Courses to Employment: Sector Based Community College/Nonprofit Partnerships. National Network of Sector Partners 2009 Annual Meeting Washington, DC

Transcription

1 Courses to Employment: Sector Based Community College/Nonprofit Partnerships National Network of Sector Partners 2009 Annual Meeting Washington, DC 1

2 Introductions Amy Blair, Senior Consultant, Workforce Strategies Initiative, The Aspen Institute Bill Browning, Director, Business Development, Northern Virginia Community College 2

3 Session Objectives Learn about Northern Virginia Family Services & Northern Virginia Community College s collaborative work to help lowincome individuals prepare for, gain entry to, and complete college credits in business-related occupations. Learn about AspenWSI s demonstration project, Courses to Employment, which is supporting, researching and documenting collaborative sector strategies between community colleges and nonprofits. 3

4 What s a Sector Strategy? A systems approach to workforce development typically on behalf of low-income individuals that: Targets a specific industry or cluster of occupations; Intervenes through a credible organization, or set of organizations; Supports workers in improving their range of employment-related skills; and Creates lasting changes in the labor market system that are positive for workers and employers. 4

5 Capacities Needed Strong focus on a defined industry sector and/or set of related occupations to identify employment opportunity and develop appropriate education services High quality education & training that both meets industry-identified skill needs and is appropriate and accessible to underserved adults 5

6 Capacities Needed (cont.) Support services (academic & nonacademic) that meet special needs of underserved adults to learn successfully and progress to jobs that pay selfsufficiency wages Shared vision about the need to develop new ways of operating & ability to communicate this effectively to support innovation and institutional changes, as needed 6

7 Courses to Employment Based on premise that, with rare exception, neither colleges nor non-profits have the resources needed to serve lowincome, minority, and under represented adult learners effectively especially over the long-term. Inspired by the outcomes and possibilities we ve seen in collaborative work 7

8 Community College Non-profit Partnership College Innovation & Scale Education Strategies Supportive Services Industry Strategy Community & sector agencies 8

9 Courses to Employment Learning demonstration involving six community college-non-profit program collaborations Participants were selected competitively from 89 applications Substantial learning & research agenda Funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation 9

10 What Questions is CTE Exploring? What specific services are provided? By which institution? Why? Which ones seem most important? Outcomes for participants? Compared to? Engagement and role of business in the initiative? Factors of successful collaboration? Policies, funding, governing and capacity issues? What does collaborative service delivery cost? How is it financed? 10

11 CTE Partnerships Fairfax, VA: Northern Virginia Family Service and Northern Virginia Community College Austin: Capital IDEA & Austin Community College Seattle: Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County & Shoreline Community College Chicago: Instituto del Progreso Latino & Wright College s Humboldt Park Vocational Education Center Flint, MI: Mott Community College & Flint STRIVE Los Angeles: Community Career Development, Inc., Los Angeles Valley College, East Los Angeles College & Los Angeles City College 11

12 To Learn More The Aspen Institute One Dupont Circle, NW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C (202)

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14 NOVA NVFS Training Futures Program

15 Training Audience Low-income adults (employed avg. $10.55/hr at entry) 57% employed at entry (12% full-time) 2/3 foreign-born; bilingual! 75% women; 30% single parents Median age in 30s; range Multiple employment barriers Multiple employment assets You saw strengths in me that I couldn t see for myself.

16 Program Model 25 weeks of training 500+ hours Admin. skills keyboarding, computers, customer service, filing, professional development 17 college NOVA Target sector: health care 3-week internships From this moment on, you re in college!

17 Program Outcomes 93% program completion (200 enrolled ) 80% employed full-time w/in 6 months Hourly wage gain at first job: Average 25% increase for employed prior to program 100% increase for 43% unemployed prior to program Graduate survey 91% wage gain Taxpayers make profit on investments TF tells us to put our basket of burdens down and step forward. We can create our own future.

18 NOVA-Training Futures Model Special or Unique Features Imaginal Education philosophy Leverage federal financial aid Boundary-Crossers Integrating the best of CBOs and colleges Extraordinary front line and executive leadership By graduating from Training Futures, you ve taken the first step towards the American dream.

19 Replication of NOVA-TF Model NOVA and NVFS regionally in new occupation(s) NOVA regionally with new CBOs NOVA outside of region with CBOs and colleges elsewhere Other replication possibilities? 19

20 To Learn More Bill Browning Director, Business Development Northern Virginia Community College (703) Website: 20