NETWORKING ACROSS BOUNDARIES
EDAC has undertaken an exciting project to capture the innovative partnerships and networking linkages that
communities have undertaken to address issues surrounding urban poverty, the need for quality jobs, and the skills with
which to access those jobs. The Job Continuum is a model which embodies the range of linkages available to facilitate
access to the labor force and quality jobs. Networking is a crucial element in the development of comprehensive
workforce development programs since effective strategies must build pathways for individuals along the job continuum
from different entry points, to permanent, sustained employment in private/public sector jobs. Our team has created a
series of case studies highlighting key findings from this project.
CASE STUDIES OF SUCCESFUL JOB TRAINING PROGRAMS
This section highlights community development organizations which have successfully established job training programs.
New Community Corporation in Newark, New Jersey is among the nation's largest and most successful community development corporations. NCC provides a comprehensive range of services all located on the premises, including G.E.D. preparation and career counseling. These services are complemented by a range of job training programs, including home health aid, child development associate, and more. In addition, NCC allocates a portion of its resources to social service outreach. Through its partnership with Seton Hall University, NCC offers a course for low-income residents. Other nearby colleges have linked with NCC and offer full credits for NCC training programs.NCC's network of programs included the Employment Services Center and the NCC-Center for Employment Training. The Employment Services Center has placed thousands of low-income Newark residents in area jobs by utilizing an active job developer staff and extensive roster of area employers. CET is an employment training program based in San Jose, California and is being replicated across the country with funding from the Department of Labor. This spring, NCC announced its "one-stop shop"; programmatic approach to residents seeking assistance from New Community. Under the guise of this new approach, NCC will continue to offer its job training services tailored to the individual's needs and strengthen the educational opportunities of program graduates and NCC staff.
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Project Quest (Quality Employment through Skills Training) is a collaborative effort between COPS (Communities Organized for Public Service) and Metro Alliance, (two Industrial Areas Foundation organizations engaged in political organizing), business community leadership, city and state officials, state departments, and community organizations and business interest groups. Project QUEST provides support for trainees, including individual and family counseling, motivational workshops, tuition stipends, and other support services. Training areas are geared toward the demand of local businesses and industries.
HOME PAGEThe Office of Port JOBS in Seattle, Washington was created in 1993 to build partnerships that create new opportunities for disadvantaged job seekers in port-related businesses and industries. Specifically, Port JOBS links port-related government and private employers; community based programs that recruit, support and train people for roles in the work force; and women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and other disadvantaged populations to create opportunities for jobs that pay a family wage and support upward mobility. Central to the Port JOBS mission are five essential partnerships. The Apprenticeship Opportunities Project involves organized labor, construction contractors, local governments and community and employment training programs. In a collaborative manner, they have set up a Mentor Network and apprenticeship "clearinghouse" which have created career opportunities for women and other disadvantaged groups. The Fishing Industry Employment Assistance Project connects employers in the fishing industry who need workers with local job-seekers. The Puget Sound Laundry Services, a vocational training and employment service, provides job opportunities for severely disabled individuals. English for Work helps improve the language skills of workers in the construction industry. Youth Fair Chance provides job training and employment opportunities for Seattle area youth.
BACK TO HOMESan Jose's Center for Employment Training (CET)
San Jose's Center for Employment Training (CET) is one of the most successful CDC-related networking organizations in the country. Located in California's Silicon Valley, the program encompasses all aspects of job training. The Center began operations in 1967 in an effort to help Mexicans and Mexican-Americans whose farming jobs were being preempted by the expanding high-tech electronics industry. Now, CET provides a wide array of training services for employers across California and throughout the West. The training initially focuses on English, math and other basic job-related skills; and eventually the participants learn a trade. The Center is known for the flexibility it offers its trainees and for its pursuit of the truly hard-to-employ. Through efforts to remain in contact with employers and former trainees, the Center ensures that its program and its graduates will continue to succeed. As such, CET has become a model in the field.
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Community Building Initiatives
Community Development entrepreneurs and local stakeholders have realized that effective community development must involve a comprehensive, collaborative strategy which coordinates all aspects of community life. One such model to have been developed in response to this need is the community service schools which have almost all social service providers located on the school campus. This model reduces fragmentation and has been effective in increasing parental involvement, coordinating youth outreach, and administering family counseling to parents and children. Locating access to an inter-connected system such as community service schools in Empowerment zone areas, can be part of the Strategic Plan to rebuild a feeling of neighborhood and community. Community Service Schools requires training management and service providers so as to better coordinate management structure.
Any comprehensive collaborative strategy to develop community building initiatives must:
New York Beacon Schools Initiative
Several community development organizations have designed successful community building initiatives. The New York Beacon Schools Initiative in New York City has linked community based organizations with schools to increase supports for youth and enable them to become self-sufficient successful citizens. The Beacons School based community centers are located near schools and offer a host of services: children and youth will visit the centers to find recreational, educational or vocational activities. Each Beacon School center works with both neighborhood residents to ensure that provided services are tailored to their needs and with local police precincts to create drug-free zones of safety around the schools.
The Walbridge Caring Communities of St. Louis, Missouri builds their program upon seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith. This community building initiative offers counseling, intervention, behavior therapy for children with problems, abuse counseling, after school program recreation. The program emphasized the family as a resource base and built responsibility upon a shared vision by having the community school coordinator visit from house to house asking for inputs. The Walbridge Caring Communities leveraged resources by drawing upon four state agencies: the St. Louis public school system, the federal and state governments, and foundations. Initially, the flexibility of the organization was constrained by funding difficulties. The organization gained flexibility/leverage by passing state dollars through three local contracts: a state college, a private community mental health organization, and St. Louis Health and Hospitals division.
HOME PAGENew Beginnings Center for Children and Families
The New Beginnings Center for Children and Families in San Diego has created a very detailed collaborative effort with many partners to provide a host of social service outreach and technical assistance. In part, their success lies in their attempt to bridge the gaps and meet unfulfilled needs by other social service agencies. They hired a community organizer to do community outreach, leadership development of local stakeholders, and community development work, which had not been performed by public agencies. The New Beginnings Center instrumentally lobbied to pass legislation allowing involved counties to blend funds in new ways. Organizational leadership also introduced a parent-involvement component in a local job training program for welfare recipients.
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