In Attendance: Cathy Gannon (SABES Central), Todd Lee (Boston JCS), Andre Mayer (AIM), Patricia Pelletier (NE SABES), Laurie Sheridan (SABES CRC), Jude Travers (IIB), Maria Grace (Greater New Bedford Career Center), Connie Nelson (Mass. Worker Education Roundtable), Priscilla Golding (Metro North WIB), Kathleen Howell (SE SABES), Carol Bower (NE SABES/CWC), John Zhang (Boston SABES)

Announcements

Laurie: SABES is approaching the start of workplan negotiations with DESE/ACLS. SABES CRC and most of the regions now know about their budgets and upcoming contracts. There are some budget and staffing cuts, so the work of the next year will have to be even more focused and cost-effective/efficient. There is some discussion within SABES of moving toward more program-based assistance, and focusing on just a few strong priorities within the workforce development work.

Patricia: Updated members on MassCAP’s initiative – Using ARRA funds to train people to become weatherization specialists. MassCAP has received a SkillWorks planning grant to plan Green Jobs career ladders (including starting small businesses), a weatherization boot camp. They hope to develop a bridge curriculum for ABE learners, working with the CAA’s. OF 24 CAA’s in Mass, 8 have ABE programs.

Todd Lee: Introduced a report on Federal Mogul Project including a list of big ABE/ESOL providers in the Boston region on their practices to train and re-employ dislocated, limited English Proficiency workers in the manufacturing industries. ALI in Boston has a new directors orientation manual.

John: The Workers’ Rights Training Manual, a collaboration between Boston SABES and UMass Boston Labor Resource center, was completed and will be introduced to the ABE field next fiscal year and posted o the SABES web site. The Health and Safety module for ESOL students is almost finished.

Connie: Recommended the “Introductory Guide: Contextualized Curriculum for Workplace Education,” developed by Mass. Worker Education Roundtable.

Patricia: NE SABES is planning for next year, including strategic approaches to workforce development: how to develop a workplace education program, Step 2 of doing a Workplace Needs Assessment.

Maria: talked about how to put an ABE students into a skills training program. Also, Eagle Industries (who bought Michael Bianco where the immigrant raid was conducted last year) has closed, and 350 non-English-speaking workers are being laid off.

Cathy: Central MA SABES is moving to City Square from the QCC campus. They are holding a two-part webinar series:
1) El Paso TX community college on 6/16 at 3 PM
2) I-BEST, WA state (ABE/certificate integrated programs in 35 different careers, combining academic college work with occupational skills training).

Carol: Transitioning from NE SABES to Commonwealth Workforce Coalition (CWC). CWC is holding a workshop with Tom Sticht on integrated literacy instruction; 35 people have registered. On June 18 Public/Private Ventures is releasing their study on positive results of sectoral programs at JVS in Boston. They are holding networking meetings in the regions. She will keep ABE in the forefront, hopes to maintain the connection with SABES.

Andre: Employers are keeping up training as a whole, despite the recession. There are still more layoffs than hiring. There is continued interest in applying for Workforce Training Fund grants. (Green jobs? No). Employers are still committed to workforce development, unlike in ’91 or ’92—they have learned.

Laurie: Intro to WFD System: a new DL course is now online and has recorded a dozen participants so far.

Updates

Todd: City of Boston Jobs and Community Services is working in alliance with DESE on Adult Literacy Initiative, the new Directors’ Manual was to come out soon.

Patricia: NE in considering more strategic approaches to WFD in the region; how to help develop more WP programs; more skills development, etc.

Priscilla: Stimulus money funded 3 programs though not announced on line yet, including one for CLC and the Red Cross with intensive ESOL training.

Cathy: A two-part webinar on transitions to next steps, with the first taking place June 16 to discuss how to bridge gaps between ABE and community colleges, and the second on June 18 focusing on exploring the possibilities of integrating skills building and academics. Both would be presented by ABE practitioners from the Washington state and Texas.

Andre: Employers committed to WFD; more interest in WFT grants; high level training for HR people. (??)

Jude: The hotels remain committed to the IIB hospitality programs. IIB is piloting a college transition program in fall, open to IIB graduates as well as other IIB clients, to go for 6 months; Residential Training program for refugees to learn about independent living; to develop curriculum towards more “green” skills training. Occupational training in many areas can become more “green,” like hotel laundry, cleaning jobs; IIB is working to integrate this into curricula. Students in one class worked to help make their own building more green. IIB is teaching intensive English to workers at TILL (food service).

Connie: New project in ESOL for laundry workers in Somerville, new skills and procedures being analyzed; Brooks Brothers is opening a clothing manufacturing company in Haverhill to produce Brooks Brothers’ clothing. This will open 350 new jobs. There will be ESOL classes offered to those in need of ESOL classes; dedicated funds still under negotiations.

Maria: The Greater New Bedford Career Center is now looking for targets for training of dislocated workers under ARRA; the career centers has its own group contracts, with the New Bedford public schools, U. Mass. Dartmouth Worker Education Program. BCC has good training programs; in need of workshops adaptive to needs.

Kathleen: SE SABES is winding up the year at present.

John: considerations of helping small ABE programs access more funding sources; more engagement with large ABE programs in program-based activities. They may again offer the workshop on contextualizing curriculum, with Richard Goldberg. Trying to make ALRI part of helping work with particular programs in coalitions and collaborations.

Todd: TRA funding is expected to be broadened to include service industries (training, support services, job development); also larger in scope. National Emergency grants (NEG) are available through WIA, offering a larger window for training while receiving unemployment $$.

How Can ABE Programs Access and Utilize Funds under ARRA to Support Integrated or Contextualized Programming and Partnerships?

• ARRA$ is temporary, but it’s an opportunity build capacity and skills, retool and retrain, become competitive with existing system.
• It offers opportunities for ABE programs, who can try it for two years. The Merrimack Valley ABE Directors met with their local WIB, with very positive results. The WIB says, “We want ABE” to be part of the work under ARRA funding. That means involving ABE in programming, not only out-stationing at the career centers.
• This is exactly the right thing to happen. State $ has “hit the wall.” The Federal stuff could go anywhere, and hopefully should mobilize more private sector funds as well.
• ARRA funds and their use will be highly scrutinized at different levels: money to be used for specified targets, must be spent quickly, must see quick results. It’s important that performance shows that programs can do things successful. There is a lot riding on how the ARRA $ is used. There could well be a second stimulus package, if programs do well.
• Questions: Can we look beyond the two years of ARRA? How soon and in what forms should the second phase of Stimulus Money come to us, with the expectation of more involvement of ABE programs? No one is able to tell yet.
• Pathways out of Poverty funding and CommCorp funding for Green Jobs training are for development, not outcomes. This will become more competitive, as programs gain experience.
• The next influx of Stimulus Money might be more formulated and more competitive.
• The main priority is that the money be spent. Some are for capacity-building grants for service delivery organizations. ABE can figure into this.
• DESE’s Strategic Planning Task Force is looking at performance-based contracting.
• The main goal is avoiding more layoffs.
• At the Boston ARRA public hearing, we were told not too look at the first phase of ARRA, but there will be more opportunities for ABE programs in the second phase. Year 2: starting August/September.
• The Workforce Alliance is holding a workshop on how to spend the money.
• Current money is formula-based, to the WIB’s across the state. It will be competitive, bid for at different times. The second round of skills training money may target youth.

Contextualized/integrated programming and curriculum

There is more local interest in re-creating manufacturing that may change ABE teaching.

Central SABES is holding a Webinar on June 18 on the I-BEST in Washington state. It will be archived. It’s an excellent model, but quite expensive. Is there interest by Massachusetts programs? QCC has a program like that, but it’s not for credit—Early Childhood Education, with an ESOL certificate—new this year. Bristol Community College has one for ABE/GED. ACLS wants its transitions model to be implemented. Is I-BEST useable in Massachusetts? Maybe develop an I-BEST for green jobs. This kind of environmental curriculum has been developed for K-12, raising awareness, for manufacturing; it could be used for adults.

Representatives of the Obama Administration spoke at a recent CAA (community action agency) conference about the need to prioritize helping folks most recently unemployed. The second phase can target the longer-term, harder to employ. What are the barriers?

Barriers and obstacles in the work of curriculum contextualization for the workplace:

• Some educators need a mind change, from a K-12 type curriculum to more focus on transferrable skills; ABE/ESOL classes are in constant transitions. (“They need to understand workforce development. It’s adults—not high school any more.”) Need to integrate workforce development hard and soft skills, transfer literacy skills to workforce development. Guidance counselors find that even for high school students, there is now less wiggle room in preparing for and starting a career. This is even more imperative in the ABE classroom.
• P-21 funded a program for Somerville cable targeting parents, which focused on health care careers (for their children, but also for the parents).
• The ICA guide has good stuff for use in a new workplace curriculum. But it’s difficult to implement. And programs need incentives. SABES used to do mini-grants. Currently there is a lack of time and commitment.
• Folks in programs don’t understand that ICA and integrated programming are not just “extra work.” It’s hard to integrate anything into six hours/week, they just can’t squeeze it in. To develop new integrated programming, don’t start with existing students already in class. Get additional students for a job training program. Then the “regular” ABE students see it and want it, aspire to get into the job training. It’s important to think outside the ABE structure. One student wants to use ARRA $ for weatherization for his own building!
• But, think within the ABE structure, too. Help teachers think about the world of work.
• The Lawrence Community Partnership came up with a career fair focused on 10 careers, worked with the WIB. Not a job fair for hiring—a career fair. It was very successful and will be repeated. Any partnership could do this.
• DESE did not prioritize integrated programming in its last 5-year RFP, and now will not have another till FY’11 (rather than FY’10).
• BCC has a job club—using WIA $ through ITA’s. It includes math skills for work.
• The need to follow a school-career route.
• Betty Stone at SCALE and Marianne Mastrangelo of the American Red Cross had never worked together, but developed an integrated program from scratch for Latino and Haitian workers. It led to spontaneous case conferencing between teachers, cross-observation--but they never tried it again.
• ESOL students at low levels are not much aware of the labor market, need help to set realistic goals. But they often say they just want “any job.” It’s important to show them what their choices are.
• For NEG folks (laid-off PowerOne workers), the City of Boston did quick and dirty Labor Market Information workshops, with Chinese counselors at the career centers, helping set realistic expectations and showing choices like culinary, basic office work, etc.
• Students might contribute a lot of skills in job search to ESOL classroom; student-teaching-student to pass on experience to each other in class. Students have jobs.
• Don’t make assumptions about what employers are looking for in workplace ed. The success of workplace education also depends on the needs of the employers.
• SABES needs to follow up on how programs use contextualized curricula and relevant materials, do self-assessment by programs?
• SABES could do a workshop on how to implement the ICA curriculum guide. This would really help.
• Teachers want help with using ICA at different SPL levels, and how to integrate it into their program.

Shaping SABES offerings to meet programs’ needs

SABES needs to look at the actual levels programs are at, organize SABES resources to suit. Ask programs to make a self-assessment—where are they and what help do they need in integrating career awareness, etc.

• Helping people get ready for jobs, forge links to training programs, offer guidance on how to get started before you leap in. “How do I decide whether I want to do an integrated program?”, etc.
• Issues of diverse needs/demands from the field vs. what SABES is able to do; might want to develop materials/curricula to serve basic interest in a region, without worrying about the less interested others.
• But we’ve assessed them to death!
• Not a survey, more of a curriculum. “What aspect of workforce development do you want to focus on?”
• It’s good to be building toward student next steps. Before the meeting between Merrimack Valley ABE programs and the WIB, programs were asked to send everything they had done so far with workforce development, and it was compiled and shared with the group.
• The Community Partnerships used to do that as a regional things, it helps with planning.
• But they didn’t come!
• Offer to help them get started with workforce development.
• Typical SABES methods might not work.
• It’s analogous to the “Workplace Needs Analysis” in workplace ed: What’s your mission? What would help? How could workforce development help you do what you’re trying to do already?
• Boston community planning has local CP coalitions and consultants. People request their services.
• We do a lot in Central MA: TA, go through the directors’ groups in our region, take on a piece of a meeting. This could be the same.
• Can SABES change the content of materials used in classrooms? Put in work-related content.
• We could do this in reading lessons, in math.

Other priorities include:

• Initial training vs. follow-ups.
• Prescribed vs. responsive SABES activities.
• More emphasis needed in content in curriculum development.

The next meeting of the SABES WFD Advisory will be scheduled for early fall.
Send comments to: Laurie Sheridan

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