Improving Equitable Employment Outcomes in New Orleans

The Challenge

In 2020, city-wide employment challenges were further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and many New Orleans residents lost their jobs. Groups already vulnerable to poor employment outcomes, including people of color, opportunity youth, and service workers, were disproportionally impacted by the pandemic’s economic fallout. To improve employment equity across the city, New Orleans aimed to strengthen its existing workforce services and provide high-quality employment support to all residents in need. As the contract for workforce services was set to expire in June 2020, the City had an opportunity to use the procurement process as a strategic lever for improving workforce outcomes.

The Innovation

With help from the GPL, the City of New Orleans released a new procurement for workforce services, valued at over $4 million, that prioritized greater support to vulnerable groups and developed a new approach for managing workforce providers.

The Results

Since releasing the RFP for workforce services, New Orleans has seen promising results, including a stronger focus on the City’s strategic goal of equitable employment outcomes to improve economic mobility for residents. Additionally, the process built capacity among both City and provider staff for leveraging procurement and contract management to accomplish key goals.

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