UNIFIED PLAN WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT FOR BALTIMORE CITY SUBMITTED TO THE GOVERNOR'S WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD BY THE BALTIMORE CITY WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD Preliminary Submission DECEMBER 15, 1999 TABLE OF CONTENTS A. FOREWORD 1 B. VISION 2 C. THE PLANNING TEAM AND PLANNING PROCESS 3 D. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 4 E. CURRENT EFFORTS & SITUATION 4-5 F. CHALLENGE AREAS 6-10 G. EVALUATION & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT 11 H. PROGRAM PLANNING 11 ADDENDUM: RESPONSES TO CHECKLIST APPENDIX A: WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD AND PLANNING TEAM APPENDIX B: BACKGROUND PAPER APPENDIX C: PARTNER STATEMENTS APPENDIX D: CONCURRENCE STATEMENTS FOREWORD On July 1, 2000 the Workforce Investment Act goes into effect. This legislation, which replaces the Job Training Partnership Act, seeks to create a more integrated system for workforce development and requires the active participation of many stakeholders in the planning process. In August, 1999 the State of Maryland indicated its intent to develop a 5 year strategic plan which encompasses the employment and training, educational, economic development, and human resources programs offered via the various state agencies. The Governor's Workforce Investment Board has been charged with oversight of this process and has in turn, charged the local Workforce Boards to engage in a concurrent strategic process. The intent is to achieve broad consensus on the vision articulated by the state and to engage the workforce development partners in a strategic process which will define priorities, set goals, and commit to a 5 year action plan. With a new millennium ushering in an era of vast technological advances and unprecedented change in the labor market landscape, the Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board recognizes this as a time of daunting challenge, tremendous opportunity and a time for urgent concerted action. This submission of the unified plan document reflects the agreement of the partners regarding the challenge areas, goals, and priorities for action. This final plan is being made available for public comment. The subsequent steps in the planning process, including the process for public input, are delineated in this document. This process will culminate with a March 1, 2000 submission of a final unified plan that will serve as a blueprint for the Baltimore City workforce development system. BALTIMORE CITY'S UNIFIED WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PLAN B. VISION In its deliberations, the Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board agreed to support the vision articulated by the Governor's Workforce Investment Board for the State of Maryland. The priorities and strategic directions outlined in this plan advance the vision for Baltimore City and for Maryland. Thus the vision for Baltimore is: A city where every person maximizes his or her career potential and all employers have the human resources to grow and prosper. Mission: The Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board, with the support of the political leadership and the commitment of the local and state partners, will build a world class workforce development system that drives and supports the local economy. The goals include: - Creating a workforce development system that produces a well educated and highly skilled workforce prepared for the careers of the future. - Developing a labor market system that provides job seekers, incumbent workers, students, out-of-school youth, and employers the labor market and training information needed to make informed career decisions. - Coordinating a delivery system that provides easy access to training and support for individuals in need of developing or upgrading their skill set to be competitive. - Implementing a governance system that focuses on unified planning, continuous improvement accountability for results and quality control on training intervention strategies. - Universal recognition of Baltimore's system for workforce development and intervention strategies as innovative and cutting edge in addressing the urban challenge. C. THE PLANNING TEAM AND PLANNING PROCESS The Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board will provide the oversight to the planning process. The composition of the Board as well as the membership is included in Appendix A. The Board deliberated on the challenge areas, the priorities and the planning process in executive session, in full meeting session and in retreat session. Prior to the retreat, an interactive process provided background information and solicited structured responses from all members of the Planning Team. Appendices B and C respectively contain the background paper and the Labor Market Context document that served to provide the context for the deliberations. Appendix D lists the members of the Planning Team. This Unified Plan draft submission represents the results of those deliberations and outlines the goals and priorities for action over the next 5 years in each of three challenge areas: - Improve the skill levels of Maryland's current and emerging workforce, - Ensure that all youth are prepared for further educational opportunities and entry into careers, and - Ensure close coordination with local economic development officials and area business and industry groups. The WIB acknowledged the critical need for better information for job seekers and employers, as consumers, and the need for labor market and vendor information to better plan and direct the resources in the workforce system. The specific data and system needs will be articulated for each challenge area and included in the final submission. The process for the completion of the plan is as follows: * The initial plan is made available for public comment and input via notification in the newspapers, and publication on oedworks.com, OED's WEB site. * The priorities identified for each challenge area will be further developed in one of the board committees: 1. The Employer Relations committee will develop the strategies related to coordinating with economic development and forming industry alliances. 2. The Youth Council, which is in the process of formation, will develop the strategic actions related to serving the needs of youth. 3. The Career Center Network committee will assemble all the required partners as well as representatives from the community and the vendor delivery system to develop a joint agreement on coordinated service delivery. Each of these committees will include representatives from the appropriate sectors. These committees initial mission will be to provide guidance to the unified plan process. Once a plan is submitted, the committees will remain in place to guide implementation, assess progress, provide feedback and make alterations to the plan as needed. D. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Public participation in the formulation of the Unified Plan will be promoted through wide distribution and public notice. Copies of the draft plan will be distributed to all branches of the Enoch Pratt Library system and OED offices, including the Career Centers. Public notices will be placed in widely circulated publications, such as the Baltimore Sun, the Afro-American and the Baltimore Business Journal. The OED will collect the solicited comments and distribute them to the relevant committees for consideration. As part of the record, each comment and response will be listed as part of the committee's deliberation on the priorities, goals and strategies to attain the goals of the Unified Plan. E. CURRENT EFFORTS & SITUATION The determination of the current needs of businesses and job seekers is a complex task. To begin this process, labor market and other data was assembled from several sources to provide the current landscape. Much of this information, which is presented in Appendix B, serves to reinforce the complexity and many facets of Baltimore's workforce challenge. As part of this strategic process it is the intent of the WIB to secure a better analysis of the labor market and workforce information to provide an empirical basis for establishing baselines, setting long range goals, and benchmarking progress. Today, the State and region is enjoying prosperity unparalleled in recent times; unemployment in some counties is effectively near zero. Yet, Baltimore's unemployment continues to remain high in the midst of regional prosperity. Preliminary look at the labor market studies indicates continued growth in low wage/low skill opportunities around the region, which heightens the community's concern around issues surrounding the working poor. The technological changes that are impacting the skill demands of existing jobs and emerging jobs places these opportunities out of the reach of the low skilled employed and unemployed. The growing skills gap and income gap poses challenges that must be addressed concurrently in the strategies that are put in place. Within the Baltimore community there is strong delivery in the workforce development community. There are strong vendors, good partnerships, innovative approaches, and genuine desire on the part of the many stakeholders to advance the priorities set forth in this document. While these various actors work together to knit the fabric of a "system," it is without a central blue print and formal agreements. This process provides the opportunity to build on the relative strength of delivery of the various partners to craft a systemic response. Baltimore City served as a learning laboratory for the rest of the country in establishing the Career Center Network, which engaged many of the partners in coordinating service delivery to job seekers. The Office of Employment Development, Baltimore City Department of Social Services, Baltimore City Community College, Baltimore Urban League, Job Service, Baltimore Goodwill, and Metropolitan Council AFL-CIO are all involved as part of the Career Center Network or the Employ Baltimore coalition. This process will provide the opportunity to expand the Network partners and fine tune the services. Building a strategic agenda for youth programming will be greatly enhanced by the ground work laid by the Career Connections Coordinating Council and the Youth Opportunities planning team. These two efforts engaged hundreds of individuals from all segments of the community to advocate for reform activities within the high schools and identify the set of alternative services needed to re-attach out of school youth to career development services. The Baltimore Housing Authority and the BCDSS are engaged in aggressive activities aimed at moving welfare recipients into the labor market mainstream paying particular attention to the impact on the quality of family life and community. The Literacy Works coalition has done considerable work in refocusing the providers on integrating workforce preparation with adult basic instruction instead of stand alone literacy instruction. Finally, the Division of Rehabilitation Services has been providing specialized services customized to the disabled job seeker. DORS conducts vocational assessments, job training and placement for clients experiencing barriers to employment, because of their disability. DORS will have a regular presence at the Career Centers beginning January 1, 2000. F. CHALLENGE AREAS Challenge Area 1: To improve the skills of Baltimore's current and emerging workforce. Baltimore City's current labor force is over 306,000 individuals. Officially, 92.5% of those individuals are employed and 7.5% (21,000 people) are unemployed. Additionally, there are 15,000 welfare recipients who are part of the potential workforce and a substantial uncounted number of discouraged workers who do not show up in the official statistics. Each year approximately 3,000 high school graduates and nearly 4000 dropouts enter the labor market. It is clear that Baltimore has a substantial pool of labor that can be tapped to meet the growing employment needs in the metropolitan economy. The tight labor market provides a window of opportunity for innovation in preparing workers for new occupations in growing industries. The challenge is multi-dimensional. First, there is a critical need for better information on the industries and occupations of the future, the magnitude of demand and the skill set required for success. Second, a substantial portion of the labor pool, including those currently employed, need to be re-tooled for the workplace of the future. Third, progressive strategies that address those barriers that traditionally pose impediments to success at the workplace must be put in place. Fourth, given that most of the projections for employment growth is in low-wage, low-skill occupations, it is important that career paths within industries are defined and effective ways to upgrade skills of low wage workers are developed. After considerable discussion, the WIB decided on an overarching goal of creating, over the next 5 years, a workforce development delivery system that: 1. Supports growth and economic development in the region by developing the City's workforce and marketing it as an asset, 2. Builds on the strengths of the many partners and deliverers in the Baltimore community, 3. Assembles these resources in a manner that provides efficient access for employers and job seekers, 4. Recognizes that delivery strength comes from coordinated pursuit of a common vision, 5. And, that puts in place a governance structure that provides a blue print and guide posts, yet preserves the integrity of individual organizations' roles and identities. It was decided that the commitment to the above set of goals should be consummated by a set of formal agreements among workforce agencies and partners. This document is the start of that process which will begin with a limited number of partners entering into a formal agreement in the first year. Each year, thereafter, additional partners will be added and the agreements will be reviewed to assure that the system remains responsive to local labor market needs. Subordinate to this overarching goal is a set of additional priorities: 1. Engage representatives from three to six industries in the development of industry specific training strategies that generate, over time, industry-endorsed pipelines for filling entry level and skilled positions. 2. Engage industry representatives and trainers in a process that will validate demand and skill set requirements and career paths in the targeted industries. 3. Implement methods to remove risk to employers hiring "at-risk" employees. Many employers have shown a willingness to work with new entrants to the labor force that historically have more barriers. However, experience indicates that low skill workers and employers that hire them can often benefit from additional support. This includes pre-employment preparation that addresses work skills, work ethic and post-employment employee assistance activities. Challenge Area 2: To ensure that all youth are prepared for further educational opportunities and entry into careers: Today's youth are tomorrow's workforce. Baltimore City recognizes this as both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge we face is significant. The current teen unemployment rate in the City remains high, especially for those youth living in high poverty areas. The number of young people leaving our public schools without earning academic credentials or marketable skills is staggering. Nearly two thirds of students entering the ninth grade fail to graduate from City schools on time. Less than a third of those who do graduate go on to pursue post-secondary education or training. Understandably, employers question the preparedness of our students and many are reluctant to bring youngsters into their work place. However, the opportunity exists to turn this situation around and to face the future with optimism. Over the past few years, Baltimore City has developed a foundation of valuable partnerships among our many youth serving organizations, our human service agencies, our schools and businesses, our post-secondary institutions, and our community and neighborhood groups. The City's local Career Connections school-to-careers strategy has promoted the transformation of our large, anonymous high schools into small communities of career focused academies and has built a framework to promote and coordinate important business participation in our schools with the establishment of the city wide industry advisory boards. Additionally, a recent grant opportunity catalyzed a powerful community effort to design a "blueprint" for building a youth service delivery system to reach and address the educational and occupational interests and needs of our most vulnerable youth. Building upon the work that has been done to date, the new Youth Council will move ahead to craft a coherent, effective and coordinated plan of services that will set all of our young people on career pathways and help them make the transition to meaningful employment and productive adulthood. In accordance with the WIA, a Youth Council will be formed under the umbrella of the Workforce Investment Board to serve as the convenor of the many stakeholder organizations in the City, to facilitate the development of a coordinated system, and to assure coordination among all existing youth serving organizations. The Youth Council will include representation from existing organizations, agencies and groups, and the Council itself will determine the resources and expertise each representative brings to the system to avoid fragmentation and duplication of services. The WIB has set forth three primary goals for Youth, the first of which is: GOAL 1: To build a comprehensive youth service delivery system coordinating all stakeholders' interests and activities to ensure successful transition to meaningful careers for Baltimore's youth. The following priorities for action are associated with this goal: 1. The system must prepare youth to meet the needs and requirements of the workplace. This means the academic skills of all youth must be strengthened through strategies that will ensure they are well grounded in their reading, computing and communication fundamentals. Curricula must also be developed that promotes students' ability to acquire the skills employers need. Finally, services must be developed and provided to prepare and assist all young people in their transition to the real work world. 2. Clearly, the challenge of preparing youth for successful adulthood is broader than academics. It must be envisioned as a shared responsibility and the education system should not be expected to be the sole provider. Defining all of the critical components of an "effective youth system" and defining how it will integrate with and enhance the education process will be an important action step. 3. The youth system that is to be developed must provide a broad menu of alternative/non traditional learning options. Work will continue to expand the process of allowing state and local per pupil funds to support youth in approved alternative programs GOAL 2: To stem, and ultimately eliminate, school dropouts. The following priorities for action are associated with this goal: 1. An initial step will be to better understand the reasons why youth drop out of school. Compiling and analyzing data around this issue will help us create responsive strategies and offer a variety of interventions. 2. Many young people leave school due to academic failures that result from differences in learning and life styles. Too many students are not appropriately diagnosed, and too often when they are it is too late. An action strategy will be to address this issue "at scale" and offer youth a menu of responsive learning environments. 3. Finally, it is critical to augment these academic options by building a "fabric of support" including healthy families, caring adults, recreational opportunities, leadership building activities more to address the broader issues of school drop out. GOAL 3: Businesses play a significant role in ensuring that curricula are appropriate, state of the art and able to prepare youth for real jobs. The current academies cannot thrive without active business and industry participation. Accordingly, the third goal identified by the WIB is: To establish a partnership network that actively engages business/ industry/community in preparing youth for successful careers. The following priorities for action are associated with this goal: 1. Identify participant businesses and develop agreements to validate curricula, provide professional development for teachers, to offer business mentoring/internships and to develop work-based learning experiences for both students and teachers, 2. Creating specific school-business partnerships to foster and promote hiring teens and teachers during the summer. Challenge Area 3: To ensure close coordination with local economic development, business and industry groups. The WIB, in its retreat session, discussed ways to coordinate with local economic development officials and area business and industry groups to ensure that their employment needs are being met. The group premised that the best way to meet employer needs was to have a trained and ready workforce at their disposal. In doing so, economic development objectives would be met because industry demands an existing workforce be maintained in order for it to locate or remain in a geographic area. While traditional economic development is generally perceived to mean large-scale development fostered by public economic development initiatives, linkage with smaller firms, that grow and generate much of the community economic development activity, is just as important. Community economic development is multi-faceted in which the private, public and not-for-profit organizations share in the planning and implementation of economic development activity with the goal of stimulating local economic activity to improve the quality of life for residents in the communities in which they reside. There is a mutual benefit for a strong relationship between workforce and community economic development. Commercial establishments, light industry and other businesses located in neighborhoods serve as training ground for youth and other unskilled workers to develop attitudes, ethics and work skills. Workforce development, therefore, should be integrated more closely with economic development, so that employers will have access to the workforce development system-- the activities, initiatives, organizations and institutions that prepare job seekers with careers and provide qualified productive workers to employers. The following priorities for action resulted from those deliberations: 1. The development of a powerful economic development/workforce development partnership. Such a partnership should ensure a seamless delivery of services to employers, would leverage resources, and would jointly develop strategic responses to workforce /economic development challenges. This alliance should be formal and should address the action steps to be taken to marry the joint agendas and activities. 2. The refinement of One-Stop services for employers that package economic and workforce incentives, e.g. training and development needs of employers, tax incentives, transportation assistance, etc. 3. Work in collaboration with public and private economic development organizations to target potential industries for siting in Baltimore City, with emphasis on those that would utilize the existing workforce, provide a living wage, upward mobility and benefits. This would include actively supporting the State's "Smart Growth" initiative that supports growth and development in areas with existing infrastructure rather than developing new infrastructure for growth to occur elsewhere and encouraging a focus on Baltimore City. 4. Work with current organizations that are focused on improving the access for city residents to public transportation that connects to employment opportunities in the metropolitan region. The particular area of focus for the board is to impact policy that would provide subsidy to start up routes and encourage better coordination of schedules with the work shifts and employment patterns. 5. Work in conjunction with economic development, industry, area businesses, and other cognizant agencies to create a positive image of the City and its workforce. G. EVALUATION & CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT For each challenge area, 5-year goals and objectives will be developed for the workforce development system. These objectives will be measurable, baselines will be established and progress will measured against predetermined benchmarks. These are to be collective goals for the system. Each participating partner will be asked annually to review their contribution to the overall achievement of the goals and will fine tune their plans. Under the guidance of the Evaluation Committee of the WIB, concepts and practices of continuous improvement will be instituted throughout the workforce development system and will be integrated into all relevant contracts and agreements with WIB partners and vendors. Partners and vendors will be asked to describe their own continuous improvement efforts and practices. To support the continuous improvement efforts, the WIB will seek out best practice models and distribute the information to partners and vendors. The WIB will also secure training resources from DOL, GWIB and others to improve the awareness and practice of continuous improvement throughout the local workforce development system. H. PROGRAM PLANNING Each agency partner has provided a summary of how their respective plans support the local areas strategic priorities and goals in the final submission in March. These summaries are included in Appendix D. ADDENDUM Responses to GWIB letter and checklist dated January 27, 2000 ADDENDUM: Responses to GWIB letter and checklist dated January 27, 2000 Electronic Submission: Baltimore City's Final Plan is available at the BWIB's website www.oedworks.com. The GWIB is encouraged to link to that site. Planning Team: The Planning Team list in the Final Plan identifies the sectors represented by each member. Baltimore City Community College and the Literacy Corporation would represent adult education; Baltimore City Department of Social Services would represent social services; DORS and Goodwill would represent vocational rehabilitation; and the Baltimore City Commission on Aging and Retirement Education (CARE) would represent older workers. Description of Strategies to Address Local Area Challenges: The two-page summaries included with this final plan identify what role each partner will play. Discussion of Continuous Improvement Efforts: The goals and objectives relative to continuous improvement in each of the challenge areas will be articulated during the planning period, and will be finalized by October 30, 2000. Evidence of Program Planning: Two-page summaries from each agency partner are included in the final plan. APPENDIX A WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD AND PLANNING TEAM 1999 MEMBERSHIP BALTIMORE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD 11/12/99 Representation Mr. E. Thomas Booker large Vice President, Technology Marketing business Fannie Mae 3900 Wisconsin Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20016 202-752-6639 fax 202-752-4530 e-mail earl_thomas_booker@fanniemae.com Dr. Robert Booker education Chief Executive Officer Baltimore City Public Schools 200 E. North Avenue Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-396-8803 fax 410-396-8898 e-mail rbooker@bcps.K12.MD.US Mr. Jay Brodie economic President development Baltimore Development Corporation 36 S. Charles Street, Suite 1500 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-837-9305 fax 410-547-7211 e-mail Jbrodie@bdc2.ci.baltimore.md.us Mr. Eric Brown, Director housing Housing Authority of Baltimore City 417 E. Fayette St. Suite 1346 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-396-8382 fax 410-545-7359 e-mail brown@habc.org Mr. Michael Cirillo labor Business Agent Sheet Metal Workers- Local 100 4705 Erdman Avenue Baltimore, Maryland 21205 410-732-1849 fax 410-675-1345 Mr. John Dillon, Vice President large Bell Atlantic Telephone business 1 E. Pratt Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-393-7705 fax 410-393-4078 e-mail john.w.dillon@bellatlantic.com Mr. Mike Forti small Vice President business Forti, Poole & Kent P.O. Box 3966 Baltimore, Maryland 21222 10-477-4040 fax 410-477-4894 Ms. Alicia Foster Partner small Abrams, Foster, Nole & Williams business Village of Cross Keys Quadrangle Suite 272-B Baltimore, Maryland 21210 410-433-6830 x226 fax 410-433-6871 Mr. Donald Fry large Executive Vice President business Greater Baltimore Committee 111 S. Calvert Street Suite 1700 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-727-2820 fax 410-539-5705 e-mail donaldf@gbc.org Ms. Yvonne Gilchrist government Director Baltimore City Department of Social Services 1510 Guilford Avenue Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-361-2202 fax 410-361-3150 e-mail Ygilchri@dhr.state.md.us Mr. Ernest R. Grecco organized labor President Baltimore Metropolitan Council of AFL-CIO Unions 2701 W. Patapsco Avenue, Suite 110 Baltimore, Maryland 21230 410-242-1300 fax 410-247-3197 Ms. Karen L. Sitnick government Director Office Of Employment Development 417 E. Fayette Street, Suite 468 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-396-1910 410-752-6625 e-mail mooe1@flash.net Ms. Anne Johnson Suskind, Grady, Rosen and Hoover business 2 East Fayette Street, 6th floor Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-539-6606 fax: 410 -332-0269 Ms. Deborah Knight-Kerr large Director business Johns Hopkins Hospital Community and Education 600 Wolfe Street/ Houck 446A Baltimore, Maryland 21287 410-955-1488 fax 410-955-9803 e-mail dkkerr@jhmi.edu Mr. Roger Lyons, President community Baltimore Urban League, Inc. based organization 512 Orchard Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-523-8150 fax 410-523-4022 e-mail RLyons7070@aol.com Ms. Debbie Lilly large Vice President business Giant Foods Community Development 6300 Sherif Road Landover, Maryland 20785 1-301-341-8825 fax 1-301-618-4050 e-mail dlilly@giantofmaryland.com Mr. Douglas Perry large Vice President business Constellation Energy 111 Market Place, Suite 200 Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-230-4611 fax 410-230-4847 e-mail dperry@conpwr.com Dr. Skipp Sanders education Deputy Superintendent Department of Education 200 W. Baltimore Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-767-0464 fax 410-333-6033 e-mail ssanders@msde.state.md.us Deborah Sterrett small President business A.C.E. Inc. 5 Woodvalley Court, Suite 1 Reisterstown, Maryland 21136 410-517-0000 fax 410-517-0011 e-mail mbnemail@aol.com Ms. Marge Thomas President and CEO business Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, Inc. non-profit 4001 Southwestern Boulevard, Box 2907 Baltimore, Maryland 21229-0907 410-247-3500x123 fax 410-247-6219 e-mail mthomas@goodwillches.org Dr. James Tschechtelin adult education President Baltimore City Community College Liberty Campus 2901 Liberty Heights Avenue Baltimore, Maryland 21215-7893 410-462-7799 fax 410-462-7795 e-mail jtschechtelin@bccc.state.md.us Mr. Bob Wallace President and CEO small The BITH Group business 8950 Old Annapolis Road, Suite 236 Columbia, Maryland 21045 410-730-0077 fax 410-730-2410 e-mail bithgrp@erols.com Mr. Larry Walton community President organization United Way of Central Maryland 100 S. Charles Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410- 547-8000 fax 410-547-5640 e-mail larry.walton@uwcm.org Mr. Garland Williamson, President small business Information Control Systems Corporation 111 S. Calvert Street, Suite 2700 Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-752-1934x 24 fax 410-576-0398 Mr. Dennis Yeagle government Manager Department Of Employment Services 1100 N. Eutaw Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-767-2115 fax 410-767-2739 e-mail dyeagle@careernet.state.md.us PLANNING TEAM Ms. Neetu Dhawan-Gray Executive Director 34 Market Place Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-396-4932 fax 410-385-0381 e-mail: baltimorecitycare@compuserve.com Ms. Pecolia Blackwell Regional Director Division of Vocational Rehabilitation 1515 W. Mt. Royal Ave. Baltimore, Maryland 21217 410-333-3119 fax 410-333-7400 Ms. Maggie Gaines Executive Director Baltimore City Literacy Corporation 5 East Read Street Baltimore, Maryland 21202 410-752-3595 fax 410-752-0677 e-mail maggig@baltimorereads.org APPENDIX B BACKGROUND PAPER BACKGROUND On July 1, 2000 the Workforce Investment Act goes into effect. This legislation, which replaces the Job Training Partnership Act, seeks to create a more integrated system for workforce development and requires the active participation of many stakeholders in the planning process. In August, 1999 the State of Maryland indicated its intent to develop a 5 year strategic plan which encompasses the employment and training, educational, economic development, and human resources programs offered via the various state agencies. The Governor's Workforce Investment Board has been charged with oversight of this process and has in turn, charged the local Workforce Boards to engage in a concurrent strategic process. The intent is to achieve broad consensus on the vision articulated by the state and to engage the workforce development partners in a strategic process which will define priorities, set goals, and commit to a 5 year action plan. With a new millennium ushering in an era of vast technological advances and unprecedented change in the labor market landscape, the Baltimore City Workforce Investment Board recognizes this as a time of daunting challenge, tremendous opportunity and a time for urgent concerted action. This initial submission of the unified plan document reflects the agreement of the partners regarding the challenge areas, goals, and priorities for action. The initial plan is being made available for public comment. The subsequent steps in the planning process, including the process for public input, are delineated in this document. This process will culminate with a March 1, 2000 submission of a final unified plan that will serve as a blueprint for the Baltimore City workforce development system. APPENDIX C PARTNER STATEMENTS Baltimore Metropolitan Council of AFL-CIO Unions Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Baltimore Metropolitan Council of AFL-CIO supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. In doing so, AFL-CIO will continue to align its services with those of other organizations, including the Office of Employment Development (OED), to provide access for the citizens of Baltimore to education, training and support that will produce a well educated and highly skilled workforce for Baltimore's economy. AFL-CIO accepts the challenge to improve the current and emerging workforce by: * Partnering with the Office of Employment Development, State Job Service and other organizations to provide services to job seekers such as access to the labor market information, job listings using computer based job matching, access to Unemployment Insurance and access to skills training, including workforce specific skills training and certification through individual training vouchers delivered as a part of the Baltimore Career Center Network. * Ameliorating barriers to employment by providing transportation assistance, referrals to substance abuse and childcare services, temporary housing, and emergency food assistance for appropriate individuals. * Providing labor management assistance, crisis intervention counseling and re-employment services for dislocated workers adversely affected by layoffs and/or through employment linkages and skills training; * Providing apprenticeships and nontraditional employment opportunities to job seekers and orientations to union careers such as building trades, e.g. electrical, plumbing, carpentry, painting, and operating engineers. * Providing literacy programs for the adult learner in the workplace. * Participating in joint management teams to coordinate operational details of workforce development. * Spearheading a comprehensive incumbent worker training program in the Health Care Industry and other industries engaged in re-engineering processes. To Ensure Close Coordination with Local Economic Development and Business and Industry Groups, the AFL-CIO Unions intends to: * Continue to build an alliance to develop innovative strategies to get job seekers connected to the communications industry, machinist industry, high tech and health care industries to provide high quality training and workers to meet the demands of the work force. To Ensure that Youth are Prepared for Further Educational Opportunities and Entry into Careers, AFL-CIO Unions will: * Provide training skills and hands on in industry specific occupations to youth educational professionals and training providers in the following industries; manufacturing; high tech; health care; and building trades apprenticeship programs. Baltimore Development Corporation Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Development Corporation supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. In doing so, the Office of Employment Development and the Baltimore Development Corporation will work to develop a strong partnership with industry and business groups to move an aggressive economic and workforce development agenda which will include strategic planning, consultation and collaboration in the delivery of products and services. The Baltimore Development Corporation accepts the challenge of ensuring close coordination with Local Economic Development, Business and Industry Groups by: * Being an active partner in creating a formal workforce development strategy. * Developing workforce development plans for new or expanding industries and facilitating the engagement of industry in the development of training and skill validation strategies to fill entry level and skilled positions. * Increasing board and staff linkages with the Office of Employment Development and the Workforce Development system which lead to complementary policy initiatives, greater integration of products and services and timely information about economic development activities. * Preparing marketing and public relations material which provides information about available workforce development services, such as industry specific media products for current expanding or prospective new industries, and linkages to each other's web sites. * Reviewing, and if necessary, revising the language, marketing, and processes associated with loan agreements to ensure that they provide the best incentives to workforce development. * Supporting the development of local funding for workforce development for activities not currently allowed through traditional sources of federal and State funds. Baltimore Goodwill Industries Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Baltimore Goodwill Industries (BGI) supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. In doing so, BGI will continue its focus on employment development for the hard-to-employ, collaboration with business and industry groups, and integration of employment and related activities of community organizations, to more quickly and efficiently mobilize resources to reduce barriers to employment for our target population. The Baltimore Goodwill Industries accepts the Challenge to Improve the Skills of Baltimore's Current and Emerging Workforce by: * Continuing the employment development strategy focusing on the hard-to-employ, long-term welfare dependent population, including non-custodial parents, learning disabled individuals and public housing residents. * Working with community development and other organizations to integrate child and family assistance services, transportation and other issues that pose barriers to getting and retaining employment. * Establishing a One-Stop Career Center which will include the co-location of 10 agencies working together to address the career and employment development needs of our target population. * Provide adult literacy services through the Learning Bank of Communities Organized to Improve life. To Ensure Close Coordination with Local Economic Development, Business and Industry Groups, Goodwill Industries will; * Continue to build relationships with area employers through our Board of Directors to advance the workforce development agenda through Goodwill Temporary Services. Baltimore City Community College Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City Baltimore City Community College supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. To help achieve this vision, BCCC will continue to expand its cost-effective courses and programs designed to help adult students upgrade their skills, provide professional development opportunities, literacy programs; customized training opportunities for employers, and partnerships with businesses and government agencies. Baltimore City Community College accepts the challenge to improve the current and emerging workforce by: * Expanding its campus locations throughout the City. The college's newest extension location in Canton expands the programming potential of the college. Computer facilities at this site are state- of- the art. Future sites include Patterson and Northern High Schools and in the Reisterstown Road area, which will feature state of the art computer labs and other custom facilities (Call Center laboratory). * Expanding its Occupational Training Programs. The Business and Continuing Education Center (BCEC) has recently created a new non-credit dental assisting program in cooperation with the Dental Hygiene Department at BCCC, the Maryland Association of General Dentistry, and McKane Associates. The program prepares participants for entry-level dental assisting positions and includes a job placement component along with preparation for national certification testing. * Continuing to offer high quality Associate of Arts degrees and Certificates in occupational curriculum that is responsive to the needs of the City. * Continuing its Literacy Services as the City's largest provider of literacy training. These services will remain as a primary source of basic skills, English as a second language and GED instruction. * Continuing to teach the foreign born, the College provides English as a Second Language training geared toward employment preparation, job readiness and succeeding in the workplace for refugees and immigrants. To ensure close coordination with local economic development and business and industry groups, BCCC will: * Expand partnerships through the Business and Continuing Education Center. BCCC is poised to partner with key economic, industry and business groups throughout the city and regularly provides leadership in the development of cost-effective, time-sensitive, and skill-focused training programs to meet employer needs. For example, a customized Surgical Technician program was developed for the University of Maryland Medical System for unemployed/underemployed Empowerment Zone residents. Empower Baltimore Management Corporation; Office of Employment Development and the University of Maryland Medical System provided funding for this program. * Expanding customized training, BCEC is a leader in the effort to train entry-level Customer Service Representatives for Call Center Operations. Partners in this effort include private industry sector leaders such as Sierra Military Health Services, BGE, Craftmatic, and Sylvan Learning Systems. Our partner in the overall development, funding and quality assurance effort was the Office of Employment Development. To ensure that all youth are prepared for further educational opportunities and entry into careers, * BCCC will, through BCEC, offer programs for at-risk youth designed to provide GED preparation, job readiness, life skills, career counseling and job placement. Baltimore City Department of Social Services Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Baltimore City Department of Social Services supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. In doing so, we will coordinate our services with those of other organizations, including the Office of Employment Development (OED), to provide access for the citizens of Baltimore to education, training and support that will produce a well educated and highly skilled workforce for Baltimore's economy. BCDSS accepts the challenge to improve the current and emerging workforce by: * Providing funding to support, through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), for work-based training programs for eligible populations including recipients of Temporary Cash Assistance and Non-Custodial Parents. * Working with the Office of Employment Development to provide "wrap around" support to customers such as childcare, transportation and crisis management for customers who have these barriers to employment. * Developing partnerships to develop customized training opportunities for occupations in growing industries; * Participating in joint management teams to coordinate operational details of workforce development. Moreover, to ensure that all youth are prepared for further educational opportunities and careers, BCDSS shall: * Provide TANF support to OED's Summer Youth program; and * Support pregnant teens including adults who have had children as teenagers. * Participate in strategy planning for the Youth system as part of the Youth Council. The Division of Rehabilitative Services (DORS) Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Division of Rehabilitative Services (DORS) supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. In doing so DORS is committed to providing leadership and support to promoting the employment, economic self-sufficiency and independence of individuals with disabilities. The Division of Rehabilitative Services accepts the challenge to improve the current and emerging workforce by: * Identifying and assessing the labor market needs so our consumers can be prepared for emerging jobs. * Receiving input/advice on employment trends from the State Rehabilitation Council. * Providing training at DORS' comprehensive center in Baltimore to persons with significant disabilities * Coordinating services with other agencies to eliminate duplication and utilize all available resources so consumers can return to, maintain or obtain employment * Maintaining agreements with agencies not directly connected to the workforce investment system in an effort to utilize all available resource, i.e., Community Rehabilitation Programs (CRPS) and Worker's Compensation Commission (WCC). * DORS shall be permanent member of the Local Workforce Investment Board (LWIB), to assist with the planning of services for persons with disabilities. * Assigning a Rehabilitation Specialist to each of the five Career Centers in Baltimore City to provide services to consumers with disabilities and to provide technical assistance to staff at these Career Centers * Assisting with the implementation of the Workforce Investment Act by participating on committees such as the Career Center Committee of the LWIB To ensure close coordination with local economic development and business and industry groups, DORS shall: * The Baltimore City Office of the Division of Rehabilitative Services will continue to be an active member of local organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce, The Mayor's Commission on Disabilities, The Baltimore Business Advisory Council (IAMCARES), College University Advisory Board and the President's Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities (Project Impact). To ensure that all Youth are prepared for further educational opportunities and entry into careers, DORS shall, * Maintain a Cooperative Agreement with the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS). The purpose of this agreement is to facilitate the smooth transition of eligible students with disabilities from the school system to the world of work. * The Baltimore City DORS' office will maintain a special school unit that will provide rehabilitation services to students in all public high schools in Baltimore. Alternative schools will be covered by this unit as the need arises. * DORS will continue serving on the Local Coordinating Council (LCC) for alternative placement of students in Baltimore. * DORS will continue to develop and implement special projects to meet the needs of students with the most sufficient disabilities. Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Housing Authority of Baltimore city supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. In doing so, we will coordinate our services with those of other organizations, including the Office of Employment Development (OED), to provide access for the citizens of Baltimore to education, training and support that will produce a well educated and highly skilled workforce for Baltimore's economy. HABC accepts the challenge to improve the current and emerging workforce by: * Establishing employment development centers within HABC developments through People Accessing Continued Employment (PACE) for residents in order to promote self-sufficiency of its residents. * Providing a subsidized work model, which allows individuals to be trained in industry and occupational specific jobs, while through WorkMatters they obtain basic education. Support is provided to individuals with special needs such as childcare assistance, transportation, substance abuse treatment, family crisis and other challenges that might keep them off the job. * In tandem with one stop career centers, provide expanded workforce development services for public housing residents, building on successful PACE and WorkMatters models. * Remaining active in the transportation coalition, under the leadership of Sojourner Douglas College, to develop strategies to address transportation of public housing residents to worksites. * Developing partnership to develop customized training opportunities for occupations in growing industries. * Participating in joint management teams to coordinate operational details of workforce development. To ensure close coordination with local economic development and business and industry groups, HABC shall: * HABC, through its Welfare to Work Program and similar initiatives, will work with the local economic development and business groups to identify and match job skills needs with available human resources. If the specific skill set is not available HABC is committed to working with the local education institutions to train the public housing resident to meet the job needs of the businesses. HABC will maintain a "skills bank" that could be accessed by the businesses. To ensure that all Youth are prepared for further educational opportunities and entry into careers, HABC shall: * Through its youth development centers, will provide opportunities for educational enrichment and homework assistance. HABC will make computers available for use at the various youth development centers. Baltimore City Job Service Unified Plan for Workforce Development Baltimore City The Job Service supports the vision of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board to develop a world class workforce development system that prepares the citizens of Baltimore for current and future careers. The Job Service is committed to a partnership with the Office of Employment Development (OED) and other related entities to integrate services under OED's One Stop Career Center to decrease fragmentation and duplication of employment services for both job seekers and employers. To Improve the Skills of Baltimore's Current and Emerging Workforce, the Job Service intends to: * Co-locate services within the Career Center Network, providing labor exchange services to employers and job seekers, facilitated self-help and staff assistance to job seekers. * Continue to provide connections to unemployment insurance, Wagner-Peyser services, CareerNet and access to job service staff at One-Stops administered by the Office of Employment Development. * Provide at the Urban League and East Side One-Stops, an Early Intervention Program to address the needs of dislocated workers including job finding and other skills to get these dislocated workers re-attached to employment. * Develop a memorandum of understanding with One-Stop partners to outline performance standards, operational priorities, and procedures to address the needs of job seeking and employer customers. * Implement strategic marketing concepts to develop job orders for potential employers of veterans, provide enhanced services to veterans within the One Stop delivery system, including services, which satisfies their individual needs. * Participate in joint management teams to coordinate operational processes of One-Stops. * Participate in the development of strategic plans and policies to achieve the mission of workforce development for Baltimore City. APPENDIX D CONCURRENCE STATEMENTS STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Ernest Grecco Date President STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Jay Brodie Date President STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Marge Thomas Date President and CEO STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ James Tschechtelin Date President STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Yvonne Gilchrist Date Director STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a partner in Baltimore's workforce development system, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the Workforce Investment Board's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Pecolia Blackwell Date Director STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Eric Brown Date Deputy Director STATEMENT OF CONCURRENCE As a member of the Baltimore Workforce Investment Board, I concur with the goals and action priorities outlined in the Unified Plan and agree to continue as a partner in the subsequent planning and implementation of strategies which support the WIB's action agenda as stated in the attached document. ___________________________ _______________ Dennis Yeagle Date Director 4 11