ACTION ALERT:

Please call your State Representative TODAY, and ask them to support amendments that restore funding for job training for youth and adults in the FY15 budget.

House W&M Budget Slashes Funding for Job Training

The House Ways and Means Committee released its FY15 budget last week, and there are substantial cuts to training and employment programs for youth and adults.

What you can do before April 28:

1) Review the Workforce Solutions Group's budget chart

2) Contact your state representatives and ask them to support amendments increasing these line items and to attend the budget caucuses for Labor and Workforce amendments and Education amendments.

3) Two specific amendments to look for: Rep. Conroy has filed amendment 1144 in support of YouthWorks and Rep. Peisch has filed amendment 487 in support of School to Career Connecting Activities.

The House budget will be debated on April 28th so please contact your Reps before then!

Find your legislator's contact information here.

Fact Sheet on School to Career Connecting Activities

WSG FY2015 State Budget Chart: House Ways and Means edition

Job Training Amendment included in Transportation Bond Bill

The Transportation Bond Bill released by the conference committee last night includes 300 Pre-Apprenticeship training slots a year to ensure a diverse pipeline of workers.

This is a great victory and helps ensure that more MA residents will have access to these well paying career ladder jobs. Our state will be investing $13 billion in road and bridge repairs over the next five-ten years. Your advocacy has helped open the door for opportunity youth, people of color, and women gaining access to these good jobs!

Many thanks to our legislative champions!

Senators Donnelly, Keenan, Jehlan, Wolf, Candaras, Rosenberg, Eldridge, Creem, Spilka, Dorcena-Forry, DiDomenico, Chang-Diaz.

Representatives Garballey, Keefe, Cullinane, Malia, Conroy, Rogers, Donahue, Toomey, Hecht, Andrews, Gordon, Livingston, Sciortino, Provost, O'Day, Honan, Cronin, DiZoglio, Cabral, Sanchez, Smizik, Vega.

And thanks to Leadership and Conference Committee members for supporting the amendment: Senate President Murray, Speaker DeLeo, Chairmans Brewer, Dempsey, McGee and Straus.

Click here to read more. Thank your legislators here.

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SkillWorks is generously supported by:

Bank of America Foundation, BNY Mellon, the Boston Foundation, City of Boston - Neighborhood Jobs Trust, Clowes Fund, Inc., Frank W. and Carl S. Adams Charitable Trust, Jacobs Foundation, JP Morgan Chase, Ludcke Foundation, Mabel Louise Riley Foundation, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, State Street Foundation, U.S. Department of Labor Green Jobs Innovation Fund, through Jobs for the Future

SkillWorks and MassBudget Launch Jobs and Workforce Budget Browser

In a well-attended event hosted by Senator Dan Wolf at the State House on April 4, SkillWorks and MassBudget teamed up to launch the Jobs and Workforce Budget Browser.

This new online tool allows users to read short program descriptions and see historical and proposed funding for each of the state's investments in workforce training, youth development and adult education.

The tool has just been updated with House W&M budget numbers and should be a useful resource as we move through the FY15 budget season.

SkillWorks would like to thank the organizers and speakers who made the launch event a success:

Secretary Rachel Kaprielian; Senator Dan Wolf; Senator Ken Donnelly; Representative Joseph Wagner; Nancy Snyder of Commonwealth Corporation; Alicia Sasser Modestino of the New England Public Policy Center; Noah Berger of MassBudget; Jacob Robinson of YouthBuild Boston; MJ Ryan of Partners HealthCare; and Michael Munday of Arwood Machine.