Helping Residents Gain Skills and Jobs: What Career Pathways Can Offer Tuesday, August 14, 2018 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Today’s Speakers • Tremayne Youmans, Neighborhood & Community Investment Specialist, Office of Public Housing Investments, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development • Julie Strawn, Principal Associate, Social & Economic Policy, Abt Associates • Nick Codd, Senior Consultant, Seattle Jobs Initiative • Grace M. Adriano , Senior Resident Services Manager, King County Housing Authority • Shelan Aldridge , Associate Director, Education and Community Services, Neighborhood House U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Agenda • Introduction • What are career pathways strategies and why use them? • Finding the right career pathways partners • Employment partnerships for residents in King County, Washington (Seattle region) • Community partner perspective U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
What are Career Pathways Strategies and Why Use Them? Julie Strawn, Principal Associate Abt Associates Julie_Strawn@abtassoc.com U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
What are Career Pathways Strategies? Career pathways strategies offer. . . . . . connected education and training steps between jobs in an industry sector, . . . combined with support services , . . . to enable individuals to enter and exit training within a pathway at various levels and, . . . advance over time to higher skills, recognized credentials, and better jobs with higher pay. Each step on a career pathway prepares individuals to progress to the next level of employment and/or education. 5
Postsecondary credentials increasingly matter for access to family-sustaining jobs 6
Only one fourth of public housing residents have any education beyond high school 50 45 45 40 37.8 36.5 35 31 30 25.7 25 20 15 13.1 10 5 0 Less than high school High school diploma More than high school education (postsecondary) 7 Public Housing Residents U.S. Population
Career Pathways Strategies Bundle Together Evidence-Based Practices • Partnerships of employers, community/technical colleges, workforce boards, community organizations, and others • “Stackable” credentials within an industry that allow workers to build skills over time and advance to higher paying jobs • Clear, structured pathways with multiple levels to enter and exit training and jobs depending on initial skills and experience • Support services and financial assistance to address barriers that might derail completion of training • Work-based learning , such as internships • “Bridge” courses that integrate basic skills instruction with occupational training 8
Example: Wisconsin Career Pathways 9
Example: Pima Community College I-BEST Career Pathways Bridge 10
Example: Pathways to Healthcare Pima Community College 11
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Challenges to Expanding Career Pathways Services to Residents • Fear of losing public housing subsidies • Challenges of working/parenting while going to school • Barriers to program entry and eligibility, such as low basic skills and/or limited English proficiency • Self-doubt; lack of role models or support • Lack of familiarity with colleges and with training options • Personal and family challenges, including transportation, child care, health issues • BUT career pathways research shows others with similar challenges can be successful. Right partners are key. 13
Finding the Right Career Pathway Partners Nick Codd, Senior Consultant Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI) NCodd@seattlejobsinit.com U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Career Pathway Partners: What to Look for Providers who are employer-driven, whose services lead to jobs and employer recognized credentials Capacity to engage and support people at differing levels of readiness as they enter and move through employment and training services and transition to jobs 15
Program Models & Approaches to Consider • Navigator models: career & employment navigators; housing and employment navigators • Short term training programs: employer recognized credential supported by a navigator • Social Enterprise models • Transitional/subsidized work programs • Individual Placement and Support model 16
Partnership with Federal Workforce Programs • WIOA/WIOA Youth – American Job Centers – Workforce Investment Boards • SNAP Employment and Training https://snaptoskills.fns.usda.gov 17
What a ROSS Program Offers to Workforce Partners • People who are housed; not experiencing heavy rent burden or impending loss of housing • Ability to manage impact of increased income on housing subsidy/assistance. • Ability to inform and communicate with residents; promote E&T opportunities • Link with needed resources/services (childcare; schools; healthcare) • Share in case management/resident services 18
What to Look for in a Partner • Referral and service coordination • Assistance with core issues; transportation, childcare/dependent care; other work supports • Funding model that allows for good access to needed services • A few strong & committed partners that meet the needs of your priority population 19
Career Pathways Partners Grace M. Adriano, Senior Resident Services Manager King County Housing Authority GraceA@kcha.org U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
KCHA Background • MTW Housing Authority • Serves one of the largest counties • 33 cities in service area KCHA Property Map 21
2017 Resident Population 4,856 11,076 Public Housing & Project Based Vouchers Tenant Based Vouchers 22
2017 Resident Population 23
2017 Resident Population All Households Median Income $12,464 % Extremely low income 81% $0 Income households 4% (625) % with wage income 34% % with benefit income 64% 24
KCHA Workforce Development Programs Tier 3: Employment/Career Pathway Services Tier 2: Employment Readiness Services Tier 1: Pre-employment Services 25
KCHA Partners and Regional Resources 26
KCHA Resources Captive Audience Community Centers Funding 27
Effective Partnerships • Cultural competency • Listen to community voice • Leverage resources • Collaborators • Continuous improvement 28
Seeking Partners Mutual interests/goals Joint grant applications Request for proposals 29
Community Partner Perspective Shelan Aldridge, Associate Director, Education and Community Services Neighborhood House shelana@NHWA.ORG U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Background: Birch Creek Career Center • Neighborhood House (NH) and King County Housing Authority (KHCA), and our roles as partners • Opening of the Birch Creek Career Center in 2011 31
Goals of the Center • Move public housing residents towards self- sufficiency through a number of activities: – English as a Second Language (ESL) classes – Job search assistance – Computer skills – Soft skills workshops – Enrollment into vocational education 32
Resources we started with (2011) • Building: Co-located with three organizations within the building – English as a second language (ESL) provider – Head start & preschool provider – Public Health provider for Women, Infants & Children • Career Center Coordinator .8 FTE • Program Manager .05 FTE 33
Where we are now with leveraged programming (2018) • Citizenship Instructor .4 FTE • Refugee & Immigrant Employment Case Managers 1.5 FTE • Basic Food Employment & Training Program Case Manager 1 FTE • Healthcare Careers Case Manager .2 FTE • Pre-Employment barrier-removal Case Manager 1 FTE 34
How did we get there? • Structuring staff intentionally to build resources & partnerships • Career Center Coordinator (aka partnership builder) – Conduct assessments with residents – Engage residents & build relationships/presence – Build external partnerships to bring programs & resources to the center • Coordination of site schedule & case managers 35
How we built successful partnerships • Target organizations where residents or low- income public housing voucher holders receive services. • Tailor marketing material to match audience • Seek out complementary organizations to work with 36
How we built successful partnerships • Set up regular communication plan with partners • Get on list servs with individual organizations • Find out what regular community partnership meetings are happening • Evaluate return on investment quarterly 37
Transforming Partnerships into Career Pathways • Case Study #1: Certified Nursing Assistant Class – Partnership with the Community College – Labor market, employers, and other programs showed a high demand – Plan: College instructor to come to public housing community site – 30-40 public housing residents expressed interest and attended initial orientation & completed enrollment 38
Case Study #1 - Results Approximately 5 people enrolled in class, with 4 total completions • Barriers to success • What we learned 39
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