Project #1 Mega-Training Project

Baltimore Workforce Investment Board WORKFORCE SYSTEM EFFECTIVENESS COMMITTEE

Revised list of “Year 2” projects (10/04-12/05) (as of December 2004)

Project #1: Training “mega-project”

Summary: Investigate what workforce training already occurs in the City, who does it, how much they do, and what the remaining unmet needs are. Investigate other potential sources of training funds, e.g. TANF. Study other comparable areas that do more training and find out how they do it and where their resources come from. Develop a plan for doing more in the city and raising the necessary funds, that could then be advocated for and handed off to a responsible party to implement.

QUESTIONS STAGES PROGRESS, PRODUCTS, & DECISIONS TO BE MADE 1. What is the state of Collect data on current Progress: revised draft final paper; still workforce training in providers, funders, waiting for two agencies’ final data Baltimore? resources, activities, needs. contributions. Investigate other major Products: draft final State of Workforce federal programs that could Training in Baltimore, 2004. provide training, e.g. TANF, Decisions: (1) How to disseminate? W-P. (2) What to advocate, based on this? 2. What is being done Follow up with other LWIBS Progress: LWIBs to interview selected with elsewhere? identified as doing a lot of MOED; questions finalized, interviews training in the comparable completed. Draft report completed for Dec. benchmarking project. Re- 04. visit those fiscal stress survey Products: Report on how other LWIAs train a respondents who mentioned higher percentage of their populations and training, to get more details other promising practices. Identification of on their strategies. whether statistical differences revealed in prior benchmarking are due to reporting, to nature of presenting populations, or to service strategies and models. Decisions: Relevance of any findings to the Baltimore situation. 3. What are the training Develop resource estimates, Progress: Checklist developed of what needs needs/gaps that are not priorities, business service to be thought about in making a business being met in the City, model, fund-raising plan. plan for a training initiative, and shown to and what else could be WSEC. JOTF’s plan presented to WSEC.

1 done here? Products: Checklist. Decisions: What to advocate? More of existing training? The JOTF plan? A WSEC plan? 4.What is the state of Use similar format logic as Progress and Products: Healthcare and workforce training in the for main State of Workforce Construction drafts completed for full WSEC individual target Training paper, but keep review and edit. Bioscience to be undertaken industries? briefer and less detailed. next. (a) Healthcare Decisions: What to do with findings. Which (b) Construction industries to do next. (c) Bioscience (d) I T (e) Business Services (f) Hospitality/Tourism

Project #2: Filling in the map “beyond WIA”: other workforce programs, non- profits, tier 2 providers, etc

Summary: Extend last year’s workforce system map to include the non-WIA parts, so as to have a more complete picture which could be part of plan for greater system alignment.

QUESTIONS STAGES PROGRESS, PRODUCTS, & DECISIONS TO BE MADE

1. Who else is out there Info gathering through MOED, beyond WIA? WSEC members 2. What are their service Follow-up with identified profiles: what is their groups to develop case profiles Progress: Not yet started. mission, who do they serve, of each with this info. what do they deliver, how Products: Map of next tiers beyond much do they do, how are WIA-funded part. Inventory. they funded, what are their constraints? Decisions: How “far” out to include? 3. How do they relate to the Interviews with the most How much effort/detail required? WIA portion of the local significant 10-15 groups workforce system, and how can greater alignment be promoted?

4. What is the wage gain of Decisions: Whether to undertake customers of other large project? Which providers? service providers?

2 Project #3: Training investment studies on other service stages

Summary: To determine whether the ROI study done on two samples of trainees last year can be replicated on the other service stages (core and intensive) and on individual services within the stages, and if not, what else can we do to relate client income gain to particular service interventions?

1. Can we get “services received” and Dialog with MOED, David Progress: Informal discussions “cost” data at the individual SSN Stevens, over data with MOED on data availability. level for a greater sample (n=c. 6K vs. possibilities, resource MOED reported at November n=216), and how many in that sample requirements, etc. Steering Committee meeting that can be tracked in WRIS and simulated there was no capability to using Turbotax? generate data until a replacement for Donna S. was on board. Products: Potentially, ROIs for flows of clients through different service stages and service types. Decisions: Whether to proceed, given limited data availability. 2. If a full-blown ROI cannot be done, Dialog with MOED, David Information on any statistical is there a simpler statistical study that Stevens, over data relationships between: can be done relating service inputs possibilities, resource (a) client presenting condition, and costs to outcomes? requirements, etc. (b) service intervention, and (c) post-exit income.

3 Project #4: Role of temporary help/staffing intermediaries

Summary: Explore role, scale, scope, and activities of temporary help supply/staffing agencies in overall workforce system. Identify and describe present and potential points of linkage, and any complementing features or duplications.

1. Who is the temporary Data gathering from help/staffing industry in business groups and Baltimore? associations, previous surveys, etc. Progress: not yet begun. 2. What is the scale and scope of Survey of representatives of its activities: who does it serve, local temporary agency Products: Memo #1 “Inventory”; how does it serve them? In offices. Memo #2 “Activities and particular, what kinds of possibilities”. Invite representatives training do temporary agencies of temporary staffing agencies to provide? committee meeting to learn about 3. How does this temporary Interviews with MOED/ what they do. staffing system interface with one-stop center staff, the public workforce system? representatives of local Decisions: Does WSEC want staff to How does it overlap or temporary staffing industry start this project? Balance between complement public services? firms statistics and interviews. Who to 4. What are the opportunities Brainstorming with WSEC interview? How far to go for for leveraging the temporary members interviews (outside city, other LWIBs, staffing system in pursuit of etc)? public system goals?

4 Project #5: Construction of a modern performance management system

Summary: The Baltimore’s Workforce System at Work report recommended the development and implementation of a modern performance management system for continuous improvement and Board oversight. Examples of balanced scorecards used by LWIBs elsewhere were reviewed, but the Report stopped short of specific recommendations for metrics. The next stage would be to involve any private and non-profit sector Board members with performance management experience in developing and refining a scorecard of actual measures aligned with BWIB strategic goals, and in suggesting a regular review process.

QUESTIONS STAGES PROGRESS, PRODUCTS & DECISIONS TO BE MADE

1. What are the new strategic Review of next strategic objectives of the Board, and what plan, and dialog with Progress: Still have the material already performance measures might Board members over collected on scorecards for Baltimore’s relate best to them? their priorities. Workforce System at Work report, plus 2. Are these identified measures Reality-check of potential the NAWB report on use of scorecards practicable and reliable, in terms measures with MOED. in workforce systems. Steering Group of data availability, resource Obtain Board member recommended in November 2004 imposition, etc? Do they input on preferred developing a draft scorecard and significantly increase amount of measures. measures for full WSEC discussion in timely relevant information the December. Board can use in its oversight Products: Draft scorecard with measures role? available for WSEC December 2004 3. What might be the regular Dialog with Board meeting. Board review process for the members on desired Decisions: Finalize measures, discuss scorecard? process. and plan implementation.

5 Project #6: Tourism/hospitality industry initiatives being implemented by LWIBs in other high-tourism areas around the country

Summary: “Tourism/hospitality” is one of the BWIB’s and the Mayor’s six chosen “target industries”. Given higher unemployment, reduced travel/tourism activity, and recent limited participation by private employers from this industry in the BWIB Sectoral Committee’s Hospitality/Tourism Sub-committee, the question is whether to proceed with this target industry, and if so, how? Surveying other LWIBS in cities with even more prominent tourism industries to see whether and how they serve this industry, may yield insights as to whether and how to proceed here.

QUESTIONS STAGES PROGRESS, PRODUCTS & DECISIONS TO BE MADE

1. What kinds of 1. Select cities. Progress: City list for contacting developed: tourism/ hospitality 2. Devise questions. Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New industry initiatives are 3. Conduct telephone Orleans, New York City, Orlando, San Diego, operated by LWIBs interviews. San Francisco. Karen to go through her elsewhere? 4. Summarize and League of Cities contacts and forward 2. Which are relevant to, synthesize findings. responses to WSEC staff. Staff to call LWIB and possible for, 5. Review findings with directors in these cities. Draft report on Baltimore? WSEC for what might be limited respondents available for December relevant and promising for WSEC meeting. Baltimore. Products: Memo, with summary, and detailed write-ups of individual initiatives found elsewhere. Decisions: What is relevant to Baltimore? How to obtain private sector employer buy-in for any potential initiative?

6 Project #7: Career Coaches evaluation

Summary: The “Career Coach” has been called “the personal trainer of the new millennium”. In an era when large organizations no longer offer lifetime employment and individuals have to take ownership of their own training choices and career progression, having information on potential career pathways, skill standards, and occupational certifications, and then receiving advice on how to plan and pursue a career, become keys to advancement.

Often, this kind of assistance can be obtained from a traditional third-party career counselor or case-manager at a one-stop employment center, a social welfare agency, or a non-profit community group. The Career Coach model is different because a Coach is usually also an employee of the same workplace of the individuals he or she is coaching, and coaches far fewer individuals. As such, the Coach is much more intimately involved on a daily basis with that particular workplace’s needs and its employees. The Career Coach then works as a resource identifier, a career-mapper, a mentor, a facilitator, and hand-holder for the employee, and as a human resources problem-identifier and performance solution provider for the employer. The Coach is the supportive interface between the individual employee and the large organization, and seeks to align their goals and support both in achieving them.

The Career Coach model is currently being embedded by several hospitals in the Baltimore Healthcare Coalition. With financial support from the OSI and Abell Foundations, over a dozen individuals have recently become certified as Career Coaches.

The need for, and role and activities of, a career coach become proportionally more important, the less able the individual is to sort own their way through information and map out a career pathway. Yet because the concept is so new, there is little documented experience or analysis of effective models of, and practices for, career coaching, particularly with low-skill/low-income clients, with public assistance populations, and with unemployed job seekers. This project will document and analyze experience with the pioneer Career Coaches in the Hospital initiative, and focus particularly on their work with these other groups. Career Coach roles, activities, practices, strategies, and outcomes will be compiled and related to outcomes information, in order to make recommendations about how best to deploy Career Coaches in the future.

7 QUESTIONS STAGES PROGRESS, PRODUCTS & DECISIONS TO BE MADE

1. What kinds of career 1. Survey employing coaches are there, institutions and individual and what do they career coaches for models Progress: Project not yet approved or begun. do? What is the and activities. range and detail of 2. Encourage adoption of Products: Brief report. models? What do common metrics for they do differently evaluation by BHC Decisions: Whether to go ahead with this from case-managers members. project. How can the Career Coach model be or guidance 3. Facilitate data collection adapted for use with low-skill/low-income counselors? on Career Coach activity populations? How can findings be packaged 2. What kinds of and outcomes. and disseminated to encourage adoption of outcomes for 4. Analyze data, report this practice? employers and findings, make employees are recommendations. expected from Career Coach work? 3. How can outcomes be documented and related to particular Career Coach activities or initiatives? 4. What other employment settings is the Career Coach model adaptable to, and what is the best way to disseminate it and encourage adoption?