The National Council for Workforce Education is a workforce-focused, nonprofit organization that builds networks of workforce professionals with the aim to champion innovation, justice, and economic opportunity through policy and practice in order to prepare communities for success in the global economy. The NCWE provides a national platform that equips practitioners and leaders to deliver equity-conscious and impactful workforce education programs.

For more than 15 years, the NCWE has developed partnerships with other organizations to support workforce development initiatives across the U.S. Partnerships include opportunities for members to participate in national initiatives. The NCWE also assists higher education institutions and their partners with technical and consulting services to maximize the effectiveness of education and workforce training programs and implement programs that improve outcomes and learner success. Additionally, the organization presents three awards at its annual conference:  Exemplary Program Awards, James Jacobs Scholarship Award, and the John F. Grede Leadership Award.

NCWE is an affiliate council of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), and only takes positions that align with AACC’s.

Areas of focus include:

• program development and review
• career pathways
• employer engagement strategies
• developing and sustaining partnerships
• apprenticeship
• aligning programs with real-time labor market data

Member Resources

• Career Center - Community colleges and nonprofit organizations can submit job openings to the Career Center which includes search openings for potential applicants, posting resume, managing posts and responding to applicants to open positions by logging into an account, and receiving email alerts when a job is posted in a specific category.
• Featured Promising Practices Webpage - collection of the highest rated submissions for the Exemplary Program Awards, to include member's information regarding innovative and successful programs that meet the criteria of strong partnerships and collaboration, local economic impact, successful results, and potential for replication.
• Free Webinar Audio Recordings - Includes webinars on offering CTE and workforce programs remotely, the future of contract training post COVID, supporting faculty and staff through a crisis, supporting English Language Learners remotely, and free tools and tips from EMSI.
• Thought Leader Blogs - Top of mind issues including strategies to positively impact workforce education.
• Workplace: NCWE E-Newsletter - Archive features information on conferences and awards, featured articles, news updates, and tips on using the NCWE resources.
• Advocacy Tips/Tools - Timely information and tips to advocate for workforce education.