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November 2011Vol 3,  Issue 11

Area Considers Options For One-Stop Operations

Moira Weir, Hamilton County Director of Jobs and Family Services (HCJFS), informed Hamilton County Commissioner Greg Hartmann and Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory that options for the one-

stop job center are being examined in the wake of funding reductions that will clip Workforce Investment Act (WIA) dollars approximately 28 percent and force operating changes on one-stop centers everywhere. 

 

"We must look at the most effective, efficient way of operating the center," Weir told officials.

 

H.R. 2112, a so-called 2012 "minibus" spending bill that contained a continuing resolution for keeping the government, and the Southwest Ohio Regional Workforce Investment Board (SWORWIB), running through December 16, 2011 was sent to President Obama for his signature following its 70-30 vote passage in the Senate on November 17.

 

Although this stop-gap measure is good through December 16, it isn't the first time funding has gone awry, but it does represent the most recent round of government funding cuts to affect one stop center operations. Local WIA funding totaled $8.2 million in 2008, for example, but in 2011 it has dropped to $5.4 million. Meanwhile, funding for the center has likewise dropped 41 percent, from $5.6 million to $3.3 million.

 

The exploration of options is aimed at finding a workable solution that can continue to deliver consistent quality services to those who can benefit from them most, but at a lower cost. One option is to renew the contract with Arbor Education and Training LLC, the Austin, TX, company that has operated the center since 2005, but using more efficient, cost-effective ways to deliver the services. A second option Weir mentioned is to partner with a non-profit, or group of

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 non-profits to operate the center particularly mandated partners within the WIA legislation. A third option is for a local public entity to assume operations.

 

Weir noted proposals are being sought from partners and stakeholders on the most efficient way of operating the 

center. Proposals need to address cost, function and timing and be submitted to the SWORWIB by noon on 11/29/2011. Received proposals will be reviewed by the SWORWIB and HCJFS, and a final recommendation will be made to city and county officials by 12/21/11.

 

The SJC, located at 1916 Central Parkway, brings together under one roof services for job seekers and employers. The regional workforce center is where job seekers can receive job training, career coaching and jobs leads and employers can post jobs, have applicants screened and receive funds to train potential new employees. The SJC served more than 13,000 job seekers in 2010, with 2,150 job placements.

Construction Career Collaborative Wins National Award 

A Greater Cincinnati initiative to promote construction training and careers was recognized nationally by the Construction Users Roundtable (CURT) with a Workforce Development Award. 

The Greater Cincinnati Construction Career Pathway Collaborative, a partnership between the Southwest Ohio Region Workforce Investment Board (SWORWIB) and the Greater Cincinnati

CURTaward

Left to Right: Greg Sizemore, Mike Schneider, Judy DeWeese, Janice Urbanik, Sherry Kelley Marshall, Mark Luegering and Mike Conley 

Workforce Network (GCWN), is a holistic approach to promoting construction careers for middle and high school students and adults. 

 

Although the SWORWIB has been working on construction career projects since 2002, the Collaborative was formally launched in 2008. The Collaborative was formed by Sherry Kelley Marshall, President/CEO of the SWORWIB, who began it in response to requests from senior managers of Southwest Ohio construction companies, who were concerned that they would not have enough workers to replace an aging workforce. 

 

Additionally, Joseph Hummel, then Executive Director of Allied Construction Industries (ACI), and Pete Strange, then President/CEO of Messer Construction Inc., asked the SWORWIB to assist the industry in reaching youth. In 2009, the SWORWIB was awarded a grant from the Spirit of Construction Foundation to fund a middle school outreach program. That program has led to after-school construction clubs and summer construction camps at private and public schools in Cincinnati. The SWORWIB also works closely with construction industry leaders on high school

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SWORWIB President/CEO, Sherry Kelley Marshall

 outreach, including Construction Career Days, led by Baker Construction. 

 

Since the launch of the Collaborative, the ACI and GCWN have expanded services to disadvantaged, minority and women adult job seekers, with 222 adults completing pre-apprenticeship programs and receiving nationally recognized credentials. More than 50 percent of those have also become employed or been accepted into registered apprenticeship programs, says Janice Urbanik, Director of Industry Partnerships for GCWN. 

 

"It's very gratifying to have our construction pathway work recognized nationally by the Construction Users Roundtable," says Marshall. "We know from our employers that the work we are doing with both adult workers and youth is making a difference." 

SuperJobs Center To Offer ResCare Academy

Customers at the SuperJobs Center (SJC) will benefit from a new training resource available through coordination with their career coaches.  ResCare Academy, an on-demand, on-line curriculum featuring interactive classes, videos, tests and a personal job trait evaluation designed to serve the needs of the job-seeker, employers and the community, is now being offered at the SuperJobs Center.

 

Latrisha Payne, Education and Administrative Manager at SJC, said, "ResCare Academy has designed and implemented a game changing innovative solution to provide skills training to the ResCareLogocustomers that we serve." She added that the creative but focused curriculum is an on-line training and assessment support tool designed specifically to enable customers to fulfill their potential, empower them to build upon their current strengths and learn new skills that will prepare them for a bright future.

 

Customers of the SJC will work intensively with a trained Career Coach, then select a course plan that will assist the customer in their career path of choice. Payne said the job-seeker will have remote access to all courses for a year, become job and interview ready, receive a certificate of completion of all courses taken and, most importantly, build their confidence.

 

ResCare Academy is a valuable tool to employers, too. They will receive what any employer wants, highly skilled employees. ResCare Academy represents continuous improvement when it comes to improved job fit targeting and will increase job-matching improvements.

 Customer Success Story: Coaching Spurs Drive For Degree

As much as we plan for good things to happen, even the best laid plans can take a turn for the worst. This was the case for Belinda Holden, who had her plans to retire dashed when she was laid off in 2010. Holden, who describes herself as a "very determined individual," believed that "if someone told me no, I knew there was someone to say yes."

 

What Holden didn't plan on, ironically, was hearing of programs offered through the Super Jobs Center (SJC) that would turn into the right plan at the right time for her. SJC had the right programs and the right motivators to vindicate Holden's "I am a winner no matter what" attitude, and to energize her to participate in SJC's job assistance programs including resume writing, networking, interviewing and job search skills.    

 

Funded by a National Emergency Grant, SJC's workshops became the trigger that spurred Holden to finish out an uncompleted degree in office management. "The Super Jobs Center encouraged me to move forward and finish out my degree." Parlaying her success at SJC, Holden, a wife and mother of two adult children to whom she strives to set a good example, accomplished another career goal this June, when she graduated from Cincinnati State Technical and Community College (CSTCC) at the Duke Energy Center with an Associates Degree in Office Management.

 

Holden gladly doles out heartfelt thanks to several career coaches at SJC, but she says Andy Lotter deserves extra recognition for his help on her journey to reclaim employment. Lotter has since become the Regional Employer Liaison for the Employers First Regional Workforce Network, for which the SWORWIB is the fiscal agent and lead entity.

 

Holden currently works in Hebron, KY, as a temporary customer service worker at MAG IAS, LLC, a leading machine tool and systems company with locations worldwide that serves the durable-goods industry. She hopes her hard work at SJC and CSTCC will lead to full-time employment there.

 

Holden's advice to others who find their plans gone awry is to do what she did, "be strong and most importantly don't ever take no for an answer, there will be someone to say yes."  As she said, "You write the chapters to your own book."

EFRWN Participates In Sharonville Manufacturing Forum

200 area manufacturing employers learned just how important being innovative and resourceful in all areas of their business is to being successful in today's competitive business climate. This was a key message at the Manufacturing Success Forum hosted October 27th by the Sharonville 

Sharonville Manufacturing Event
Left to right: Ginger Hutchinson, Will Satterfield, Rich Frederick, Andrew Lotter, Brian Wirth, Sherry Kelley Marshall, Julia Hinten and Eileen Turner  

 

The Employers First Regional Workforce Network (EFRWN) participated in the event known as "Manufacturing Success: Act Locally. Impact Globally," where opening remarks were delivered by Sharonville Mayor Virgil Lovitt, who introduced the event's keynote speaker, Gary Heiman, CEO of Standard Textile.  He emphasized the critical role re-shoring jobs, localizing supply chains and

managing costs and quality were to his company's domestic and international success.

 

Bruce Vaillancourt of TechSolve moderated a panel discussion on how to be intuitive and competitive as the global and local economy changes. Panel members, including Adrian Breen with First Financial Bank, Lisa Delp with the Ohio Department of Development, Tom Flucht with Penske, Dave Levine with TechSolve, Tom Thieman with Ford Motor Company, and Janice Urbanik, Director of Industry Partnerships with the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network (GCWN), shared their expertise and offered recommendations to the manufacturers.   

 

Also in attendance were Southwest Ohio Regional Workforce Investment Board President/CEO Sherry Kelley Marshall, Andrew Lotter with Employers First Regional Workforce Network, Rich Fredrick, Governor Kasich's Workforce Policy Director and Julia Hinton with the Ohio Governor's Workforce Investment Board.

 

Urbanik said employers told her during networking time at the even that they were interested in employees with new and different skills. "A number of regional employers wanted to know more about the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) and the Manufacturing Skill Standards Council Certified Production Technician (MSSC CPT) certification," she said.

SuperJobs Site for d.e. Foxx & Associates Hiring Event

The SuperJobs Center was the venue October 26 for a hiring event for d.e. Foxx & Associates, Inc., a Cincinnati-based company whose brands include construction services, facility management, deFoxxHiringEventmanufacturing services, warehouse management, background checks and sourcing and supply chain management.

 

Serving a client list of primarily Fortune 1000 business entities in the U.S. and Canada, the company, which employs over 1,300 people, had long-term temporary assignments working for commercial carpenters and pre-apprentice carpenter positions.

Construction Club 

The first weeks of November wrapped-up autumn's Construction Clubs with three new value-added events for the students, their parents, and the program supporters. A field trip, an opportunity to take CCNovember2011the Kuder Career Interest Survey, and a Parent Night to celebrate the students' success were innovations for Fall 2011.  

As in the past, Construction Club members participated in a team project that involved many of the aspects of a real construction career: demolition and site work; concrete mixing, pouring and finishing; carpentry; electric wiring; pipefitting with PVC pipe and soldering copper pipe; and cutting and attaching drywall.  

 

They also went on a field trip to a construction site where they had a chance to use a laser level, a chop saw, and a power hammer. Not many sixth, seventh, and eighth graders have these

Jeanetta drill
Jeanetta drills.

experiences!  

 

The students then had the opportunity to take the Kuder Career Interest Survey to learn more about careers that match their unique interests.  They can go back anytime and review their results online and continue to 

CCchrismatthews
Chris Matthews, left, at work.

plan their future.  

 

The final event at each school was a Parent Night where the students could show off their hard work, and parents could learn about their child's Kuder results. Research is clear that parents are the Number One influence on kids' career choices, so the SWORWIB, SC Ministry Foundation and the Spirit of Construction Foundation hope these parents continue to encourage and support their middle schoolers to build their futures!

Lighthouse Youth Services Wins DOL Civic Justice Corps Grant 

Lighthouse Youth Services (LYS) won a $1.3 million grant from the Federal Department of Labor (DOL) to demonstrate innovative services and approaches that can help young men ages 18-22, who have been involved in the Juvenile Justice System, return as successful contributing members

LighthouseYouthServicesLogo of their communities.

 

Based in Cincinnati, Ohio, LYS began enrolling corps members at the beginning of November for a Civic Justice Corps (CJC) program that will last 30 months, during which time the young adults will restore a positive relationship with their communities through service learning initiatives. Corp members will also be involved in other intensive services designed to help them find employment, further their education, complete leadership training and grow through treatment services

 

Nathan Lynch, Civic Justice Corps Program Director, says the CJC is a good match with LYS's mission and values. "Lighthouse is very invested in demonstrating successful outcomes through this initiative, which represents hope and opportunity for a new direction in the Juvenile Justice System," said Lynch.

 

Key to the structure of the program are the professional contractors who will provide equipment, training and complete oversight for service learning projects, which will focus on horticulture, landscaping, light construction and other related trades. As Corps members progress through the service learning and other identified holistic services, Lynch says they will then enter into subsidized employment in these same trade skill areas. CJC members will have access to intensive services focused on finding long term employment, pursuing secondary education or acquiring trade certificates, highly valued by employers. Other services, including groups, individual counseling and case management, will be used to address other factors that can contribute to long term success. 

 

According to Bob Mecum, LYS President/CEO, the CJC will strengthen the sense of community citizenship among program participants. "It creates the opportunity for our young people to feel that they are stakeholders, that they have made a personal contribution," he said, adding, "As we begin to create opportunities for them to become engaged and invested in their communities, the outcomes are: better communities, young people who are invested in the success of those communities and a restored sense of dignity."

 

The Lighthouse Civic Justice Corps has partnered with the SWORWIB to provide a work site and work readiness services at SuperJobs in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Short Takes

Williams Named Youth and Public Information Coordinator

 

KathleenBWilliams
Kathleen Williams

Kathleen Williams has been named Youth and Public Information Coordinator for the SWORWIB. Williams, most recently Business Services Representative at Workforce One of Butler County, has experience in public relations and journalism as well as workforce development. She previously worked for the SWORWIB as Public Information Officer in 2009-10, primarily focusing on Recovery Act funded initiatives.

 

"We're delighted to have someone with Kathleen Williams' experience and expertise as our Emerging Workforce Coordinator," says SWORWIB President/CEO, Sherry Kelley Marshall. "Her experience working with employers, combined with her deeper knowledge of workforce development initiatives in Southwest Ohio, will be an asset in her new role at the SWORWIB."

 

2010-2011 Annual Report

 

Packed with a bounty of information and photos, the SWORWIB 2010-2011 Annual Report is
published and posted online at www.superjobs.com/SWORWIB. It paints a portrait of the dynamic and collaborative efforts underway 2011AnRptcoverthrough the SWORWIB to match jobseekers with job assistance services that produce a skilled workforce for today's employers.  

 

"As our region continues to cope with high unemployment, we are determined that our commitment to our customers, providers and many partners will stay strong," Sherry Kelley Marshall, President and CEO, SWORWIB, said, referring to the quality of service the SuperJobs Center provides to the many who seek help there. "Our funding may be uncertain, but our commitment is not," Marshall said.

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