Emerging Labor Market Institutions for the Twenty-First Century

[Excerpt] One of the best-documented experiences of the IAF and training for low-wage workers is Project QUEST in San Antonio, Texas. Project QUEST grew out of a new social compact among employers, workers, and the community at large. It was engineered by two IAF organizations—Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS), one of the oldest and most established IAFs, and Metro Alliance. Brett Campbell (1994) describes this compact as a new kind of labor market intermediary. As Campbell (1994) discusses, the IAF, through its involvement in Project QUEST, “operates as a mediating institution to bring families back into relationships with employers, training institutions and social service providers.”