by half in the next five years. Funding includes support for the first paid director of the collaborative.
Summer Youth Employment and Learning Program
We partnered with the State of Connecticut, City of Hartford, and Capital Workforce Partners to help more than 1,200 young people gain job experience and a paycheck in the summer of 2025.
ReadyCT: Career Pathways and Work-Based Learning in High School
A $530,000 grant to ReadyCT helped high school students identify career tracks, build essential skills, and earn industry-recognized credentials before graduation.
The Greater Futures Scholarship Fund
This first-of-its-kind program, developed in partnership with Hartford Promise, will award up to $100,000 for all Hartford Promise Scholars.
See more of our Employment Opportunities work
Why did we choose this outcome?
Our outcome areas are interconnected, data-driven, and community-informed.
We chose these outcomes and developed our grantmaking strategies after listening to community partners and reviewing available data about our residents’ most pressing needs. Our Employment Opportunities work greatly contributes to our overall effort to advance equity and create more pathways to opportunity so all residents can achieve their goals and live healthy, self-determined lives.
Read the data on Employment Opportunities:
More priority outcomes
Greater Hartford Gives has an internal team of experienced, knowledgeable professionals dedicated to each of our five outcome areas. These teams work closely with our community partners to stay informed about community needs and best practices. We believe that success in these outcome areas will lead to a more equitable and prosperous Greater Hartford.
Basic Human Needs
Inequitable systems and practices have failed to meet the most basic of human needs critical for individual well-being — food, housing, and health care. When these needs are met, people in our region can flourish.
Thriving Neighborhoods
Achieving equity requires strengthening neighborhoods so that opportunity for social connection and economic mobility reaches all individuals and families. This means working to increase the number of residents living in quality, affordable housing, and in the growth of prosperous, resident-owned small businesses across the region.
Civic and Resident Engagement
When residents are civically engaged, they can share their voices to make positive changes in their communities, ensuring policies are responsive to and reflective of the entire community.
Arts and Culture
Diversity and inclusion in the arts and culture ecosystem — reflected in artists, audiences, arts leaders, and programming — can be a catalyst to bridge differences. We focus on supporting arts and culture organizations that contribute to a more diverse and inclusive arts ecosystem.
Learn more about our strategic priorities to dismantle structural racism and advance opportunity in Greater Hartford.
Support this work
Donors:
Help us expand pathways to education and employment opportunities so all residents can reach their goals.
Learn how you can support our strategic priorities.
Nonprofits:
Does your mission or project work align with our Employment Opportunities outcome?
Learn how to best position your organization for our grant opportunities.