Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 1 West Michigan Strategic Alliance Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Initiative Funded by the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor Greg Northrup, President, West Michigan Strategic Alliance Phil Rios, Project Manager, WIRED West Michigan, Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) Presentation, Revised: December 6, 2007 Bill Guest, WorkKeys Innovation Champion, , Rachael Jungblut, WorkKeys Program Manager, GRCC, , Liz Stegman, Program Administrator, (HELP Desk!), , The National Career Readiness Certificate West Michigan Prototype Final Report

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 2 WMSA Region Allegan Barry Ionia Kent Muskegon Newaygo Ottawa

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 3 M-MIT Region Bay Clinton Eaton Genesee Huron Ingham Lapeer Livingston Midland Saginaw Sanilac Shiawasee Tuscola

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 4 A Common Skills Currency

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 5 How do we get every employer to use the same target?

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 6 Career Readiness Certificate Employer Options Three Levels of Employer Engagement: Entry Level Engagement: Require CRCs based on: ACT Occupational Database (WorkKeys Consultant can help), or O*NET Job Zone (with help from your MichiganWorks! office): Bronze for O*NET Zone 1 Jobs Silver for O*NET Zone 2 Jobs Gold for O*NET Zone 3 Jobs (and above) Active Engagement: Require CRCs for hiring and advancement based on job assessment tools such as: Profile, SkillMap, or Estimator. Power User: Require CRCs for key jobs and use WorkKeys as an integral human resources and employee training and development tool.

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 7 How do we improve our workforce? Assess foundational skills Use WIN software Use KeyTrain software Provide learning coaches for support Use practice tests in WIN and KeyTrain Issue Career Readiness Certificates

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 8 Prototype Teams County Teams: Allegan Barry Ionia Kent Muskegon Newaygo Ottawa Special Teams: Healthcare RSA and HFC Ex-offender Re-entry The SOURCE Special Needs Population GED Inner-city

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 9 Michigan Merit Examination (MME) Summary Table * The new Michigan Merit Examination will be utilized in all Michigan Schools beginning the Spring of 2007

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 10 Remembering our Prototype Goals County Teams Engage 25 Employers LOI’s 25 X 7 = 175 Complete 7 MOU’s 7 X 7 = 49 Issue 50 NCRC’s 50 X 7 = 350 Change 50 Job Descriptions 50 X 7 = 350 Document 3 Success Stories 3 X 7 = 21

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 11 Where we stand Today, December 6, 2007 Data reported through the end of October 67 Letters of Intent complete, relative to our deliverable of Memo’s of Understanding complete relative to our deliverable of Job Descriptions Changed, relative to our deliverable of 70 Success Stories Beginning this month

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 12 Testing Data through November 30, 2007 Total Number Tested for Year GoldSilverBronzeNo Cert # Individ uals Missin g Tests

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 13 Employer Highlights from Our Counties Kent/Allegan –Wolverine Coil Spring, Alliance CNC, Axios Incorporated, Kalfact Plastics Ottawa – –JB Labs, ITW Drawform, Izzy Designs, M&S Company Ionia – –Brown Corporation, Ionia ISD Muskegon – –Bayer Crop Science, Goodwill Industries Newaygo – No Report Barry – No Report

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 14 Our Special Teams Accomplishments –Healthcare RSA and HFC –6 employers, 63 employees, 9 Gold, 22 Silver, 18 Bronze –Career Lattice – transitioning displaced manufacturing workers into health careers, 58 participants, 22 Gold, 26 Silver 6 Bronze – Ex-offender Re-entry –142 Released Prisoners, 7 Gold, 40 Silver, 43 Bronze, 52 No Certificate Earned – The SOURCE –5 employers participated, learning and development models reviewed – Special Needs Population –Kent Transition Center – 40+ Students participating – GED –Ross Learning - 46 Students 2 Gold, 18 Silver, 15 Bronze, 10 No Certificate Earned

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 15 Additional Accomplishments Feb-April 2007 to note New Budget - Finally got Staff Exceed our testing Goal before March was over Kent ISD tested over 10,000 students Ottawa ISD tested over 1300 students Ionia ISD tested over 175 students First employer used the NCRC for a hiring decision Business Plan was 80% complete Partnership with CAEL

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 16 Additional Accomplishments May – July 2007 First Letters of Commitment Signed Began Partnerships with Michigan Community College Association and Michigan Works Association Began a pilot program with Ottawa County Michigan Works to test a sustainable model First meeting of the 3 WIRED Regions to discuss collaboration around Employer engagement for the NCRC Launched the Michigan Career Readiness Certificate Advocates NAM – National Association of Manufacturer’s endorses the NCRC Workforce Innovations Conference, 26 WIRED regions invited to join a large group/panel discussion around the NCRC Finalized our discussions with the West Michigan Chamber Coalition to launch membership engagement CLEG appoints committee to research the states potential for a Work Readiness Credential

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 17 Additional Accomplishments Aug - Oct 2007 Kent & Ottawa ISD complete brochures for school year, Parent Awareness Campaign Launch partnership with Kent Transition Center Kicked off Chamber Coalition Partnership Worked with CLEG sub-committee Began work on the Michigan WorkKeys Conference Launched Newaygo MIWorks Partnership Launched Kent/Allegan MIWorks Partnership

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 18 Additional Accomplishments Nov-Jan 2008 Michigan WorkKeys Conference Chamber Employer Presentation Launched Muskegon MIWorks Partnership Finalized our Agreement with Keytrain Finalized our Agreement with ACT CLEG Decision Allegan1 Barry4 Ionia8 Kent75 Ottawa32 Muskegon12 Newaygo2 134 Employer Letters of Commitment (Oct 2007)

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 19 Notes: $23,000 at “9” and $50,000 at “15” results in a gain of $4500 per point. Data is based on RI, AM, and LI scores from the ACT Occupational Database (with 5 or more Profiles) and Median income data from the O*NET. Example: 3, 3, 3 = 9; 5, 5, 5 = 15; etc. DRAFT Combined Score Qty. of Profiles

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 20 Example Occupations for CRC Holders BRONZEBRONZE SILVERSILVER GOLDGOLD

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 21 West Mi Combined Score Data through Nov, Test data does not include ISD data, 88 individuals not completing all three tests, and 59 un-confirmed score points 0-8 points 140 individuals 10%12-14 points 479 Individuals 35% 9-11 points 170 individuals 12% points 585 individuals 43%

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 22 Emerging Workforce (K-12 and Colleges) Transitional Workforce (MWAs and Agencies) Incumbent Workforce (Employers) Employers (Chambers & EAs) DemandSupply

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 23 Employer Letter of Commitment Basic Commitments: □ We will ask job applicants “Do you have a Career Readiness Certificate?” □ We will recognize the Career Readiness Certificate in hiring, promotion, and employee development practices for selected positions. □ We give WIRED West Michigan permission to use our name in public awareness efforts to promote the Career Readiness Certificate. Extraordinary commitments: □ We will include Career Readiness Certificate preparation programs in our tuition refund plan and/or provide assistance and an incentive for our employees. □ We will provide special treatment for individuals with Career Readiness Certificates, such as, taking five minutes to warmly greet them when they fill out an application. □ We will provide financial support for a promotion campaign, such as, a billboard or advertisement. □ We will promote this program with our supply chain and recognize those suppliers that make this commitment to employee development. □ We will test and certify ______ % employees. We employ _______ employees. □ We will track and report data for purposes of statistical summaries for our region. □ We will join and utilize the ACT Job and Talent Bank.

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 24 Where do we go from Here? What Happens After WIRED? Our Sustainable Model ACT, Keytrain, GRCC State of Michigan Workforce Systems ACT’s Distribution System

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 25 West Michigan Long-term Goals ( ) 1. Gain and document 500 employer commitments with a signed Letter of Commitment (LOC) by December Gain commitment of all high schools in West Michigan to add Locating Information to the MME and offer ACT National Career Readiness Certificates to all students. This is 10,000 to 15,000 certificates per year. 3. Gain commitment of our six regional Michigan Works! agencies to utilize WorkKeys and the Career Readiness Certificate as a means of defining “qualified applicants” for all job placements in West Michigan. 4. Issue 50,000 Career Readiness Certificates to incumbent and displaced workers by Participate in and support the state-wide movement led by the Michigan Career Readiness Certificate Advocates (MiCRCA).

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 26 Questions & Discussion “We” vs. “They”

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 27 WKs Level 4 (Silver) Literacy WKs Level 5 (Gold) Source: Dept. of Labor, Education and Training Administration, Common Measures Policy (17-05), February 17, 2006

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 28 Source: Dept. of Labor, Education and Training Administration, Common Measures Policy (17-05), February 17, 2006 Level 5 – Gold Basic Reading and Writing Numeracy Skills Functional and Workplace Skills Level 4 – Silver Basic Reading and Writing Numeracy Skills Functional and Workplace Skills

Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) Slide 29 Career Readiness Certificate & WorkKeys Partners Career Readiness Certificate Michigan: ACT National: CRC Consortium: ACT WorkKeys, Steve Anderson, , John Nelson, , KeyTrain, Rick Harris, , Justin Saylor, , The Council for Adult & Experiential Learning (CAEL), Pam Tate, President, , Joel Simon, Consultant, ,