Capitol Visits

Team Arlington to Austin Trip lead by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce:

Arlington and HEB chambers visited with legislators, agency officials and business trade associations during the Team Arlington trip to Austin January 29-31, 2013. Workforce Governing Board Member, Mayor Robert Cluck and Executive Director, Judy McDonald made the jaunt to Austin to join in on this important trip. 

Water supply, transportation, infrastructure, health care and education, took up the majority of the conversations as chamber members and city, workforce and school officials met with all eight members of the legislative delegation who represent Arlington in the Texas House and Senate.

The groups schedule was packed full of meetings. They heard from: 

• Dan Stultz, Executive Director, Texas Hospital Association
• Representative Chris Turner
• Senator Dan Patrick, Chairman, Senate Education Committee 
• Senator Wendy Davis
• Representative Diane Patrick
• Representative Jonathan Strickland
• Senator Kelly Hancock
• Senator Brian Birdwell 
• Larry Temple, Executive Director, Texas Workforce Commission

Tarrant County Days at the Capitol led by the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce:

Texas' 83rd legislative session began in January and the Coalition of Tarrant County Chambers put together a group of leaders from Tarrant County to take a trip to our Capitol. The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce took the lead on the Annual Event called Tarrant County Days at the Capitol. February 6 - 7, 2013, a group of over 150 hit the Capitol, including a group from the Fort Worth Chamber's young professionals group called Vision Fort Worth. Board Member, Mike Doyle and Executive Director, Judy McDonald were present for the two day event.  The agenda included: A reception honoring the members of the 83rd Legislature held the evening of Wednesday, February 6, 2013.  This was a wonderful opportunity to converse informally with state senators and representatives about issues of concern to our area. The next morning, a breakfast recognizing the members of the Fort Worth and Tarrant County State Legislative delegation was held.

Many familiar faces joined the group for this important event including Workforce Governing Board Members: Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley and Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price. 

Vision Fort Worth arranged a one day trip which coincided with the Tarrant County Days. Board staff Renee Parker and Lacey Douglas attended this informative trip. This one day trip to the Texas State Capitol was designed to give attendees the opportunity to learn more about their state government and how it impacts Fort Worth locally.

The Vision Fort Worth trip included a luncheon with guest speaker, Ross Ramsey the Executive Editor of the Texas Tribune, a Tour of the Capitol, visits with local representatives, a debriefing with Senator Wendy Davis and concluded with the reception honoring the members of the Legislature. 

Texas Business Conference

Workforce Presents:

Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County was asked to be a part of two important events/presentations over the last month.

January 28, 2013 - STEM Workforce Discovery Tour - Dallas, Texas. 

STEM Connector and the Smithsonian Institute - National Science Resource Center (NSRC) hosted the 2013 National Discovery Tours - Exploring Education and Workforce.  Educate Texas partnered with STEM Connector and The Smithsonian National Science Resource Center to host one of four K-12 + Higher Education +Workforce Development Discovery Tours during the month of January. The purpose of the tour(s) is to learn what successful workforce/industry IHE collaborations or models look like in states around the country. The Smithsonian's NSRC is focused on bringing best practices in K-16 STEM education to schools, teachers, community and industry partners across the country and world. They are beginning to explore exemplary practices/partnerships at the workforce end of the STEM Education continuum and would like to visit with key players in Texas to learn what is working in our state. They plan to document the best practices in a national report. The Discovery Tour will stop in 3 other states: Idaho, Arizona, and Washington.

This was a great opportunity to showcase public agency, K-12, higher education, workforce, economic development, and industry partners and the ways they are working together to meet the workforce needs of the regions/communities- particularly around STEM in Texas.

Tarrant County was represented with presentations by Tarrant County College and a Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County panel which consisted of: Judy McDonald and Judy Bell from Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County along with Chris Sollecito from Bell Helicopter and Karen Nolen-Austin from the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and covered: 

• key components of the Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County workforce-education model 
• challenges and solutions

February 6, 2013 - 2013 Economic Summit - Fort Worth Botanic Gardens.

The United Way of Tarrant County presented the 2013 Economic Summit, which provided Tarrant County nonprofits with information to help them navigate through these challenging economic times, including:

• Economic development efforts in Tarrant County;
• What local families need to get by - and to get ahead;
• How local providers characterize the outlook for our region;
• Workforce trends impacting local families.

The event was kicked off by Board Member, Tim McKinney, President and CEO of the United Way of Tarrant County and included the following speakers:

• David Berzina, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce
• Frances Deviney, Center for Public Policy Priorities, Austin
• Emily Ryder, Dallas Federal Reserve Bank
• Judy McDonald, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County

• The Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) just launch a major new web information series called "Better Texas." Part of this public information series is a web tool called, "Family Budgets," which helps families estimate what it takes to make ends meet in each of Texas' 26 Metro Areas.  A family enters the area they live,  number of adults in the family, number of children, whether they have health care, and other factors. The tool calculates the amount of wage per hour, that family needs to get by. CPPP developed this tool because the current method of measuring poverty does not take into account where individuals are living or modern family expenses. Here is the link: http://familybudgets.org/

• The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas has a program called, Building Wealth, which is a beginner's guide to securing their financial future. Building Wealth is a personal finance education resource that can be used individually or in the classroom to help young people develop a plan for building personal wealth. It presents an overview of personal wealth-building strategies that includes setting financial goals, budgeting, saving and investing, managing debt, and understanding credit reports and credit scores. Now, there is an app called, "Building Wealth," available for Android, Apple and Blackberry smartphones and tablets. Here's a link to the FRB of Dallas web-page on building wealth: http://www.dallasfed.org/cd/wealth/mobi.cfm   

Save the Date - 2013 Corporate Spelling Bee

Patterned after adult Spelling Bees held across the USA to support other Literacy Coalitions, the Corporate Spelling Bee has taken on its own flavor, with local "celebrities" who have become regular attractions at this annual event. Wordcaller Gary Cumbie keeps the spellers (and the audience) on their toes as he leads them through the increasingly difficult words, including some rather colorful definitions that may or may not be found in a standard Webster's dictionary. Emcee Jill "J.R." Labbe keeps the pace moving throughout the event with her well known charm and ever-sharp wit, and our "armed" timekeeper makes sure no speller goes past our strict time limit.

But the stars of the event of are the spellers themselves, who study for weeks in advance of the event (or so they say) to prepare for the rigorous competition, and then compete in teams of three to show the community that they can spell words such as vinaigrette,mayonnaise and connoisseur!

The fun of the event does not overshadow the seriousness of the cause we are there to support. With more than 200,000 adults in our community who cannot read, write or communicate at a level high enough maintain a living wage, the Tarrant Literacy Coalition is committed to improving the quality and increasing the quantity of adult literacy services available in and around Tarrant County.

Working with almost 600 literacy instructors and more than 170 local literacy programs in the past four years, the Tarrant Literacy Coalition has provided training and technical support to those who deliver adult literacy services. This work directly impacts students who are working to improve their ability to read and write, learning new math skills, preparing for the GED exam and learning to speak, read and write English. The funding provided by the supporters of the Corporate Spelling Bee is critical to this work.

The next event will be held, Tuesday, April 16, 2013, 6:00 p.m. at the TCU Brown-Lupton University Union ballroom. Great fun, great people, great program! Please see this month's Items of Interest packet for sponsorship information. 

For more information, contact Tracey Cummings who sits on the Literacy Coalition Board by phone at 817.413.4463 or by email at tracey.cummings@workforcesoltions.net.

Mayor Betsy Price and her group got into the fun last year!

Cassata Update

On December 13, 2012, eight students who are part of our Youth program, walked the stage at Cassata High School's winter graduation ceremony.  Five of these students were the first in their family to graduate from high school; four had dropped out of school prior to enrolling at Cassata; all but one tested below a ninth grade level in reading and/or math; and three of these students have children of their own. 

In spite of the tremendous obstacles facing these young people, five of the graduates are currently attending classes at Tarrant County College and one is enrolled in a dental assistant program. Spencer Taylor (pictured below), one of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) graduates, is now enrolled full-time at Tarrant County College and participating in the ROTC program at TCU. The partnership with Cassata and Workforce Solutions played a crucial role in helping these young people reach their potential and achieve their goals!

Cassata High School's Winter Graduation Class. Congratulations to all of these rising stars! 

Another Accolade for FACT

Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County was notified this month by the Office of Family Assistance/Health & Human Services that our FACT (Fathers and Children Together) Responsible Fatherhood project has been selected for participation in a sustainability initiative targeting current grantees that have shown significant promise in their program implementation. Only ten of the new responsible fatherhood programs funded this year by the Department of Health and Human Services were selected for this additional resource and training designed to explore ways of continuing responsible fatherhood programs beyond federal funding. The Workforce Solutions project, FACT is funded through the end of program year 2014.

All costs related to this special assistance will be covered by OFA/HHS. The first phase of the sustainability training requires participation by three representatives from Workforce Solutions at an initial training and orientation March 4-6, 2013 in Washington, D.C. Representing Workforce Solutions in this endeavor will be Board member Estrus Tucker along with Board Staff Mervil Johnson, FACT Project Director and Debby Kratky, Capacity Building & Training Director. Estrus Tucker has agreed to serve as Board liaison for Workforce Solution's fatherhood initiatives and has facilitated strategic planning sessions for the Fatherhood Coalition of Tarrant County.  

For additional information about FACT or this initiative, please contact FACT Project Director, Mervil Johnson at mervil.johnson@workforcesolutions.net.

A new video clip about FACT has been uploaded to YouTube. Click on the link below to learn more about the FACT program in Tarrant County.  Feel free to share this link with others in the community. http://youtu.be/AX8YiaG5U7I 

More information about the FACT Orientations can be found in this month's Items of Interest page and also on our website. 

Job Fair Update

Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County is involved in many job fairs throughout Tarrant County on a monthly basis. All job fairs that we take part in can be found on our website under the calendar of events. More detailed information about the Job Fairs that we help host can be found on a new page on our website called Job Fair Information. Here is an update on some of the most recent job fairs we participated (or will participate in):

• A veteran-only targeted hiring fair was held for GE Manufacturing Solutions at Fort Worth Veteran Industries on January 31, 2013.  The GE plant, which has now been open for several months, continues to recruit and hire for assemblers, welders and test engineers.  They enlisted the help of Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County and Fort Worth Veteran Industries to host the event and invite our veteran job seekers to attend.  More than 140 of veterans throughout the community attended and GE was very pleased with the applicants they spoke to.

• Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County and Fort Worth Veteran Industries will partner again on February 20, 2013 to host a targeted hiring fair for Trinity Industries.  It will be held at the same location as the GE event, 101 New York Avenue in Fort Worth.  They are hiring for their Fort Worth, Saginaw, and Dallas locations.  They have a large variety of job positions from clerical and janitorial to heavy equipment and construction.  This event is open to all job seekers!

• Our spring job fair, in partnership with Arlingtonanswers.com, Grace Community Church and The City of Arlington, is scheduled for April 25, 2013, at The Bob Duncan Center. Thank you to the City of Arlington for donating the space. A flyer for this event can be found on our website as well as in the Items of Interest.  

Tarrant County Jobs Map

Social Media Update

I encourage all of you to "Like" of "Follow" these pages and suggest them to others! 

Website Calendar