Research shows that tools, resources, and information will only be effective for those intended to benefit from them if they are readily available, visible, and valued. Effective communication requires a deep understanding of the audience, paying close attention to how individuals receive and process information, how workforce agencies view and communicate with their clients, how clients perceive their employability, and what technologies they have access to and use. This outreach also requires effective engagement with other key players, including caseworkers, local community organizations, and employers.

Too often, bureaucratic agencies serving broad constituencies do not communicate effectively with workers, because they find it difficult to customize their services to workers and jobseekers with multiple needs. They often communicate with their clients in a general way, without differentiating what is of most concern to diverse groups of workers, including women and economically and racially minoritized populations.

Community-based organizations, churches, and local service providers as well as regular caseworkers are known and trusted influences on workers and jobseekers they meet in the course of their work and are particularly effective in engaging them with new tools and services.  This is particularly true for communities where there is either a high level of distrust in public services or a stigma attached to engaging with those services.

An important, early first step in developing tools and services is to create a plan and process to engage different audiences and constituents through surveys, focus groups, interviews, or other channels to develop a deeper understanding of their experiences, needs, and perceptions as well as how they most often obtain information and who they identify as trusted messengers.