Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County held its Annual Workforce Governing and Workforce Development Board Awards Meeting on December 11, 2013 at the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens. At this meeting the members of the Workforce Development Board (WDB) along with the audience, heard the latest information impacting the county from our elected officials. This is by far the most attended meeting of the year. We were also excited to have the 3-4 year old Pre-K class from the downtown YWCA back to sing and entertain us. This is the third year they have been our opening act and as always they did not disappoint. 

This meeting is also a venue to thank some of the individuals and organizations that have helped make 2013 one for the record books! The list of awards and winners included:

• Employer of the Year: GE Manufacturing Solutions 
• Local Employer Award of Excellence - SouthStar, LLC
• Service to Community - Fort Worth Library *
• Youth Partnership of the Year - Cassata High School
• State UnSung Hero - Rich Froeschle
• Federal UnSung Hero - Tanya Howell
• Project of the Year - Connecting Education with Industry
• Community Partnership of the Year - Tarrant County College (TCC)
• WGB Partnership of the Year
• Tarrant County - Tarrant County Staff including: Rita Wester and Natalie Plunk
• City of Fort Worth - City of Fort Worth Staff including: Jason Lamers, Mary Ann Means, Beth Ellis, Misty James and the Mayors Security team 
• City of Arlington - City of Arlington Staff including: Angie Summers and Jennifer Wichmann 
• Collaboration of the Year - Tarrant Adult Education and Literacy Providers
• 2013 Vandergriff Award - Jean Wallace 

* Our nomination for the Service to Community Award at the Annual TWC Conference which was held in San Antonio the week prior to the Board meeting was selected as the winner among the
28 local boards. 

 

At Wednesday's meeting as part of the Year End Review we will be sharing numbers and outcomes from 2013. Here is a snapshot of that information:

Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County:

• met or Exceeded all 10 contracted outcome performance measures
• served 98,581 job seekers - That's one out of every 13 working age residents were served
• placed 68,494 job seekers in jobs  
• placed 43,809 unemployment claimants in jobs - Saving $205 million in possible unemployment pay outs
• served 6,636 Businesses - a 25% increase from last year. One out of every 6 employers in Tarrant County received some service
• posted 7,186 Jobs - 31% of all job postings were filled during the year
• trained 987 Customers to meet the hiring needs of local employers
• placed 756 homeless individuals in jobs
• placed 7,162 veterans in jobs
• placed 3,678 ex-offenders in jobs - a 100% increase from last year
• placed 3,117 public assistance recipients in jobs - A 12% increase from last year
• served 500 youth 
• helped 113 obtain a degree or certificate
• served 13,273 children in our child care program.   

TWC Strategic Planning Meeting

The Texas Workforce Commissioners are traveling the state asking area boards about industry priorities, targeted populations and/or special initiatives and what the Board areas see as opportunities and challenges.  They brought along key TWC staff to "listen" in anticipation of setting their priorities in a new plan.

Texas Business Conference

Partnership Between Community Colleges and Workforce Investment Boards

Executive Director, Judy McDonald was in Washington, D.C. in late January for the United States Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council Meeting. While in D.C. Judy was part of a panel of Workforce Investment Board experts from around the U.S. who spoke about their partnership with the local community colleges. As you may remember, Judy also took part in a similar discussion with TCC Chancellor, Erma Johnson Hadley in late 2013. We are very proud of our partnership with Tarrant County College, this is something Judy speaks very passionately about. 

The panel at WDC that Judy was a part of included:

• Judy McDonald, Executive Director - Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County
• Paul Haynes, Executive Director - Middle Tennessee Investment Board /NCAC
• Keith Lawing, President and CEO - Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas
• Mark Matke, CEO - Spokane Area Workforce Development Council
• Peter Callstrom, President and CEO - San Diego Workforce Partnership 

CTE and DFW Aerospace Cluster Meeting Update

Career Technology Education (CTE) Directors' Advisory Committee

The CTE Directors' Advisory Committee began the year hearing from two very different CTE programs. Arlington ISD shared the challenges they faced in getting the Fire Fighters CTE program approved followed by the success of the project. The program demonstrated that high school students have the capabilities to exceed the educator's expectations. 

Northwest ISD discussed the preparatory work being done to offer a new program called Virtual Enterprise International (VEI) that is going to be a "Game Changer" for the district. Students learn about business by creating and running their own businesses. VEI replicates all functions and demands of real businesses in both structure and practice. The CTE Director encouraged other ISD to consider implementing the same program. The March meeting will feature one of Irving ISD CTE programs. 

DFW Regional Aerospace Manufacturing Cluster

The Cluster's January meeting heard from two of the Work Groups, Outreach and Soft Skills. One of the areas the groups want to address is getting smaller to medium size company participation in the Work Groups. Another area to focus on is the re-branding of the Cluster.  Lisa Young and Laura Hopkins were going to discuss and get back to the Cluster after their discussion.  

Another highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the 2013 Vandergriff Award to Cluster Chair, Jean Wallace. Jean was unable to attend the December Board meeting, so we took over the beginning of the cluster meeting to honor Jean for all she does for the cluster. She was given this award for her service to the DFW Aerospace Manufacturing Cluster. In this month's items of interest packet you will find an article about Jean which was written by Lockheed and distributed Internationally. 

Left to right: Board Member, Jon Gustafson with Lockheed Martin, Judy Bell with Workforce Solutions, Jean Wallace with Lockheed Martin and Joe Maly with NDCC NanoMaterials Design & Commercialization Center 

YP Night at the Rodeo

Cowboys, Bull-riding, and more...that's what the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo is all about!  If you haven't been, you haven't really experienced Fort Worth. 

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):

• Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County partnered with Congressman Veasey's office to host a job fair on Friday, January 24, 2014 (this was previously scheduled for December 9th but was rescheduled due to inclement weather) from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Resource Connection Gym in Fort Worth. More than 60 employers were onsite recruiting and over 1,000 job seekers attended.  In addition, the mobile unit from Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas was on hand to provide computers so job seekers could register for www.workintexas.com and apply for jobs online the day of the event.  There were also sessions for job seekers including resume critiquing, a 2nd Chance workshop related to background or credit issues and networking strategies. 

• Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County and Arlingtonanswers.com will partner again for our spring job fair on Thursday, April 3, 2014. It will be held at the Grace Community Church in Arlington from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Registration is now open for employers. For more information, please contact Amber Gosser at amber.gosser@workforcesolutions.net

  or 817.804.4255. An Employer and Job Seeker flyer can be found in this month's items of interest packet as well as on our website. 

• The Alliance Texas Job Fair has been scheduled for Thursday, April 24, 2014 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.  For more information, please contact Janet Benton at janet.benton@workforcesolutions.net or 817.548.5260.

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