Southwest Partnership
Workforce Committee Meeting
July 5 2017
1138 Hollins St 7pm
Minutes
Present
Khandra Sears
Ellen Craven
Lou Packett
Gabe Auteri
Melissa Wells
Elizabeth Weber
Committee Goals and Action Items
The Committee reviewed the Priorities and Action Steps document. In general it reflects what the Committee has been discussing at the previous two meetings.
-Lou asked if there was a place for entrepreneurship in the plan
-Ellen suggested adding contractors to the anchor relationship building and information gathering around local anchor hiring. Melissa agreed–this is a major issue in the construction trade. This was added to the priorities and action steps.
-Lou asked about reaching out to national providers of job training programs. Gabe: thinks that it is part of asset mapping–identifying what the needs are and who is trying to fill those needs. Melissa is happy to talk in more detail about what’s been going on in terms of community workforce development work city-wide–a challenge is that there’s not a lot of boldness in addressing workforce needs.
-Gabe need to figure out who is going to own the separate pieces. Suggested that the Chair should engage the neighborhood leadership in these conversations.
Ownership of Action Items
Outreach should start now–Gabe happy to work with Elizabeth on outreach and the initial asset mapping and Curtis.
Elizabeth and Ellen and Roundtable will come up with guidelines.
Khandra and Lou will talk to the association presidents about workforce development and what the SWP is going.
Gabe will give the Committee Report at the next SWP Board Meeting.
Gabe: who are we talking about when we talk about major employers? The people most willing to work with us are in the community and not just hire from the community. Elizabeth will dig up the list of major employers in the area and share with the Committee.
Outreach
August 5th: There will be a trip to First Fruits Farms–community members will harvest food and there will be food distributed at three different sites.
Lou: would this be the type of event where we could have some sort of traction in meeting people to share resources.
Khandra: what would be the goal of the event? This seems like an opportunity to collect information from community members.
Melissa: don’t discount the captive audience–being able to provide as many resources as possible–see if there are partners who are willing to attend or share information.
Ellen: opportunity to get from community members what they want and what they are able to access
Melissa: a lot of time getting information out of people happens without asking direct questions–suggested maybe doing a really brief survey.
The Committee discussed how to use the existing resources at the event to make an impact.
Church members, pamphlets, and a brief survey can all be used to draw in community members to begin participating in deeper conversations and relationship building.
At the event we will have:
–resources and a sign in sheet.
Present the table as an opportunity to talk about getting jobs and work in the community, and then collect information if they’re interested.
Should take the opportunity to do some branding, and also have guidelines for the conversations. Elizabeth will develop draft guidelines and share with the Committee–will also use the Roundtable as a resource for questions.
We will send a reflection out after the event to capture a debriefing.
Announcements
The Building Trades Union has a construction pre-apprenticeship program, geared to give folks exposure to the industry. Those that successfully complete it will have the opportunity to enter an apprenticeship program (25-30 slots, pay as you earn). The program will run out of Goodwill Industries out of Redwood St.
