Building a workforce pipeline with the City of Long Beach
How workforce strategy connected internships, mentorship, learning, leadership support, and funding resilience in a public-health context.
By Forest Guider · August 11, 2026
This case study describes an ongoing body of workforce work with the City of Long Beach Department of Health & Human Services, first through a FUSE Executive Fellowship and then through consulting support.
Start with the system, not a single program
Workforce strain, hiring constraints, funding pressure, and equitable access were connected. The work began by listening to staff and stakeholders, mapping the journey, and identifying where ownership, information, and support stopped connecting.
That view made it possible to treat internships, mentorship, learning, leadership support, and funding as parts of one workforce system rather than separate initiatives.
Create clearer ways in
The internship pathway brought eligibility from three schools to 40 through a central portal, supervisor training, and shared onboarding and learning tools. The point was not simply to attract applications; it was to make the experience easier to enter and support.
Mentorship added a six-month pilot for 40 employees, with matching, learning, feedback, and a plan for future cohorts. Both efforts focused on the relationships and practical structures that make a pathway usable.
Build capacity while the work moves
Learning, executive advising, leadership experiences, and a coaching partnership supported people already carrying the work. Communication, presentations, creativity, interviews, responsible AI, and change were treated as capabilities that reinforce the broader strategy.
A funding-resilience stream included a CMAA gap analysis, a Time Study Buddy pilot, training, and an expansion plan. The purpose was to develop a repeatable reimbursement path alongside the people and program work.
Leave usable ownership behind
Playbooks, process maps, facilitator guides, measures, and clear internal roles help a program continue after an engagement changes shape. In a connected workforce effort, transfer is not a final handoff; it is designed into the work from the start.
The larger lesson is practical: map the full journey, build only the links that are missing, and involve the people who will carry the system forward.
FUSE project brief: Advancing Equity and Sustainability in Workforce Development
Long Beach workforce case study
Related work
Workforce pipeline consulting: Connect recruitment, internships, mentorship, learning, leadership, and funding around the people moving through the system.
Custom learning design: Build active learning, tools, and follow-up that support use after the session.