SkillWorks: Partners for a Productive Workforce successfully promotes workforce development in the city of Boston due to a community of non-profit agencies, employers, philanthropic organizations and participants. It's a priority for us to keep you informed on the work of the initiative so that together we can provide creative leadership for and solutions to our region's workforce challenges. |
Meet the Hotel Training Center Workforce Partnership
The core of Skillworks's efforts in creating new, innovative approaches to  workforce development is in our workforce partnerships. In the next few newsletters, we will introduce you to our Phase II partnerships and the employees, businesses, and agencies we work with everyday.
The Hotel Training Center (HTC) partnership provides skills training and job placement services for both under-employed and unemployed individuals seeking entry into the hospitality industry and incumbent hotel workers seeking some skills upgrades or advancement in the industry. Founded in 2004, Boston Education, Skills & Training Corp. (BEST Corp.) is the lead partner of the HTC with other partners including Unite Here Local 26, Hotel Employers, the City of Boston, Commonwealth of Massachusetts and non-profit community-based organizations. Participants are trained at the HTC, a simulated workplace setting located in downtown Boston, and they receive industry-recognized certifications upon completion of the program.
 SkillWorks has funded the expansion of the HTC over five years in order to increase training capacity, add individualized career coaching services and enhance educational offerings to satisfy the critical demand for well-trained employees in Boston's sizable hospitality sector. SkillWorks funding is enabling BEST Corp. to train unemployed and underemployed workers for positions starting at $15.43 per hour with a comprehensive benefit package, and to offer a comprehensive career advancement program for incumbent workers wanting to advance in one of the three HTC targeted career pathways: Culinary, Food & Beverage Service, and Guest Services.
For more information on the Hotel Training Center, please contact Rachel Ravan Bjork, director of workforce development, by e-mail at rbjork@hoteltrainingcenter.org or by phone at 617-542-1177 ext. 204.
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Guan Hua Cao: Hotel Training Center Success Story
Like many of the individuals who have participated in the HTC's training programs, Guan Hua Cao was looking for a way to, in his own words, "find a better job." Newly arrived to Boston, Guan had been working in a supermarket, bagging groceries for $8 an hour before taking classes at the Hotel Training Center.
Cao participated in the HTC's ESOL Room Attendant Training where he  learned hands-on housekeeping, computer, interviewing and English skills. As part of his class, Guan spent two weeks job shadowing full time at two partner hotels. After graduation, Guan continued with "English for Hospitality" courses at HTC. HTC offers five levels of English language courses, in both day and evening classes. Additionally, the partnership provides training in culinary, food server and computer skills, as well as GED and citizenship classes.
The classes and career counseling that Cao got at HTC led to a better job for him at higher wages. He is now working as a housekeeper at the Sheraton Boston at a hourly wage nearly double what he was making before and with generous benefits. As a union member receiving health and welfare benefits, he has access to all classes at the Hotel Training Center. "The classes are good, really helpful," says Cao. Guan continues to take English for Hospitality classes and an Advanced Computer class, and hopes to enroll in a Banquet Server training in the spring. His five year goal is to become a supervisor.
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Copley Square Hotel: Training is Key to Improving Customer Service
 The Copley Square Hotel, which re-opened after remodeling in January 2009, is an employer partner of the Hotel Training Center. The hotel's leadership has recognized how important the kind of training the workforce partnership provides is to their business model. The boutique hotel seeks to provide four-star service and believes that having well-trained workers is key to providing that kind of customer-oriented assistance.
"The LCD screens, the music, the furnishings will attract a customer the first time, but it is the service a hotel provides that makes a customer loyal," says John Maibach, General Manager at the Copley Square Hotel. "And good service is all about the training."
According to Maibach, the SkillWorks-funded Hotel Training Center is providing associates who are up to speed on the kind of training the hotel management needs. "There is a decreased time in training, and less hand-holding of these employees, which has a positive financial impact," Maibach says.
Additionally, the hotel has a higher retention rate with HTC-trained workers, between 90 and 95 percent. Maibach's employees have participated in initial hospitality training as well as ESOL and computer classes.
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Governor Patrick Announces New Americans Agenda, Includes Workforce Development Recommendations
On Tuesday, November 17, 2009, Governor Patrick released his New Americans Agenda (NAA), the most comprehensive immigrant integration study in the U.S. Loh-Sze Leung, SkillWorks director, was part of the Governor's Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants that helped develop the policy recommendations contained in the report. The NAA contains 131 recommendations gleaned from six public meetings across the state and a host of policy meetings. These recommendations are designed to support the full participation of all immigrants in the civic and economic life of the Commonwealth and to build on the strengths and talents immigrants bring to the Commonwealth. Among those recommendations pertaining to adult education and workforce are: - Continue to support ABE and ESOL, with a special focus on vocational and contextualized ESOL for career advancement
- Improve access to re-licensing for immigrants and refugees with professional degrees from their home country
- Continue to support for the Workforce Training Fund and the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund, and maintenance of statistics on immigrants being served through these existing funding vehicles.
- Urge all regional Workforce Investment Boards to more closely collaborate with immigrant-serving organizations in their communities
- Work toward increasing access to affordable child care to help immigrants and low-income populations access job opportunities
- Create better access to career pathways for immigrants by:
- Maintaining statistics on the number of foreign-born clients being served in career and employment programs
- Develop and promulgate best practices for One Stop Career Centers for serving immigrant populations
- Improve availability and access to apprenticeship programs for immigrants
- Continue to provide work supports and supportive services to immigrants enrolled in job training programs
At the November 17 release of this agenda, the Governor asked a taskforce to come up with an implementation plan for the NAA over the next 90 days. |
Policy Update - English Works Campaign
The new MA Learn at Work Program has been launched! This new $1.4 million fund will provide grants for workplace ABE/ESOL
The English Works Campaign is partnering with statewide and local groups in regional roll-out events to provide businesses, unions, ABE/ESOL providers, immigrant organizations and others with information and success stories. The goal of these events is to introduce the fund to stakeholders, build excitement, and encourage use of the Fund. SkillWorks' Workforce Solutions Group co-sponsored events in Boston and on the Cape.
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Introducing The New SkillWorks Web Site
SkillWorks is pleased to introduce our new Web site (www.skill-works.org). The site includes information on both Phase I and Phase II of our Workforce Partnerships, as well as resources for anyone interested in workforce development in Boston and beyond. Visit our new site to find RFPs and evaluation reports as well as news on seminars, webinars, and other SkillWorks-related events.
It is still a work in progress, so please excuse any mistakes you may find. But if you have comments or corrections regarding the Web site, please feel free to drop us a note at skillworks@tbf.org.
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Photos in this newsletter are courtesy of the Hotel Training Center. |
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| Director's Remarks
It's great to be back after some time spent on maternity leave this summer and fall, and it's especially wonderful to see all of the work that's happened with our grantees.
Demand has been overwhelming for JVS's expanded pre-college preparation and college coaching services through the SkillWorks-funded Healthcare Training Institute. Northeastern University has launched two new community partnerships that provide a bridge from GED to EMT training. BEST Corp has new pre-GED and GED programs for hospitality industry employees and is working on developing a new professional guest services/customer service pathway. Year Up has had a fruitful year of planning for expanded post-placement and post-secondary education services. Finally, the Workforce Solutions Group has successfully supported the launch of a new Learn at Work program that will provide funding for ABE/ESOL at the workplace and advocated for $5 million of ARRA discretionary funds to be allocated to the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund.
This issue is the first in a series focusing on the work of our grantees. This month we are pleased to feature the work of BEST Corp and the Hotel Training Center. I hope you enjoy learning more about this partnership, and as always, I welcome your feedback and questions.
Happy Holidays!
Loh-Sze Leung
Director
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SkillWorks Funders
- Anonymous
- The Boston Foundation
- Chorus Foundation
- The City of Boston's Neighborhood Jobs Trust
- The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- The Garfield Foundation
- The Hyams Foundation
- The Clowes Fund, Inc
- The Jessie B. Cox Charitable Trust
- Microsoft Corporation
- The National Fund for Workforce Solutions
- The Nellie Mae Education Foundation
- The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- State Street Foundation
- Surdna Foundation
- United Way of Massachusetts
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SkillWorks Partnerships
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Healthcare Training Institute
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Community Health Worker Initiative of Boston - Emergency Medical Careers Partnership
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Hotel Training Center
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Workforce Solutions Group - Year Up Financial Services Partnership
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Upcoming Calendar Items
Thursday, January 28, 2010, 2:30-4:30 pm
SkillWorks Funders Group Meeting
Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
The DCU Center, Worcester - Save the Date! Commonwealth Workforce Coalition's annual conference
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FY2011 Budget Advocacy Alert
Preparations for the state's 2011 budget are already underway, with many hearings scheduled for the month of December.
SkillWorks and the Workforce Solutions Group presented testimony at Boston hearing on December 7 moderated by Interim Secretary of Labor Nancy Snyder. We encourage you to attend one of the upcoming sessions in your area. |
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