League for Innovation in the Community College January 2019 | Page 20

SPOTLIGHT WALMART BRIGHTER FUTURES 3.0: The Optimal Industry Partnership W BY ANDREW MEYER ith Walmart Brighter Futures, the League for Innovation in the Community College continues its long history of leading workforce development initiatives. Walmart Brighter Futures 3.0, the third iteration of this workforce development project funded by the Walmart Foundation, focuses on career mobility for incumbent retail workers, specifically by providing the core skills and knowledge needed to move into management and leadership roles in the retail industry. To meet the challenges of Walmart Brighter Futures 3.0, the League has partnered with the Western Association of Food Chains (WAFC) to build its “gold standard” Retail Management Certificate (RMC) into the project. Scaling the RMC to the entire retail sector is the first of two overarching goals. The second major goal is to increase employer 20 League for Innovation in the Community College Innovatus