Twice a year we have joint meetings of our Workforce Development and Workforce Governing Board. These are always an audience favorite and well attended, as it gives attendees a chance to hear from our elected officials. 

At this month's meeting, the members of the Workforce Governing Board will update the Workforce Development Board and audience on initiatives they feel connect to our Keeping Tarrant County Working efforts.
  

 From Left to Right: Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley (WGB Chair), Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck. 

We recently welcomed one new Board members to our Workforce Development Board (WDB) since we last met. 

Dr. Lisa London is replacing Teresa Madden-Thompson on the Board.    

Dr. London is our Adult Basic Education (ABE) representative and was nominated by the University of Texas at Arlington. Her complete bio can be found in this month's packet. We are excited to welcome Dr. London to the group!

As we mentioned in last month's newsletter, Board Member, Lillie Biggins was recently inducted into the Texas Women's Hall of Fame. This was to celebrate accomplishments of those who have made significant contributions in areas such as business, education, philanthropy, military and public service. 

We honored Lillie at our June Board Meeting for this amazing accomplishment. Below is a picture from another celebration for Lillie. Congratulations again Lillie - we are so very proud of you and your accomplishments!

AISD Superintendent and Workforce Solutions Board Member, Dr. Marcelo Cavazos presented an update on the district. This was a "must hear" event for Arlington business leaders, faculty, administrators, parents and civic leaders as Dr. Cavazos discussed innovative programs and partnerships. A great job by Dr. Cavazos and his team!

From Left to Right: Board Members Charlie Galupi and Jennifer Limas along with Former Board Chair Don Ellis (photo credit: Judy McDonald)

We had a very informative June Board Meeting. Below are a few picture highlights from the meeting. 

Honoring Lillie Biggins for her recent induction into the Texas Woman's Hall of Fame.  
 

Thank you to this month's presenters Cynthia Fisher Miller and Betty Harvey for your report on the Marketing Efforts the Fort Worth Chamber has been handling for our Engineer Job Connect Program.  Pictured from Left to Right: Betty Harvey, Board Chair Buddy Puente, Cynthia Fisher Miller, Board Vice Chair Keith Muskrat and Board Member David Berzina. 

At the June Board Meeting we also celebrated our Partners for receiving a successful review on the 2014 Monitoring Report. We are very pleased that our contractors are successful not only in providing services but able to do so in a compliant manner. We recognized the following Partners:

C2 Global Professional Services, The Parenting Center, Dispute Resolution Services of North Texas, The Women's Center of Tarrant County, Family Pathfinders of Tarrant County , Guinn Healthcare Technologies, Easter Seals North Texas, Cassata High School and Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. 

The mission and performance of the Texas Workforce Commission are under review by the Legislature as required under the Texas Sunset Act. The Act provides that the Sunset Commission, composed of legislators and public members, periodically evaluate a state agency to determine if the agency is still needed and to explore ways to ensure that the agency's funds are well spent. Based on the recommendations of the Sunset Commission, the Texas Legislature ultimately decides whether an agency continues to operate into the future.

The Sunset review involves three steps. First, Sunset Commission staff will evaluate the Texas Workforce Commission and issue a report in November 2014 recommending solutions to problems found. A month or so later, the Sunset Commission will meet to hear public testimony on the agency and the recommendations of the Sunset staff. Based on public input and the Sunset staff report, the Sunset Commission will adopt recommendations for the full Legislature to consider when it convenes in January 2015.  

 In early August the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission (Commission) was in the DFW area.  Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas, North Central Texas and Tarrant County arranged for different partners to meet with the Commission while they were in town. All the visits went well and they are continuing to meet with other Board area's before wrapping up their review.  

This has definitely been the Summer of Job Fairs. Below you will find some information and pictures from the Job Fairs we completed as well as information about some BIG EVENTS coming up! 

• The 4th Annual Tarrant County Back 2 School Roundup and Resource Fair was held on Friday, July 18, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. at Globe Life Park. This event as always was well attended and staff distributed information on our services to potential job seekers.
• The 3rd Annual Mansfield Area Job Fair was held on Thursday, July 24, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at The Mansfield ISD Center for Preforming Arts. We had a great event with over 700 job seekers and 60+ employers attending. Employers were very excited with the candidates they saw and can't wait for us to do it again!

• The Tarrant County Back to School Roundup was held August 6, 2014 at Will Rogers from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. This was another awesome event that helped get the word out about the services we offer job seekers.
• The 18th Annual Government Procurement Conference was held August 6, 2014 at the Arlington Convention Center from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Amber Gosser attended and made lots of great Employer contacts.
• Southside Area Hiring Fair was held on Thursday, August 14, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the American Legion Hall Post 838. There were 31 employers in attendance and over 150 job seekers came through the doors. This was the first year for this event and we have already been asked to help coordinate next years!

• 13th Annual Asian Business Expo was held on Friday, August 15, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the Arlington Convention Center
• 6 Stones Operation Back to School Event was held on Saturday, August 16, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at First Baptist Church. This was a wonderful opportunity for our youth staff to connect with youth ages 16-24 and talk about the youth program.
• 6 Stones Operation Back to School Event was held on Saturday, August 23, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at 6 Stones Campus West. This was another opportunity for youth staff to meet with individuals about the services they can provide.

Upcoming Job Fairs / Events (more information can be found on the website calendar):

• AllianceTexas Fall Job Fair on Thursday, September 11, 2014 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at Texas Motor Speedway
• UTA Fall 2014 Job Fair on Wednesday, September 17, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Maverick Activities Center
• ArlingtonAnswers.com Fall Job Fair - Wednesday, October 1, 2014, The Church on Rush Creek Registration is now open!
• Governor's Small Business Forum on Wednesday, October 29, 2014 at the Arlington Convention Center - More information will be shared as we get it.
• Hiring Red, White and You! Job Fair - Thursday, November 13, 2014 at Globe Life Park - Registration for Employers has opened and will be followed shortly by an opportunity for job seekers to pre-register for the event. 

It is hard to believe it but another Summer is behind us! We are so thankful to all of the wonderful employers who gave our youth a chance and a place to work this summer. This was a wonderful learning experience due to the efforts of the Employers who participated! It was also a great way to learn about your company and the work you do in Tarrant County. Staff worked hard to match youth into positions that matched their skill sets. As a result of their hard work and dedication in this program, many youth earned the valuable skills needed to be an asset to any employer in Tarrant County. We are happy to report that we served 143 youth this summer with a work experience position. 

 Our Youth WORKS Job Fair was held on August 6, 2014 at the Resource Connection Gym from 9:00 a.m. to 12 noon. The job fair had over 170 job seekers who met with 15 employers. A great day sharing with today's youth all the services we have to offer them and their parents.

Want to Learn More?? 

If you would like to know how to you can get involved in our Youth WORKS program please contact Tabitha Smith at tabitha.smith@workforcesolutions.net or visit www.workforcesolutions.net.

We love to hear success stories from our partners. Thank you to Cassata for sharing such a wonderful story with us. Below read about Maria and her inspiring story!

Maria was one of the first students to start at Cassata as a true freshman. In her four years of high school, she took advantage of all that Cassata and Workforce had to offer and grew tremendously both academically and socially. She served as a Cassata Ambassador and participated in Student Council. Through Cassata Connections, she had a wonderful mentor, met often with TCU's GO Center, and job shadowed a surgeon.

Maria's dedication to her school work paid off when she graduated as the valedictorian of the spring 2014 class. Thanks in large part to Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, she is the first person in her family to graduate from high school, and she will be the first to go to college. Maria began taking dual-enrollment classes at TCC her junior year at Cassata thanks to the generous support of The Morris Foundation. She will begin as a full-time student this month with 12 college credit hours under her belt. She is well on her way to achieving her goal of working in the medical field. We are proud of all that Maria has accomplished and know that she will do great things.

We are lucky to have such a good working relationship with our area Chambers of Commerce. They support us in so many ways and on so many initiatives. We are thankful for those partnerships. 

Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce - 132nd Annual Meeting & Luncheon - June 13, 2014 

One of the Chamber's largest events of the year, the annual meeting program recognizes Chamber investors, board members and officers, and takes a look at national trends that impact Fort Worth.

From Left to Right: Board Member Carlos De La Torre, Workforce Center Managing Director Gaylyn Dieringer, Board Chair Buddy Puente and Board Vice Chair Keith Muskrat (photo credit: Judy McDonald).  

TAWB / EDC Conference - August 18-20, 2014 

The Texas Association of Workforce Boards (TAWB) and the Executive Directors Council (EDC) had their Strategic Planning Session this month in San Antonio. The meetings were very productive.  

The group was fortunate to have a few special guests join them for the meeting. Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission, Andres Alcantar and Commissioner Representing Business Hope Andrade addressed the group. Ron Painter, Executive Director of the National Association of Workforce Boards was also in attendance to discuss the latest with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). A copy of the full agenda can be found in this month's packet. 

Thank you to Keith Muskrat and Leslie Sisk for attending those meetings.

Each year Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County conducts a Budget Workshop. This meeting is open to Board Members and other partners to provide budget details to interested parties. Thank you to Mark Barberena, Estrus Tucker, Carlos De La Torre and Keith Muskrat for joining us. 

 

During his tenure as mayor of North Richland Hills, Charles Scoma began working at both the local and national levels as an advocate for responsible fatherhood.  As Workforce Solutions began exploring expanding our outreach to noncustodial parents through our fatherhood initiative in early 2000, we began a partnership with Mayor Scoma's grassroots efforts, resulting in the formation of the Tarrant County Fatherhood Initiative. 

Since that time, Mayor Scoma has been a passionate and committed leader to local efforts to enhance the advocacy and promotion of responsible fatherhood in Tarrant County.  He has led the work of the Tarrant County Fatherhood Coalition serving as its Chairman since it was formally organized in 2001.   Under his leadership the Coalition has gained State and national recognition, including an invitation to the White House Champions of Change event in 2012.  This month he is graciously stepping down as Chairman to allow new leadership to continue the important work of the Fatherhood Coalition. Chairman-elect, Bruce Douglas, a parent education facilitator with The Parenting Center, will assume the role of Coalition Chairman in September.  Mayor Scoma will continue to serve on the Executive Committee of the Coalition as its immediate past Chairman.

Thank you Mayor Scoma for all your hard work! 

A final farewell to the Mother of Aerospace 

As we reported at the June Board Meeting Judy Bell, Workforce Initiatives Manager but better known as the Mother of Aerospace to those in the industry has announced her retirement. On Thursday, August 21, 2014 we celebrated Judy's 16 years with Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County. For a majority of her tenure at Workforce Solutions Judy worked on and helped develop the DFW Aerospace / Advanced Manufacturing Cluster (hint: why she is known as the mother of Aerospace). We will miss Judy around the office but hope she will come to visit!

Elma Kirkwood, who works with our Engineer Job Connect Program was awarded a sponsorship award from the Rising Stars Youth Leadership Academy for her involvement as a Leadership guest speaker encouraging youth to become good leaders. She spoke to the group about how to present themselves for Job Search, how to interview and write a resume. The award was presented on August 12, 2014 by Daphne Brookins with The City of Fort Worth at Fort Worth Botanical Garden.  

Congratulations Elma!
 

Board staff member, Jann Miles, had the opportunity to present labor market information and career interest tools to the counselors of our regional DARS (Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services) in Tarrant and Dallas counties. DARS is a very important partner in our workforce system and we were very glad to get the opportunity to meet with their great counselors.

Labor market information and career tools were also presented at a meeting of regional secondary school counselors at the Region 11 Service Center. Under House Bill 5, students will need a certain number of hours in a career concentration. These concentrations are called Endorsements which will appear on the student's high school diploma.

Finally, we also had the opportunity of providing this information to the school counselors and Career and Technology teachers of the Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD in their new Career and Technology Building off Central Drive and 121. It is beautiful, state-of-the-art building housing multiple Career disciples. We congratulation HEB on this great new addition to their school district.

Board staff, Mervil Johnson, who serves as Project Director for Workforce Solution's FACT Fatherhood program has been invited to participate on a panel for the Office of Family Assistance's (OFA) TANF Families 2gether: Experts Roundtable that will take place in Washington, DC on August 21-22, 2014. The purpose of this working meeting is to bring together policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and thought leaders to discuss strategies for connecting entire TANF  families - including noncustodial fathers, both parents in two-parent families, and adolescents "aging out" of TANF services -  with education, training, and employment. 

Things are moving along quite nicely with the improvements to our website. Keep checking back as we are always improving. Next up we will be improving the way we share data with you! This is something we are often asked for and we are going to make it easier for you to get. If you have any suggestions please feel free to use our new contact us feature!  Also we have plans that we hope to unveil soon on how we can better share our partner's information...... Stay Tuned!

I would like to call a few important items of our website to your attention:

Calendar of Events: Please make sure you check the calendar before meetings as it will have the most up-to-date meeting and location information including the agendas for our Board and Committee meetings. Also our Board Packets will be shared one week prior to the meeting.  All the latest information on the Job Fairs we are participating in will also be listed. New item added: Besides all the wonderful Job Fairs we participate in we are also listing all of the Hiring Events that are going on at the centers. If you know someone looking for employment please point them towards our calendar!

Sign Up for Workforce Alerts: You will want to make sure and sign up for our Workforce Alerts... to stay on top of all of our Latest News. Some of the items you will see, include: Latest Labor Market Information, Our Newsletter, Calendar Changes and Special Events. Believe me you do not want to miss it!

Connect with us on Social Media: We are excited to connect with you through: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. You will find direct links to all of our social media pages at the top of our home page as well as at the bottom of this newsletter. 

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

Child Care Management Services (CCMS) is offering child care enrollment opportunities to our customers and it has exhausted our wait list!! Please help us spread the word within our community!! If you know of someone who needs some assistance with child care please share.  Thank you for helping us get this message out!! This information can also be found on our website. 

In June, the U.S. Conference of Mayors was held in Dallas, Texas. We feel very fortunate to have two Mayors who are so active with this group. Both participated in sessions and of course showed off parts of Tarrant County when the group visited the area. 

Mayor Cluck welcoming the U.S. Conference of Mayors group to the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington!

Mayor Price participating in discussions during the U.S. Conference of Mayors. 

Judge Whitley will be the featured speaker at The Fort Worth Chamber's annual State of the County luncheon on September 4, 2014.

Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley will inform the crowd about transportation projects, new building construction throughout the County, public health initiatives and higher education, among other county priorities. 

 Workforce Solutions is proud to have a table at this event! 

Gracie Vega with the Gaylord Texan and Paul McCallum with the Visitors and Conventions Bureau recently  helped welcome Jim Quinn, the new General Manager at the Gaylord.