Building our future workforce, one program at a time

[WorkReady graduates-Front (L-R): Danielle Ellsworth, Tony Willette, Star Cunningham, Jackolin Gessner, Stacey Griffin; Rear (L-R): Joe Hayes/training facilitator, Aaron Young, Karena Knowles, Bobby Young, Samantha Waterhouse, Amanda Baxter, Jennifer Winkley, Scott Keister/computer instructor]

[Training facilitator, Joe Hayes, addressing graduates]

[Joe Hayes, Jackolin Gessner and Star Cunningham, enjoying a festive moment at Friday's graduation ceremony]

In light of an article that appeared in this morning’s Portland Press Herald, about Maine’s incomes lagging the rest of the nation, I wanted to share a few thoughts about why the workforce board, here in Central/Western Maine, is on the right path, in my opinion. Also, I want to share why I’m so passionate about the work that I’m privileged to be part of, in the arena of workforce development and in particular, my involvement with programs like the WorkReady™ Credential program and Next Steps training.

On Friday, I attended the graduation ceremony for the inaugural WorkReady™ pilot in Augusta, held at Capital Area Technical Center. Eleven trainees received credentials, signifying their successful completion of the WorkReady™ curriculum and its components. This training also included an additional 20 hours of computer applications, in addition to the 60 hours of soft skills that the curriculum is oriented towards. This program is the first one to include workplace computer applications as part of receiving the credential.

In the Press Herald article, by Edward Murphy titled, “Mainer’s personal incomes lag behind the nation,” our state ranked 41st in income growth in 2007, after ranking finishing 46th in this area in 2006, based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

For Christopher (Kit) St. John, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, it’s pretty simple why Maine’s income growth has stagnated.

“The rewards in the national economy have been to the high end," said St. John, executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy. "We don't have the high end.”

Maine’s aging population is part of the issue, as retirees, living on fixed incomes, drag down income figures. Also, compounding the issue is the loss of jobs in sectors like manufacturing, which pays well and the replacement of living wage jobs with low-wage service sector employment. This also leads to the downward spiral of decreased tax revenue, leading to budget shortfalls and the attendant legislative hand wringing and finger-pointing that’s accompanied the current budget cycle.

I’m not really interested in hand wringing, or finger-pointing. What I am interested in is taking perfectly capable, eligible members of our workforce and helping them maximize their potential. There is no greater loss to Maine and our nation, than someone wallowing in low-wage, low-skill work, becoming increasingly beaten down, losing their spark and eventually, just giving up.

In my opinion, WorkReady™ is the foundational first step towards re-invigorating someone’s quest for meaningful employment. By establishing a firm platform upon which additional employer-specific training can be added to, it is possible to take someone who has been stuck in the psychic spiral that accompanies dead-end employment, without sufficient wages and lacking benefits and jumpstart their work life and offer them hope again.

What I found exciting about Friday’s graduation and the group of trainees that completed WorkReady™, is that they have been prepared, on the front end, with the foundational job skills that will allow them to access jobs that can be part of a career ladder. With additional training, programs through Maine’s Community College System, or pursuing a four-year degree program, these graduates of WorkReady have access to pathways for future success.

While WorkReady™ continues to gain support among employers, there are still many that know nothing about the program, particularly in regions beyond the five counties served by our organization. I continue to market the program to as many groups and individual employers as I can. My recent Op-ed, about the importance of middle-skills for Maine is another area that I’m becoming more active with—lobbying about our long-term strategy in our region. In fact, I think that what is being proposed here in Central/Western Maine is a model for consideration in other areas of the state.

We’ll continue to battle, here in Central/Western Maine, attempting to push our agenda forward. We also welcome the opportunity to be included at the table in conversations that are taking place, about Maine’s future, as workforce development needs to be part of any long-range strategic vision for the future of the state.

WorkReady™ continues to garner interest

Last Friday, 50 interested individuals looking to offer a WorkReady™ training program in their area of the state, participated in a “train the trainer” workshop, in Augusta.

WorkReady™, which began in Lewiston, has now grown to where it is now overseen by a statewide steering committee, comprised of representatives from the Maine Department of Labor, Maine Department of Corrections, Adult Education, a local school superintendent, members of the economic and community development community, as well as members of the Maine Community College System. This committee is tasked with ensuring that protocols and procedures are followed, with the goal being a unified approach towards offering this innovative soft skills training program, leading towards the award of a portable credential for graduates.

Director Rob Callahan and Assistant Director Eva Giles, from Lewiston Adult Education, spent four hours making sure that attendees fully understood what goes into running a successful WorkReady™ program. Both Callahan and Giles have been involved with the Lewiston program, where the WorkReady™ was initially launched, and where it recently held its sixth graduation. They've been key members of a partnership that has facilitated a program where 70 graduates now hold the state-recognized credential. Additionally, Central/Western Maine and Area III have also had other program offerings in Farmington and Skowhegan.

The most recent WorkReady™ graduating class has gone on to the third Next Steps training, this one being centered on customer service skills. The Essentials of Customer Service training is being held at Central Maine Community College, where 14 trainees are receiving nearly 100 hours of specific training in the elements of what customer service is and how to deliver it.

This is part of our focus in Central/Western Maine, as a workforce board, towards creating a “laddered” approach, leading to a post-secondary degree, or certification. This ties in very well with the need for middle-skills, where the majority of job creation will occur over the next decade.

Other WorkReady developments in Central/Western Maine:

Skowhegan:

On Friday, 11 candidates participated in an orientation for the second WorkReady™ pilot being offered in Somerset County. The participants will be learning the essential soft skills that employers require in job applicants. Several of the candidates had been “displaced, working in occupations that have disappeard, due to the loss of manufacturing jobs, due to offshoring American jobs.

Augusta:

The first-ever WorkReady™ pilot launched this morning, when 11 candidates participated in an orientation at Kennebec Learning Center. This particular pilot is focused on the 16-24-year-old out-of-school youth population. This pilot also is the first WorkReady™ program which incorporates an additional 20 hour component centered on computer literacy and application. This has been facilitated by a partnership with Coastal Enterprises, Inc.

Lewiston WorkReady™ celebrates sixth graduation

Without much fanfare, or outside recognition, the Central/Western Maine Workforce Investment Board, along with its partners, have quietly developed a model training initiative, called WorkReady™. This 60-hour soft skills training program, has now graduated over 70 candidates, since it began, in May, 2006.

On Friday, 10 graduates received their WorkReady™ credentials in a noontime ceremony, held at Marco’s Restaurant, in Lewiston. During the three weeks of the program, all of these participants took significant steps forward in their lives. Some, for the first time, were able to pinpoint specific personal obstacles that have consistently held them back and prevented them from achieving workplace and even, personal success in their lives.

[Employers gather to review trainee portfolios]

As a state, Maine must step up its efforts to reach out to and train segments of its labor force that for too long, have languished, and have been discounted in value. One such group is comprised of Mainers who lack the requisite skills required in today’s 21st century economy. As a result, far too many of our citizens have not worked consistently, or for wages that they can live on. Worse, the human potential that they represent has been under-utilized.

WorkReady™ originated from an informal conversation that took place between Bryant Hoffman, executive director of the Central/Western MaineWorkforce Investment Board and State Director of Adult Education and Family Literacy, Maine Department of Education, Becky Dyer, during a break at a seminar both were attending, in 2005. At the time, there had been talk among workforce and education professionals, as well as members of the employer community about the need for some type of targeted ready-to-work program. While there were several successful models and curriculums being utilized in other states (like Florida and Louisiana) nationwide, Maine’s lack of available funding for skills-based training made the purchase of these other curriculums impossible.

[One trainee's aspirations]

An incubator grant co-sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration and the National Alliance of Workforce Boards, allowed Hoffman to proceed with discussions towards launching a ready-to-work pilot in Maine.

Dyer began designing a curriculum, often utilizing in-kind contributions from staff, as well as feedback garnered from employers participating in the Progressive Alliance for Careers and Training Project, funded by an earmark grant to Coastal Enterprises, Inc., which validated the notion that employers were looking for “soft” or “applied” skills.

The graduation on Friday is the 6th graduation that has been held in Lewiston-Auburn. In addition, other programs have been run in two other communities in Area III. Farmington has held two graduations of their own and Skowhegan had 10 WorkReady™ graduates complete their initial program, last May. Currently, two more pilots are getting set to launch in March, in both the Rumford area and Augusta. Funding for these pilots has been made possible by a grant from The Betterment Fund, secured through Maine’s Department of Education and Dyer.

[Lewiston Adult Ed Director, Rob Callahan greets graduates, partners and employers]

Since its first pilot offering in Lewiston, in May, 2006, the program has fanned out and currently, programs are being planned, by Maine’s three other workforce boards. The program now has a statewide steering committee, chaired by Dyer, with representation from all four workforce boards in Maine, as well as Adult Ed, the Maine Department of Corrections, the Maine Community College system, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Maine Department of Labor, as well as the superintendent of schools, from MSAD 75, Mike Wilhelm.

While it is tempting to continue on, in an effort to impress, trumpeting the broad-based support that has been developed, including the support, both in-kind and with financial contributions coming from the business community and the United Way, in Androscoggin County, I think one of the graduates sums up the program best.

Each one of the graduates prepared a work portfolio, which is viewed on graduation day, by members of our employer advisory team, which consists of 25 local employers. Graduates include representative material, which speaks to their capacity and abilities to be the kind of employee that these area businesses will want to hire. An aspect of the portfolio, is reflections from each graduate, on what WorkReady™ means to them. I include part of one of our recent graduate’s reflections about what WorkReady™ has meant for her:

"WorkReady has been a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. For several years, I have been struggling to find direction in my life. Through this wonderful program, I’ve been able to reflect on and figure out why I haven’t been able to achieve success in my life.

WorkReady has helped me to figure out I want to work with others, helping them to find direction and success in their lives.

I will never forget all the wonderful supportive people I’ve met, who have helped make this a reality in my own life. This program has changed me and helped me to find myself again.

Thank you for making this program available and giving me the opportunity to be part of it.”

Obviously, for this individual and many others like her, WorkReady™ is making a difference. While the program is making a difference and also, helping to address the workforce training needs that Maine must continue to focus on, if it hopes to grow its economy, funding continues to be an issue.

In closing, all 10 of these graduates, along with three other candidates, will embark on a four-week Next Steps training, beginning Monday, February 25th, at Central Maine Community College. Next Steps is a skill-specific training, which piggy-backs on the soft skills training of WorkReady™. This four-week training, Essentials of Customer Service, was designed to target specific needs of area employers in Lewiston-Auburn. With several large companies, such as TD Banknorth, LL Bean, CitiStreet, Oxford Networks and others, the need for customer service skills, as well as workplace computer literacy is tantamount to the success of our region’s workforce. It is another example of how the Central/Western Maine Workforce Board and its partners are providing practical solutions in developing a skilled regional workforce.

[WorkReady's happy graduates]