SkillUp Lands Boeing Manufacturing Grant
Boeing grant helps low-skilled adults train for manufacturing careers
SEATTLE —SkillUp Washington, a Seattle-based organization that supports workforce development training, has been awarded a $750,000 from Boeing to help low-skilled adults launch manufacturing careers.
The 3-year grant called Manufacturing Advancement Pathways Project (MAPP) will help students in four area community colleges (Shoreline, Renton Tech, South Seattle and Everett) complete training and find employment with area manufacturers. “We are extremely grateful for Boeing’s dynamic investment,” said Susan Crane, SkillUp’s Executive Director. “This grant will lead to deeper and broader relationships between colleges and manufacturers. This will ensure students get the training they need for successful manufacturing careers and employers have a well-trained pool or workers.”
According to Snohomish County Workforce Development Council data, the aerospace industry is expected to create more than 21,000 aerospace jobs in Washington state.
Under the grant, local workforce training and education organizations will identify common strategies that will help them work together and keep the sector strong; students will receive educational and community supports that will help them stay in school, and college partners will hire manufacturing Navigators who will play a pivotal role in developing connections between students and employers and help students reach their educational goals. Special focus will be on helping military veterans and women enter manufacturing training programs.
“SkillUp is uniquely positioned to lead the MAPP,” said Crane. “We play a weaver role in connecting low-income students, colleges and employers and in ensuring that mutually reinforcing strategies exist to inform and support the design, quality and productivity of these relationships.”
Other SkillUp grant partners include the Manufacturing Industrial Council, City of Seattle (Pathways to Careers initiative), Aerospace Joint Apprenticeship Committee (AJAC), Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women (ANEW) and Workforce Development Councils in King and Snohomish Counties.
New Jobs Forecast Released
Seattle- One of the biggest challenges coming out of the recession continues to be a shortage of skilled workers for the growing number of information technology and business services jobs here.
That’s among the findings in the latest Talent Pipeline Study just released by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle–King County. It projects a surplus of more than 3,600 jobs a year in IT and nearly 5,000 annually in business services between 2014 and 2019.
The report sees job demand outpacing labor supply in finance and insurance too. All three job sectors are forecast to have annual shortages of 9,185 workers, or more than 27,000 during the five-year period.
“That’s where we come in,” said Marléna Sessions, chief executive officer of the Workforce Development Council. “Our Pipeline Talent Studies are powerful guides as we make job training investments to ensure workers have the skills employers need so both thrive in the post recession era.”
The WDC oversees federal job training funds in King County and will use the findings to direct those dollars into training programs for jobs in high demand. The unique research estimates future job growth and the supply of skilled workers to fill those positions.
Other key findings:
- Business services will have the largest need, with a projected average annual shortage of 4,887 candidates in areas such as accounting, auditing and customer service.
- IT is bracing for a yearly shortfall of 3,631 workers, mostly software engineers and computer support specialists.
- While much of the IT demand is in jobs requiring vocational or associate degrees, many businesses say they will only hire those with a bachelor’s.
- Finance and insurance expects a shortage of 667 positions a year.
The WDC’s first Talent Pipeline Study, issued last summer, projected more than 19,000 new jobs in healthcare, manufacturing and transportation over the same five year period.
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The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (www.seakingwdc.org) is a nonprofit workforce “think tank” and grant-making organization that oversees employment-related programs for youth, the adult workforce and employers in King County, with the goal of a strong economy and self-sufficiency for every resident.
Workforce Investment Dollars Pack Economic Punch
Each dollar invested in workforce returns $10+ to local economy
SEATTLE—New research shows that federal Workforce Investment Act funding returns $10.45 for every dollar invested in Seattle-King County. What’s more, $146 million will be generated for our economy by the adults and youth placed in jobs by Workforce Investment Act programs during just one program year.
“This astonishing figure shows the ripple effect of investing in workforce development,” said Marléna Sessions, CEO of the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County. “These programs are quietly making a huge contribution to our local economy—while changing the lives of jobseekers and young people.”
The WDC commissioned the study by Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI) to examine the economic benefits generated by federal workforce dollars in the community of Seattle-King County. The researchers determined the lifelong earnings of the customers placed in jobs by in Program Year 2009 to determine the effect on the economy. This “income effect” is $80.1 million for the 247 job placements in the WIA adult program; $52 million for the 328 job placements in the dislocated worker program; and $13.8 million for the 123 youth who were placed—for a total of $146 million.
“Far more people stand to benefit from the investment than just the original investors—in this case, the taxpayers,” the researchers wrote. “Job seekers are beneficiaries of higher incomes, employers are beneficiaries of increased worker productivity, the community as a whole is a beneficiary of reduced unem¬ployment costs, increased tax collections, and so on.”
In addition to the long-term wages generated, the study also looked at the number of people employed directly by the WDC and its contractors, and the “ripple effect” from these operations. These directly and indirectly generated $22.5 million in income and supported 427 jobs.
To read the entire report: http://www.seakingwdc.org/pdf/09-10-reports/WDC_ROI.pdf
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The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (www.seakingwdc.org) is a nonprofit workforce “think tank” and grant-making organization that oversees employment-related programs for youth, the adult workforce and employers in King County, with the goal of a strong economy and self-sufficiency for every resident.
SkillUp Wins Boeing Grant
SEATTLE- The Boeing Company recently awarded SkillUp Washington $85,000 to support capacity building efforts and sustain career pathway initiatives in the Puget Sound region.
Career pathway strategies combine training, education and support services to help low income working adults find a family-sustaining career or advance in their current industry. SkillUp uses this approach in much of its work, such as creating opportunities for people in the health care sector and helping young adults ages 18-30 to improve their basic skills and enroll in credit-bearing college programs.
Initial research by SkillUp’s Investors Group estimates that there about 92,000 people in King County between the ages of 18 and 54 have no postsecondary credential and are living households with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level. About 55,000 of these are age 25 and older and failed to connect with college when they left high school, about 44,000 with a diploma or GED and 11,000 without either. There are some 37,000 younger adults age 18-24, the vast majority of whom are not in college (about 8,500 of this group failed to gain a high school diploma or GED).
The importance of at least one year’s worth of postsecondary study and a credential to the earnings potential and advancement opportunity of low-income individuals has been well established by research here in Washington State and at the national level. SkillUp’s goal is to pull under-prepared individuals into training and education pathways that work for them – to get more of them to and through postsecondary education and beyond even as they continue to work to support themselves and their families.
“We can’t thank Boeing enough for this generous contribution,” said Susan Crane, Executive Director of SkillUp Washington. “Boeing is a champion of workforce education and a terrific partner. This grant ensures that SkillUp can continue doing this important work."
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Seattle-King Co. WDC Receives Top Award
WDC-led youth employment program wins Governor’s Award
SEATTLE—The WDC-led SODO Inc. program, which provides young people with skills training and hands-on work experience in the industrial trades, has won a 2011 Governor’s Best Practice Award for Workforce and Economic Development.
Announced yesterday by Governor Chris Gregoire, the awards recognize projects that benefit both workers and the economy. SODO Inc., a federally funded collaboration between the Workforce Development Council, King County Work Training/YouthSource, South Seattle Community College, and the Manufacturing Industrial Council of Seattle, allows low-income young adults to gain a foothold in the trades.
“We are so proud of this partnership between the private sector, the college, and the workforce system and the way it has gained employer support,” said Marléna Sessions, CEO of the Workforce Development Council.
“Employers need these skills for their businesses to thrive, and for the youth, this is a career and education path with real opportunities,” she added. “For many of these young people, SODO Inc. is the first time they have been given a chance to pursue it.”
Almost 250 young people have participated in the program since it began in 2009. The students, 18 to 24 years old, come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many lack a high-school diploma, speak English as a second language or are ex-offenders.
Program components include:
- Four weeks of hands-on classes at the trades-focused Georgetown campus of South Seattle Community College. The youth learn a wide variety of skills—including tool use, safety, first aid, and basic work habits and attitudes—while learning about apprenticeships as a path to successful careers in the trades.
- Paid four-week internship with a private employer to apply learning on the job. More than 50 employers have hosted interns (who are paid by the program). Most are small companies in the fields of manufacturing, marine, and general trades.
- Individual support through a case manager who provides one-on-one mentoring and career/education planning, as well as assistance with program-related expenses such as boots, tools and transportation.
Begun in 2009 as part of the one-time summer-jobs program funded by the Recovery Act, SODO Inc. is now part of the WDC’s GreenLight Project, a federally funded, community-wide training program.
For more information on SODO Inc., visit www.seakingwdc.org/youth/SoDoInc.html.
The Governor’s Best Practices Awards for Workforce and Economic Development are a collaboration among the Office of the Governor, the Workforce Training & Education Coordinating Board and the Department of Commerce. They recognize programs and projects that demonstrate excellence and achievement in both workforce development and economic development.
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100% of the SODO Inc. project, or $824,030, is funded by a federal grant from the U.S. Department of Labor through the Workforce Development Council of Seattle King County. The WDC and the SODO Inc. partners are Equal Opportunity Employers and Providers of Employment and Training Programs. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities. WTRS 800.833-6384 or 711.
The Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County (www.seakingwdc.org) is a nonprofit workforce “think tank” and grant-making organization that oversees employment-related programs for youth, the adult workforce and employers in King County, with the goal of a strong economy and self-sufficiency for every resident.
Margret Graham, Project Manager/Communications
Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County
(206) 914-5904
Our Workforce, Our Future
SkillUp to Receive $900,000 Grant
Money will help veterans, women train for family-sustaining jobs
SEATTLE —SkillUp Washington− a workforce funders collaborative based at The Seattle Foundation− has been awarded $900,000 to launch a multi-partner job training initiative for workers in green construction and utilities.
“This three-year initiative, called Washington GreenForce, will open doors to groups who have been excluded from construction trades in the past or don’t know how to enter the sector,” said Norman Rice, President and CEO of The Seattle Foundation. “I’d like to thank the workforce development community and Seattle government leaders for enthusiastically endorsing this proposal for citizens in the Puget Sound region. It’s a testament to what can happen when local government, labor, community-based organizations, and postsecondary institutions work together. This is great news.”
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