RAISE US launches with $500 million-plus secured for AI workforce programs

The national nonprofit will begin work in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah with support from Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, the OpenAI Foundation, and more than two dozen employers and philanthropies.

RAISE US has secured more than $500 million toward a $1 billion target for AI workforce training and job transition programs.

Former US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb have launched RAISE US, a national nonprofit developing workforce training and job transition programs for workers affected by artificial intelligence.

RAISE US is seeking $1 billion in multi-year commitments and has already secured more than half of that target. The organization will use private and philanthropic capital to pilot retraining, apprenticeships, career navigation, and worker support programs.

Initial state partnerships have been agreed in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah. The first projects will involve governors, employers, education providers, workforce organizations, and researchers.

Raimondo will serve as Chief Executive Officer, with Eric Beane appointed President and Chief Operating Officer and Janet Foutty serving as President of Corporate Partnerships.

Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, and the OpenAI Foundation are anchor partners. Bank of America is the primary corporate sponsor of an advanced manufacturing apprenticeship initiative, while additional backers include AMD, Autodesk, Cisco, Cognizant, IBM, Mastercard, ServiceNow, Workday, and The Rockefeller Foundation.

State pilots focus on job transitions and employer demand

RAISE US will work with state governments to connect training, credentials, apprenticeships, and public funding more closely to employment outcomes.

The organization plans to test incentives for employers to retrain and redeploy existing workers rather than make them redundant. It will also examine support including wage insurance, short-time compensation, career navigation, and programs for people moving between jobs.

In Arkansas, RAISE US is supporting Arkansas LAUNCH, an AI-powered career navigation system connecting students and job seekers with personalized learning and employer-linked career pathways.

The Maryland partnership includes plans to expand service-year routes into healthcare and education, create a competitive fund for career transition programs, and establish an accelerator for displaced workers pursuing entrepreneurship.

Connecticut and Utah are also part of the first group of state partners, with further states expected to join in the coming months.

Holcomb says: "This isn’t red versus blue; it’s an all-hands-on-deck moment. As governor, I made workforce development the centerpiece of my administration that helped train Hoosiers in every corner of the state. I learned this work gets done at the state level, in partnership with employers. RAISE US gives state leaders a playbook that connects more Americans with the skills and careers needed in the years ahead."

Employers and training providers join national coalition

RAISE US will ask participating employers to help design and fund workforce transition pilots based on changes they are seeing in jobs, tasks, and recruitment.

The pilots will test approaches for reskilling employees within companies, moving displaced workers into new roles, and creating routes into sectors with workforce demand.

RAISE US also plans to build a national platform for apprenticeships and earn-and-learn programs in areas including healthcare and advanced manufacturing.

Education and training partners will receive flexible capital to expand AI-enabled and work-based programs. RAISE US says it will assess providers against employment, earnings, and career progression rather than enrollment alone.

The organization has not disclosed how the commitments secured to date are divided between corporate and philanthropic funding or when the capital will be released to individual programs.

Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President at Microsoft, says: "The country needs a broad partnership to ensure AI creates better opportunities for more people to pursue better jobs. We believe RAISE US brings together the extensive range of partners, the high ambition, and the non-partisan spirit needed to ensure AI benefits people across the economy."

Policy lab will test worker support models

A dedicated Policy Lab will develop and test approaches intended to help workers manage career changes and encourage employers to invest in retraining. Corporate contributions will not fund the Policy Lab.

RAISE US is working with research and policy organizations including the Burning Glass Institute, Business Roundtable, Opportunity Insights, Stand Together, and Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs.

The advisory board includes representatives from universities, employers, workforce organizations, philanthropy, and labor. Members include Sal Khan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Khan Academy; David Autor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Raj Chetty at Opportunity Insights; Joseph Fuller at the Harvard Project on Workforce; and Liz Shuler, President at the AFL-CIO.

Raimondo says: "America has a technology strategy for leading the global AI competition. It does not yet have a people strategy — and we cannot lead without one."

The first RAISE US programs are now moving forward in Arkansas and Maryland, with Connecticut and Utah included in the initial state group. The organization plans to add further states while working toward its remaining $1 billion funding target.