Project Director, National Fund for Workforce Solutions

Conaway Haskins is the Project Director for the Council on Foundations’ National Fund for Workforce Solutions.  The Council on Foundations  is the Leadership Partner of the National Fund.  The National Fund is a $50 million investment currently supported by the Annie E. Casey, Ford, Hitachi, Harry and Jeannette Weinberg, Prudential, John S. and James L. Knight, and Wal-Mart foundations and the Microsoft Corporation. The National Fund provides financial support and technical assistance to promising workforce development partnerships around the country. The goal of the Fund’s efforts is to improve employment, training, and labor market outcomes for low-income individuals

In his capacity as Project Director, Mr. Haskins creates opportunities for foundation leaders to become engaged in workforce development strategies of the National Fund.  He oversees the national outreach and information dissemination to COF’s members and foundations across the country; collaborates with the Fund’s Implementation Partner (Jobs for the Future); and represents COF’s positions and interests in the public policy considerations that emerge from the Fund’s workforce intermediary policy agenda.

Mr. Haskins came to the Council on Foundations with a diverse background in public policy and philanthropy at the local, state, and national levels. He joined the Council in May 2011 after serving as State Director for U.S. Senator Jim Webb of Virginia. In this senior staff role, he oversaw Webb’s statewide constituent services, community relations, and economic development & special projects activities. Prior to joining the Webb staff, Conaway was the Senior Program Officer at The Cameron Foundation in Petersburg, Virginia, where was project manager for the foundation’s nonprofit capacity-building initiative and the lead staffer for community & economic development grant-making. In 2006, he was selected as a Hull Leadership Fellow by the Southeastern Council of Foundations and as a Political Leadership Fellow by the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute.  Conaway previously worked as a workforce & economic development researcher at the Aspen Institute in Washington, DC, as an urban planning researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and as a legal assistant at the Washington DC law firm of Arnold & Porter.

Conaway graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a Masters of Regional Planning degree and earned B.A. in Government & Politics from George Mason University.

RE: Philanthropy Blog Posts by Conaway

May 12, 2011: Addressing the Workforce Investment Challenge: Philanthropy Weighs In