Massachusetts CAAs provide a variety of skills training services. Following are descriptions of two such programs.

First Steps Into Childcare Centers

ABCD LearningWorks (Boston, MA)

First Steps into Childcare Centers prepares participants for employment in the growing field of childcare services. The program was initiated in 1998 with funding through JTPA and DTA's ESP program and operated initially as a partnership with Head Start and Arbor Associates, a private daycare staffing firm. Enrollees in the program complete ten weeks of basic skills and job readiness classes as well as an eight-week child growth and development seminar. Special workshops cover Pediatric CPR and First Aid. The classroom activities are followed by a fifteen-week supervised internship at an ABCD Head Start site.

Graduates of the program are assisted with job placement and retention. In addition to placements at Head Start and Arbor Associates sites, we have developed relationships and placed participants at twelve additional private day care providers. Graduates have been hired as Assistant Teachers and Integrating Aides, with starting wages in the $7.00-$10.00 per hour range. Retention services include career development counseling to identify requirements for promotion and to locate resources to fulfill those requirements. Participants continue in ABE and ESOL programs, work towards and obtain the GED credential, and enroll in CDA and Associates Degree programs as part of their career advancement. To date, forty-four individuals have obtained employment through the program.

Developing Future Entrepreneurs

Community Teamwork,  Inc. (Lowell, MA)

At the encouragement of Executive Director, Jim Canavan, CTI's Economic Development Coordinator, Peter Lovis, began teaching entrepreneurship in the spring of 1997.

Since that time, nearly 100 students have completed an entrepreneurship curriculum developed by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). The NFTE curriculum is a "mini MBA" program especially designed for young people.

In order to complete the program, students must:

• recognize the opportunity to satisfy a consumer need;

• demonstrate a preliminary understanding of stocks and the stock market;

• understand how to create and understand a profit and loss statement.

They must also complete and defend a business plan for a business that they could actually start and operate. Venture seed funds are available to the best plans presented.

Several of the students have actually started several service businesses. These include: piano lessons, auto detailing, house cleaning, landscaping, catering, and DJ services.

While not every student may start their own business, developing economic literacy skills makes each student more aware of how businesses run and operate, and gives each student an appreciation for business and economic practices.

Mr. Lovis has led several out of school youth programs, has taught severalsemesters at Lowell Middlesex Academy Charter School (chartered to serve high school dropouts), and a "BizCamp" which runs all day for 2 weeks.

IV. Findings from the Workforce: Development Program Survey

A four-page "Survey of MASSCAP Members’ Current Workforce Development Programs" (found in Appendix 1) was developed by MASSCAP’s Education, Training, and Workforce Development Committee, participating CAAs, and the project consultant. The following Summary Analysis and Findings are based on the more detailed listing of survey results presented in Appendix 2 to this report.

Through surveying Massachusetts’ 25 CAAs, MASSCAP’s Workforce Development Initiative has developed an initial profile of the status of CAAs in Massachusetts’ local and state workforce development systems. Additional work—beyond the scope of this first project—will produce additional useful information about the work CAAs are doing to educate, train, and employ Massachusetts residents.

The following summary messages and findings emerge from the survey results:

Most CAAs offer adult education and skills training services, but few CAAs are large-scale providers at this time. For example, 17 of 23 CAAs completing the survey offer at least one level of adult basic education (i.e., literacy, ESOL, ABE, GED). These 17 agencies are now providing adult basic education to over 2,000 students annually. In addition, 15 of 23 CAAs report offering skills training services, but only two areas of training [Child Care (4); Computer Literacy (2)] are offered by more than one CAA. These training services are being provided to approximately 500 jobseekers per year. Over 4,600 individuals are served in a wide array of 24 "other" programs provided by 13 CAAs. The range of these services (listed in Appendix 2 to this report) reflect the richness of the CAA service delivery system; they range from workplace education to summer youth employment to citizenship to college access programs.

As detailed in Appendix 2, the populations served by CAA workforce development programs are largely adult (61%), female (61%), and people of color (63%). Approximately 5,000 adults and 3,000 youth are now being served each year.

Funding is received from over 50 sources, with over $11,500,000 in annual revenues supporting education, training, and employment programs operated by CAAs. Twelve of 23 CAAs noted that they dedicate CSBG funding to workforce development (but for a total of only $440,260), with Foundations (8) and the State Department of Education (8) next, followed by JTPA Title II (6). The latter two provide far more dollars than any other funding sources to support education and training services provided by CAAs. On the other hand, there are a total of over 40 different funding sources (e.g., federal/state agencies/programs; foundations; corporations; fees for service) supporting CAA service delivery in Massachusetts.

Most CAAs (16 of 23 responding to the survey) use computers to assist teaching and learning, but only one CAA has over 30 computers available for this use.

Wrap-around support services were prioritized by CAA representatives during initial discussions. As anticipated, the results presented here are based on different definitions and assumptions by CAAs, and yet they still provide an important initial description of the type of ancillary, supportive, and "other" services CAAs provide to help low-income residents get and maintain a job. There is large-scale delivery of support services by CAAs in four specific areas: economic advocacy; child care and Head Start; assessment; and information and referral. In fact, the number of low-income people receiving wrap-around support services dwarfs the number benefiting directly from CAA education and training services.

These wrap-around support services play a critical role in enabling low-income Massachusetts residents to access workforce development services, maintain their participation, and secure positive outcomes. CAAs play a central role in delivering these critically needed services. For example, CAAs deliver fully one-third of all child care services provided in the state (based on a survey of CAAs conducted by MASSCAP in 1998). In some communities, other support services delivered by CAAs are simply not available from other sources.

CAAs are active in local workforce development systems. Most CAAs (14 of 20 responding) are represented by membership on the local Boards or the Regional Employment Board (there are 16 REBs in Massachusetts). In addition, 14 CAAs have contact with the local REB once a month or more, and 13 CAAs also have contact with at least one of Massachusetts’ 16 local Service Delivery Areas (SDAs) once a month or more.

The Survey of MASSCAP Members’ Current Workforce Development Programs ends with three relatively open-ended questions (See Questions 15-17 in the Survey in Appendix 1) on:

• workforce development services most needed in the CAA’s geographic area;

• missing/scarce/most needed wrap-around support services in the CAA’s area;

• top priorities for workforce development in the next year.

Respondents were invited to give up to three responses to each question. As a result, there were a total of 134 individual responses to these three questions, pointing to a wide set of issues ranging from Career Centers to Housing to Dental Care to CORI issues. Readers of this report are encouraged to review these responses, found in Appendix 2 to this report.

Perhaps most importantly, the bulk of responses to these three questions (63 of 134 responses) fell clearly into five areas:

• Skills training

• Education

• Transportation

• Case Management

• Child Care

There are no particular surprises here, but rather a reaffirmation of the priority concerns—and focus for attention and resources—at the level of CAA program development. This provides important guidance to MASSCAP—as well as to CAAs seeking to work together—in formulating technical assistance, training, and resource development strategies for CAAs.