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More Workforce Development Projects

Food Stamp Employment and Training (FSET) Expansion Initiative
In partnership with the CA Association of Food Banks, this initiative supports increased utilization of federal food stamps dollars for employment and training services. In the first phase, it educates San Francisco Bay-Area counties about a third-party match model that allows nonprofit organizations, adult education programs and community colleges to access an uncapped, sustainable source of reimbursed funding for employment and training services to food stamp eligible persons.  It also provides advocacy and education to increase access to FSET and reduce the administrative burden for California counties, and, by extension, other state FSET programs. For more information on the FSET Expansion Initiative and other FSET resources, visit www.fsetexpansion.org.

Career Pathways and the Economic Impact of the Early Care and Education Industry in Los Angeles
Only eight states have a population larger than Los Angeles County.  The Insight Center is working with a unique collaboration between the City of Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board; City of Los Angeles, Commission for Children, Youth and Their Families; the County of Los Angeles Child Care Planning Committee; and Los Angeles Universal Preschool (LAUP).  These four agencies have pooled resources to create the first ever career pathways and economic impact study of the ECE industry in the City and County of Los Angeles.  An Advisory Board of business leaders, ECE experts and economic development specialists will develop recommendations for strengthening the ECE workforce and outcomes for Los Angeles’ children.

Sector Initiatives for Colorado’s Long-Term Care Industry
As part of its effort to develop long-term care sector initiatives in Colorado, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment asked NNSP to produce “Sector Initiatives for Colorado’s Long-Term Care Industry.” The report compares compensation for long-term care occupations with family economic self-sufficiency standards, provides easy to use guidance on developing sector initiatives and operating them, and explores lessons and challenges that many long-term care initiatives have identified.

  • Sector Initiatives for Colorado’s Long-Term Care Industry, (2007), PDF, 348KB
    • Building the Employer for Sectoral Strategies
    NNSP partnered with the National Association of Manufacturers’ Center for Workforce Success (CWS) to develop trade associations’ capacity to sponsor sector initiatives. NNSP wrote “From Processing Food to Fabricating Metals,” which provided information on highly successful examples of manufacturing sector initiatives. NNSP also worked with CWS to develop Minneapolis and Cleveland-area sector initiatives. The success of the Minneapolis-area initiative, named "M-Powered," has led to an expansion of the program, increased support for sector initiatives at the policy level, and expanded interest in sector initiatives among post-secondary institutions. NNSP also contributed to a joint publication with CWS, “Filling America’s Jobs: How Businesses Can Implement Sector Workforce Development Strategies for Jobs and Economic Growth.”

    Shipbuilding and State Sector Policies in Louisiana
    NNSP works with the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce in Louisiana to encourage changes in state policy to support sector initiatives and to develop a shipbuilding sector initiative in New Orleans and the surrounding parishes. These efforts helped encourage policy support for sector initiatives as detailed in the final report of  the Governor’s Taskforce on a Competitive Workforce. NNSP also provides support to business leaders, community/technical college system representatives and others to champion support for sector initiatives, helping bring about the Louisiana Recovery Authority’s decision to provide $38 million for sector initiatives in parishes that were devastated by hurricane Katrina or hurricane Rita.

    Workforce Assistance in Lower San Antonio Neighborhood, Oakland
    In collaboration with the Haas Jr. Fund and Making Connections Oakland, the Insight Center provides technical assistance to community-based organizations in the Lower San Antonio neighborhood in Oakland. This neighborhood is very diverse, with multiple language groups. Our assistance includes advising on strategies to increase neighborhood outreach, providing models for workforce development among day laborers and recent immigrants, advising on micro-enterprise and cooperative development initiatives, and design of pre-apprenticeship and industry-focused job training programs.

    Research on Alternative Staffing Agencies
    The Insight Center's research on temporary staffing agencies has focused on a number of promising strategies used to move people with limited work experience and significant employment barriers into the workforce. These alternative staffing agencies across the country combine creative job placement strategies with training and social services, creating a system that can address the particular needs of the hard-to-employ.  However, despite the fact that the temporary staffing industry is becoming more rooted in our economy, the impact of alternative staffing agencies on the overall staffing industry is limited.  Our current research is examining ways in which public policy can be shifted to encourage high-road strategies industry-wide that would create employment stability for workers with significant employment barriers.

     

    Career Advancement Opportunities for Ex-Felons
    In partnership with the San Francisco District Attorney, Terence Hallinan, the Insight Center began a research project in 2003 focusing on ways to move previously incarcerated people into employment.  The research aimed to guide the development of industry-specific workforce development programs in San Francisco that would provide good wages and career advancement opportunities for people convicted of felonies. While this work examines the experiences of ex-felons, it is also  relevant to the issues facing other criminal offenders.

     

    Workforce Development for Small Businesses
    Small businesses are often left out of the workforce development system. How can the workforce system play a greater role as provider of human resource services to small businesses? The objective of this 2003-04 project was to develop a model to answer that question.

    High Ideals, Low Pay: A Wage Analysis of University of California Service Workers
    Service workers in the University of California (UC) system are mostly immigrants and people of color who do the unglamorous but imperative work of keeping UC campuses and medical centers clean and functioning. In 2005, at the request of AFSCME Local 3299, which represents this group of workers, the Insight Center analyzed UC service worker wages for the nine UC campuses and five medical centers. The Insight Center’s analysis uses the California Self-Sufficiency Standard as a measure to determine whether service worker wages are adequate to meet basic needs. The goal of the wage analysis was to assess the degree to which UC’s wages 1) are sufficient to provide for the basic needs of employees and their families; 2) are competitive with wages received by employees performing the same work for comparable employers; and 3) are lower than the eligibility requirements for state and federal public assistance programs.

    Working in the Shadow of Prosperity: A Wage Analysis of Los Angeles Hospitality Workers
    This research for UNITE/HERE Local 11 in 2004 provided a brief portrait of the Los Angeles County hospitality and restaurant industry and described how workers’ incomes in selected low-wage occupations compare to the basic amount needed to provide for a family. The Insight Center’s analysis revealed that although workers in these categories are the backbone of a prosperous Los Angeles industry sector, they often receive wages which are simply too low to pay for basic family needs.

     

    Chinatown Families For Family Economic Success Coalition Sector Research
    The Insight Center provided research and consultation to a coalition of job training and family support organizations in San Francisco’s Chinatown.  We helped the group identify structural barriers that prevent Chinese parents from accessing self-sufficiency wages and career advancement.  We also analyzed existing gaps in family support and employment-related services needed to overcome those barriers so that the collaboration could design new, more effective programs.

 

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