Want a well-paying job with benefits for your clients? Consider apprenticeships!

September 26, 2017 by Leave a Comment

According to experts on National Public Radio’s (WAMU 88.5) program that originally aired on June 12th titled How To Earn Six Figures Without A Four-Year Degree, by 2025 there will be two million jobs needing skilled labor that will go unfilled if today’s labor market conditions hold. The program featured four experts from different backgrounds who discussed the merits of apprenticeship job training over more traditional forms of education.

The takeaway for you:

  • Many jobs do not require four year college degrees and pay middle income wages, including some in the six figures
  • Many positions are most easily accessed via apprenticeships

What is an apprenticeship?

  1. It is typically a three to four year training program where you are learning the building blocks of a specific job, leading to mastery in an occupational area and professional certification that travels with you. Some apprenticeships are for a set amount of time, while others are competency-based, allowing apprentices to complete their training as fast as their aptitude allows.
  2. You are working and getting paid while also completing academic coursework that is tailored to the position and provides a foundational and conceptual framework.
  3. You are learning under direct supervision of a skilled expert.
  4. You are training to take an available job with that same company.

Apprenticeships have been around for centuries but in the last century they lost favor as the four-year college experience was increasingly sought after and promoted by parents and school guidance counselors. This trend appears to be reversing however. Factors including an aging American workforce, the career preferences of younger American workers, and the emergence of new technologies requiring specialized skills have all contributed to an ever-increasing gap between available jobs and good candidates for those jobs. As a result, there is a renewed interest in apprenticeships as a strategy for incentivizing workers and filling labor shortages.

Panelist Robert Lerman, a Fellow at the Urban Institute and a founder of the American Institute for Innovative Apprenticeship, discussed the difficulty of the school-based-only approach for some young people. Courses in a four-year degree program do not always feature relevant, skill-based learning, so why spend the time and money? To illustrate this point the program spoke with Cory McCray, a current Delegate in the Maryland House of Representatives and former electrician who completed an apprenticeship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. As an apprentice in the construction trade McCray did not assume the levels of debt accrued by his peers who went to four-year colleges because he had fewer classes and completed paid work as part of his training. He argues that the academic coursework he did have was motivating because it led to a quality performance on the job.

Other panelists spoke about the challenges of making an informed decision about a career path without some significant exposure in the workplace. For example, businesses in the tech industry find that hands-on workplace learning is essential to helping staff gain mastery in their field. Ken Hitchcock, Director of the Pickens County Career and Technology Center in Liberty, South Carolina stated that many apprenticeships provide additional support to those that believe they have poor math abilities or those that need English language support by providing remedial classes.

In what industries are apprenticeships located?

According to guest Nicholas Wyman, CEO of the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation, there are lots of opportunities in a variety of industries: manufacturing, IT (including cyber security), health, finance, aeronautics, mechanics, electronics, culinary arts, and construction.

Finding national and state registered apprenticeship programs in your area.

Check with your Workforce Development Board for the resources in your community. As an example, check out this great resource produced by the Oakland County Workforce Development agency in Michigan and provided by Jennifer Llewellyn, Manager of the agency.

You will find general and location-specific information on apprenticeships here at the Department of Labor Apprenticeship USA website.

So let’s get to work for our clients of all ages!

Additional Resources

See previous blog post on apprenticeships from Higher:

http://www.higheradvantage.org/workforce-resource-registered-apprenticeship/

National Apprenticeship Week is November 13-19

https://www.dol.gov/apprenticeship/NAW/

This post is written by Guest Blogger Alicia Wrenn, Assistant Director of Integration at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. Does your agency utilize apprenticeships for clients? If, yes please let Higher know by writing us at [email protected].

Filed Under: Addressing Barriers to Employment, Job Readiness, Tools, Youth Employment Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Workforce Resource: Career Resources for Youth

December 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Jess Wyatt/Refugee Youth Project, Baltimore

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) includes youth workforce development programs and resources aimed at both in-school and out-of-school youth, with a strong emphasis on out-of-school youth between the ages of 16-24. Since most refugee resettlement programs do not have youth-specific employment programs, being familiar with the resources available to youth through the mainstream workforce development system can be a game-changer for younger refugees. Here are a few key programs and resources to be aware of:

  • Job Corps is a nationwide program that offers free career training in variety of industries. This program is aimed at giving young people the skills they need in order to obtain employment and become self-sufficient. Job Corps is located in all 50 states, but some states have several sites whereas states like Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Alaska only have one Job Corps center.
  • Youthbuild is an organization that is found in 46 states and aims to give construction skills to low income out-of-school youth. The program aims to put the participants on a path to responsible adulthood and teaches them to give back to the local community. The 10-month program pairs classroom learning with construction skills so that teens leave the program with a GED and professional skills. Participants spend about 50% of their time in academic classrooms and the rest of the time is spent on hands-on job training building affordable housing or other community assets. The program serves around 10,000 low-income young people each year and includes mentoring, follow-up education, employment, and personal counseling services.
  • AmeriCorps is a civil service program supported by the U.S. federal government, foundations, and corporations with the goal of serving local communities. Participants commit to full-time or part-time positions offered by a network of nonprofit community organizations and public agencies, to fulfill assignments in the fields of education, public safety, health care, and environmental protection. AmeriCorps is a wonderful opportunity to expose youth to the needs of their own community while also giving them valuable professional skills as well has professional references. Additionally, anyone who completes AmeriCorps is given an educational award with which to use towards an associates, bachelor or master’s degree.
  • Refugee AmeriCorps is a type of AmeriCorps program, that places members at refugee resettlement agencies. Volunteering with AmeriCorps, full or part time, can be a great way to get work experience and give back to the community. To learn about AmeriCorps volunteer opportunities, visit the AmeriCorps website, or reach out to your local resettlement agencies to learn if they have an Refugee AmeriCorps position available.

In order to gain access to these programs, your agency will need to take the initiative to reach out to these organizations to introduce your population. Like any partnership you will need to consider the cost and benefits of pursuing collaboration with these mainstream programs. For example how much staff time does it take to establish and maintain partnership versus simply doing job development for clients? It may be better to gather other resettlement agencies in your area to act as a larger network when planning partnership with these mainstream programs.

In addition to youth programs, there are also online resources geared towards youth:

Youth Rules! - This is a great online resource for tech savvy youth who have a higher level of English skills. The site covers the child labor laws and minimum age for employment in each state. There is a great Youth Worker Toolkit that is basically a 101 on working in the US for youth similar to job readiness training that refugee agencies provide.

All of the presentations are colorful and interactive and there are even helpful free apps for listening to webinars or keeping track of work hours and pay dates.

This resource is a great place to explore different options for part-time work or training. There are forums and blogs and even instructions on how to report violation of workers’ rights.

GetMyFuture is a resource available on careeronestop.org that provides a “dashboard” or “portal” for youth who need information on a range of education and career related topics. For example, youth can get information about writing a resume, applying for college, starting a business, or access assessment tools that will help identify suitable careers based on interest and skills.

All of these programs and websites offer an array of resources related to educational and career resources for youth as well as ideas for topics to cover in job readiness instruction. These resources are easy to navigate but many of them are text heavy and would be difficult for clients without English proficiency to use independently. You may want to consider translating some of the resources into a curriculum for refugee youth or using them during one-on-one sessions between a refugee and volunteer.

For easy links to these and other youth-related resources, check out the clickable Mainstream Youth Employment Resources tool we created this past Spring.

Ask us your questions and share your success stories about working with refugee youth by emailing us at [email protected].

Filed Under: Job Readiness, Short Term Skills Training, WIOA, Workforce Collaboration, Workforce Resource Series, Youth Employment Tagged With: , , ,

Webinar Announcement: International Perspectives On Connecting Immigrant and Refugee Youth to Employment

October 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Looking for ideas and inspiration for connecting immigrant and refugee youth to employment? Tuning in to ideas from other countries resettling refugees can be a helpful way to get some fresh perspective and think outside the box.

This Wednesday at 10:00 AM EST, Canada-based Cities of Migration will host a webinar featuring “enterprising ideas from Stockholm and Paris that are connecting talented young people to jobs while helping businesses tap the diversity advantage.”

The webinar will highlight strategies such as social enterprises, vocational training and mentorship programs that help prepare under/un-employed immigrant and refugee youth for the labour market while promoting the values of corporate diversity and leadership to employers.

To register, click here: http://citiesofmigration.ca/webinar/youthemployment/

Filed Under: Success Stories, Youth Employment Tagged With: , ,

Untapped Opportunities for Refugees Age 16-24

August 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Learn how to access WIOA funding at NAWDP’s Annual Youth Development Symposium

Everyone should be aware of opportunities for refugees between the ages of 16-24 to access mainstream workforce funding for Out of School Youth (OSY) who are disconnected from education and the workforce. WIOA shifted funding from 25% to 75% for this population. At least 20% of refugees could qualify.

Partnering with us accesses a pipeline of highly motivated OSY eager for training, resources and careers. Our mainstream workforce colleagues continue to struggle to identify, attract and retain urban youth and other traditional clients at the increased funding levels.

Attend NAWDP’s Annual Youth Development Symposium in Chicago 10/31 - 11/2 to connect to over 500 youth workforce professionals from across the nation. You’ll meet American Job Center Staff, Youth Build Grantees, Job Corps Professionals, Career and Guidance Counselors, Educators, Community College Representatives, Juvenile Justice Specialists, and more!

To begin learning now, check out a previous post to explore our new youth employment services resource collection.

Filed Under: NAWDP, Short Term Skills Training, WIOA, Youth Employment Tagged With: , , , ,

Interactive Employment Resource Collection

June 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment

This resource collection is long overdue. To access resources about any of the topics in the below graphic, simply click on the topic!

Please let us know if you have any youth resources to add so we can keep building the collection!

Filed Under: Youth Employment Tagged With: , , , ,

Workforce Collaboration Case Study: Ready for Retail Training for Refugee Youth

January 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: ACC-DEN

ECDC’s African Community Center of Denver, CO (ACC) shares what they have learned through a very successful training program for refugee youth that partners with two American Job Centers, funds ACC’s retail customer service training program and builds workplace skills for refugee youth.

Read the case study online or download a PDF version if you prefer. You will learn

  • how and why ACC began partnering with mainstream workforce centers;
  • how to register as an Eligible Training Provider to gain eligibility to receive WIOA training funds for participant training;
  • how ACC’s Ready for Retail training program developed over time and what participants say about how they benefitted; and
  • some of the lessons ACC learned that you can replicate in your own efforts.
About Higher’s Workforce Collaboration Case Study Series

This case study, written by Higher Peer Advisor Carrie Thiele, ACC Training Program Manager, is the first of five that Higher will make available over the coming months to help us all learn from each other about successful strategies for strengthening our collaboration with the mainstream workforce system so that refugees can better access workforce services provided across the country for all U.S. job seekers.

If you are collaborating with the workforce system in your community and want to share what you’re learning with peers across the country, get in touch at [email protected].

 

Filed Under: Success Stories, WIOA, Workforce Collaboration Case Study Series, Youth Employment Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Two WIOA Opportunities Available NOW

April 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Graphic Credit: OpportunityNation.org

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunites Act (WIOA) doesn’t go into full effect until July 2015, but it is already creating tangible new opportunities for refugee clients and agencies serving them.

Read below for new detail about a shifted focus in youth programming and a 5 year funding opportunity for healthcare career training.

Click here for additional background information about WIOA in case you missed previous Higher blog posts and a webinar.

Youth Programming: Significant Shift in Focus to Older Youth

WIOA shifts the primary program focus of Title I youth formula programs to support the educational and career success of out-of-school youth (OSY), ages 16 to 24. A minimum of 75 percent of WIOA youth funds must be spent on OSY, an increase from the minimum of 30 percent under the former Workforce Investment Act (WIA).

With an estimated 6 million 16-24 year olds in this country not employed or not in school, WIOA youth programs will provide a needed continuum of services to help disconnected youth navigate between the educational and workforce systems.

Click here to read the entire Guidance Letter from the Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (DOL-ETA) with clarification and detail about this important new emphasis in WIOA.

These two points included in a list of the possible types of clients speak directly to refugee client eligibility:

  • eligibility is based on age at enrollment, participants may continue to receive services beyond the age of 24 once they are enrolled in the program
  • …an individual [that]…is either basic skills deficient or an English language learner

The letter strongly encourages the mainstream workforce system to begin adjusting programming NOW and begin to identify sources of this newly emphasized population. Many refugees fall into this category.

How You and our Clients Can Benefit: There are opportunities for us to offer assistance so that refugees can be considered in the planning phase.
“NOW” includes Summer Youth Employment Programs that are likely already advertising for applicants.

Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG)

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA) is announcing a large funding opportunity supporting education and traning for occupations in the health care field,…that could also fund child care, case management and other supportive services, as appropriate.

The primary recipients of a previous round of funding (see page 2 of the announcement) were mostly mainstream workforce stakeholders and community colleges. A possible role for resettlement agencies is outined in the announcement as follows on page 7 of the announcement:

HPOG programs can also include other partners that provide resources or expertise to better coordinate services and improve outcomes for program participants, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Medicaid, legal aid, and especially services funded by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), such as Head Start, child care, domestic violence prevention, and refugee resettlement programs.

Download the full application here and visit the Office of Family Assistance/HPOG website for more details.

How You and our Clients Can Benefit: This could be a great opportunity to build on existing relationships with workforce offices or begin establishing working relationships now.

 

Filed Under: Career Advancement/Job Upgrade Programs, Job Readiness, Job Upgrades, NAWDP, Short Term Skills Training, WIOA, Workforce Collaboration, Youth Employment Tagged With: , , ,

Four Things We Learned in Florida

March 1, 2015 by

4. Florida beaches are inspiring in winter, too.

Challenging Change, the Biennial Florida State Refugee Consultation was a whirlwind of presenting about employment, promoting Higher resources and learning from peers and presenters.

Meaningful inclusion of refugee voices in panel presentations, dance performances and informal networking between sessions inspired everyone. Click here if you missed reading more about the employer partnership and training program that put more than 50 refugees to work at the Hyatt conference venue.

Reflecting the diversity of Florida and the event, here are four more things we learned that continue to resonate after a couple of weeks have passed:

1. 25% of refugee-eligible populations are resettled in Florida. (And their 180 day self sufficiency rate is 84%, 6% above the national average.)

2. Standardized tests are a barrier to high school graduation for older refugee youth. Click here to learn how this affects one of many refugee panelists whose voice was included in a meaningful way at the conference.

3. Swimming pool resurfacing is a thing and can offer job skills training and employment. LSS Northeast Florida shared this new employer lead that has resulted in several refugees promoted to supervisor and a committed employer hiring diverse client populations into a supportive workplace.

 

 

Filed Under: Job Development and Employer Partnerships, Youth Employment Tagged With: , ,

Impact of an Aging U.S. Workforce

February 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Correcting common misconceptions about hiring older workers. Source: SHRM Foundation

Possible Benefits for Both Older and Younger Refugee Clients

It’s difficult to address the additional barriers faced by older refugees, who often look older than their actual age. Useful new research about the aging U.S. workforce offers information that could help us better serve the younger AND older workers on our case loads.

First, consider these two facts included in a recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management Foundation.

  • Between 2012-2022, there will be a 74% change in workforce participation among workers age 65+.
  • Both workers and employers define “older” as beginning at 50 years of age.
Better Incentives and Accomodation of Older Workers

As employers increase recognition of the importance of an older workforce, they will offer more incentives like flexible hours, enhanced visibility and tech training that could help our clients, too. Stronger employer recognition of the value of older workers will be an advantage, as well.

Download The Aging Workforce: Leveraging the Talents of Mature Employees, from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Series. It highlights a number of employer best practices that could give you ideas for new job development targets or helpful information to share with existing employer partners.

New Opportunities for Younger Workers

As the workforce ages, there will not be enough younger workers to fill openings, particularly in manufacturing or STEM trades. (STEM is science, technology, engineering and math.)

Build employer relationships in these fields and look for short term training programs or higher education options to help clients access these growth sectors.

 

Filed Under: Addressing Barriers to Employment, Job Development and Employer Partnerships, Youth Employment Tagged With: , ,

Good Ideas for Refugee Youth Employment

January 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Photo Credit: MYAN Australia

Higher Needs Your Advice about Successful Employment Strategies for Young Refugees

Innovative approaches to refugee youth employment is a priority topic at the upcoming Florida State Consultation in February. I’ll be presenting several sessions and hope to learn from your advice and good ideas as I prepare.

Are there special job development strategies, community resources or job readiness techniques that work for you? How do you help clients think about balancing their dreams of higher education with the immediate pressures of contributing to family self-sufficiency? How do you adjust your approaches to working with clients to best help refugee youth (ages 16-24)? Any specific best practices for working with younger Cuban clients?

If you would be willing to share your expertise in an informal email or phone call, please let me know.

Depending on how my presentation shapes up, I might be able to bring in a guest presenter or two via skype and could offer a modest honorarium to help make that possible.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

 

 

Filed Under: Success Stories, Youth Employment Tagged With: , ,