Collaborations between the ABE and workforce development systems in Bristol County, Massachusetts help meet adult student goals of building skills, finding employment, and earning better wages. This region, including Fall River, Taunton, and Attleboro, now has opportunities for intensive instruction to help students access jobs more quickly.

What does this collaboration look like? Bristol Community College (BCC) uses Massachusetts Department of Education (DOE) funds to offer intensive GED instruction; SER: Jobs for Progress provides intensive ABE/ ESOL instruction with funding from the workforce development system. Both efforts are funded with money that comes through the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998.

Pre-GED/GED: The Bristol County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and its Career Center operator, the Bristol County Training Consortium (BCTC), uses the DOE allocation of 12 percent of regional ABE funds through the workforce system to offer its intensive pre-GED and GED classes at BCC. According to Tom Mechem, the state's GED chief examiner, "One thing we know about GED students is that they want to earn their GED diplomas in the shortest possible time. That's what we want too, and the design of the Bristol program maximizes our chances of success. Experience has shown that a 20-hour-a-week GED program is the most successful in terms of both pace and intensity, and this in turn leads to a greater focus and commitment on the part of the students. The results speak for themselves."

Many Career Center clients lack the necessary language and literacy skills to negotiate the rigors of today's job market successfully. Often, a job seeker wishing to enroll in occupational training programs lacks the basic skills required to participate in such training. Also, many Career Center job seekers receive unemployment benefits that require educational activities or training for at least 20 hours per week.

DOE-funded ABE classes typically meet six to nine hours per week, and programs in the region have waiting lists. The WIB and Career Centers wanted to find ways to meet the need for intensive basic skill development of the workforce. A partnership with BCC was instituted to provide an intensive, 20-hour per week pre-GED/ GED class geared toward Career Center Job Seekers. Program features help students meet their employment goals in the following ways:

• Referrals come from the local Career Center.
• Close communication between the instructor and Career Center counselors monitors student progress.
• Program progress reports are shared between BCC and the Bristol WIB.

BCC's pre-GED/GED program is now a critical and highly successful resource to its Career Center. In Fiscal Year 2004, class attendance was above 90percent and 14 participants obtained their GED. Students advanced to occupational training and certificate programs, and job seekers in the program are more marketable to area employers.

ABE/ESOL: The Bristol WIB and BCTC also increased ESOL and ABE services in the region in partnership with SER:Jobs for Pro- gress. BCTC uses WIA Title I funds for intensive ESOL and ABE services in 20-hour per week, 6-month programs.

Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005 saw many dislocated workers in the Bristol region's manufacturing sector. For example, two Fall River companies, Main Street Textiles and Teleflex, closed, and over 700 workers lost jobs. As workers began to access the Fall River Career Center, they needed to upgrade their educational skills. Intensity of service was critically important for their progress. Using ITA and other grant monies, workers could go to SER Jobs for Progress, for intensive ABE and ESOL classes. With open enrollment, Career Center counselors have flexibility in meeting specific needs of job seekers. Paula Raposa, executive director of SER Jobs for Progress, Inc., attests to the success of this effort: "This grant has been one of my favorites throughout my 26-year career in employment training and education.I admire [the students'] desire to learn, their quest to update their educational level, their faith in the future and their ability to strive for a better education."

These programs in the Bristol region provide opportunities for adults to get the intensive ABE services they need to move ahead. Joint program efforts strengthen relationships between ABE providers and the workforce system in a region that has critical needs for greater capacity to serve adults in need of basic education.

Of course, the primary benefit goes to adult students who gain greater knowledge and skills in a shorter amount of time. This approach better ensures a fast track to get jobs that will support themselves and their families.