FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 
 
March 29, 2022
 
Contact: Chung Tan, CEcD, EDFP
Deputy Director
Economic Vitality
479-575-8276
ctan@fayetteville-ar.gov
 

City of Fayetteville and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Announce Resources for In-demand Career Pathways and Economic Mobility

  
 
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The City of Fayetteville and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta are working together to help connect residents with in-demand career pathways that lead to a living wage. Published today, the Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF) Dashboard and Planner helps residents, workforce development organizations and non-profits understand which career pathways will help them achieve living wage employment and overcome a potential loss of public assistance, often referred to as a “benefits cliff.”
 
The CLIFF Dashboard and Planner was created to assist the City of Fayetteville complete its next Economic Vitality Master Plan, provide a tool for career pathway mapping that is accessible to any one and help show the positive economic impacts of investing in workforce development. The uniqueness of the CLIFF Dashboard is its merger of a benefits cliff calculator with a career pathway planner.
 
“We are grateful for the Atlanta Fed’s expertise and work developing this new resource for Fayetteville,” said Mayor Lioneld Jordan.  “Workforce development and economic mobility of populations who face barriers to employment is my highest economic vitality priority.” 
 
More information on the CLIFF Dashboard and Planner, including a demonstration of the tool, can be found on the City of Fayetteville’s website:  https://www.fayetteville-ar.gov/4106/CLIFF-Dashboard.
 
“The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is excited to partner with the City of Fayetteville to provide the benefits cliff tool,” said David Altig, executive vice president and director of research at the Atlanta Fed. “The tool can be used to help workers make informed decisions, reduce uncertainty and ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate fully in our economy.”
 
A benefits cliff is when career advancement puts a resident and/or their family in a worse economic situation because of a loss of public assistance programs. The CLIFF Dashboard considers a resident’s unique socio-economic situation so that a target living wage rate can be identified. This is coupled with career pathway information for hundreds of occupations so that users can learn what pathways create an opportunity for them to achieve their identified living wage rate.
 
The CLIFF tool is part of the Atlanta Fed's Advancing Careers for Low-Income Families initiative, which conducts research on benefits cliffs and develops tools to support community and state efforts to improve economic security for families and meet the talent needs of businesses for a healthy economy.

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