The Families Forward Initiative

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The Families Forward Initiative
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• GWDC Skill and Wage Advancement Committee
• December 14, 2006
• Ellen Shelton, Wilder Research

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Addressing poverty through training for low-wage
workers

• Why?
• Entry-level workers unable to support their
  families and lacking skills to move up
• Employers lacking a skilled workforce
• Demographic changes in the workforce

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What is Families Forward?
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• Grants from McKnight Foundation - 140-250,000
  for 2 years
• Possible renewal up to 2 more years
• 25 to 300 participants per project
• 17 sites, 2001 through 2006
• Field test a variety of approaches
• Working families ? Access to training

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Families Forward project sites
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West Central West Central Initiative
Foundation Teamworks

• Metro
• Health Careers Institute East
• Anoka County
• Capital City Properties
• Dakota County
• Goodwill/Easter Seals
• Hennepin Tech
• HIRED
• International Institute
• MN-BUILD
• WAND
• Women Venture

Central Stearns-Benton Communities Investing in
Families

• Southern
• Southern Minnesota
• Initiative Foundation
• Workforce Development, Inc.

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What is Families Forward?

• Target low-wage workers
• Include employers in design and implementation
• Work with public workforce systems
• Focus on short-term, practical training
• Provide family supports to promote retention

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Not a single model

• Field-tested a wide range of models
• Service providers
• Clients
• Mix of services
• Types of communities

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Important commonalities

• Four key deliverables
• Dreams
• Skills
• Opportunities
• Convergence

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What did the programs do?
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What services did participants receive?
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• Assessment
• Training
• Employment support services
• Basic financial assistance
• Personal and family support

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Assessment
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• Career aptitude
• English language skills
• Academic skills or learning ability
• Computer skills
• Specific job skills
• Identify/access suitable training

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Short-term, practical training

• Typically, 3-5 weeks
• Emphasized skills needed by employers in the
  region where participants lived
• About half provided some kind of credential for
  the hard skills

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Some major variations in training
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• Length of training semester in some programs
  (vs. 3-5 weeks)
• Groups trained together vs. individual placements
  in existing training programs
• Extent to which other skills were included (e.g.
  soft skills, ESL, basic reading/math, computer)

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Employment support services
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• Job placement
• Help to resolve job problems
• Job coach or mentor
• Help with equipment or supplies

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Basic financial help
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• Help with
• Tuition
• Access to medical insurance, EITC, other work
  supports
• Budgeting or money management

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Family supports
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• Case management
• Help finding child care
• Transportation
• Counseling
• And other services

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Implementation

• Economic cycles can undercut good plans
• Recruitment is not always easy
• Support needs higher than expected
• Relationships help create and sustain motivation
• Current workforce infrastructure does not meet
  support needs

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Implementation

• Understanding of soft skills
• Term includes multiple components
• Self-presentation
• Communication and teamwork
• Attitude and motivation
• Reliability
• Interpretation depends on context and culture

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Program clusters

• Employer-based programs
• Participants identified and served through
  employers
• Training typically on the job site
• Limited attention to individual barriers

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Program clusters

• Sectoral programs
• Focus on specific industry sectors
• Participants recruited individually and served in
  cohorts (not at current job)
• Subdivided according to balance of focus
• Mainly job training needs and work-related
  supports, vs.
• Job-related training and both work and personal
  supports

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Program clusters

• Individualized programs
• Participants identified one by one
• Served according to individual needs and
  interests
• Training strands or sectors not pre-determined

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Program clusters

• Participant-to-program match is important
• Different programs best for different people

Employer- Sectoral - Sectoral -
Individualized based lower support
higher support Most men . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . Most
women Oldest . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .Youngest Most
married . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . Fewest married Longest time in job . .
. . . . . . . . .Shortest time in job
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Program clusters

• Different strengths of different clusters

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Who participated?
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• 1,422 participants during 4 year study period

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Participant demographics

• 2/3 women, 1/3 men
• 2/3 age 25-44
• 93 have children (only 30 more than 2)
• 71 working (35 full-time)
• 44 below poverty line
• 39 had prior job training

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Education
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Race
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What were the outcomes for participants?
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Two-year changes
Better wages and hours
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Two-year changes

• Percent of participants employed rose from 65 to
  80 (while job vacancies fell)
• Access to benefits rose
• Participation in health benefits 28 to 40
• Paid sick time 26 to 49
• Paid vacation time 37 to 59

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Two-year changes

• 29 reported more personal/family stability
• 91 reported lasting gains in motivation

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Preliminary findings after three years

• Hourly wages up 11 percent after inflation
• Hours per week up 10 percent
• Monthly income up 14 percent after inflation

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Lessons for implementation
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Effective programs
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• Combine efforts to meet both worker
• and employer needs
• This means
• Match training to known job openings
• Career ladder opportunities
• Multiple employers / industries

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Effective programs
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• Are designed to be accessible to those
• who need them
• This means flexible help such as
• Transportation
• Flexible reimbursement for training
• Personal and family support services

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Effective programs
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• Include a range of types of training
• This means more than just one of
• Skills
• Language
• Safety
• Communication
• Basic math
• Basic computer use

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Services associated with gains
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Services associated with gains
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How can effective practices be more widely
implemented?
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Replicating effective practices
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• Ensure that training is available in
• needed kinds of skills
• Combine hard skills with other kinds
• Ensure policies and resources align with
  documented needs
• Support curriculum development in gap fields, and
  delivery in higher-cost fields
• Value and support soft skills training

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Replicating effective practices
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• Ensure that workforce systems are
• flexible and responsive
• Allow WFCs more flexibility and autonomy to
  respond to local needs
• Encourage business participation in planning and
  implementation
• Convene stakeholders to develop and promote
  career ladders and lattices

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Replicating effective practices
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• Ensure that training is accessible to
• low-wage workers and their employers
• Include flexible, individualized supports
• Reconfigure higher education financial aid
  programs and course offerings to better include
  part-time and non-credit students
• Reconfigure tuition reimbursement policies to
  avoid large up-front costs to employees

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For more information

• The full report, including statistical profiles
  of
• participants and their outcomes, is at
• www.wilderresearch.org
• Prior years reports are also posted here
• (type Families Forward in the search box).