1. NVTAC Virtual Learning Class: Strategies to Succeed in HVRP: Module 5
Cindy Borden
NCHV
Cori Di Biase
Manhattan Strategy Group
Nicole LaCorte-Klein
Atlas Research
Job Driven Training, Employer Development & Job Placement, AJC Partnership

2. Module Objectives During this VLC Module, we will discuss:
Developing employer-, job-, and market-driven training and Career Pathways offerings.
Cultivating partnerships with employers to guide HVRP and the development of training services.
“Earn and Learn” approaches to training for HVRP participants.

3. Guest Instructor…
Nena Siverd Employment Services Manager Veterans Outreach Center (585)

4. Meet Your Instructors Nicole LaCorte-Klein, MA, CRC Cori Di Biase
Training Consultant at Atlas Research, Nicole brings years of experience providing job placement, vocational case management and direct service to individuals who are homeless. Nicole has provided technical assistance to HVRP, SSVF and other Veterans Administration staff for years, offering her experience as both direct service provider and trainer.
Cori Di Biase
NVTAC Project Director at the Manhattan Strategy Group, Cori has provided services and consultation to support veterans and civilians in employment for more then twenty years. Cori prides himself on serving the staff and leaders who have dedicated themselves to serving our country.
Cindy Borden
As the Director of Technical Assistance and Training for the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (NCHV), Cindy conducts training, develops resources, and provides intensive coaching in program design and implementation to veteran service organizations. Cindy brings more than 20 years of experience in both direct service and technical assistance to help organizations increase capacity and improve services.

5. Jen Elder, SOAR TA Center
Course Schedule
Date
Day
Topic
Lead Instructor
Guest Speaker
10/1
Monday
Introduction to HVRP, Partnerships, AJC Enrollment
Cindy
10/3
Wednesday
Job Readiness & Outreach Strategies
Nicole
10/8
Employment Assessment & Job Matching
Cori
10/10
Housing and Supportive Services: Strengthening Community Collaboration/Partnerships
10/15
Job Driven Training, Employer Development & Job Placement, AJC Partnership
Nena Siverd, VOC
10/17
Sub-population services (female veterans, younger veterans, older veterans, families)
10/22
Justice Involved Veterans – ex-offenders, incarcerated veterans, link with VJOs and Reentry Specialists
10/24
Job Retention & Follow Up
10/29
Benefits, work incentives, employment services and supports
Jen Elder, SOAR TA Center
10/31
Avoiding Burnout: Taking care of Yourself

6. Homework review…
What lessons did you learn from Jesse’s situation? Is there a Veteran in your program that has experienced a similar situation and if so share some ideas of what you learned and applied with this Veteran.

7. Employment Practice Principles
Honor military veterans service, experience, and family.
Provide employment service to all veterans with an expressed desire to work.
Integrate employment and supportive services, including housing.
Commit to and pursue a goal of competitive employment.
Provide benefits counseling.
Partner with employers, and recognize them as customers of your services.
Link training choices with labor market needs.
Provide rapid job matching, as well as ongoing Career Pathways services.
Engage customers based on their preferences.
Provide job retention services

8. Better Skills to Better Match Employer Requirements

9. Features of Job-Driven Training
Three identified challenges:
Employers cannot find enough skilled workers to hire for in demand jobs they must fill.
Education and training programs need better information on what skills those in demand jobs require.
Workers are unaware of the training resources that are or can be available to them.
what it will take for employers to fill the jobs they need today and will need tomorrow with skilled American workers, and what it would mean to their prospects for expansion and success in a global marketplace.

10. Features of Job-Driven Training (continued)
Focus on job market demands.
Foster on employer partnerships.
Collaboration with occupational training and Career Pathways services:
Training based on in-demand jobs;
On the job training; and
Apprenticeships.
Match skilled jobs with skilled job seekers.
A 2010 study randomly assigning people to job training programs with extensive employer engagement within a sector found that participants were employed at a higher rate and at higher earnings (an additional $4,500 per year after
individuals completed the training) than those who went through other reemployment or training programs.
Carol Clymer, Maureen Conway, Joshua Freely, Sheila Maguire, and Deena Schwartz, “Tuning In to Local Labor Markets: Findings From the Sectoral Employment Impact Study,” Public/Private Ventures (July 2010).

11. 1. Engage Employers
Work up front with employers to determine local or regional hiring needs.
Design training programs that are responsive to those needs, with employers as a recognized customer of HVRP.
Start early!
Build skills to meet employer’s needs.
Make training a commitment for program participants.
Obtain commitments to:
Hire;
Train; and
Provide equipment and technology required on the work site.

12. 2. Earn and Learn Approach
Training is not always classroom centered.
Employers are involved in curriculum development and training delivery.
Meeting requirements for reading, math, as well as soft skills are not stand-alone activities, but rather are incorporated into occupational skill training.
Trainees receive an income.
EARN AND LEARN
Offer work-based learning opportunities with employers – including on-the-job training, internships and pre-apprenticeships and Registered Apprenticeships – as training paths to employment. While classroom time can be important, individuals can quickly learn skills where hands-on experience in a work environment is integrated with classroom learning. Job-driven training programs aim to include work-based learning opportunities that best suit their participants. These can include paid internships, pre-apprenticeships, Registered Apprenticeships, and on-the-job training.
There is support for earn-and-learn strategies, and particularly apprenticeships, is based on strong evidence that these strategies benefit individuals and employers. A recent study found that participants in Registered Apprenticeship programs earned about $7,000 more annually by their sixth year after enrollment, and over $300,000 more over their lifetime, than a comparison group of individuals who did not participate in Registered Apprenticeships.2

13. 3. Making Right Choices Program offerings.
Job seeker training and career choices.
SMART CHOICES
Make better use of data to drive accountability, inform what programs are offered and what is taught, and offer user-friendly information for job seekers to choose programs and pathways that work for them and are likely to result in jobs. In order to determine what skills should be taught and to guide job seekers as they choose what to study and where to apply for jobs, programs should make better use of data to understand current and projected local, regional, state, and national labor markets. These data may include information on the number and types of jobs available; projected regional job growth; and specific job characteristics, skills requirements, and career opportunities. These data should be publicly available and easily accessible by job seekers.

14. 4. Measurement Matters How well do job seekers acquire needed skills?
Do job seekers complete the program?
Are trainees getting jobs for which they received training?
Are customers satisfied?
Are trained workers advancing?
MEASUREMENT MATTERS
Measure and evaluate employment and earnings outcomes. Knowing the results of individual job-driven training programs – how many people are hired and stay employed, and how much they earn – is essential both for job seekers to choose training wisely and for programs to continuously improve results. Agencies should measure outcomes, disaggregate the data to be sure all participants are well served, evaluate programs, and inform participants and employers of the results.

15. 5. Stepping Stones
Progressive Career Pathways to succeed from basic education to post- secondary programs
STEPPING STONES
Promote a seamless progression from one educational stepping stone to another, and across work-based training and education, so individuals’ efforts result in progress. Individuals should have the opportunity to progress in their careers by obtaining new training and credentials. Job-driven training programs should make it easy for individuals to transition from one post-secondary program to another, including Registered Apprenticeship and occupational training programs, and from basic education programs into post-secondary programs.
IEPs, discussed in the last session, are a common vehicle by which the various steps of this prcess are coordinated for and with veterans.

16. 6. Open Doors Role as a workforce intermediary.
Breakdown barriers to training.
Vocational case management.
Streamline access to training and jobs.
Wrap around supports as needed.
OPENING DOORS
Break down barriers to accessing job-driven training and hiring for any American who is willing and able to work, including access to job supports and relevant guidance. In order for training programs to work, they need to be accessible for the people who need them most. Job-driven training programs should provide access to needed supportive services such as transportation, child care, and financial and benefits counseling. Programs also should provide accommodations for persons with disabilities (including supported employment services where needed) in order to allow all individuals to benefit from these opportunities.

17. 7. Local & Regional Partnerships
Who might you connect with?
How can you form a consortium to address employer development and job seekers in your community?
What are some initial steps you might take?
REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
Create regional collaborations among American Job Centers, education institutions, labor, and non-profits. In addition to working with employers, job-driven training programs should work with a variety of partners including Workforce Investment Boards and the American Job Centers they oversee, higher education institutions, labor organizations, philanthropic organizations, state and local human service agencies, vocational rehabilitation agencies, Medicaid agencies, centers for independent living, supported employment providers, community- and faith-based organizations, and other non-profit organizations. These partners can provide a network of employment, training and related services that help individuals overcome barriers to becoming and staying employed and serve many vulnerable populations that should be incorporated into job-driven training programs.

18. Understanding job market demands
What are the labor needs of employers in your local market?
Job-driven training begins by working with employers, industry associations, and labor unions early in the process of designing education, training and job preparation programs.

19. Slide 19

20. What does JDT mean for small employment programs?
Partnering with local job training programs.
Identifying local niche markets where employers need talented labor.
Review employer job descriptions, flesh out the competencies needed for those jobs.
Engage your local American Job Center (AJC).
Although small employment programs by themselves are unlikely to address the labor needs of an entire local industry. Therefore the smaller job training and preparation programs should look to collectively joining efforts with others in their communities. Others could include Workforce Board programs, including America’s Job Centers, community college or larger workforce development programs.

21. On-The-Job Training The WIOA OJT program:
Provides training for specific positions with the employer.
Veteran is often hired at a training or apprenticeship wage.
Expectation of the employer that is results in permanent employment, based on an agreement with the employer.
It seems that there are different models of OJT.

22. Common Elements in HVRP-OJT
Veterans get training on the job site, usually by the employer.
Duration of OJT can be 1 week or 3 months.
The veteran is employed by the employer.
HVRP staff have a relationship with the employer, there may or may not be a written agreement.
HVRP provides support to the veteran in training.
HVRP funds may or may not be paid for training at the employers place of business.
We don’t have a good handle on how HVRP grantees currently go about using OJT as a job-driven training experience for HVRP participants. However, we do know there is a range of strategies and variations in what is called OJT.

23. Other OJT Funding Sources
State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies.
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).
Department of Veteran Affairs, VR & E, Special Employer Incentive Program.
WIOA (WIA) funded OJT.
Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP).
State VR
The On-the-Job Training, or OJT, program provides opportunities for qualified VR customers to enter into employment. VR recognizes there are costs associated with training an employee to learn a new job. The OJT program will provide reimbursement of a percentage of an VR customer's wages to absorb some of these training costs. VR staff will be available at no cost to provide support and resources to facilitate a successful outcome for both the business and the VR customer.  VR can provide technical support and certification of additional business tax credits when employers hire qualified, job-ready OVR customers.
TANF
State have funded wage subsidy and OJT services to TANF recipients for some time and these varry from state to state in how they are administered and funded.
VR&E Special Employer Incentive Program (SEI)
This program is used for Veterans facing extraordinary obstacles to employment. A Veteran is placed in an OJT or a work experience with an employer and VR&E can reimburse the employer up to 50% of the Veteran's salary for up to 6 months. The employer may also be eligible for a federal tax credit for hiring an individual who participated in a vocational rehabilitation program.

24. Employer Development Portfolios www.edpsite.com

25. Apprenticeship Program
Structured training program.
Set of industry/job specific criteria.
Must meet parameters established under the National Apprenticeship Act.
Sponsored by an individual business or an employer association.
May be partnered with a labor organization.
Special Thanks to Ruth Foster Chang at Power Up’s HVRP on Oahu, HI who has been working with JR Construction Company and the Hawaii Laborers' Apprenticeship Program
A Registered Apprenticeship program is sponsored by an individual business or an employer association and may be partnered with a labor organization through a collective bargaining agreement. Upon finishing the training program, an apprentice earns a "Completion of Registered Apprenticeship" certificate, an industry issued, nationally recognized credential that validates proficiency in an apprenticeable occupation.
Registered Apprenticeship program sponsors identify the minimum qualifications to apply into their apprenticeship program.

26. Are registered apprenticeships available?

27. Questions and Comments
Concerns?
Common misconceptions?
Looking ahead.

28. AJC partnership
Presentations on-site at VOC to veteran participants – VOC soon to be on-site monthly at AJC.
Staff are partner trainers for VOC’s Veterans Community Technology Center.
Members of VOC’s Veterans Employment Strategy Team.
Collaborative partner for VOC’s Career Fair & share job leads
NYS DVOP on-site at VOC.
HVRP staff has direct utilization of NYS’ One Stop Operating System (OSOS).

29. Resources
Job Driven Training skills_report.pdf/
Job Centers
Apprenticeships:
Sector Initiatives:

30. Contact Information
Nena Siverd
Employment Services Manager
Veterans Outreach Center
(585)

31. Contact Information
Cori Di Biase Manhattan Strategy Group Cindy Borden NCHV Nicole LaCorte-Klein Atlas Research