The goal of the workforce component is to create partnerships with other employment-oriented organizations to provide a variety of workshops and trainings that will provide tools to increase employment opportunities, including but not limited to:

• GED
• Vocational ESL
• Job Search
• Customized Training
• Job Placement/Development
• Access to work supports

The workforce component consists of the following:

• Linkages with organizations that are currently funded to provide workforce development services
• Coordinated referrals to existing employment services
• Resident-led workforce support clubs
• Job development and placement

Retention support

Operational Framework:

Outreach and recruitment:

• Target under-employed and unemployed individuals through churches, Department of Corrections, substance abuse treatment facilities, and other non-traditional venues;
• Provide orientation to specific fields of job opportunity: employer needs relative to skills and knowledge
• Assessment and pre-employment readiness:
• Comprehensive assessment: skills inventory, experience, aptitudes and interests, development needs, family/personal issues, review “take-up” of work support resources;
• Goal-oriented Individual/family development plans;
• Referral and follow-up: develop memoranda of agreement with key resource partners as appropriate (i.e., individual/family counseling; child care and youth development programs; etc.). Develop and sustain relationships with staff of DSS offices to facilitate access to public benefits.

Job development:

• Cultivate relationships with existing and future employers;
• “Community-based regionalism” that connects city residents to regional jobs;
• Sectoral approaches that target growth areas of the local labor economy

Placement and retention support:

• Post-placement support
• Financial education
• Access to IDA programs