In attendance: Deborah Andrews, Cathy Gannon, Maria Grace, Kathleen Howell, Todd Lee, Andre Mayer, Connie Nelson, Patricia Pelletier, Andrea Perrault, David Rosen, Laurie Sheridan.

Announcements:

1. MCAE Network Conference October 24-25 in Marlboro, MA. The SABES Workforce Development team is presenting three workshops around workforce development:
   
   • Career Planning/Pathways for ABE Learners
   • Cultural Awareness in Preparing ABE Learners for the Workplace
   • Introduction to Workforce Development
   The first two will utilize new SABES “Integrating Career Awareness in the ABE/ESOL Classroom” curriculum.
2. National College Transitions Network Conference in Providence, RI November 8-9 (it’s now full).
3. David is making a presentation on wiki’s (an interactive web-based forum which provides information and Q&A) at the NCTN Conference; there is a useful wiki focusing on Workforce Development/Workplace Education on the ALE wiki at www.literacytent.org
4. Massachusetts Career Centers statewide are holding their annual Career Day on October 18 from 10-2; check your local career center for specific information.
5. David announced that the Learner Web has received funding and will be starting up. Boston will be one of the three-year demo sites. The Learner Web, based in Portland Oregon, is an on-line learning initiative that supports adult learners by providing volunteer tutors and assistance as a support for classroom-based ABE. See www.learnerweb.org.

Q&A: Andre: Will the Learner Web or other on-line services be made available to public library users? Librarians should have the expertise to support it. David: The Learner Web received Federal funding from Library Services. Massachusetts has several public libraries that offer library-based literacy programs. Deborah: It would be useful to know where these programs are. David: The structure starts with learner goals. It also has implications for workplace education.
6. Andrea: THE MWIB ABE/ESOL subcommittee has the potential to really build a model. There is a strong business need for ABE and ESOL. The next subcommittee meeting is November 15, possibly at CommCorp. We should inform people about this meeting—it’s important.
7. NE SABES is offering a strand for PDP’s including marketing to business, Workplace Needs Analysis (Roundtable), and part of the “Integrating Career Awareness” curriculum.
8. Andrea: ACLS is offering a strand at Network: a. Skills training with Dan Singleton and Clare Shepherd; b. P-21 intra-agency initiatives including preparation for the workforce.
9. ACLS spring conference on integrated curriculum (Anne Holbrook, Andrea, Suzanne Speciale)

Questions for the Advisory:

1. What’s going on around the state?
2. What are you or your organization working on?
3. Are there ways we can link this work with SABES efforts—and “synergize”?

Connie: working on a new project with NSTAR and the Utility Workers Union under a new Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund grant, involving planning for training needs in the energy sector. A 12-step program screens applicants to enter the program. NSTAR anticipates significant hiring due to boomer retirements, for dispatchers, line workers. It takes 5-7 years to develop skilled craft workers. A new prep program with Bunker Hill Community College will feed trained workers into NSTAR. They are offering safety compliance training online. It’s a very big program with a wide range of training issues. The Workplace Needs Assessment is more about negotiation, how to choose the most important things, updating experienced workers, introducing new equipment. They have defined career ladders negotiated in the union contract, need a wider scope. Many workers came in through Bunker Hill or the call center. The industry has changed a lot due to deregulation and mergers, the merging of three energy companies and three corporate cultures. Some questions for SABES: How does an educator learn about a given industry? How increase capacity in the field for workplace education?

David: There is a new series of short videos on workers on high power lines. It’s part of 400 one-minute work videos on specific occupations and job titles developed by PBS in New Jersey. We could do a lot more with these videos—these would help workplace educators learn quickly about learners’ jobs.

Todd: City of Boston/JCS is working with a consortium of industries within the Marine Industrial Park, housing new workplace education programs. They are not highly contextualized. Jewish Vocational Services is the vendor. On hold is bricks and mortal development, a new linkage program in Chinatown. How do we plan for potential workforce development programs linked to a site? We need a rough needs analysis for a community. There are legal and ethical concerns in targeting one neighborhood.

Kathleen: SE SABES is providing a new workshop on marketing ABE to employers, and rolling out the “Integrating Career Awareness in ABE/ESOL Classroom” curriculum which (piloted on Cape Cod in June.)

Maria: The Greater New Bedford WIB is working with big industries, many of whom need ESOL. They are “in the businesses” a little. The Skill Center in Wareham helps prescreen, train them for work in stores; they are waiting for funding, support. Hundreds of laid-off workers from Quaker Fabrics in Fall River got new jobs when they were taken over by another manufacturer. They also have lost Polaroid, so they are working hard to figure out new jobs for displaced workers.

Deborah: The Mass. Lodging Association Foundation for Education, is a small non-profit separate from MLA with its own 501-c-3. They are involved in:

• career ladder programs with Community Work Services under a Workforce Training Fund grant;
• programs in high schools, vocational schools and CBO’s feeding into Greater Boston hotels;
• a WCTF implementation grant with JVS and the International Institute for ESOL specific to the hospitality industry, including computer training and career ladder workshops;
• a planning grant with three community colleges in the New England area which is similar;
• a pilot program in the Greater Boston area, hoping to expand to the rest of the state;
• working with Bristol Community College;
• a Lodging Management program in high schools.

For laid-off workers, keep in mind down-sized mid-managers—there are over 200 jobs titles in a hotel, which can use skills in professional customer service. The state included hospitality in the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund as a high-demand high-skilled industry. The benefits are great. They want to fill jobs in entry-level, mid-manager, food and beverage service. They are open to expanding their education programs into middle schools; Perkins $ is buying these programs.

David: I do consulting in Cyprus where they are learning that they need to start younger (4th to 6th grade) to talk with students about future careers.

Connie: Would they like to specialize in workplace education careers? We need more!

Cathy: Central MA SABES is hosting videoconferenced groups for workplace educators (statewide) that are very popular and effective.

Patricia: Don’t we need specific training for workplace education teachers?

David: On-line workforce basic skills training for international fast food will be available soon in Massachusetts; it’s very contextualized to a particular restaurant, and connected to a management training program. It’s all on work time and participants are guaranteed a job in management: ESOL 5 hours/week, plus 3 hours on-line at a computer. There is already a bottleneck in trained ESOL teachers. We could build a large cadre of teachers for in-house workplace ed.

Todd: Lots of this education will aim toward upper management.

Andrea: I sit at ACLS on workforce development areas, including the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund, Workforce Training Fund, and DOE-funded workplace education. DOE has learned some important things about workplace education and workforce development. The MWIB ABE/ESOL subcommittee has the potential to really build a new model. There is a strong business need for ABE and ESOL. The next subcommittee meeting is November 15 at CommCorp(?)—we should inform people about it.

Andre: There are increasing opportunities on the workplace education side for small companies. What’s needed is someone who can plug right in with a product to sell, with a subsidy to the employer to use it. In-house training is not mostly at higher levels. Most funding goes to the higher level—it’s expensive. But if you take out tech people and look at hours of training, most of the hours are at the bottom. These numbers are from ASTD, and Bureau of Labor Statistics. We need information on Return on Investment (ROI) if you shift $$ from the top to the bottom. This would help.

Patricia: Maybe we need a workplace ed consortium. In NE MA, the hospitality industry’s Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund went to higher levels, disappointingly. The big need is entry-level to mid-management. Look at a consortium of businesses. Deborah would like to expand their work statewide.

Andrea: There is a broad need in employer groups for ABE and ESOL. Non-profits are often excluded, and they are a big source of jobs for ABE learners. Early childhood teachers will now need an Associate’s degree. If you look at all workers needing ABE/ESOL, look at all venues including non-profits. There is information from the ECCLI evaluation on benefits of ESOL—we should get publicity for this.

Andre: That’s a problem with the Workforce Training Fund. Non-profits don’t generally pay into the unemployment system that funds it.

Connie: CommCorp had a workers’ educator training program in 2001, with good curricula. Who owns it? It was substantial—30 people trained for a week. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Also—we have the DOE process for Workplace Needs Analysis, planning grants. No one grant can address all needs. It’s good that we have this diversity of funding programs and models.

Andrea: We’re seeing changes: an increasing number of employees in need of services, especially ESOL.

Patricia: In the SABES “How to Communicate with Business” workshops, participants complained about the length of time it takes to get funding. Employers need a program ASAP.

Andrea: The strongest advocate for workplace education has been the Mass. AFL-CIO.

Connie: Often what’s most needed is a workplace needs analysis. Employers may think they know skill needs and employee skill levels, but often they don’t.

Andrea: WCTF implemented a planning stage, realizing that it was needed.

David: DOE has a workplace education program and a distance learning program, but they are entirely separate. They need to bring the two pieces together. This could help small businesses—most people in MA work in places with less than 100 employees. Most can’t support a workplace ed program, but have 3-4 employees who need it. A blended Distance Learning model focused on an industry would help. It should focus on basic skills, ESOL. (Working with Cambridge College, IDL adapted the Mass. Lodging Assoc. Curriculum. American Banking Institute—an older model). How to fund this?

Todd: Foundations can move more quickly than public agencies, and their accountability is much less.

Kathleen: Workers often lie about their (lack of) high school, or ESOL, so employers get a false picture of their educational background or skills. Workers do this to protect or obtain a job.

Patricia: Asset development and workforce development: what is the role of ABE and SABES? Financial literacy education would be helpful; there is a big need for practitioner training, capacity building for ABE. Or SABES could help the library volunteers.

Andre: It would be great to demonstrate the safety gains from workplace education. Are there data on savings to employers on health and safety? This would make a big difference to employer buy-in.

Deborah: Would it be possible for workplace ed programs to access funding for this? From a grant from the Dept. Of Industrial Accidents? These are programs with the goals of the ESOL programs.

Connie: Mass. Worker Education Roundtable has a Health and Safety ESOL curriculum.

David: The Conference Board would fund this. Also, Liberty Mutual.

Patricia: We could talk about this in one of the regional workplace teacher sharing groups.

David: Use Webinars. They are much easier than videoconferences. We should use multiple strategies with workplace educators. They are a larger group than SABES is reaching; with Webinars they would not have to travel to a SABES center but could access from their own computer.

Todd: Another big area is immigrant rights. There’s some sharing between ESOL/ABE in the refugee system, but small—mostly in Hampden and Boston. Here is an opportunity for sharing and technical assitance.

Role and Process of the WFD Advisory

What is the role and impact of the SABES WFD Advisory? Laurie made a brief report. The Advisory suggested preparing a one-page report on the recommendations from the Advisory utilized in the SABES work: what was the impacct?

Advisory Membership: Nominations, Criteria, Terms

Several people have been nominated to join the SABES WFD Advisory (Larry Bay, Kermit Dunkelberg, Richard Goldberg, Beth Hogan, and Agnes Chang.) Additional suggestions included:

• someone from the Mass. Manufacturing Extension
• Unions
• the Workforce Training Fund (Rob Vitello or Vinnie Lopes)
• MCAE: Connie is the President, might be able to wear both hats. What is the relationship between MCAE and SABES?
• Workplace education teachers as an interest group

Ideally, the Advisory comprises 20-25 members. The Advisory’s nominating committee (Andrea, Cathy, Connie, Laurie) made recommendations for criteria, nominees, and terms. The group will discuss criteria for Advisory membership and terms at its next meeting. Then, nominations will be considered.

That meeting’s agenda will also include preliminary discussion of recommendations for the FY’09 SABES workplan for workforce development.

The next Advisory Meeting will be Thursday, December 6, from 10:00 – 1:00, in Worcester, probably at Quinsigamond Community College.

Send comments to: Laurie Sheridan

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