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Adult and Community Learning Services

Workforce Development Update - January to March, 2005

Welcome, 2005! Happy New Year to all!

SABES Workforce Development

By now, ABE grant proposals have been submitted, and we at ACLS are looking forward to learning about the strategies you've proposed to highlight workforce development to benefit your students. As you likely realize, the SABES network has been focused on building stronger bridges between ABE providers and the workforce system across the state, and their work in the remainder of this year will continue this effort. Please remember to check the SABES calendar to learn about this initiative so you can promote these activities to your staff. Each SABES center has a Workforce Development Coordinator who is eager to assist your program. For specific information about your region, contact your SABES Workforce Development Coordinator:

The first meeting of the SABES Workforce Development Advisory Board, organized by Laurie Sheridan, the SABES system-wide Workforce Development Coordinator, is set for January 20th. Laurie has assembled an impressive group of knowledgeable professionals to guide the SABES work in this area; their input is sure to benefit ABE programs. The next mailing will include a list of all members.

ESE Workplace Education
The new ACLS RFP for Workplace Education is on the ACLS website at www.doe.mass.edu/acls/.

Publications

"Establishing Effective Workforce Development Programs" is a resource guide recently published through the Massachusetts Association for Community Development along with partners including Commonwealth Corporation. Sections include information on internal planning, establishing partnerships, and evaluating programs to help families achieve self-sufficiency. The guide can be downloaded at www.commcorp.org.

Information on "Helping Job Seekers Who Have Limited Basic Skills: A Guide" is available at www.heldrich.rutgers.edu. Written by Jennifer Cleary and Dr. Paul Jurmo, this guide features an appendix compiled by David Rosen, Ed.D.

"Projects, Practices, and Lessons Learned Profiles of the Boston Private Industry Council's Sectoral Programs" is available at www.bostonpic.org. A wealth of information is available on the PIC's work with sectoral initiatives in the financial services and health care industries, as well as a general overview of their sectoral approach, and their approach to outcome measurement and documentation. The report is the work of Rebekah Lashman, Director of Workforce Partnerships at the Boston PIC.

Commonwealth Corporation has published a new brief entitled "Youth Left Behind in the Labor Market". The document presents information about how teens and young adults in Massachusetts have been affected by the state labor markets since the end of the economic boom in 2000. Go to www.commcorp.org/cre/briefs.html

Conferences/Events

The Commonwealth Workforce Coalition holds its second annual conference entitled "Sharing Skills, Building Connections" on Wednesday, March 9th at the DCU Center (formerly the Worcester Centrum Center) in downtown Worcester. Bob Bickerton, Associate Commissioner for Lifelong Learning and Teaching will offer comments at the luncheon. This event will bring together community development professionals, ABE and community college providers, and representatives of the workforce development system. It's a great time to meet folks in your community with whom you may not have connected on workforce-related issues. SABES is again a cosponsor of this event. Go to www.SABES.org for more information.

The National Association of Workforce Boards holds its FORUM 2005 entitled "The Way Ahead, Communities and Business Coming Together, Leading the Way" on March 3-5, 2005 at the Renaissance Washington DC Hotel in Washington, DC. Early registration deadline is January 15, 2005. Go to www.nawb.org for more information.

"Riding the Workforce Wave", the 16th Annual National Association of Workforce Development Professionals holds its annual conference at the Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida from May 1-4, 2005. The early registration period closes on January 21st. Go to www.nawdp.org for more information.

The Workforce Alliance sponsors its 2005 conference, "What's the Big Idea? Workforce Development Policy for the Next Four Years (and Beyond)" in Washington, DC on May 18-19, 2005. Go to www.workforcealliance.org or contact Carla Ward at 202-223-8891 for more information.

Commonwealth Corporation will sponsor the Second Annual Workforce Development Research and Evaluation Conference, which will include presentations, panel discussions, and a mini-trade show of research and evaluation results. The event is scheduled for the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Worcester on June 22nd and 23rd..

ACLS Interagency Work

Pathways to Success by 21:
Commonwealth Corporation, following up on the successful P-21 summit in November, has scheduled training/information sessions to assist regional representatives to learn more about the data presented at the conference on key youth indicators both state- and region-wide (See below).
Sessions occurred in early to mid-January at Bristol, Holyoke, and Middlesex Community Colleges. The next sessions are scheduled for January 28th at the Connecting Activities conference at Holy Cross (Hogan Center) in Worcester from 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 noon, and from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. For information on, or to register for the conference to attend either of these sessions, contact Keith Westrich at ESE at 781-338-3902

P-21 Planning grants are available to partnerships from each workforce development region to develop strategies to address the needs of youth, especially at-risk youth, to access educational and employment opportunities. For planning grant applications, see www.commcorp.org/cyde/.
There is a rolling application process. For more information about P-21, contact Jerome Dean, P-21 Program Manager at Commonwealth Corporation at 617-727-8158.

Reach Higher:
Jane Edmonds, Massachusetts' Director of Workforce Development, with Alan Macdonald of the Massachusetts Business Roundtable and Rick Lord of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, provided testimony to the Senate's Task Force on Public Higher Education. Their remarks summarized the work of the Reach Higher initiative which focuses on improving the connections of working adults to post-secondary educational opportunities in order to access employment in Massachusetts' high demand industry sectors. Director Edmonds emphasized the importance of collaboration between the state's ABE system and its workforce development strategy and system. Associate Commissioner of Education Bob Bickerton offered comments about the future needs of the Commonwealth for educational programs to prepare new entrants into the teaching field to stem the projected retirement of the current teaching force. Education is a targeted sector of the Reach Higher initiative.

BayStateWorks:
Through BayStateWorks (formerly called BEST III), Commonwealth Corporation issued grants recently to the following eleven workforce boards to lead employer-driven partnerships to design and deliver projects reflecting the needs of participating employers to increase the skills, education, and ability of their workers: Franklin-Hampshire REB, North Shore WIB, Boston PIC (2 grants), Metro South/West REB (with Greater Lowell, North Shore, and Merrimack Valley WIBs), Bristol WIB, Hampden County REB, Berkshire County REB, Cape Cod & the Islands WIB, Greater New Bedford WIB, and the Brockton Area WIB with the South Coastal WIB. For more information, go to www.commcorp.org.

Community-based Organization/Older Worker Education & Training Initiative:
Commonwealth Corporation issued grants recently to the following community-based organizations to help the unemployed find employment, or improve the employment status or wages of low-income workers: Operation A.B.L.E. of Greater Boston, Neighborhood Development Corporation of Jamaica Plain, Community Works Services, Cambridge College, Lutheran Community Services of Southern New England, Action, Inc., and Jewish Vocational Service. For more information, go to www.commcorp.org .

Literacy Works:
Congratulations to Dawna Perez on the birth of her son Matthew, and welcome back to Literacy Works in Lawrence! Dawna is planning a spring event to bring together the literacy and business communities. Stay tuned for details about the event.

"Let's Talk Literacy", the second annual event highlighting Literacy Works in Lawrence and Hampden County, is scheduled for June of 2005. Sponsored by MassINC and Commonwealth Corporation and supported by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the event will feature workshops and speakers.

Regional Profiles:
Commonwealth Corporation, in a project headed by Johan Uvin, Director of the Center for Research and Evaluation at Comm Corp, is working with his staff to compile State and Regional Profiles for 2004. The profiles present information related on all state and federal resources dedicated to workforce development-related activities. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (ACLS) is actively engaged in providing data from our SMARTT system to support the completion of these informative profiles. Find more information at www.commcorp.org. This is the second year of such a compilation; last year, Comm Corp sponsored a spring conference to highlight this information. (See above for info on this year's conference.)

Division of Career Services:
Four new positions at the Division of Career Services provide coordination within the workforce development system in four broad areas of the state, each of which encompasses four workforce development regions. The Directors for Workforce Integration are as follows:

Rosemary Chandler, 340A Main Street, Worcester 01608 -

Berkshire, Hampden, North Central, Franklin/Hampshire

Diane Hurley, 227 Union Street, Ste. 208, New Bedford, 02740 -

Bristol, New Bedford, Metro South/West, Central Mass

Mike Lynch, ValleyWorks Career Center, 80 Merrimack St., Haverhill, 01830 -

Greater Lowell, Merrimack Valley, North Shore,

Dawn McElaney, 75 Perseverance Way, Hyannis, MA 02601 -

Cape & Islands, Boston, South Coastal, Brockton

Workforce Board Association:

Welcome to Leslie Sheldon, new Program Coordinator at the Workforce Board Association. Leslie will be a reader on the ABE 5-year grant proposals.

At the WIB Association's December meeting, a panel presented information on the workforce needs of the health care industry in Massachusetts. Panelists included Carolyn Blanks, Vice President of the Massachusetts Extended Care Federation and Nancy Snyder, Assistant Director of the Boston Private Industry Council.

Local Workforce Investment Board News:

On December 8th, the Bristol County Workforce Investment Board meeting was held at Benjamin's Restaurant in Taunton; Associate Commissioner of Education Bob Bickerton was the keynote speaker. Introduced by Gerald Mauretti, Board Chairman and President of Engineered Yarns Company, Bob addressed the audience about the intersection of Adult Basic Education and workforce development.

On Friday, December 10th, the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, Inc. celebrated "Champions of Literacy" at a special event at the Sheraton Springfield. Congressman Richard Neal was the featured speaker.

We are sad that Lara Stone, formerly the Associate Director of the New Bedford Workforce Investment Board, recently left her position. Lara was instrumental in developing the coordination between and the merger of the New Bedford ABE Community Planning Committee and the New Bedford Area WIB Life-long Learning Committee. Lara was also a presenter at our ABE Directors Meeting in 2003. Lara will pursue consulting activities (including reviewing ABE proposals) and caring for her young family.

Welfare Reform

On Tuesday, January 4, 2005, senior Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced H.R. 240, the Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2005, to reauthorize and revise reforms begun in the 1996 welfare reform law. Hearings will occur early in the 109th Congress.

Workforce Solutions Group

The Workforce Solutions Group, an advocacy group formed by the Workforce Investment Board Association, The Women's Union, the AFL-CIO, and the Organizing and Leadership Training Center recently released a report on its North Shore Workforce Forum and a summary of its FY'2006 state budget recommendations. The North Shore Planning Group of the WSG is convening an organizing meeting to discuss forum results, legislation, and next steps on Monday, January, 31st from 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. at The North Shore Workforce Investment Board at 70 Washington Street, Suite 314, Salem, MA 01904. Contact Dan Kobayashi at dkobayashi@thewomensunion.org if you plan to attend.

|   The Workforce Solutions Act of 2005, sponsored in the House by Representative Lida Harkins (HD2458) and in the Senate by Senator Thomas McGee (SD 1900).
|   The Workforce Solutions Group North Shore Forum Letter

Grant Opportunities/Scholarships

Workforce Training Fund - WTF is for business applicants only. However, you may want to investigate partnering with a local business to offer on-site ABE/ESOL classes. Check www.detma.org/workforcesuccessfulapps.htm to get guidance on writing grant proposals. The next application deadline for Workforce Training Fund proposals is March 20, 2005.

ECCLI CBO TA Service Provider Application - The Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative (ECCLI) announces the availability of its Request for Applicants to provide technical assistance services to Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) involved in workforce development with the long-term care industry. Deadline for applications is January 21, 2005. See www.commcorp.org for more information.

Education Rewards Loan Program - The Commonwealth has created the Education Rewards Loan Program for Massachusetts residents to pay for tuition, books, and other expenses for those enrolled in certificate programs or enrolled in less than half-time associate's degree programs. Loans are limited to pre-approved programs that provide training for high-demand occupations with current vacancies. Applications are available at Massachusetts' One-Stop Career Centers. For a list of eligible occupations and to learn more, visit www.mass.gov/educationrewards/.

Resources

John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development (www.heldrich.rutgers.edu) -

Massachusetts Workforce Development information - www.massworkforce.org

United States Workforce Development information - www.usworkforce.org

MA Community College Workforce development information - www.masscc.org/business.html

The Workforce Alliance - www.workforcealliance.org

Commonwealth Workforce Coalition - www.cedac.org/workforce.html

National Association of Workforce Boards - www.nawb.org

Lumina Foundation - www.luminafoundation.org/adult_learners/index.html

The AFL-CIO Working for America Institute - www.workingforamerica.org

Institute for Educational Leadership - Center for Workforce Development - www.iel.org/programs/cwd.html

For information about ACLS workforce development activities, contact Andrea Perrault, Workforce Development Specialist, at aperrault@doe.mass.edu.