Weekly Roundup of the news on women and supportive services in job training programs.
Job training can provide an entry into family-sustaining jobs and careers. Many women in job training programs, however, face obstacles to success. Wraparound services—such as child care assistance, access to public benefits, and transportation or housing assistance—can help adults, particularly those with caregiving responsibilities, to complete programs that will ultimately improve their economic standing.
May 9, 2016
Al DÍA News: Philadelphia Works to launch employment job training program
This Wednesday, Philadelphia Works, in collaboration with The Workplace, will launch a new job training program for long term unemployed residents of Philadelphia. […] P2E, which began in Southwest Connecticut in 2011, combines a five-week job readiness training course with personal and family support services and financial counseling, all at no cost to the participant.
May 7, 2016
Casa Grande Dispatch: Arizona@Work Pinal County tries to match employers with workers
Now Pinal jobs officials have taken a new approach to getting jobs for people, talking to the businesses in the area to see what jobs are in demand. The idea is to get input from businesses on where they see their companies going, what sorts of positions they predict they will need to fill and making sure there is training for those jobs readily available.
[…] Arizona@Work is funded federally and uses the money to help with recruitment services, employee development programs and support services for existing businesses and employees. One of the resources that is available is AZjobconnection.gov, where people looking for jobs can peruse open positions, and employers can browse through resumes that are hosted on the servers.
May 6, 2016
Dayton Daily News: Thousands of youth summer jobs at risk, area officials say
The state is taking millions of dollars in funding from its subsidized summer employment program and putting it into a new year-round program that provides educational and training support to low-income young people.
[…] The year-round program will provide case management and wrap-around services to low-income and out-of-school youth between the ages of 16 and 24, said Hoffman. The new program’s goals are to provide education, training and other support to young people to maintain sustainable employment, break the cycle of poverty and address life issues like childcare and transportation, said Hoffman.
May 5, 2016
Boston Globe: Moms are making their way into construction industry
Some women find their way into the building trades through friends and family, the traditional route. In 2011, Building Pathways, a six-week pre-apprenticeship training program was launched to introduce women and minorities to the industry. According to a case study published by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City last fall, more than half of its 125 graduates were women. There are also efforts to strengthen the pipeline from vocational schools to union-apprenticeship programs. On March 30, the first-ever Massachusetts Girls In Trades Conference drew more than 400 female students.
[…] Once in the industry, women can face roadblocks, one of the more significant being child care. (Workers often are required to head to work long before day-care facilities open.) PGTI and Building Pathways are part of a team developing child-care solutions for women in construction.
May 4, 2016
Evanston Round Table: City’s Youth and Young Adult Division Provides Job Opportunities and Other Services, Reduces Violence
The City has more than 2,000 at-risk youth and young adults between the ages of 18 and 26, says Kevin Brown, who has overseen the City’s Youth and Young Adult Division for the past five years. Since his arrival, that Division has hired six outreach workers and has ramped up its efforts to reach out to at-risk youth and young adults, and to provide them services to meet their needs, often in partnership with other agencies and community organizations.
An important part of the outreach program is to stem violence in the community by connecting young adults with job opportunities and other supports and mediating disputes.
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