Janet Ludden, CEO
The Port Authority’s workforce development arm, Employer Solutions, Inc. (ESI), has for the last 18 months been conducting a customized job training initiative to benefit disadvantaged Saint Paul residents. With the support of the McKnight and Saint Paul Foundations, and Nexus Community Partners, the initiative has trained over 125 people and will continue classes into the summer of 2010.
The ‘First Step-Next Step Initiative, a Job Training, Placement and Career Advancement Strategy,’ began with a committed employer partner, Regions Hospital. Together, Regions and ESI identified specific jobs and skill requirements, and the kind of employee Regions is looking for.
ESI chose Project for Pride in Living (PPL) to customize the curriculum to Regions’ exact specifications and provide the training. By involving Regions in the design of the training, graduating students are better qualified for Regions’ jobs than other applicants. Regions requires one year of health care experience. To include more disadvantaged people, those skills were included in the training.
A New Model: ESI piloted its ‘Comprehensive Community-Based Workforce Development Model’ in this initiative. With community engagement activities and a Cultural Advisory Committee, supported by Nexus Community Partners, ESI was effective in reaching the people and social service organizations required to truly involve the community in the project.
And it is working! Partnerships with PPL and community service providers have helped deliver a graduation rate of 93 percent; and 40 percent of them are working. The slowdown of the economy significantly affected the availability of jobs, but Regions will continue to consider graduates of the Initiative when jobs open up.
While the training is customized to Regions, the skills are transferable. Graduates receive assistance in applying for jobs with other health care providers, hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, and home health agencies.
Each graduation ceremony is an emotion-filled celebration. Typically, three to four students talk about what the class has meant to them, how they envision their future, and the impact they believe will come from this program. They talk about increased self-esteem, better knowledge of workplace expectations, a new belief in their value to employers, and the momentum they feel to continue to develop personally and professionally.
Results: Despite the economy, the Initiative has made a real difference in the lives of 125 people, produced true, lasting change, and is producing value that will long outlive this effort.
New ways of doing business: Due to the community engagement process, several agencies are working together in ways they never have before. Agencies are required to provide support services from training to job retention. Several agencies wanted to refer clients, but didn’t supply those services. Another agency received a grant to provide support services to clients living on the East Side, and needed referrals.
Due to First Step involvement, these agencies came together, referred clients to one another’s programs, shared and leveraged resources, and paired offerings, allowing more residents to participate in the Initiative. These agencies had never before sought out such partnerships, yet their new practices will produce lasting value for East Side residents…
ESI’s Comprehensive Community-Based Workforce Development model has proved valuable in creating opportunities for new ways of doing business. This cross agency cooperation created a new bundling of services that enhances results for individuals, their families, the community, and all partner agencies.
