WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Estolano Advisors provided facilitation and advisory services to the Quality Jobs Council, an initiative of Worksystems, Clackamas Workforce Partnership, and Workforce Southwest Washington. The Quality Jobs Council was comprised of 19 cross-sectoral participants representing businesses, workers, labor, service providers, and government agencies in the Portland Vancouver Metropolitan area. The Council was tasked with developing a Framework that outlines a series of quality job standards for the region, including strategies that businesses, workforce development boards, and other stakeholders can adopt to improve workers lives and the economy. The Framework also contains practical resources that can help employers implement improvements based on their own unique workplace. Beyond serving as a toolkit for businesses, the Framework also provides guidance to the workforce boards who were interested in retooling their service offerings to support the placement of workers into higher quality, better paid jobs. EA facilitated 6 meetings with the Council; facilitated discussions among Council members; and drafted the Framework. The Framework was approved by the workforce boards in April 2022.
Worksystems
Quality Jobs Framework
All Home and Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative
Bay Area Jobs First Transportation Electrification Sector Investment Coordination
Estolano Advisors is leading the Bay Area’s regional coordination for California Jobs First investments in the transportation electrification sector. EA is developing and implementing an inclusive, sustainable economic strategy to grow quality jobs for people who have been excluded from economic opportunity in the past. EA has stewarded extensive co-creation with labor, industry, and public sector leaders to build an Activation Plan for the sector. The Activation Plan is a regional strategy for these parties to align labor standards, procurement policies, and workforce training investments to ensure that public and private funding for clean transportation results in equity and quality jobs. To facilitate the strategy, EA will convene subsector-specific tables on (1) public transit fleet electrification, (2) maritime industry electrification, and (3) electric vehicle charging infrastructure deployment.
Estolano Advisors supported Community Labor United (CLU) in developing recommendations to ensure Boston's Green New Deal investments drove high-quality, family-supporting jobs for underrepresented populations in trade careers. EA worked with CLU to identify barriers workers faced in accessing and completing union apprenticeships in green occupations, and led research on best practices in sector-based workforce development programs that increased access for BIPOC and women workers. Through a literature review of successful case studies, EA proposed initiatives for the City of Boston to address apprenticeship disparities and expand workforce programs meeting Green New Deal-driven workforce needs.
City of Boston
Green New Deal Labor Analysis
City of Seattle
Regional Public Owners Group Facilitation
Estolano Advisors provides project management, strategic planning, and facilitation services to the Regional Public Owners Group (RPO), which consists of key public agencies in the City of Seattle, King County, Sound Transit, the Port of Seattle, and the Washington State Department of Transportation. EA conducts one-on-one introductory meetings with member agencies to assess progress, and identify emerging needs, and facilitated a series of six bi-monthly meetings. EA also will lead up to four subcommittee meetings. Drawing on our experience with construction diversity and workforce equity initiatives, EA serves as a strategic advisor to the RPO, helping to foster regional collaboration and alignment among member agencies in pursuit of shared workforce equity goals.
Los Angeles County voters passed Measure W in November 2018 creating the Safe, Clean Water Program (SCWP). The SCWP generates approximately $300 million annually for green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects that reduce pollution, improve water resilience and create workforce opportunities for County residents. CNRG engaged EA in developing a research memo identifying potential uses for SCWP workforce funds. The report included three (3) main supply-side workforce development program options that align with SCWP goals: 1) an entry level job training program; 2) a training certification focused on incumbent County workers; and 3) a certification focused on private contractors who will perform the bulk of operations and maintenance jobs. To inform the report, EA interviewed local and national experts in GSI training to identify programs or services that could be leveraged or replicated for the benefit of the SCWP. The report also identifies strategies where the County could play a role in increasing the demand for GSI training and create a standard for high-quality GSI-related jobs.
Conservation and Natural Resources Group
Safe, Clean Water Program: Measure W Workforce Development Opportunities
LA Metro
2024 Regional Construction Industry Workforce Disparity Study
In 2024 and 2025, Estolano Advisors worked with subconsultant ICF to update and expand LA Metro’s 2019 Workforce Disparity Study. EA and ICF evaluated female participation in the regional workforce since 2019, estimated female construction worker availability through 2033, and forecasted Metro’s progress toward its goal of achieving 6.9% female participation in the workforce. EA also analyzed female participation in construction apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs over the past five years, identified barriers to female participation, and assessed how bid preference and cultural competency requirements could promote inclusive workplaces. Additionally, EA highlighted emerging practices for recruiting and retaining female construction workers and recommended comprehensive strategies for Metro and its public agency partners.
Estolano Advisors led the development of a study that defines and assesses Oregon’s workforce for implementing natural climate solutions (NCS) on natural and working lands. The study focuses on NCS-related occupations (as defined through the project) on land types such as forests, urban forests, wetlands, grassland/rangelands, and croplands. EA led research and partner engagement to develop a needs analysis that evaluates the robustness of the NCS workforce development program ecosystem, and identifies challenges, needs, and gaps that may affect its ability to meet the state’s climate goals. Partner ECOnorthwest developed an NCS workforce assessment that identifies the size and composition of the state’s NCS workforce. Based on this information, EA developed a set of policy recommendations that will support a more robust NCS workforce system.
Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE)
Natural Climate Solutions Workforce Development and Training Programs Needs Study for Natural and Working Lands Sectors
San Francisco Foundation
Improving the Effectiveness of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs)
Estolano Advisors provides project management, strategic planning, and facilitation services to the Regional Public Owners Group (RPO), which consists of key public agencies in the City of Seattle, King County, Sound Transit, the Port of Seattle, and the Washington State Department of Transportation. EA conducts one-on-one introductory meetings with member agencies to assess progress, and identify emerging needs, and facilitated a series of six bi-monthly meetings. EA also will lead up to four subcommittee meetings. Drawing on our experience with construction diversity and workforce equity initiatives, EA serves as a strategic advisor to the RPO, helping to foster regional collaboration and alignment among member agencies in pursuit of shared workforce equity goals.
As part of its role as Sector Investment Coordinator for Transportation Electrification (TE) for the Bay Area Jobs First Collaborative (BAJF), Estolano Advisors is leading a first-of-its-kind workforce inventory study mapping how the electrification transition is reshaping maritime careers across the nine-county Bay Area. The study responds to a clear regional need: as maritime employers electrify fleets, adopt new technologies, and expand training, there is no existing inventory of the jobs that will be gained, changed, or put at risk by the transition. EA is filling that gap so that training partners, employers, and the region's labor market intermediaries can prepare a climate-ready maritime workforce for quality jobs rather than react to the transition after it has already happened.
Tipping Point Community and Bay Area Jobs First Collective
Regional Maritime Workforce Inventory Study for Transportation Electrification
UC Berkeley Labor Center
AB 398 Workforce Study
Estolano Advisors worked with the UC Berkeley Labor Center to determine the workforce development implications of statewide climate policies and how they may affect the transportation workforce now and in the future. EA is focusing on those climate policy interventions that relate to moving people (e.g., light-duty and transit vehicles) as opposed to moving things (e.g., heavy-duty vehicles primarily engaged in moving freight). As part of this work we are surfacing key transportation policy levers, workforce interventions, and economic development strategies to promote clean transportation options, create high quality jobs, expand job access for underserved populations, and ensure appropriate workforce training in the transportation sector.
Estolano Advisors is supporting a collaborative of Los Angeles–based foundations to develop a research-to-action framework that expands pathways to quality construction careers in the wake of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires. In partnership with subconsultant the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), EA is assessing regional gaps between construction workforce demand and training supply, and creating a user-friendly inventory of skilled trades training programs across Los Angeles County, including key indicators such as program quality, capacity, and graduate outcomes. The project will culminate in actionable recommendations to the Who Will Build (WWB) Funders Collaborative, identifying opportunities to strengthen and scale effective programs and drawing on best practices from other regions to address workforce needs for long-term recovery and resilience.
The Smidt Foundation, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, Ballmer Group, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation, and the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation
Who Will Build Funders Collaborative
Worksystems
Interstate Bridge Replacement Program Market Study
Estolano Advisors partnered with regional area Workforce Development Boards (Workforce Southwest Washington, Clackamas Workforce Partnership, Worksystems) to conduct a comprehensive workforce market study of the Interstate Bridge Replacement Program (IBR). This study will help to inform policy development and workforce strategies and investments to ensure equitable economic and workforce development can be achieved for this Project. The outcome of this Regional Workforce Market Study is to inform efforts associated with the and create a roadmap for the Bi-State public and private entities that will resource, support, and grow a diverse infrastructure workforce, gain efficiencies in public construction projects, and promote equitable growth in the region’s economy. EA led the development of a multi-jurisdictional survey of current and upcoming projects for the Portland-Vancouver metro region and led interviews with over twenty-five governments to shape a picture of both workforce demand and goals to recruit apprentices and women and workers of color onto these projects. The scope also included providing a comprehensive list of emerging and successful practices that can shape IBR workforce strategies.