Considering that layoffs, lack of decent employment opportunities and the effect of unemployment numbers on the economy are some of the biggest problems people are facing in today’s financially troubled world, any move that aims to help out-of-work individuals find jobs again is certainly a welcome one.

This is precisely what the Wal-Mart Foundation is doing by providing a total of $3.4 million in grants to non-profit organizations that focus on helping Americans get back to work.

The grant is specifically earmarked for programs that are using regional approaches for the development and deployment of a skilled workforce. To this end, the Wal-Mart Foundation has identified seven nonprofits across the United States to support. The San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (Cali-Baja area), Workplace, Inc. (Connecticut and New York), the Mid-America Regional Council (Kansas and Missouri Kansas City), the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), West Central Job Partnership, Inc. (Ohio and Pennsylvania), the Montgomery Institute (Eastern Mississippi region) and the West Michigan Strategic Alliance (Western Michigan area).

These groups are being given between $400,000 and $550,000 by the Wal-Mart Foundation to assist out-of-work individuals looking to gain the necessary skills to secure employment and re-enter the country’s workforce.

Margaret McKenna, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation, said “now more than ever, we are looking for ways to provide opportunities for those who are out of work and facing tough times. These grants will support people across the country to gain the necessary life and job skills to obtain long-term employment.”

While the idea of helping people acquire employable skills may not be new, what is interesting here is the method of execution. There is recognition that economies that affect ordinary hard-working people are not based on national, state or local performance; rather, these economies are regional. However, a strong regional economy relies on the capacity to create, recruit and sustain a workforce with high levels of skill and flexibility. Will the Wal-Mart Foundation grant truly be able to help, or will its success rely more on other factors?

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about philanthropy.