TE Awarded Federal Grant

Towards Employment Awarded Federal Grant to Lead WorkAdvance: a Collaboration to Strengthen Northeast Ohio’s Workforce in Healthcare and Manufacturing


CLEVELAND (April 21, 2011) – A collaboration of Northeast Ohio workforce and economic development organizations led by Towards Employment has been awarded a $5.5 million grant to serve 1,000 Northeast Ohio residents entering or advancing in the manufacturing and healthcare sectors over the next five years. The program is launching in Cuyahoga and Mahoning Counties. The collaborators include Center for Families and Children, Employment Connection, The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland, WIRE-Net, MAGNET, NOHSIC, The Center for Health Affairs, Burdman Group, Inc., Mahoning Columbiana Training Association, NEO Healthforce and The Business Resource Network. The consulting firm enlight will assist with the coordination of the collaboration and the sharing of innovations.

The new project, WorkAdvance, is made possible by the federal Social Innovation Fund, a new public-private partnership designed to expand promising programs. The Social Innovation Fund grant was made to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City and the NYC Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO), which then selected providers across the country to replicate five of CEO’s most promising programs. Additional funding for WorkAdvance is provided by Northeast Ohio’s Fund for Our Economic Future, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Open Society Foundations. The WorkAdvance initiative will give Towards Employment the opportunity to implement elements of its most recent strategic plan, which emphasizes employer engagement, providing opportunities to link participants to credentialed training requested by employers, and building even stronger connections among community resources. The objective is to ensure that each prospective employee has both the skills and supports he or she needs to meet the needs of Northeast Ohio’s employers and to successfully compete for jobs as well as the resiliency to persevere in the face of challenges that threaten employment and advancement.

“Towards Employment and its collaborators developed a workforce program that is both innovative and collaborative – two attributes central to Northeast Ohio’s economic revitalization,” said Fund for Our Economic Future President Brad Whitehead. “Training and retaining talent regionally and connecting talent with employers ultimately improve the economic future of our residents and region.”

WorkAdvance replicates a successful sector-based career pathways model. It focuses on helping unemployed and entry-level working adults increase their employment and earning potential by finding quality jobs that have potential for advancement. The focus will be on two sectors that have deep roots in the region: healthcare and manufacturing. The program builds on national research demonstrating that sector-focused and career advancement-based workforce development programs can produce significant impacts for low-wage workers. A key feature of WorkAdvance is the involvement of employers in all aspects of the project.

The project will work with employers to identify hiring and training needs in manufacturing and healthcare fields, tailor training programs and other services to best meet employer needs, and provide a pipeline of qualified candidates to be considered for specific job openings or advancement opportunities. WorkAdvance will also offer wraparound supports and continued career coaching for up to two years after placement to support job retention and advancement.

“By providing the necessary high level of training, tools and continuous support to its participants, WorkAdvance will help close the skills gap between those seeking work and the jobs available to them, ultimately benefiting the region’s employers,” said Jill Rizika, executive director of Towards Employment. “We’re excited to launch WorkAdvance and are looking forward to working together with our partners to develop a skilled and motivated workforce.”

Collaborators

Towards Employment is the lead agency for the collaborative and will oversee implementation of the project in Northeast Ohio. The program seeks to link the expertise of several organizations and provide seamless client support across the workforce development system, ensuring that job seekers can easily navigate the services available and obtain the right service at the right time.

In Cuyahoga County, the collaborative includes the following organizations and roles:

  • Towards Employment: programmatic and fiscal oversight, job readiness training, career coaching and linkages to training providers
  • Center for Families and Children: assessment and case management services
  • Employment Connection (the operator of the Cleveland One Stop Center): recruitment and job matching services
  • The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland: best practices for developing literacy for the workplace
  • MAGNET: technical assistance and advice on training and skills demanded in manufacturing
  • WIRE-Net: manufacturing employer engagement and job lead generation
  • NOHSIC (a consortium of NE Ohio hospital systems): employer recruitment and support for the healthcare track
  • The Center for Health Affairs: support for the healthcare track

A menu of training options will be available for Cuyahoga County participants through the region’s community colleges and adult training institutions including Cuyahoga County, Lakeland, and Lorain County Community Colleges, Cuyahoga Valley and Polaris Career Centers, and NewBridge Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology.

In Mahoning County, the collaborators include the following organizations and roles:

  • Burdman Group Inc.: lead partner and case management, assessment, job readiness training, and career coaching
  • Mahoning-Columbiana Training Association (the operator of the One Stop system): access to training, and job matching
  • NEO Health Force (a consortium of health care employers, training organizations, and service providers): employer engagement and other support for the healthcare track
  • The Business Resource Network: providing employer engagement and other support for the manufacturing track

For the Mahoning County participants, a menu of training will be offered through the region’s career centers, community colleges, and Kent State University at Trumbull.

The program has a strong research agenda, with the aim of building a national body of evidence that can inform future workforce policy. WorkAdvance will be evaluated by New York-based research firm MDRC using a random assignment research design—the most rigorous evaluation methodology in the field. MDRC will partner with local researchers and evaluators.

For additional information visit http://www.towardsemployment.org, http://www.futurefundneo.org or http://www.nationalservice.gov.

Contact: Jill Rizika
Towards Employment
216.696.5750 x.224
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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ABOUT TOWARDS EMPLOYMENT
Towards Employment (http://www.towardsemployment.org) is a non-profit organization that has assisted over 100,000 disadvantaged adults in Greater Cleveland successfully transition from poverty to a paycheck. Towards Employment helps people prepare for the job, get the job, keep the job and advance in their careers and partners with local employers to meet their needs.

ABOUT BURDMAN GROUP INC
Burdman Group Inc (http://www.burdmangroup.com) is a private, not-for-profit agency that has served the Mahoning Valley for over 40 years. Burdman Group provides: career planning, job placement assistance, training and job retention services to the unemployed, underemployed and disabled youth and adults through its Employment and Job Retention Services. Burdman Group is also a core provider of outpatient and residential Behavioral Health Services and provides Mahoning County’s only emergency domestic violence services through its Sojourner House Domestic Violence Program.

ABOUT CENTER FOR FAMILIES AND CHILDREN
The Center for Families and Children (CFC) (http://www.c4fc.org) is one of the oldest and largest non-profit, human service organizations in Cuyahoga County. Guided by a mission of changing lives and communities through client service, advocacy and collective action, more than 300 dedicated professionals provide early learning, youth development, behavioral health and family support services to approximately 12,000 individuals every year.

ABOUT EMPLOYMENT CONNECTION
Employment Connection (http://www.employmentconnection.us) is the collaborative workforce system of the City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County that assists local employers meet their human capital needs and supports job seekers by connecting with employment opportunities. The purpose of the system is to provide resources and information through the Employment Connection system to assist area businesses with their hiring and training needs in order to stay competitive in today’s environment and to provide residents of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County with the tools necessary for a competitive and successful job search.

ABOUT THE LITERACY COOPERATIVE OF GREATER CLEVELAND
A joint initiative of The Cleveland, George Gund, and the Martha Holding Jennings Foundations, The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland (http://www.literacycooperative.org) works on behalf of the community to improve literacy levels among children, youth, and adults in Greater Cleveland. Acting as a strategic coordinator and oversight agency, The Literacy Cooperative establishes and supports partnerships with literacy providers and community stakeholders in order to assist Greater Clevelanders in reaching their highest literacy potential for employment, self-sufficiency, and lifelong learning.

ABOUT WIRE-NET
WIRE-Net (http://www.wire-net.org ) strengthens manufacturing to create healthy communities and fuel economic growth by providing expertise that is responsive to manufacturing related businesses and their employees. WIRE-Net connects leaders to each other, and engages them in their communities through manufacturing assistance, peer-to-peer learning events, adult and youth workforce development, new market initiatives, and real estate redevelopment and infrastructure planning.

ABOUT MAGNET
MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network, supports and champions manufacturing in Northern Ohio. MAGNET (http://www.magnetwork.org) is the voice for the region's manufacturers. Since 1984, MAGNET has assisted thousands of manufacturers through its Edison Technology Center programs, Manufacturing Extension Partnership Services and Business Incubation programs. Recently MAGNET has expanded its mission to assist manufacturers through programs that address manufacturing-related Education, Competitiveness, and Innovation. MAGNET is a “one-stop shop” for entrepreneurs and technology-driven manufacturers seeking resources to become or remain globally competitive.

ABOUT NOHSIC
The Northeast Ohio Health Science and Innovation Coalition is a regional health system consortium founded in 2006 which today includes Cleveland Clinic, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, MetroHealth System, Southwest General Health Center, Summa Health System, University Hospitals Health System and EMH Regional Healthcare System. Its geographical footprint mirrors that of Voices and Choices. NOHSIC health systems collectively employ over 100,000 healthcare workers on a direct and indirect basis within 17 Northeast Ohio counties. The mission of NOHSIC is to build a sustainable system that effectively aligns employer, public and private sector resources for the development, recruitment and retention of a trained healthcare workforce. The organization is implementing employer-based strategies to achieve outcomes that support its mission.

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR HEALTH AFFAIRS
As the leading advocate for Northeast Ohio hospitals, The Center for Health Affairs (http://www.chanet.org) provides members (38 acute care hospitals and two long-term acute care hospitals in six counties) with vital services and resources aimed at enhancing the region’s healthcare community. The Center delivers on this goal by focusing its efforts on areas that benefit from a regional approach: Healthcare Workforce; Emergency Preparedness; Public Policy & Advocacy; Finance & Reimbursement; and Community Initiatives. The Center serves as the collective voice of hospitals and the source for Northeast Ohio hospital and healthcare information.

ABOUT MAHONING-COLUMBIANA TRAINING CENTER
The Mahoning & Columbiana Training Association (http://www.mctaworkforce.org) is the administrative and fiscal agent for Federal Workforce Investment Act funds as well as the One-Stop System Operator for Mahoning and Columbiana Counties. With more than 25 years of experience in workforce development, MCTA provides job counseling and assessment and funding for occupational classroom training and on-the-job training to residents of Mahoning and Columbiana Counties.

ABOUT MAHONING COUNTY ONE-STOP
The One-Stop Workforce System (http://www.onestopohio.org) is a collaborative partnership that brings together more than 30 organizations, services and programs that help job seekers and employers. In addition to employment services and training programs, the One-Stop system provides job-skills training tuition to those who qualify. The Mahoning County One-Stop located in the Boardman Plaza, the Youngstown Satellite at the Oakhill Renaissance Center and the Columbiana County One-Stop at 7860 Lincole Place in Lisbon, are operated by the Mahoning & Columbiana Training Association.

ABOUT THE BUSINESS RESOURCE NETWORK
The Business Resource Network (http://www.thebrn.net) is not a new organization, but a network of 40 workforce and economic development and education partners. It provides a single point of contact for a wide variety of business services including: financial incentives, employee training and technical assistance. The BRN operates in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana Counties and recently expanded into Lawrence and Mercer Counties in Pennsylvania to assist companies of the OH-Penn Interstate Region grow and expand.

ABOUT NEO HEALTHFORCE
The NEO HealthForce (http://www.neohealthforce.org) founded in 2002, is an industry-driven consortium of employers, education and training providers, and workforce development agencies creating collective solutions to workforce shortages in the healthcare industry.