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October 2013
Waiting for January
Next budget deadline looms

With Congress agreeing in a last-minute deal Oct. 16 to extend government funding through Jan. 15 at sequestration levels, and to extend the debt limit until Feb. 7, operations at the SuperJobs Center will continue uninterrupted. Services at the SuperJobs Center as well as services provided through our contracted youth vendors, both funded through the federal Workforce Investment Act, were not affected by the two-week government shutdown, but might have been if no agreement had been reached. Some One Stops around the country shut down or curtailed services during the shutdown. 

Still, there is no assurance this won't happen again in January, noted Sherry Kelley Marshall, President/CEO of the SWORWIB. "Congress cannot seem to get past this brinksmanship," she said. "This lurching from crisis to crisis has a real impact on our ability to make any longer-range plans to better serve our customers.

"We are grateful to our board members, friends and colleagues who reached out to Congress to find solutions," Marshall continued. "In particular, we thank Margaret Hulbert of the United Way and Jessie Hogg Leslie from the National Skills Coalition."
Construction Advocate program moves to ACI
 
After five years and more than 1,000 middle school kids learning about careers in construction -- as well as how to read a blueprint and use a hammer -- the Middle School Construction Advocate program has moved to a new home. Created in 2009 and managed by the SWORWIB since then, the program is now being overseen by construction industry leader Allied Construction Industries.

 

Longtime volunteer Ernie Huddleston of G/C Contracting works with a student at the Academy of World Languages school.

The program, funded primarily by the Spirit of Construction (SOC) Foundation, began as a pilot to help generate interest in construction careers among middle school children. Anne Mitchell, Construction Industry Advocate, developed a hands-on curriculum that also encouraged the students to continue in school, focus on math and reading, and pursue post-secondary education and training, including apprenticeships, once they graduate from high school. The program included after-school Construction Clubs at two schools each quarter and a three-week summer Construction Camp.

 

The program was funded by SOC for public schools and also SC Ministry Foundation for Price Hill Catholic schools for two years.

 

Said Messer's Mark Luegering, President of Spirit of Construction, "The Construction Advocate program grew and thrived under the SWORWIB's leadership and with Anne's dedication to developing the program in so many schools. It was important to us that the program continue to grow in the hands of a construction organization committed to its mission."

 

ACI, a nonprofit trade association comprised of approximately 580 member companies that employ more than 30,000 individuals throughout Greater Cincinnati, bid for the program through an RFP process. Terry Phillips, Executive Director of ACI and a member of the SWORWIB, said that she was pleased ACI had been selected. "We are committed to supporting Anne Mitchell and the Spirit Board of Directors to grow further a program that has received national awards," she said.

 

This semester, Mitchell is holding Construction Clubs at the Academy of World Languages in Evanston and Holmes Middle School in Covington.

Area 13 receives Rapid Response funds 
 

Area 13, Cincinnati and Hamilton County, just received $300,000 in Rapid Response funds from the State of Ohio to address a recent series of employer layoffs in the county.

 

The Rapid Response funds will go to serve workers displaced in these recent downsizings: Bank of America, 100 layoffs; Sears Repair & Carry, 50 layoffs; Lincoln College of Technology, 30 layoffs, and PMC Group, 60 layoffs. Rapid Response Coordinator Denise Becker says the funds will be used to provide work readiness and job search assistance; retraining, and help connecting to new employers.

 

President Marshall also negotiated with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services for $650,000 to fund Individual Training Accounts and On-the-Job Training Accounts for Area 13. This will help soften the impact of a 26% decrease in formula funding for the current program year, the biggest hit of any metro area in Ohio.
Grant to help JCG foster care students 
 

Congratulations to Cincinnati Youth Collaborative's Jobs for Cincinnati Graduates program, which was awarded $10,000 to provide stipends to foster care youth participating in job shadowing programs.

 

The grant, from The Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile Jr./US Bank Foundation, will allow JCG to pay the foster care students in its program $10 an hour to participate in a full day of job shadowing four times a year. JCG will be able to fund 25 foster care students a year.

 

JCG is in the second year of a contract with the SWORWIB to provide services to foster care youth in high schools throughout Cincinnati and Hamilton County. In addition, JCG participates in a state- funded program called Connecting the Dots, also aimed at foster care youth in their junior and senior year of high school.

Central Parkway Bikeway to go past SuperJobs

 

The City of Cincinnati is planning a Central Parkway Bikeway that will extend from the corner of East Central Parkway and Central Parkway to Ludlow Avenue. The first phase will extend past the SuperJobs Center. The plan features a one-way 7-foot wide bike track on each side of the street, separated from parking and traffic by plastic poles. Parking will be allowed on both sides of the street, except during rush hour, when parking will be allowed on the less busy side.

 

Teams from the city's Department of Transportation and Engineering have been meeting with stakeholders since late spring. They met recently with President Marshall, SuperJobs Director Kevin Holt and members of the SWORWIB's Executive Committee, who raised concerns about parking and signage issues that the team felt should be addressed. The City continues to seek feedback on the bikeway, with construction scheduled to begin next summer.

Short takes
 
New legislation kicks in

Recent state legislation affecting the unemployed will impact operations at the SuperJobs Center. Beginning Oct. 11, any person receiving unemployment insurance who is scheduled to attend a re-employment workshop -- held at the SuperJobs Center for Cincinnati and Hamilton County residents -- must report to that session, or benefits will stop. Beginning on April 11, 2014, those receiving unemployment must register with www.ohiomeansjobs.com, create a resume on OMJ and maintain and update that resume. Once that is done, customers will receive five weekly job leads, which they are expected to pursue. 

 

City Youth Summit on track

It's all systems go for the Cincinnati Youth Summit  to be held Nov. 9 at Cincinnati State. More than 700 young people are expected to attend the summit, called "It's Our Time to Shine," which will feature workshops designed for and by young people. CYC/JCG will lead several workshops on job readiness, as will LAUNCHCincinnati, a non-profit dedicated to cultivating entrepreneurial skills in young people. LAUNCHCincinnati's Executive Director is Kimberly Smith, a member of the Emerging Workforce Development Council (EWDC). Speaking of Smith, she was recently named Treasurer of Rothenberg Rooftop Garden School Guild, a non-profit that allows hands-on learning at Rothenberg Academy. Each teacher will get a garden plot, and each student will have a portion of the plot. See more here. Youth registration for summit is here.

 

New partners at Super Jobs Center

The SuperJobs partners staff is getting new cubicle neighbors: Cincinnati Job Corps, Volunteers of America, and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Bureau of Medicaid have moved into the SuperJobs Center.


Marshall attends national conferences

President Marshall recently attended two national conferences: the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Washington D.C., where she participated in the Workforce Development Committee, and the ACT Foundation launch meeting in Austin, Texas. Discussions in Washington focused on the impact of sequestration on the nation's One Stop Centers, how to serve veterans better, and concerns about GED 2014 (a more expensive, computer only GED test). The ACT Foundation meeting focused on "working learner" and the belief that the United States is moving from a "Knowledge Economy" to a "Learning and Performance Economy."

 

CYC names outstanding students

Congratulations to Shannon Chambers and Chloe Nared, selected as Cincinnati Youth Collaborative's 2013 Outstanding Students. Shannon and Chloe were both in Jobs for Cincinnati Graduates programs at Aiken and Finneytown high schools, respectively. Shannon, whom we wrote about in June, is now attending the University of Cincinnati on a full scholarship, where he is studying engineering. Chloe is a freshman at Rio Grande University.

 

On the go

Doug Arthur, former executive director and one of the co-founders of INTERalliance of Greater Cincinnati, a member of the EWDC and nominee for the SWORWIB, has left the INTERalliance to become the Managing Director, Community Engagement Services for TiER 1 Performance Solutions headquartered in Covington, Ky.  

 

INTERalliance was established in 2006 by P&G, University of Cincinnati, and Atos, to encourage more young people in area high schools to consider careers in IT, and to return to Cincinnati after college. The organization has grown in 8 years to include more than 90 employers, 4 universities, and 85 regional high schools. Arthur has joined TiER1 to take the LINK Networks model of facilitated community engagement, based on the success of the INTERalliance in Cincinnati, to dozens of other cities around the United States, including Cleveland, Fort Wayne, Ind., Indianapolis, Iowa City and San Diego.

 

SWORWIB member Allen Zink has moved from dunnHumby and is now Vice President, Senior Development Consultant at Fifth Third Bank. Carol Sorenson-Williams is now the Human Resources Business Partner at TV One.

Contact:
Kathleen Williams, Youth/Public Information Coordinator
[email protected]
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