Economic Power Is Community Power
The California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute advances economic mobility for Black women in California through workforce development, career pathways, and policy solutions grounded in lived experience. The Institute exists to close the economic equity gap — one community, one career, one policy at a time.
SheWorks is the California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute's (CABWCEI) flagship workforce development program — designed to help Black women in Los Angeles build lasting economic stability, advance professionally, and access meaningful, quality employment. The program addresses both immediate job readiness needs and long-term economic mobility by centering skill development, leadership readiness, and wraparound support systems that reflect the real and full lives of Black women.
Operating in partnership with L.A. Care Health Plan and Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan, SheWorks delivers job readiness training, career development, and comprehensive support services directly at Community Resource Centers across LA County — bringing opportunity into the neighborhoods where Black women live and work. This community-embedded approach to workforce training for Black women in California ensures that barriers of transportation, access, and isolation do not stand between women and economic advancement.
"SheWorks is more than a pathway to employment — it is an engine of possibility."
— Kellie Todd Griffin, President and CEO, California Black Women's Collective Empowerment Institute
SheWorks
Workforce Development • Career Mobility • Leadership Pathways
SheWorks is backed by some of Los Angeles County's most influential institutions in workforce development, organized labor, healthcare access, and economic development.
Healthcare & Community Access
- L.A. Care & Blue Shield Promise Community Resource Center
Providing community-based access to health, social, and economic support services that strengthen workforce participation and stability.
Workforce & Labor Pathways
- Los Angeles County Federation of Labor
- UHW Healthcare Opportunities
Expands career pathways, worker protections, and training opportunities in high-growth sectors.
Economic Development & Employment Pipelines
- First Source Hiring Program at Los Angeles World Airport
- Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation
Connects participants to regional employment pipelines and economic mobility opportunities.
Economic Development Approach
Workforce & Career Mobility
We support Black women in entering, re-entering, and advancing in the workforce through career readiness, employment pathways, and access to quality jobs that support long-term stability.
Leadership & Professional Development
We invest in leadership growth by equipping Black women with the skills, confidence, and support needed to lead in the workplace, strengthen organizations, and drive community impact.
Early Intervention & Stability
We address economic barriers during critical life transitions—particularly early motherhood—by centering lived experience and designing solutions that support stability, retention, and long-term opportunity.
Systems Change & Advocacy
We leverage data, partnerships, and community voice to inform policy, influence institutional practices, and advance systems that create equitable economic outcomes for Black women.
Data -Informed Economic Development
Having Her Say
Early Motherhood • Economic Stability • The Power of Lived Experience
Having Her Say is CABWCEI's dedicated research and listening initiative focused on Black mothers with children ages 0–5 — capturing how early motherhood shapes workforce participation, economic stability, and long-term opportunity for Black women in California.
Through surveys, community listening sessions, and storytelling, Having Her Say centers lived experience research by Black women at one of the most economically vulnerable stages of life. Supported by First 5 LA — whose mission centers early childhood well-being and family economic stability — Having Her Say is positioned at the intersection of community-rooted research and rigorous public investment. This partnership ensures the initiative has the infrastructure and reach to surface what is too often invisible in policy conversations.
The initiative surfaces the real barriers Black mothers face — from childcare access and career interruption to inflexible workplace structures and gaps in support systems — ensuring CABWCEI's strategies are built on what women actually report, not assumptions.
Insights from Having Her Say directly inform evidence-based programs like SheWorks, creating a clear research-to-action pipeline: what Black mothers name as obstacles becomes the foundation for solutions CABWCEI builds.
Having Her Say has a dedicated home at havinghersay.org — where the initiative's findings, community stories, and research updates live.