Announcements
Bon Secours: is beginning their third cohort of CNA/GNA training. They will be finished by the end of December. They are still waiting for the graduates of the first and second cohorts to receive the results of their licensing examinations to begin placement.
Clean and Green will be starting a BG&E grant and Bon Secours will be applying for a WIA youth grant for CNA/GNA training.
St Martin’s Church, across from the Bon Secours Community Works building, is being developed by Bon Secours. There is potential for it to be a youth center with occupational training and career development activities.
NPower: Opening their office on W Pratt St July 19th. They have been working on building relationships with area programs and schools and have recruited 9-10 students for their first class. Lou will put Deshawn in contact with staff at Dunbar high school.
Other Updates: Lou Packett is currently fundraising for a fund to provide resources for job seekers from the Southwest Partnership area. The community member that he referred to Workforce Wednesdays at the Community Engagement Center was recently hired by the University of Maryland Medical System.
Southwest Works: The Southwest Partnership Education and Workforce Development Committee presented possible projects to the Public Safety, Social Services, and Education SubCommittee of the Casino Impact Area board. One of the projects was for a coordinator position for Southwest Works–who would be a staff person at the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development Employment Connection Center at 1410 Bush St responsible for coordinating outreach to residents of the Southwest Partnership area and connecting programs and residents directly to partnering anchor institutions. The SWP and the Casino Impact Area would both contribute to the position. The details of the position still need to be worked out, but the coordinator will be at locations in the community three days a week.
Adult Education
The Roundtable discussed the importance of adult education in placing area residents in jobs. Many area residents don’t have the academic skills needed to be successful in existing jobs, and it is difficult to determine the success of various adult education programs. This needs to be a focus of the Roundtable in the future. Additionally, there aren’t a lot of programs which serve older adults interested in re-entering the workforce or changing careers. The Department of Aging may have some ideas, and will be invited to a meeting.
Southwest Works
The Roundtable discussed the details of the Southwest Works position. A current challenge is that there is no way of knowing what skills or experience people have. The Maryland Workforce Exchange collects that information, but it is challenging to use and only individual users and MOED employees have access to profiles. The coordinator will be an MOED employee which will be a major benefit of the program, but there will need to be a way to track who is a participant in the program through the MD Workforce Exchange.
Another challenge of the program will be the need for data to be shared between participating partners. For Bon Secours, at least, the forms used and other strategies would need to go through their legal department, and an MOU would need to be developed and signed. A follow up will need to be scheduled with Eric Clay.
