What Our Grantees Are Taking Forward From JFF Horizons

In July, GitLab Foundation joined more than a thousand educators, employers, investors and workforce leaders in Washington, DC, for the Jobs for the Future (JFF) Horizons Summit. In addition to thought provoking on-stage conversations — including a panel moderated by the Foundation’s COO, Elicia Wilson — Horizons offered the opportunity to catch up with grantee partners doing the day-to-day work of getting people into better jobs. 

We asked leaders from six organizations what they were taking away from this year’s summit. Here’s what they had to say. 

Jaime-Alexis Fowler, Founder and CEO of Empower Work, highlighted the need for organizations to embrace operational friction within their organizations so that workers won’t have to. In a moment where the sector is being asked to do more with less, she also left Horizons energized to keep working collectively with fellow grantees toward their shared goals.

Desiree Jewell, Chief Marketing Officer at SkillUp, reflected on the scale of the event itself — thousands of people united around a single, mission-driven focus on economic mobility. For her, that shared sense of purpose is welcome when there are often discouraging headlines, and a reminder of just how many people are moving in the same direction.

Jason Wang, Founder and CEO at FreeWorld, came away with two big takeaways: first, that human connection has to stay central even as AI helps organizations build new products and reach greater scale — especially for the populations FreeWorld serves. Second, that partnership beats reinvention; he pointed to peer organizations like CareerVillage as proof that grantees can go further by working together rather than solving the same problems independently.

Founder and CEO at Break Through Tech, Judy Spitz, zeroed in on work-based learning as the Summit's throughline — specifically, which higher education institutions and industry partners are finding new, scalable ways to give learners real workplace experience. Her challenge to the field: internships and apprenticeships are great, but there simply aren't enough of them, so it's time to get creative about new formats and partnerships.

Finally, Hamoon Ekhtiari, CEO of FutureFit AI, noted he would leave Horizons with a strong sense of urgency. His take was that the sector has historically underestimated how fast it needs to move, and now that rapid AI adoption is making headlines, it's time to ask hard questions about whether organizations are thinking too small, moving too slowly or working in too many silos.

Matt Sigelman, President at Burning Glass Institute, built directly on that idea — arguing that AI didn't create the career mobility gap millions of workers face, but it has created new urgency and visibility around a problem the field has needed to fix for a long time. His call to action: use this moment of public attention to build the coalitions needed to actually move.

Thanks to our grantee partners for taking the time to talk with us in between sessions and sharing valuable insights!