Action:
Support local incubators or makerspaces, which offer affordable rents, flexible terms, shared equipment and services, room-to-scale operations, networking events, and communities of peer entrepreneurs.
Why:
Such projects can be catalytic, helping entrepreneurs create businesses and existing businesses to grow, thereby building local wealth. By establishing and preserving affordable spaces for light manufacturing, business incubation, maker/artist studios, and cultural activities, cities can foster quality middle-skill job opportunities for LMI residents.
Case Study
East End Maker Hub – Houston, TX
Urban Partnerships CDC (UP CDC), a nonprofit real estate development company, partnered with TXRX labs, a nonprofit high tech maker space, to develop the East End Maker Hub in a historically marginalized part of Houston with a majority Latinx population.
It offers 300,000 square feet of multi-tenant, multiuse manufacturing and fabrication space, which supports makers, manufacturers, corporate tenants, and other small businesses. It features multiple spaces of varying sizes to target manufacturers and makers looking for affordable long-term rents, collaborative space, and access to equipment.
The hub was funded by HUD Section 108 and CDBG grants, which the project procured from the City. UP CDC also procured an EDA grant. The project received a New Markets Tax Credit allocation through the People Fund, Urban Research Park and McCormack Baron Salazar and also received support from LISC, a CDFI.
TXRX labs, Houston’s largest manufacturing business incubator and accelerator, is the anchor tenant of the East End Maker Hub. TXRX provides access to over $2 million worth of machinery and equipment, classes, and technical support, job training programs.
It focuses outreach on minority-owned manufacturers, makers, and other small businesses located within a three-mile radius of the building. It also sees its role as supporting wealth building in the local community.
As part of TXRX’s Youth Education program, its staff speak at local community events and give presentations at local churches and schools. They also build relationships with local teachers to help them understand the role of manufacturing as a pathway to middle-income jobs. Further, they encourage the students to visit the hub and participate in afterschool programs. Each year, the hub provides job training for 75 adults and hands-on learning for over 500 teenagers.
The hub is projected to have an annual economic impact of $153 million and create 400+ direct and 200+ indirect jobs.
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify and support local CDCs and CDFIs with a mission to support local manufacturing/ makers/entrepreneurship
- Engage local communities, entrepreneurs and neighborhood groups, to involve them in the project
- Help them to secure HUD Section 108 funding, New Markets Tax Credits, and other government funding to purchase/renovate a disused/underutilized building in a disinvested neighborhood
- Support land-use changes to facilitate the project
- In pre-development planning and space considerations, strike the right balance between creating a workplace and community asset that contributes to placemaking
- Plan to open doors to the public and forge ties with the local community, catalyzing public understanding of the importance of industrial spaces
- Support community-based organizations providing programs and services to local businesses
- Connect City/regional workforce training and placement programs and prioritize local hiring
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
Action:
Target support to small businesses in commercial corridors in disinvested neighborhoods. Provide grants to address building needs, connect businesses to technical assistance and workforce development programs, and help businesses leverage other supports to help them grow.
Why:
In this way, you will make neighborhoods more livable, help retain essential services, and support household wealth building.
Case Study
Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts – Indianapolis, IN
In collaboration with the City of Indianapolis and the Indy Chamber, LISC created “Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts” in the City’s North Mass and East Washington Street corridors in late 2014. This is a local example of LISC’s national economic inclusion framework, which facilitates data gathering, mapping of existing ecosystems and the creation and implementation of a shared, community-led agenda for inclusive economic growth.
North Mass and East Washington St. are legacy commercial and industrial corridors, surrounded by LMI neighborhoods. The industrial corridors consist of small manufacturers, landscaping companies, building materials suppliers, and other business-to-business service firms.
A primary goal of the program is to revitalize these corridors, support their businesses, create good and accessible jobs, and build identities which will attract new businesses.
The program’s partners work with local community development corporations (CDCs) which help small business owners take advantage of resources, such as Office of Community Services Community Economic Development grants, and connect with local residents looking for work. The CDCs also help businesses looking to move or expand into these corridors to access capital, apply for façade improvement grants, and connect to workforce development services. LISC also works with the CDCs to identify opportunities to deploy its lending capital.
The City has prioritized the corridors for its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. This enabled the CDCs to attract City grants to convert industrial buildings into hubs for arts, artisan manufacturing and small businesses. The City has also prioritized the corridors for Environmental Protection Agency Brownfield Assessment grants, which has enabled the CDCs and businesses to reduce the cost of environmental due diligence.
Based on the success of the North Mass and East Washington Street work, in 2018 the Far Eastside was added as an Inclusive Economic Opportunity District.
In 2019:
- 232 jobs were created from businesses starting, expanding or moving to
- Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts
- 162 businesses assisted
- 38 businesses moved to Inclusive Economic Opportunity Districts
- 5 brownfields were readied for development
- 21 businesses received façade improvement funding
- 581,302 sq. ft. of commercial space was improved
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify priority commercial corridors in LMI neighborhoods
- Identify local CDCs and nonprofits that have connections to the local communities
- Facilitate data gathering, ecosystem mapping, cross-collaboration, and agenda-setting among these groups
- Develop a shared action plan with clear roles and responsibilities for community collaborators
- Work with them to engage local residents, business owners, and community leaders to understand their specific needs and aspirations for the neighborhood
- Help partners implement district marketing campaigns highlighting the district’s unique attributes to attract visitors and shoppers to retail businesses
- Support and invest in partner efforts and provide access to City resources and programs such as CDBG funds, façade improvement funds, and/or workforce development programs
- Advocate for Federal dollars to advance local efforts like Brownfield assessment and remediation
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Maximize federal funding sources by using new markets tax credits (NMTC), which are available for a wide range of applications
Action:
Cities should partner with Community Development Entities (CDEs) to access New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) to fund real estate developments.
Why:
NMTC investments can fund catalytic development projects in low- and moderate-income communities. By partnering with a CDE to access NMTCs, cities can attract third-party funding that might otherwise have had to come from the general fund.
Background:
NMTCs can be an important source of funding for businesses and community facilities in distressed urban and rural communities. Individual and corporate investors can receive a 39% tax credit (taken over seven years) for qualified investments into CDEs. CDEs can then use the proceeds of those investments to fund business expansions, community facilities, and other community projects.1
The project owner makes annual interest payments to the CDE during the seven-year life of the loan structure, eventually closing out the transaction at a substantial discount.
Examples of NMTC-funded projects include:
- Business expansions: $10 million NMTCs contributed to the construction of a $13 million, twin bay airplane paint shop, as part of a $22.36 million investment in an Airbus facility in Mobile, AL.2
- Infrastructure improvements: NMTCs contributed to the conversion of a vacant mall into a 750-car parking garage and retail/ entertainment complex in St. Louis, MO.3
To become certified as a CDE, an organization must submit a CDE Certification. Application to the Department of the Treasury CDFI Fund. The application must demonstrate that the applicant meets each of the following requirements:
- Be a legal entity at the time of application.
- Have a primary mission of serving low-income communities.
- Maintain accountability to the residents of its targeted low-income communities.
1: https://nmtccoalition.org/progress-report-2019/about-the-nmtc/
2: https://munistrategies.com/project_portfolio/maas-aviation/ and https://nmtccoalition.org/project/maas-aviation/
3: https://nmtccoalition.org/project/mercantile-exchange/
A CDE can be a Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI), mainstream financial institution, government/quasi-government, nonprofit, or for-profit. A city government can become a CDE.
The CDFI Fund conducts an annual competition (incredibly competitive) for NMTC allocations. Applications are scored against four criteria: community impact, business strategy, capitalization strategy, and management capacity.
CDEs typically engage a consultant to support their allocation. CDEs that are awarded NMTC allocations sign an allocation agreement, before raising private investment to deploy to appropriate projects. Most NMTC allocations go to CFDIs, followed by mainstream financial institutions, and then governments.4
A benefit of becoming a CDE is the access to unrestricted funding, via received interest payments.
4: https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/what-new-markets-tax-credit-and-how-does-it-work
Case Study
Union City, TN – Williams Sausage Company Expansion
Williams Sausage Company, founded and based in Tennessee, needed risk capital to fund a $48m project, comprising of a 200,000 ft2 production facility, distribution center, truck maintenance shop, and corporate office.
The company engaged a site selector consultant to review 13 sites. Tennessee state, Union City, Obion County, and the Tennessee Valley Authority offered an incentive which included $44m in NMTCs. But for the NMTCs, Williams would have not located at a distressed site in Union City.
The project components included the following:
- Williams employed site selector and incentives consulting firm, HWH Group, which identified funds and helped coordinate the incentive package.
- Five CDEs contributed NMTCs to the incentive package, which also included state and local incentives.
- CDE, Stonehenge Capital (not located in TN), provided $10 million of qualified low-income community investments (QLICIs) to fund the purchase of equipment. This qualified under its allocation agreement as an innovative use of NMTCs.
Impact:
The project created 210 new jobs in a distressed neighborhood. It is also expected to create a further 321 jobs over the next 5 years.
The company is working with local workforce development agencies to train and hire underserved, low-income residents to become technicians and professionals at the facility.
How to Adapt this Approach
- Develop a relationship with local, or even non-local, CDEs, which can apply for NMTCs for priority project(s). CDEs can make investments within their approved service areas. These range from local to national.
- The CDFI Fund website has a mapping tool that shows approved service areas (see example below).
- The CDFI Fund website has a search function that allows you to identify CDEs that have remaining, available NMTC allocation authority.
- If you are a CDE, identify projects that meet your goals and NMTC usage requirements prior to application. Alternatively, propose your project to a CDE which has unused allocation. (The CDFI Fund publishes Qualified Equity Investment Reports monthly. See example report.)
- Work with the CDE to submit an electronic allocation application via the Awards Management Information System (AMIS)
- This “how to apply” report contains detailed advice on how to prepare your application
- Report your compliance via AMIS.
Do:
- Be aware of NMTC application deadlines, which are shared on the Department of the Treasury CDFI Fund website.
- Identify potential projects which are NMTC-eligible. Help projects to become NMTC-ready, through land use approvals.
- Talk with other cities that have successfully worked with CDEs to capture NMTC investment in their community.
- Engage local stakeholders to ensure support for the project.
- Work with existing experienced CDEs:
- Applying for a NMTC allocation is a complex process.
- Most successful applicants are existing CDEs and CDFIs with significant experience.
- Working with the CDE can ensure that your project makes it into its application, or is allocated excess credits
Don’t:
- Don’t go into this process alone, or without advice.
- Don’t partner with only one CDE. Multiple CDEs can invest in the same project.
- Don’t underestimate the severity of “recapture.” While this risk is low if the transaction is structured properly and compliance is up to date, penalties are harsh (100% of the credits can be recaptured with interest and penalties).
Learn more about the Toolkit
Action:
Help small businesses to pivot, adapt, and capitalize on new opportunities in a COVID-19 world.
Why:
Keeping spending local is critical for economic recovery. By helping businesses meet the needs of surging resilient sectors, develop new sales channels, or create new lines of business; you are creating longer term revenue solutions than subsidies and loans.
Case Study #1
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Grant and Procurement Fund – Baltimore, MD
In April 2020, the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) established two funds to help Baltimore manufacturers meet local demand for PPE by frontline workers and residents.
BDC created a $150,000 PPE Grant Fund to help manufacturers off-set costs to convert operations to PPE production. The fund awarded grants of up to $15,000 to fund equipment modifications, materials, and labor associated with the manufacturing of specific PPE needs identified by public health officials.
BDC’s ability to engage local manufacturers rapidly was aided by the Made In Baltimore program, which had built communication channels and trusted relationships prior to the pandemic. The program helped to identify and vet which businesses would be able to handle a rapid emergency pivot and response.
Critically, the City allocated $400,000 for a Local Procurement Fund to purchase locally made PPE for frontline City workers. The fund was administered by BDC, which streamlined the procurement process, thereby creating immediate demand for makers and kept City procurement dollars local.
In terms of impact:
- The grant fund supported 15 businesses, 53% of which were women-owned and 33% minority owned. It supported the production of 84,000 masks, 30,000 face shields, and 33,000 gallons of sanitizer.
- The procurement fund contracted 6 businesses, 50% of which were minority-owned or led. It procured 45,000 face masks, 2,500 face shields, and 16,200 isolation gowns.
Case Study#2
Resurgence Small Business Fund – Atlanta, GA
In August 2020, Invest Atlanta, the City’s economic development authority, launched a $17 million fund providing grants to small businesses trying to safely reopen and adapt to the COVID-19 environment.
Eligible applicants can be awarded up to $40,000 and an additional $10,000 for technical assistance in finance, legal, workforce, and technology from 13 business support organizations contracted by the City.
The Resurgence Small Business Fund is weighted towards businesses that are in lower-income communities, MWBEs, long-term growth sectors, longevity of business in Atlanta, those that have not received other COVID-19 relief, and businesses who have demonstrated planning for reopening and adaptation to COVID-19.
It is funded through the CARES Act, and grants are provided on a reimbursable basis.
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Assess the needs of small businesses in the community with a particular focus on which groups of small businesses and neighborhoods are facing the greatest challenges
- Identify the adaptation need/opportunity (e.g., setting up an e-commerce website, retooling equipment to produce PPE, adapting outdoor seating for winter months, etc.)
- Identify which small businesses the program will be designed for. Determine if the fund will focus on supporting all MWBEs; businesses located in LMI areas; a specific sector or business type or some other criteria of need
- Identify and develop philanthropic and/or corporate partners to financially support the program. Leverage City funds to draw in this outside match
- Work with a local CDFI or other nonprofit partner to administer the program, or manage the program directly
Create the program parameters (loans, grants, size, use, terms, eligibility criteria, etc.) based on the City’s policy goals, input from program partners and local stakeholders. Examples of program parameters: Baltimore PPE Fund, Atlanta Resurgence Fund - If applicable, leverage the City’s procurement powers to purchase goods and services from businesses who receive support from the program
- Partner with trade groups, local/ethnic chambers, and other business organizations, which are trusted partners in the communities where the program is focused, to lead outreach, and promote it
- Leverage technical assistance partners to help targeted small businesses apply to the fund
- Maintain a reasonable (e.g. 3+ weeks, include pre-noticing, not first come first serve) window for application submission. Assemble an inclusive application review committee to make award decisions.
- Evaluation criteria could include:
– MWBEs
– Businesses that did not receive CARES Act or other COVID-19 relief funding
– Businesses located in LMI communities
– Businesses with a plan to reopen or adapt to the post-COVID environment
– Length of time operating in the city
– Sector - Add all applicants into a centralized business support database/client relationship management tool (CRM) to coordinate future support
- Provide wrap around technical assistance to businesses who receive funds as well as those who do not
- Track and publish KPIs on a regular basis. Include aggregated demographic and neighborhood data on applications and awards. (See KPIs section)
- Keep partners, particularly neighborhood stakeholders and local business groups updated on progress and any challenges
- Track lessons learned and incorporate into future programming
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Implement equitable frameworks and rubrics in the recruitment and screening processes to reach hardest hit workers
Ways to help displaced and unemployed workers re-enter the labor market
Background:
In order to respond to rapidly shifting and dynamic market adjustments, re-engaging business leaders, re-examining data, and identifying short-term and long-term action plans has become crucial to meeting both workforce supply and demand needs. Additionally, proactive efforts are being generated by industry themselves, and our efforts to help support these initiatives have required some flexibility in coordination and alignment.
The examples below represent city-led and workforce-aligned efforts to strengthen connection to education, training, and work-based learning opportunities; financial supports; and rapid reemployment that attempts to address the needs of particularly hard-hit communities with a focus on equity and the development of career pathways, as well as impacted industries.
Many local, regional and statewide efforts have sought to address the needs of businesses and workers through a variety of strategies considered promising practices that succeeded in the last economic downturn, aligned with more recent innovations. Most have leveraged existing sector strategy efforts and some have provided employment supports for virtual learning and virtual work initiatives, as well as the transition of workers to new career pathways based on transferrable skill sets.
Some local efforts have included new innovative twists to respond to the specifics of this COVIDrelated crisis, two of which we are highlighting for you.
Each example, to varying degrees, includes the following essential elements:
- Heavy reliance on real-time labor market information, partnership alignment, and employer engagement: All involve rapid assessment of data and realignment to new priorities and hit upon the key promising practice for all workforce efforts — they are industry-aligned or employer-led, and a broad swath of key trusted partners are engaged. There is a clear commitment to high-demand industries and occupations.
- Braiding traditional and more flexible funding sources: In each case there is a clear effort to align general funds, emergency grant funds and/or philanthropic funds to braid with traditional workforce development formula funding to ensure flexibility and responsiveness to immediate needs.
- Commitment to equity, as well as student and job seeker supports: These efforts have implemented new tools such as equity frameworks and rubrics in the recruitment and screening process, with a focus on transferrable skills between sectors, assistance to get back into the labor market in a temporary position and financial support to supplement temporary position income so that participants can also study part time to gain new skills. Each incorporates a heavy focus on worker and student wraparound supports such as case management, career navigation, and legal and mental health services.
Case Study #1
Baltimore Health Corps
Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Employment Development- Baltimore, MD
Program Overview:
- Temporary employment for over 300 community members
- Focus on career pathways within health care
- Upskilling training available
- Support services for workers
In March of 2020, the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City Mayor’s Office for Employment Development (MOED), Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, Baltimore Corps, the Baltimore Civic Fund, HealthCare Access Maryland, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Innovation Team (i-team), and Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, partnered to address the dual need of responding to the public health crisis caused by the pandemic and rapid reskilling and reemployment of the available workforce.
The new initiative, the Baltimore Health Corps, focuses on contact tracing, a method of identifying people exposed to the novel coronavirus, with the intent of preventing and containing transmission.
Program Specifics Include:
- Training and employment of over 300 residents for immediately available contact tracing related positions, with a focus on helping residents get on long-term career paths.
- Majority of positions are contact tracers, but the project also employs a care coordination team of about 40, which connects residents to needed social services, as well as operations support staff, supervisors, directors, managers, and career navigators to support the temporary contact tracer positions.
- Positions pay from $35,000 and up to $80,000 for the highest-level positions, and each includes a stipend to cover health benefits. Most last for eight months.
The project team carefully crafted new rubrics for screening and rating candidates prior to opening the job portal in June. The purpose of the rubrics is to eliminate barriers and bias in the process, while increasing equity and access to disadvantaged populations. These include detailed directions for applicant pre-screening, resume review, group screening and breakout session rubrics, and a rubric for pre-recorded interviews.
Once resumes have been screened through the portal, those that receive middle scores in the rubric are invited to a group interview with behavioral questions, while those that are high-scoring receive a link to pre-record an introductory interview, which will later be reviewed by staff.
The emphasis of the selection criteria throughout the interview process is on customer service and the ability to display empathy, as well as any other transferrable skill sets. This process provides opportunity for those middle scores to still advance in the process, with some being referred to shortterm upskilling programs, rather than being immediately referred to other programs and services outside of the Baltimore Health Corps.
Once hired, individuals in contact tracer positions begin two weeks of in-person training, and then their work is conducted from a centralized office building location until they are comfortable and competent with the contact tracing platform, after which they may opt to work from home. New employees are provided with a laptop and cell phone.
The provision of equipment is an equity strategy to ensure that some of those most at risk in the pandemic have the tools they need to be employed. Positions also come with employee supports, provided through MOED, including career navigation, financial empowerment counseling, and free behavioral health and legal services.
For a select number of applicants (up to 100) who show potential but might not yet ready for the contact tracer positions, the initiative offers a four-week community health worker training to help strengthen their candidacy. Completers are recommended to employers for priority recruitment, which serves as yet another equity strategy for upskilling local residents.
Key Partnerships:
The Baltimore Health Corps initiative is driven by critical partnerships. Key partners and their roles include:
- Mayor’s Office of Employment Development is the primary workforce agency, providing planning and staff for the recruitment and screening structure, career navigation, and connection to behavioral health support and legal services (offered through with Catholic Charities and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Services).
- The Baltimore Civic Fund serves as the fiscal sponsor and provides assistance with fundraising and funding consolidation that supports streamlined relationships between funders and the city.
- Baltimore Corps conducts recruitment, providing the application website and the recruitment structure.
- Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation provides strategic and project management support.
- Jhpiego provides operational support to the Health Department, along with acting as a training partner for contact tracers and providing structure for performance monitoring.
- The University of Maryland School of Public Health is evaluating the program and will conduct a process study and summative evaluation.
- They are working on final outcome measures and supporting the team by providing a summary of performance metrics.
- The Baltimore Innovation Team (i-team) is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies which awards cities multi-year grants to create highly skilled in-house teams that are dedicated to solving big problems in new ways — from reducing violent crime to revitalizing neighborhoods to strengthening the growth of small businesses.
The full list of partners and funders for this project include:
- Abell Foundation
- Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Baltimore City Health Department
- Baltimore Community Foundation
- Baltimore Ravens
- Bank of America
- Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Foundation
- Bloomberg Philanthropies
- BGE
- CareFirst
- France-Merrick Foundation
- Goldseker Foundation
- BACH (Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Health)
- Baltimore City Health Department
- Baltimore Civic Fund
- Baltimore Corps
- Catholic Charities of Baltimore
- HealthCare Access Maryland
- Jhpiego
- Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
- Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
- Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation
- Univ. of Maryland School of Public Health
Funding:
The total cost of the initiative is $12.44 million. This public-private partnership was mobilized by a $3 million commitment from The Rockefeller Foundation through its Equity & Economic Opportunity and Health teams. The City of Baltimore has made a $4.5 million commitment to support this initiative, tapping into its CARES Act Funds.
Additional private funders and local institutions have contributed more than $3.6 million in support and include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), the France-Merrick Foundation, the Goldseker Foundation, OSI — Baltimore, the PepsiCo Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the Stulman Foundation, and the T. Rowe Price Foundation. The city will continue to raise the remaining $1.3 million as the project moves forward.
Key Challenges:
Rapid partnership building
MOED and the Health Department had not previously worked this closely before on a combined effort at this scale. The entire initiative was built on leveraging virtual tools such as Zoom and Webex, from remotely coordinating partnership alignment and communication to recruitment efforts.
Prior to the pandemic, the Health Department had not previously relied on the workforce system for hiring needs, and did report having struggled at various times with recruitment and identifying applicants who meet the needs of a specific position but had not aligned themselves with the workforce system.
Through this new program, the Health Department expressed their satisfaction with the candidates that have been onboarded and working for a few weeks now. Baltimore Corps’ work to identify candidates who would be successful in this environment has been pivotal to their success.
The Health Department would recommend to other similar departments that are uneasy at taking on this challenge that it really has been an incredible experience, they are very happy and pleased with the results thus far and are looking forward to continuing the relationship.
Communicating vision to existing program staff
Developing processes for a large recruitment and placement initiative while not greatly expanding staff numbers (FTEs) could have been daunting to existing staff. Leadership developed a clear plan for weekly recruitment process flow and spoke directly with team members about the importance of the mission and value to the community. As a result of sharing the broader community vision, they were able to engender a sense of shared ownership and buy-in from staff as they launched the program.
Aligning communication strategy
Aligning a large multi-partner communication plan can be challenging in the best of times. At the outset, the Public Information Officers for each organization came together to engage their preexisting Joint Information Center (JIC) and worked to align their communication efforts. It had existed prior to the project; and, it was effectively leveraged in a virtual environment to coordinate the rapid building of this effort.
The Health Department took a lead role, along with MOED and Jhpiego, to get the word out to partners, and to the public through public virtual town halls, and at all relevant events held throughout Baltimore City. Additionally, they employed the use of multiple social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Partners met weekly, and shared information frequently across major program components, and continue to check in regularly as needed.
Summary of Project Impact
The team has received 4,500 applications since the program launched on June 4, 2020. As of November 6, over 200 applicants have accepted offers to join the Health Corps, and nearly 175 have already started their temporary positions with HCAM and the Health Department. To serve these staff, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development hired five career navigators and placed approximately 100 participants into community health worker (CHW) training through the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare.
The program team has contracted with University of Maryland School of Public Health to act as external evaluators. They will track standard workforce metrics as required by their grants but are looking to move beyond the traditional measures. They are also evaluating the public health contracting side of the project, as well as care coordination. The team will also conduct a post-intervention analysis to determine if the Health Corps program led participants to long-term employment within a health care career pathway.
Adapt This Approach:
Cost and Time Commitments:
From initial award to program launch, this program took six weeks. The rapid pace was driven by high COVID-19 case volume in the late spring and summer and a recognition of immediate need. The time and resources required to implement this model will depend on a variety of factors including:
- Availability and flexibility of funding streams
- Flexibility of existing team to work overtime and adaptability to shifting priorities
- Existing relationships and coordination with partners
- Community support and outreach strategies
Do:
- Do borrow from other models and adapt to local context.
The team leveraged the Massachusetts Partners in Health model to develop their contact tracing hiring strategy to allow for an explicit focus on rapid re-employment of the unemployed. They could have focused on quickly hiring the highest level of education possible, but their local commitment to employing dislocated workers with an equity lens required different strategies. The team believes the Baltimore Model is a promising and adaptive approach for other cities looking to expand their contact tracing capacity while addressing their jurisdiction’s economic and social needs. - Do engage employers throughout the process.
Because of the focus on upskilling participants and putting them on the road to clear career pathways in health, the team made the employer partners a part of the entire process — from weekly meetings to keeping them informed of participants’ training status. They were, of course, a key partner to the initiative, but their full engagement helped to drive the success of the recruitment process, and, in this way, demonstrated the key benefits of employer alignment. The employers’ public health expertise informed the program design and ensured that participants will come out of the program with the skills needed to go into full-time employment within an industry career pathway. - Do begin with a diverse and connected project management team.
The core team at Baltimore City included workforce experts, epidemiologists, community health work practitioners, and managers across each of the program objectives. Through these diverse viewpoints and early, open dialogue about program aims, the team was able to align its workforce and public health aims towards creating the most effective program possible. The team began by developing a solid operational framework that leveraged existing partnership organizations to support rapid implementation. The larger core project team across partners included leaders from all of the aligned organizations, totaling between 45-55 members.
Don’t:
- Don’t rely solely on traditional funding strategies.
Alignment of private funds and CARES Act funds, with a small portion of dislocated worker funds, provided the program team the flexibility to move ahead with recruitment and hiring for positions quickly to respond to urgent demand. Flexible funds also allowed Baltimore to contract for legal and mental health service supports quickly, and to support CHW training. - Don’t rely on traditional hiring strategies.
The Health Department partnered with the workforce team to craft job postings with no education requirements, which opened the process to a wide swath of the community. They also expedited their hiring process by working closely with Baltimore Corps and Jhpiego, employing the use of their existing online platform for screening candidates, and by developing a clear rubric and comprehensive plan for interviewing, training, and hiring.
Case Study #2
Train for Jobs SA, San Antonio, TX
Program Overview:
- Training stipend of $15/hr
- Up to $450 per week
- Up to 10,000 residents by September 2021
- Anticipate 80% receiving wraparound support
In May 2020, Workforce Solutions Alamo (WSA), in partnership with the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, established Train for Jobs SA, a training program designed to quickly upskill dislocated individuals for high-growth industries and occupations.
In addition to free training, participants also receive weekly stipends and significant wraparound services to support successful completion of the program and then placement into a job. The program was made possible through the commitment of the City of San Antonio and Bexar County officials who prioritized workforce development as their leading strategy to guide the city into and through recovery from the pandemic.
The overall goal of the program is to provide economic stability for those who are displaced as well as ensure the talent needed to support local industry is available as businesses begin to recover. Train for Jobs SA aims to serve up to 10,000 San Antonio and Bexar County residents by September 2021.
Eligible participants enroll via phone, and once in the program, complete a skills and career assessment. Participants may then be enrolled in high school equivalency preparation, or short-term, long-term or on-the-job training, all of which are aligned to in demand occupations in the city’s target industries and growth occupations. There are a myriad of training courses available, both on and off of their Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL).
Qualified participants are eligible to receive stipends of $15/hour (for between a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 30 hours per week) for actual time spent in an approved training program, up to a maximum of $450 stipend per week. The stipend is made available for the full length of the training, with a focus on participants attaining new skills or credentials and keeping them engaged after the training to advance on a career pathway.
Train for Jobs SA is also a key driver supporting the City of San Antonio’s long-term goal of decreasing economic segregation. The program developed and uses an equity matrix questionnaire to identify participants in specific areas who are more at risk and prioritize them for enrollment and additional services.
Up to 80% of program participants are anticipated to receive comprehensive wraparound support such as case management, career navigation, and connection to other Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)-funded services.
Key Partnerships:
Key partners for this project include:
Funding:
Funding was awarded to the Train for Jobs SA program in the amount of $12 million, with $8 million provided by the City of San Antonio General Fund and $4 million in Coronavirus Relief funding. Although they have received significant disaster grants, this program is separate and fully funded by city and county dollars. Co-enrollment and alignment with WIOA-funded programs is encouraged where appropriate.
Key Challenges:
Shifting to virtual delivery
Train for Jobs SA is working to improve virtual onboarding and orientation for participants. The project team is piloting online open sessions for orientations and the development of a video tutorial on how to sign up for services, to accompany the registration site.
Partner referrals and participant awareness
WSA noted that building system and public awareness is an ongoing challenge with any new program, yet it is critical to support referrals into the program. To address this challenge, the WSA team has launched a multi-modal messaging effort, including social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and numerous websites, to increase overall public awareness as well as reach specific populations targeted by the program.
Summary of Project Impact
With the start of the program in mid-August 2020, and active participant recruitment beginning in September, intake is active and ongoing. The team has developed a set of goals and measures for the project that include by September 2021 an anticipated: 4,000 assessed, 1,750 receiving case management services, 1,400 receiving short-term training, 100 receiving long-term training, 1,500 receiving stipends, and 1,000 placed in on-the-job training and employment. In the first five weeks of the program, 78 participants were placed in shortterm training, and 21 in long-term training.
Adapt This Approach:
Cost and Time Commitments:
With strong support from the Mayor’s office, funding was awarded during the summer and the program began in mid-August. In alignment with citywide equity goals, and more flexible funding streams, they were able to stand up a new, large program in a matter of weeks, and the program launched at the beginning of September. The time and resources needed to implement this model will depend on a variety of factors including:
- Flexibility of funding streams
- Buy-in and adaptability of partners
- Ability to borrow from existing tools and structures
- Availability of staff
Do:
- Do start — and proceed — with good data.
Prior to COVID, WSA determined high-growth occupations and identified the target industries that aligned with economic development goals for the region. Although WSA is operating under the assumption that many industries will return to previous employment levels post-COVID, they are also using real-time labor market information and job postings (such as Burning Glass and Help Wanted Online data) to monitor monthly shifts and pivot their training investments accordingly. - Do identify training providers upfront.
Provide as many options as possible by broadening the training provider pool and expanding the ETPL. By expanding the list of programs to include short-term as well as long-term, increasing the variety of training to all of the regional industries in demand, and increasing flexibility in training schedules, the program can become relevant for a broader array of participants. Training providers are a critical part of the planning process and can support workforce staff in identifying training gaps more quickly. - Do focus on program awareness.
Focus just as much on partner and staff awareness as participant awareness in your outreach campaign. Intentionally messaging the availability and value of services provided and quickly establishing an efficient process to drive program referrals will shorten the time frame between program design and participant enrollment. - Do focus on building trust between local elected officials and the local workforce board.
A key to success of this project has been the positioning of the local workforce development board (LWDB) as a natural leader in the region. The LWDB is seen by local elected officials (LEOs) as a trusted entity with the ability to analyze unemployment data as well as real-time data to help officials better assess the current situation and those most impacted by the pandemic. - Do incorporate strategies to reach equity goals.
The City of San Antonio uses an equity lens to prioritize investments and policy decisions. As previously noted, Train for Jobs SA uses an equity matrix to target key populations for recruitment and provides extensive support and wraparound services to drive successful program outcomes.
Don’t:
- Don’t rely solely on traditional funding strategies. A key to standing up the program in short order has been the ability to identify flexible funding streams that allow financial resources to be implemented quickly and in an innovative manner. The board worked directly with the Mayor’s office and other local city leadership to make general fund dollars available to support this program.
Resources:
- Train for Jobs SA informational site
- Participant site
- Workforce Solutions Alamo site
- San Antonio equity maps
- San Antonio, TX press release – $2 Million Dislocated Worker Upskilling Grant
- San Antonio, TX press release – $450 Stipend for Retraining
Learn more about the Workforce Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Create a skills adjacency program to enable people to be trained for jobs that will exist post-COVID
Problem:
The post-COVID employment landscape will look different than it did beforehand. As of July 9, 2020, the US economy had suffered a net loss of 14.7 million jobs since COVID-19 began. When the economy reopens, certain sectors will return faster and stronger than others (which may never return). Jobs in hospitality may be slow to recover – if they ever do – and existing trends (e.g., automation) will continue to harm employment for many sectors.
Despite the challenges that will come with a new job landscape, jobs will still exist and cities can facilitate access to them. Although much attention is paid to software development and coding, there are several other ways to skill – or upskill – workers so that they will be able to assume different roles that offer better prospects. Cities will want to design programs that consider their local employment circumstances and engage local partners. Skills adjacency training, in particular, enables workers who have relevant knowledge and/or skills from a different industry to receive minimal training to serve in new roles within in-demand industries (e.g., a port worker being trained to service new machines at the port).
The pace of job change is unparalleled in history. A recent study estimated that it is possible up to 375 million workers in the world (~14% of the global workforce) will need to switch job categories.
Action:
Cities need to enable workers who lose their jobs in industries with low demand to transition to jobs in high-demand industries that pay a living wage and above. Cities should develop a skills adjacency and reskilling program that focuses on relevant skills with a local partner (e.g., unions, education institutions, anchor businesses, and/or the State). This workforce programming must focus on in-demand industries, selected based on local business input and job availability.
Case Study
California: Labor Development Board – High Road Training Partnerships
The California Workforce Development Board, with technical assistance from the UC Berkeley and UCLA Labor Centers, and the COWS research center at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, implemented an initiative to magnify, scale, and expand eight High Road Training Partnerships (HRTPs) as a model for workforce and economic development in partnership with area businesses, unions and community groups. The initiative provides technical assistance and project funding for HRTPs to enhance their industry-led problem solving, upskilling, and training work, focusing on racial equity, low-carbon climate goals, and job quality. It reaches across several sectors including hospitality, health care, building services, construction, transit, freight and goods movement, public services, and water and utilities, and advances existing and new industry partnerships as they identify needs and opportunities for workers and industries, solve for those needs through a partnership model, and craft real-time, worker-centered training to upskill and cross-train workers for career progression, in order to prepare diverse new entrants for quality jobs and increase competitiveness for employers.
HRTPs are effective because they are demand-driven and industry-led, deriving analysis and solutions in real-time from the workers and managers who understand the industry. Rather than the traditional approach to workforce development – which has workers cycling through established courses focused on skills that may not be relevant – the HRTPs bring together industry leaders, unions and worker centers to understand what skills and supports are needed, develop solutions, and “pull in” workforce development and educational institutions. This key principle – that industry partnership, including management and worker wisdom, is essential – enables the HRTPs to dynamically adapt, solve problems, and meet demand. This is especially critical during times of heightened economic uncertainty like the COVID crisis and recovery, when the needs and capacities of workers, employers, and communities are rapidly evolving.
One long-standing HRTP – the Education Fund (SEIU-UHW and Joint Employer Education Fund) – focuses on upskilling for health care workers. The program is available for union members and provides training through various outlets including its “Advance Your Career (AYC)” initiative, which provides reimbursement for relevant programs that enable workers to be promoted. The results are promising – 93% of participants graduate and graduates have a 40% higher internal job mobility, with a 36% average wage increase. Additionally, the program is over 80% women and 70% people of color.
Note: While this initiative was established by a state workforce board, cities can replicate this model by supporting the work of existing HRTPs and the development of new HRTPs. Depending on capacity, cities can start with one key sector and expand as resources allow. Look to see if there are public and private sector unions and employers who are doing HRTP work in other areas of the country and support expansion of their work to your city; identify industries where there is growing demand and partner with local unions, anchor businesses, education institutions, and the workforce system to build a high road partnership.
Other example:
CityBuild Academy in San Francisco is an 18-week pre-apprenticeship and construction skills training program. The program is implemented in partnership with local businesses, unions, and other community partners. Participants learn foundational skills and earn industry-recognized certificates. Over 1,000 San Francisco residents have graduated from CityBuild Academy since 2006 (as of 2019). Almost 90% found employment. The program costs ~$1M a year
How To Adapt this Approach:
- Analyze projected employment and economic data to understand jobs that are most at-risk. This should include looking at industries that are suffering due to COVID (e.g., hospitality), talking with local business leaders to understand what they see foresee the next 12-24 months looking like, and looking at relevant State forecast data
- Bloomberg Associates’ tools are available to help cities access data on how COVID has impacted their economy.
- Forecast which industries and occupations will recover, and which will continue to grow post-COVID.
- Assess which industries are more likely to pay strong living wages. The Brookings Institute Opportunities Industries Report can help cities with this.
- Review potential skills training program models (e.g., California’s HRTPs, San Francisco’s CityBuild) and determine, based on local assets, which makes the most sense for the community
- Work with private sector employers to understand where jobs are needed within each industry.
- Outline the skills pathways to transition residents from jobs that are disappearing to jobs that will be in demand. It is essential to work with unions and businesses to accomplish this. Burning Glass and EMSI can help a city do this as well.
- Note: This action will only be successful if businesses are a part of this process. The jobs created by these programs must be in areas with high demand and job availability.
- Select a local or regional education institution or non-profit as a partner for a pilot.
- To be most effective, this should be focused on one key industry and providing a unique set of skills.
- Identify a group of employees in a relevant industry that will not see as many jobs return post-COVID. This will vary based on local economic circumstances.
- Work with several (or one larger) businesses that need employees to confirm the desire for employees in specific fields. Obtain agreements that they will attempt to hire from this program (and link this to your incentives program).
- Design course materials with an education institution, and with business input, oversight, and approval
- The courses should be relevant to the skills required for these jobs.
- Engage unions in this entire process – they will often be aware of the skills needed for these jobs and help inform what skills are actually relevant. Often, the “skills” listed on a job listing are not as valuable as the skills mentioned by those who have held these positions.
- E.g., for construction: tool and material identification, introduction to framing, etc.
- If possible, have courses that also provide credits at a local education institution
- The estimated time to completion will vary by industry, although you can expect courses to be at least 6 weeks if they include certifications. They can be 2-3 times this length if they involve more technical skills.
- Be prepared to have these courses evolve. This will only be successful if the program is dynamic and suits the skills and needs of the present moment.
- The courses should be relevant to the skills required for these jobs.
- Determine if funding can be provided for the program
- Consider how to cover the costs of courses (e.g., split with businesses, education institutions, etc.)
- Cover relevant licensing fees
- Remove barriers for low-income employees and incorporate wrap-around services
- Offer reimbursement for transportation and food
- Wrap-around services should include teaching participants about what to expect in their job (e.g., workplace behavior, attire, etc.), how to apply for a job, etc.
- Review feedback from the pilot and launch program
- Launch for a specific industry with high demand jobs
- Note: this will be most successful if you focus on a single, in-demand industry first and target workers from a relevant industry that is seeing declining employment. Trying to do this for multiple industries at once is not recommended.
Benefits:
- Enables unemployed, underemployed and at-risk residents to access jobs in sectors which are seeing growth
- Ensures that people’s skills better match market demand (e.g., work with local businesses to identify needs)
Risks:
- Not valuable if reskilling is not done to focus on in-demand jobs
- Lost wages (e.g., time in program not working) can be challenging for residents
Impact: High
Implementation time: Medium
Cost: Low. Your city should leverage non-profit and education partners to administer the training in collaboration with local businesses and unions. Some funding will be required to help set-up and advertise the training program. Depending on your specific circumstances, there may be funding requirements for the training itself too.
Learn more about the Toolkit
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Center employers and partners in data and program evaluation and realign efforts to ensure industry alignment with workforce efforts
Ways to Help Displaced and Unemployed Workers Re-enter the Labor Market
Background:
In order to respond to rapidly shifting and dynamic market adjustments, re-engaging business leaders, re-examining data, and identifying short-term and long-term action plans has become crucial to meeting both workforce supply and demand needs. Additionally, proactive efforts are being generated by industry themselves, and our efforts to help support these initiatives have required some flexibility in coordination and alignment.
The examples below represent city-led and workforce-aligned efforts to strengthen connection to education, training, and work-based learning opportunities; financial supports; and rapid reemployment that attempts to address the needs of particularly hard-hit communities with a focus on equity and the development of career pathways, as well as impacted industries.
Many local, regional and statewide efforts have sought to address the needs of businesses and workers through a variety of strategies considered promising practices that succeeded in the last economic downturn, aligned with more recent innovations. Most have leveraged existing sector strategy efforts and some have provided employment supports for virtual learning and virtual work initiatives, as well as the transition of workers to new career pathways based on transferrable skill sets.
Some local efforts have included new innovative twists to respond to the specifics of this COVIDrelated crisis, two of which we are highlighting for you.
Each example, to varying degrees, includes the following essential elements:
- Heavy reliance on real-time labor market information, partnership alignment, and employer engagement: All involve rapid assessment of data and realignment to new priorities and hit upon the key promising practice for all workforce efforts — they are industry-aligned or employer-led, and a broad swath of key trusted partners are engaged. There is a clear commitment to high-demand industries and occupations.
- Braiding traditional and more flexible funding sources: In each case there is a clear effort to align general funds, emergency grant funds and/or philanthropic funds to braid with traditional workforce development formula funding to ensure flexibility and responsiveness to immediate needs.
- Commitment to equity, as well as student and job seeker supports: These efforts have implemented new tools such as equity frameworks and rubrics in the recruitment and screening process, with a focus on transferrable skills between sectors, assistance to get back into the labor market in a temporary position and financial support to supplement temporary position income so that participants can also study part time to gain new skills. Each incorporates a heavy focus on worker and student wraparound supports such as case management, career navigation, and legal and mental health services.
Case Study
Baltimore Health Corps
Baltimore City Mayor’s Office of Employment Development- Baltimore, MD
Program Overview:
- Temporary employment for over 300 community members
- Focus on career pathways within health care
- Upskilling training available
- Support services for workers
In March of 2020, the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City Mayor’s Office for Employment Development (MOED), Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, Baltimore Corps, the Baltimore Civic Fund, HealthCare Access Maryland, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Innovation Team (i-team), and Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, partnered to address the dual need of responding to the public health crisis caused by the pandemic and rapid reskilling and reemployment of the available workforce.
The new initiative, the Baltimore Health Corps, focuses on contact tracing, a method of identifying people exposed to the novel coronavirus, with the intent of preventing and containing transmission.
Program Specifics Include:
- Training and employment of over 300 residents for immediately available contact tracing related positions, with a focus on helping residents get on long-term career paths.
- Majority of positions are contact tracers, but the project also employs a care coordination team of about 40, which connects residents to needed social services, as well as operations support staff, supervisors, directors, managers, and career navigators to support the temporary contact tracer positions.
- Positions pay from $35,000 and up to $80,000 for the highest-level positions, and each includes a stipend to cover health benefits. Most last for eight months.
The project team carefully crafted new rubrics for screening and rating candidates prior to opening the job portal in June. The purpose of the rubrics is to eliminate barriers and bias in the process, while increasing equity and access to disadvantaged populations. These include detailed directions for applicant pre-screening, resume review, group screening and breakout session rubrics, and a rubric for pre-recorded interviews.
Once resumes have been screened through the portal, those that receive middle scores in the rubric are invited to a group interview with behavioral questions, while those that are high-scoring receive a link to pre-record an introductory interview, which will later be reviewed by staff.
The emphasis of the selection criteria throughout the interview process is on customer service and the ability to display empathy, as well as any other transferrable skill sets. This process provides opportunity for those middle scores to still advance in the process, with some being referred to shortterm upskilling programs, rather than being immediately referred to other programs and services outside of the Baltimore Health Corps.
Once hired, individuals in contact tracer positions begin two weeks of in-person training, and then their work is conducted from a centralized office building location until they are comfortable and competent with the contact tracing platform, after which they may opt to work from home. New employees are provided with a laptop and cell phone.
The provision of equipment is an equity strategy to ensure that some of those most at risk in the pandemic have the tools they need to be employed. Positions also come with employee supports, provided through MOED, including career navigation, financial empowerment counseling, and free behavioral health and legal services.
For a select number of applicants (up to 100) who show potential but might not yet ready for the contact tracer positions, the initiative offers a four-week community health worker training to help strengthen their candidacy. Completers are recommended to employers for priority recruitment, which serves as yet another equity strategy for upskilling local residents.
Key Partnerships:
The Baltimore Health Corps initiative is driven by critical partnerships. Key partners and their roles include:
- Mayor’s Office of Employment Development is the primary workforce agency, providing planning and staff for the recruitment and screening structure, career navigation, and connection to behavioral health support and legal services (offered through with Catholic Charities and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Services).
- The Baltimore Civic Fund serves as the fiscal sponsor and provides assistance with fundraising and funding consolidation that supports streamlined relationships between funders and the city.
- Baltimore Corps conducts recruitment, providing the application website and the recruitment structure.
- Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation provides strategic and project management support.
- Jhpiego provides operational support to the Health Department, along with acting as a training partner for contact tracers and providing structure for performance monitoring.
- The University of Maryland School of Public Health is evaluating the program and will conduct a process study and summative evaluation.
- They are working on final outcome measures and supporting the team by providing a summary of performance metrics.
- The Baltimore Innovation Team (i-team) is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies which awards cities multi-year grants to create highly skilled in-house teams that are dedicated to solving big problems in new ways — from reducing violent crime to revitalizing neighborhoods to strengthening the growth of small businesses.
The full list of partners and funders for this project include:
- Abell Foundation
- Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Baltimore City Health Department
- Baltimore Community Foundation
- Baltimore Ravens
- Bank of America
- Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Foundation
- Bloomberg Philanthropies
- BGE
- CareFirst
- France-Merrick Foundation
- Goldseker Foundation
- BACH (Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Health)
- Baltimore City Health Department
- Baltimore Civic Fund
- Baltimore Corps
- Catholic Charities of Baltimore
- HealthCare Access Maryland
- Jhpiego
- Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
- Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
- Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation
- Univ. of Maryland School of Public Health
Funding:
The total cost of the initiative is $12.44 million. This public-private partnership was mobilized by a $3 million commitment from The Rockefeller Foundation through its Equity & Economic Opportunity and Health teams. The City of Baltimore has made a $4.5 million commitment to support this initiative, tapping into its CARES Act Funds.
Additional private funders and local institutions have contributed more than $3.6 million in support and include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), the France-Merrick Foundation, the Goldseker Foundation, OSI — Baltimore, the PepsiCo Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the Stulman Foundation, and the T. Rowe Price Foundation. The city will continue to raise the remaining $1.3 million as the project moves forward.
Key Challenges:
Rapid partnership building
MOED and the Health Department had not previously worked this closely before on a combined effort at this scale. The entire initiative was built on leveraging virtual tools such as Zoom and Webex, from remotely coordinating partnership alignment and communication to recruitment efforts.
Prior to the pandemic, the Health Department had not previously relied on the workforce system for hiring needs, and did report having struggled at various times with recruitment and identifying applicants who meet the needs of a specific position but had not aligned themselves with the workforce system.
Through this new program, the Health Department expressed their satisfaction with the candidates that have been onboarded and working for a few weeks now. Baltimore Corps’ work to identify candidates who would be successful in this environment has been pivotal to their success.
The Health Department would recommend to other similar departments that are uneasy at taking on this challenge that it really has been an incredible experience, they are very happy and pleased with the results thus far and are looking forward to continuing the relationship.
Communicating vision to existing program staff
Developing processes for a large recruitment and placement initiative while not greatly expanding staff numbers (FTEs) could have been daunting to existing staff. Leadership developed a clear plan for weekly recruitment process flow and spoke directly with team members about the importance of the mission and value to the community. As a result of sharing the broader community vision, they were able to engender a sense of shared ownership and buy-in from staff as they launched the program.
Aligning communication strategy
Aligning a large multi-partner communication plan can be challenging in the best of times. At the outset, the Public Information Officers for each organization came together to engage their preexisting Joint Information Center (JIC) and worked to align their communication efforts. It had existed prior to the project; and, it was effectively leveraged in a virtual environment to coordinate the rapid building of this effort.
The Health Department took a lead role, along with MOED and Jhpiego, to get the word out to partners, and to the public through public virtual town halls, and at all relevant events held throughout Baltimore City. Additionally, they employed the use of multiple social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Partners met weekly, and shared information frequently across major program components, and continue to check in regularly as needed.
Summary of Project Impact
The team has received 4,500 applications since the program launched on June 4, 2020. As of November 6, over 200 applicants have accepted offers to join the Health Corps, and nearly 175 have already started their temporary positions with HCAM and the Health Department. To serve these staff, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development hired five career navigators and placed approximately 100 participants into community health worker (CHW) training through the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare.
The program team has contracted with University of Maryland School of Public Health to act as external evaluators. They will track standard workforce metrics as required by their grants but are looking to move beyond the traditional measures. They are also evaluating the public health contracting side of the project, as well as care coordination. The team will also conduct a post-intervention analysis to determine if the Health Corps program led participants to long-term employment within a health care career pathway.
Adapt This Approach:
Cost and Time Commitments:
From initial award to program launch, this program took six weeks. The rapid pace was driven by high COVID-19 case volume in the late spring and summer and a recognition of immediate need. The time and resources required to implement this model will depend on a variety of factors including:
- Availability and flexibility of funding streams
- Flexibility of existing team to work overtime and adaptability to shifting priorities
- Existing relationships and coordination with partners
- Community support and outreach strategies
Do:
- Do borrow from other models and adapt to local context.
The team leveraged the Massachusetts Partners in Health model to develop their contact tracing hiring strategy to allow for an explicit focus on rapid re-employment of the unemployed. They could have focused on quickly hiring the highest level of education possible, but their local commitment to employing dislocated workers with an equity lens required different strategies. The team believes the Baltimore Model is a promising and adaptive approach for other cities looking to expand their contact tracing capacity while addressing their jurisdiction’s economic and social needs. - Do engage employers throughout the process.
Because of the focus on upskilling participants and putting them on the road to clear career pathways in health, the team made the employer partners a part of the entire process — from weekly meetings to keeping them informed of participants’ training status. They were, of course, a key partner to the initiative, but their full engagement helped to drive the success of the recruitment process, and, in this way, demonstrated the key benefits of employer alignment. The employers’ public health expertise informed the program design and ensured that participants will come out of the program with the skills needed to go into full-time employment within an industry career pathway. - Do begin with a diverse and connected project management team.
The core team at Baltimore City included workforce experts, epidemiologists, community health work practitioners, and managers across each of the program objectives. Through these diverse viewpoints and early, open dialogue about program aims, the team was able to align its workforce and public health aims towards creating the most effective program possible. The team began by developing a solid operational framework that leveraged existing partnership organizations to support rapid implementation. The larger core project team across partners included leaders from all of the aligned organizations, totaling between 45-55 members.
Don’t:
- Don’t rely solely on traditional funding strategies.
Alignment of private funds and CARES Act funds, with a small portion of dislocated worker funds, provided the program team the flexibility to move ahead with recruitment and hiring for positions quickly to respond to urgent demand. Flexible funds also allowed Baltimore to contract for legal and mental health service supports quickly, and to support CHW training. - Don’t rely on traditional hiring strategies.
The Health Department partnered with the workforce team to craft job postings with no education requirements, which opened the process to a wide swath of the community. They also expedited their hiring process by working closely with Baltimore Corps and Jhpiego, employing the use of their existing online platform for screening candidates, and by developing a clear rubric and comprehensive plan for interviewing, training, and hiring.
Case Study #2
Train for Jobs SA, San Antonio, TX
Program Overview:
- Training stipend of $15/hr
- Up to $450 per week
- Up to 10,000 residents by September 2021
- Anticipate 80% receiving wraparound support
In May 2020, Workforce Solutions Alamo (WSA), in partnership with the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, established Train for Jobs SA, a training program designed to quickly upskill dislocated individuals for high-growth industries and occupations.
In addition to free training, participants also receive weekly stipends and significant wraparound services to support successful completion of the program and then placement into a job. The program was made possible through the commitment of the City of San Antonio and Bexar County officials who prioritized workforce development as their leading strategy to guide the city into and through recovery from the pandemic.
The overall goal of the program is to provide economic stability for those who are displaced as well as ensure the talent needed to support local industry is available as businesses begin to recover. Train for Jobs SA aims to serve up to 10,000 San Antonio and Bexar County residents by September 2021.
Eligible participants enroll via phone, and once in the program, complete a skills and career assessment. Participants may then be enrolled in high school equivalency preparation, or short-term, long-term or on-the-job training, all of which are aligned to in demand occupations in the city’s target industries and growth occupations. There are a myriad of training courses available, both on and off of their Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL).
Qualified participants are eligible to receive stipends of $15/hour (for between a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 30 hours per week) for actual time spent in an approved training program, up to a maximum of $450 stipend per week. The stipend is made available for the full length of the training, with a focus on participants attaining new skills or credentials and keeping them engaged after the training to advance on a career pathway.
Train for Jobs SA is also a key driver supporting the City of San Antonio’s long-term goal of decreasing economic segregation. The program developed and uses an equity matrix questionnaire to identify participants in specific areas who are more at risk and prioritize them for enrollment and additional services.
Up to 80% of program participants are anticipated to receive comprehensive wraparound support such as case management, career navigation, and connection to other Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)-funded services.
Key Partnerships:
Key partners for this project include:
Funding:
Funding was awarded to the Train for Jobs SA program in the amount of $12 million, with $8 million provided by the City of San Antonio General Fund and $4 million in Coronavirus Relief funding. Although they have received significant disaster grants, this program is separate and fully funded by city and county dollars. Co-enrollment and alignment with WIOA-funded programs is encouraged where appropriate.
Key Challenges:
Shifting to virtual delivery
Train for Jobs SA is working to improve virtual onboarding and orientation for participants. The project team is piloting online open sessions for orientations and the development of a video tutorial on how to sign up for services, to accompany the registration site.
Partner referrals and participant awareness
WSA noted that building system and public awareness is an ongoing challenge with any new program, yet it is critical to support referrals into the program. To address this challenge, the WSA team has launched a multi-modal messaging effort, including social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and numerous websites, to increase overall public awareness as well as reach specific populations targeted by the program.
Summary of Project Impact
With the start of the program in mid-August 2020, and active participant recruitment beginning in September, intake is active and ongoing. The team has developed a set of goals and measures for the project that include by September 2021 an anticipated: 4,000 assessed, 1,750 receiving case management services, 1,400 receiving short-term training, 100 receiving long-term training, 1,500 receiving stipends, and 1,000 placed in on-the-job training and employment. In the first five weeks of the program, 78 participants were placed in shortterm training, and 21 in long-term training.
Adapt This Approach:
Cost and Time Commitments:
With strong support from the Mayor’s office, funding was awarded during the summer and the program began in mid-August. In alignment with citywide equity goals, and more flexible funding streams, they were able to stand up a new, large program in a matter of weeks, and the program launched at the beginning of September. The time and resources needed to implement this model will depend on a variety of factors including:
- Flexibility of funding streams
- Buy-in and adaptability of partners
- Ability to borrow from existing tools and structures
- Availability of staff
DO:
- Do start — and proceed — with good data.
Prior to COVID, WSA determined high-growth occupations and identified the target industries that aligned with economic development goals for the region. Although WSA is operating under the assumption that many industries will return to previous employment levels post-COVID, they are also using real-time labor market information and job postings (such as Burning Glass and Help Wanted Online data) to monitor monthly shifts and pivot their training investments accordingly. - Do identify training providers upfront.
Provide as many options as possible by broadening the training provider pool and expanding the ETPL. By expanding the list of programs to include short-term as well as long-term, increasing the variety of training to all of the regional industries in demand, and increasing flexibility in training schedules, the program can become relevant for a broader array of participants. Training providers are a critical part of the planning process and can support workforce staff in identifying training gaps more quickly. - Do focus on program awareness.
Focus just as much on partner and staff awareness as participant awareness in your outreach campaign. Intentionally messaging the availability and value of services provided and quickly establishing an efficient process to drive program referrals will shorten the time frame between program design and participant enrollment. - Do focus on building trust between local elected officials and the local workforce board.
A key to success of this project has been the positioning of the local workforce development board (LWDB) as a natural leader in the region. The LWDB is seen by local elected officials (LEOs) as a trusted entity with the ability to analyze unemployment data as well as real-time data to help officials better assess the current situation and those most impacted by the pandemic. - Do incorporate strategies to reach equity goals.
The City of San Antonio uses an equity lens to prioritize investments and policy decisions. As previously noted, Train for Jobs SA uses an equity matrix to target key populations for recruitment and provides extensive support and wraparound services to drive successful program outcomes.
DON’T:
- Don’t rely solely on traditional funding strategies. A key to standing up the program in short order has been the ability to identify flexible funding streams that allow financial resources to be implemented quickly and in an innovative manner. The board worked directly with the Mayor’s office and other local city leadership to make general fund dollars available to support this program.
Resources:
- Train for Jobs SA informational site
- Participant site
- Workforce Solutions Alamo site
- San Antonio equity maps
- San Antonio, TX press release – $2 Million Dislocated Worker Upskilling Grant
- San Antonio, TX press release – $450 Stipend for Retraining
Learn more about the Workforce Tactical Guide
Action:
Use land powers and incentives to support inclusive development projects, which convert abandoned or vacant buildings in disinvested neighborhoods. Promote the projects to philanthropic, corporate, or other government funders.
Why:
In this way, you will support local businesses and create short-term construction jobs as well as good, neighborhood jobs, and fill a long-time vacant building.
Case Study
7800 Susquehanna – Pittsburgh, PA
7800 Susquehanna is a 150,000 square foot hub for manufacturing, makers, small businesses, nonprofits, and job training in a historically Black neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
Bridgeway Capital, a local CDFI, purchased the former manufacturing facility to ensure that the building’s reactivation and future use would align with the community’s plans for economic revitalization benefiting local residents.
To purchase and renovate the property, Bridgeway has invested $13 million to date. It is financing the project through a mixture of philanthropic funding, government grants, and New Markets Tax Credits equity investments.
Bridgeway prioritizes maker/manufacturer and workforce development tenants, which create good-paying jobs and training benefits for the surrounding community. The building is fully leased to 22 tenants, who collectively employ 90 individuals. Also, the workforce development nonprofits annually graduate 75 individuals into living-wage jobs. Many of the building’s employees and workforce are residents from the immediate and surrounding communities.
Bridgeway also created ORIGINS, a business support program, which promotes Black makers and manufacturers. ORIGINS has a dedicated 750-square-foot space in the building for Black makers and manufacturers looking for their first business space.
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify former industrial buildings in disinvested neighborhoods, which are ripe for redevelopment
- Deploy public capital funds to support the acquisition and development of industrial properties
- Develop relationships with local or national CDFIs and other community development entities to advocate for redevelopment uses that retain the area’s manufacturing legacy and provide local jobs
- Ensure a diversity of spaces and rents in these districts by supporting mission-driven nonprofit ownership
- Identify and facilitate local, state, and federal sources of funding for the project including tax increment, New Markets Tax Credits, Opportunity Zones, and other federal sources
- Cities can support the project by facilitating land use changes to accommodate the project, investing in infrastructure, and providing grants for pre-development costs/environmental clearance
- Build local coalitions to advocate for philanthropic investments
- Connect small business support programs and workforce development services and provide tailored support to meet the local community’s needs
Learn more about the Tactical Guide
COVID-19 Economic Response and Recovery
Braid traditional funding with flexible funding to address immediate needs
Ways to Help Displaced and Unemployed Workers Re-enter the Labor Market
Background:
In order to respond to rapidly shifting and dynamic market adjustments, re-engaging business leaders, re-examining data, and identifying short-term and long-term action plans has become crucial to meeting both workforce supply and demand needs. Additionally, proactive efforts are being generated by industry themselves, and our efforts to help support these initiatives have required some flexibility in coordination and alignment.
The examples below represent city-led and workforce-aligned efforts to strengthen connection to education, training, and work-based learning opportunities; financial supports; and rapid reemployment that attempts to address the needs of particularly hard-hit communities with a focus on equity and the development of career pathways, as well as impacted industries.
Many local, regional and statewide efforts have sought to address the needs of businesses and workers through a variety of strategies considered promising practices that succeeded in the last economic downturn, aligned with more recent innovations. Most have leveraged existing sector strategy efforts and some have provided employment supports for virtual learning and virtual work initiatives, as well as the transition of workers to new career pathways based on transferrable skill sets.
Some local efforts have included new innovative twists to respond to the specifics of this COVIDrelated crisis, two of which we are highlighting for you.
Each example, to varying degrees, includes the following essential elements:
- Heavy reliance on real-time labor market information, partnership alignment, and employer engagement: All involve rapid assessment of data and realignment to new priorities and hit upon the key promising practice for all workforce efforts — they are industry-aligned or employer-led, and a broad swath of key trusted partners are engaged. There is a clear commitment to high-demand industries and occupations.
- Braiding traditional and more flexible funding sources: In each case there is a clear effort to align general funds, emergency grant funds and/or philanthropic funds to braid with traditional workforce development formula funding to ensure flexibility and responsiveness to immediate needs.
- Commitment to equity, as well as student and job seeker supports: These efforts have implemented new tools such as equity frameworks and rubrics in the recruitment and screening process, with a focus on transferrable skills between sectors, assistance to get back into the labor market in a temporary position and financial support to supplement temporary position income so that participants can also study part time to gain new skills. Each incorporates a heavy focus on worker and student wraparound supports such as case management, career navigation, and legal and mental health services.
Case Study #1
Baltimore Health Corps, Baltimore, MD
Program Overview:
- Temporary employment for over 300 community members
- Focus on career pathways within health care
- Upskilling training available
- Support services for workers
In March of 2020, the Baltimore City Health Department, Baltimore City Mayor’s Office for Employment Development (MOED), Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, Baltimore Corps, the Baltimore Civic Fund, HealthCare Access Maryland, Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Innovation Team (i-team), and Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, partnered to address the dual need of responding to the public health crisis caused by the pandemic and rapid reskilling and reemployment of the available workforce.
The new initiative, the Baltimore Health Corps, focuses on contact tracing, a method of identifying people exposed to the novel coronavirus, with the intent of preventing and containing transmission.
Program Specifics Include:
- Training and employment of over 300 residents for immediately available contact tracing related positions, with a focus on helping residents get on long-term career paths.
- Majority of positions are contact tracers, but the project also employs a care coordination team of about 40, which connects residents to needed social services, as well as operations support staff, supervisors, directors, managers, and career navigators to support the temporary contact tracer positions.
- Positions pay from $35,000 and up to $80,000 for the highest-level positions, and each includes a stipend to cover health benefits. Most last for eight months.
The project team carefully crafted new rubrics for screening and rating candidates prior to opening the job portal in June. The purpose of the rubrics is to eliminate barriers and bias in the process, while increasing equity and access to disadvantaged populations. These include detailed directions for applicant pre-screening, resume review, group screening and breakout session rubrics, and a rubric for pre-recorded interviews.
Once resumes have been screened through the portal, those that receive middle scores in the rubric are invited to a group interview with behavioral questions, while those that are high-scoring receive a link to pre-record an introductory interview, which will later be reviewed by staff.
The emphasis of the selection criteria throughout the interview process is on customer service and the ability to display empathy, as well as any other transferrable skill sets. This process provides opportunity for those middle scores to still advance in the process, with some being referred to shortterm upskilling programs, rather than being immediately referred to other programs and services outside of the Baltimore Health Corps.
Once hired, individuals in contact tracer positions begin two weeks of in-person training, and then their work is conducted from a centralized office building location until they are comfortable and competent with the contact tracing platform, after which they may opt to work from home. New employees are provided with a laptop and cell phone.
The provision of equipment is an equity strategy to ensure that some of those most at risk in the pandemic have the tools they need to be employed. Positions also come with employee supports, provided through MOED, including career navigation, financial empowerment counseling, and free behavioral health and legal services.
For a select number of applicants (up to 100) who show potential but might not yet ready for the contact tracer positions, the initiative offers a four-week community health worker training to help strengthen their candidacy. Completers are recommended to employers for priority recruitment, which serves as yet another equity strategy for upskilling local residents.
Key Partnerships:
The Baltimore Health Corps initiative is driven by critical partnerships. Key partners and their roles include:
- Mayor’s Office of Employment Development is the primary workforce agency, providing planning and staff for the recruitment and screening structure, career navigation, and connection to behavioral health support and legal services (offered through with Catholic Charities and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Services).
- The Baltimore Civic Fund serves as the fiscal sponsor and provides assistance with fundraising and funding consolidation that supports streamlined relationships between funders and the city.
- Baltimore Corps conducts recruitment, providing the application website and the recruitment structure.
- Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation provides strategic and project management support.
- Jhpiego provides operational support to the Health Department, along with acting as a training partner for contact tracers and providing structure for performance monitoring.
- The University of Maryland School of Public Health is evaluating the program and will conduct a process study and summative evaluation.
- They are working on final outcome measures and supporting the team by providing a summary of performance metrics.
- The Baltimore Innovation Team (i-team) is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies which awards cities multi-year grants to create highly skilled in-house teams that are dedicated to solving big problems in new ways — from reducing violent crime to revitalizing neighborhoods to strengthening the growth of small businesses.
The full list of partners and funders for this project include:
- Abell Foundation
- Annie E. Casey Foundation
- Baltimore City Health Department
- Baltimore Community Foundation
- Baltimore Ravens
- Bank of America
- Jacob & Hilda Blaustein Foundation
- Bloomberg Philanthropies
- BGE
- CareFirst
- France-Merrick Foundation
- Goldseker Foundation
- BACH (Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Health)
- Baltimore City Health Department
- Baltimore Civic Fund
- Baltimore Corps
- Catholic Charities of Baltimore
- HealthCare Access Maryland
- Jhpiego
- Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service
- Mayor’s Office of Employment Development
- Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation
- Univ. of Maryland School of Public Health
Funding:
The total cost of the initiative is $12.44 million. This public-private partnership was mobilized by a $3 million commitment from The Rockefeller Foundation through its Equity & Economic Opportunity and Health teams. The City of Baltimore has made a $4.5 million commitment to support this initiative, tapping into its CARES Act Funds.
Additional private funders and local institutions have contributed more than $3.6 million in support and include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), the France-Merrick Foundation, the Goldseker Foundation, OSI — Baltimore, the PepsiCo Foundation, the Rauch Foundation, the Stulman Foundation, and the T. Rowe Price Foundation. The city will continue to raise the remaining $1.3 million as the project moves forward.
Key Challenges:
Rapid partnership building
MOED and the Health Department had not previously worked this closely before on a combined effort at this scale. The entire initiative was built on leveraging virtual tools such as Zoom and Webex, from remotely coordinating partnership alignment and communication to recruitment efforts.
Prior to the pandemic, the Health Department had not previously relied on the workforce system for hiring needs, and did report having struggled at various times with recruitment and identifying applicants who meet the needs of a specific position but had not aligned themselves with the workforce system.
Through this new program, the Health Department expressed their satisfaction with the candidates that have been onboarded and working for a few weeks now. Baltimore Corps’ work to identify candidates who would be successful in this environment has been pivotal to their success.
The Health Department would recommend to other similar departments that are uneasy at taking on this challenge that it really has been an incredible experience, they are very happy and pleased with the results thus far and are looking forward to continuing the relationship.
Communicating vision to existing program staff
Developing processes for a large recruitment and placement initiative while not greatly expanding staff numbers (FTEs) could have been daunting to existing staff. Leadership developed a clear plan for weekly recruitment process flow and spoke directly with team members about the importance of the mission and value to the community. As a result of sharing the broader community vision, they were able to engender a sense of shared ownership and buy-in from staff as they launched the program.
Aligning communication strategy
Aligning a large multi-partner communication plan can be challenging in the best of times. At the outset, the Public Information Officers for each organization came together to engage their preexisting Joint Information Center (JIC) and worked to align their communication efforts. It had existed prior to the project; and, it was effectively leveraged in a virtual environment to coordinate the rapid building of this effort.
The Health Department took a lead role, along with MOED and Jhpiego, to get the word out to partners, and to the public through public virtual town halls, and at all relevant events held throughout Baltimore City. Additionally, they employed the use of multiple social media outlets, such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Partners met weekly, and shared information frequently across major program components, and continue to check in regularly as needed.
Summary of Project Impact
The team has received 4,500 applications since the program launched on June 4, 2020. As of November 6, over 200 applicants have accepted offers to join the Health Corps, and nearly 175 have already started their temporary positions with HCAM and the Health Department. To serve these staff, the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development hired five career navigators and placed approximately 100 participants into community health worker (CHW) training through the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare.
The program team has contracted with University of Maryland School of Public Health to act as external evaluators. They will track standard workforce metrics as required by their grants but are looking to move beyond the traditional measures. They are also evaluating the public health contracting side of the project, as well as care coordination. The team will also conduct a post-intervention analysis to determine if the Health Corps program led participants to long-term employment within a health care career pathway.
How To Adapt this Approach:
Cost and Time Commitments:
From initial award to program launch, this program took six weeks. The rapid pace was driven by high COVID-19 case volume in the late spring and summer and a recognition of immediate need. The time and resources required to implement this model will depend on a variety of factors including:
- Availability and flexibility of funding streams
- Flexibility of existing team to work overtime and adaptability to shifting priorities
- Existing relationships and coordination with partners
- Community support and outreach strategies
Do:
- Do borrow from other models and adapt to local context.
The team leveraged the Massachusetts Partners in Health model to develop their contact tracing hiring strategy to allow for an explicit focus on rapid re-employment of the unemployed. They could have focused on quickly hiring the highest level of education possible, but their local commitment to employing dislocated workers with an equity lens required different strategies. The team believes the Baltimore Model is a promising and adaptive approach for other cities looking to expand their contact tracing capacity while addressing their jurisdiction’s economic and social needs. - Do engage employers throughout the process.
Because of the focus on upskilling participants and putting them on the road to clear career pathways in health, the team made the employer partners a part of the entire process — from weekly meetings to keeping them informed of participants’ training status. They were, of course, a key partner to the initiative, but their full engagement helped to drive the success of the recruitment process, and, in this way, demonstrated the key benefits of employer alignment. The employers’ public health expertise informed the program design and ensured that participants will come out of the program with the skills needed to go into full-time employment within an industry career pathway. - Do begin with a diverse and connected project management team.
The core team at Baltimore City included workforce experts, epidemiologists, community health work practitioners, and managers across each of the program objectives. Through these diverse viewpoints and early, open dialogue about program aims, the team was able to align its workforce and public health aims towards creating the most effective program possible. The team began by developing a solid operational framework that leveraged existing partnership organizations to support rapid implementation. The larger core project team across partners included leaders from all of the aligned organizations, totaling between 45-55 members.
Don’t:
- Don’t rely solely on traditional funding strategies.
Alignment of private funds and CARES Act funds, with a small portion of dislocated worker funds, provided the program team the flexibility to move ahead with recruitment and hiring for positions quickly to respond to urgent demand. Flexible funds also allowed Baltimore to contract for legal and mental health service supports quickly, and to support CHW training. - Don’t rely on traditional hiring strategies.
The Health Department partnered with the workforce team to craft job postings with no education requirements, which opened the process to a wide swath of the community. They also expedited their hiring process by working closely with Baltimore Corps and Jhpiego, employing the use of their existing online platform for screening candidates, and by developing a clear rubric and comprehensive plan for interviewing, training, and hiring.
Case Study #2
Train for Jobs SA, San Antonio, TX
- Training stipend of $15/hr
- Up to $450 per week
- Up to 10,000 residents by September 2021
- Anticipate 80% receiving wraparound support
In May 2020, Workforce Solutions Alamo (WSA), in partnership with the City of San Antonio and Bexar County, established Train for Jobs SA, a training program designed to quickly upskill dislocated individuals for high-growth industries and occupations.
In addition to free training, participants also receive weekly stipends and significant wraparound services to support successful completion of the program and then placement into a job. The program was made possible through the commitment of the City of San Antonio and Bexar County officials who prioritized workforce development as their leading strategy to guide the city into and through recovery from the pandemic.
The overall goal of the program is to provide economic stability for those who are displaced as well as ensure the talent needed to support local industry is available as businesses begin to recover. Train for Jobs SA aims to serve up to 10,000 San Antonio and Bexar County residents by September 2021.
Eligible participants enroll via phone, and once in the program, complete a skills and career assessment. Participants may then be enrolled in high school equivalency preparation, or short-term, long-term or on-the-job training, all of which are aligned to in demand occupations in the city’s target industries and growth occupations. There are a myriad of training courses available, both on and off of their Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL).
Qualified participants are eligible to receive stipends of $15/hour (for between a minimum of 6 hours and a maximum of 30 hours per week) for actual time spent in an approved training program, up to a maximum of $450 stipend per week. The stipend is made available for the full length of the training, with a focus on participants attaining new skills or credentials and keeping them engaged after the training to advance on a career pathway.
Train for Jobs SA is also a key driver supporting the City of San Antonio’s long-term goal of decreasing economic segregation. The program developed and uses an equity matrix questionnaire to identify participants in specific areas who are more at risk and prioritize them for enrollment and additional services.
Up to 80% of program participants are anticipated to receive comprehensive wraparound support such as case management, career navigation, and connection to other Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)-funded services.
Key Partnerships:
Key partners for this project include:
Funding:
Funding was awarded to the Train for Jobs SA program in the amount of $12 million, with $8 million provided by the City of San Antonio General Fund and $4 million in Coronavirus Relief funding. Although they have received significant disaster grants, this program is separate and fully funded by city and county dollars. Co-enrollment and alignment with WIOA-funded programs is encouraged where appropriate.
Key Challenges:
Shifting to virtual delivery
Train for Jobs SA is working to improve virtual onboarding and orientation for participants. The project team is piloting online open sessions for orientations and the development of a video tutorial on how to sign up for services, to accompany the registration site.
Partner referrals and participant awareness
WSA noted that building system and public awareness is an ongoing challenge with any new program, yet it is critical to support referrals into the program. To address this challenge, the WSA team has launched a multi-modal messaging effort, including social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and numerous websites, to increase overall public awareness as well as reach specific populations targeted by the program.
Summary of Project Impact
With the start of the program in mid-August 2020, and active participant recruitment beginning in September, intake is active and ongoing. The team has developed a set of goals and measures for the project that include by September 2021 an anticipated: 4,000 assessed, 1,750 receiving case management services, 1,400 receiving short-term training, 100 receiving long-term training, 1,500 receiving stipends, and 1,000 placed in on-the-job training and employment. In the first five weeks of the program, 78 participants were placed in shortterm training, and 21 in long-term training.
Adapt This Approach:
Cost and Time Commitments:
With strong support from the Mayor’s office, funding was awarded during the summer and the program began in mid-August. In alignment with citywide equity goals, and more flexible funding streams, they were able to stand up a new, large program in a matter of weeks, and the program launched at the beginning of September. The time and resources needed to implement this model will depend on a variety of factors including:
- Flexibility of funding streams
- Buy-in and adaptability of partners
- Ability to borrow from existing tools and structures
- Availability of staff
Do:
- Do start — and proceed — with good data.
Prior to COVID, WSA determined high-growth occupations and identified the target industries that aligned with economic development goals for the region. Although WSA is operating under the assumption that many industries will return to previous employment levels post-COVID, they are also using real-time labor market information and job postings (such as Burning Glass and Help Wanted Online data) to monitor monthly shifts and pivot their training investments accordingly. - Do identify training providers upfront.
Provide as many options as possible by broadening the training provider pool and expanding the ETPL. By expanding the list of programs to include short-term as well as long-term, increasing the variety of training to all of the regional industries in demand, and increasing flexibility in training schedules, the program can become relevant for a broader array of participants. Training providers are a critical part of the planning process and can support workforce staff in identifying training gaps more quickly. - Do focus on program awareness.
Focus just as much on partner and staff awareness as participant awareness in your outreach campaign. Intentionally messaging the availability and value of services provided and quickly establishing an efficient process to drive program referrals will shorten the time frame between program design and participant enrollment. - Do focus on building trust between local elected officials and the local workforce board.
A key to success of this project has been the positioning of the local workforce development board (LWDB) as a natural leader in the region. The LWDB is seen by local elected officials (LEOs) as a trusted entity with the ability to analyze unemployment data as well as real-time data to help officials better assess the current situation and those most impacted by the pandemic. - Do incorporate strategies to reach equity goals.
The City of San Antonio uses an equity lens to prioritize investments and policy decisions. As previously noted, Train for Jobs SA uses an equity matrix to target key populations for recruitment and provides extensive support and wraparound services to drive successful program outcomes.
Don’t:
- Don’t rely solely on traditional funding strategies. A key to standing up the program in short order has been the ability to identify flexible funding streams that allow financial resources to be implemented quickly and in an innovative manner. The board worked directly with the Mayor’s office and other local city leadership to make general fund dollars available to support this program.
Resources:
- Train for Jobs SA informational site
- Participant site
- Workforce Solutions Alamo site
- San Antonio equity maps
- San Antonio, TX press release – $2 Million Dislocated Worker Upskilling Grant
- San Antonio, TX press release – $450 Stipend for Retraining
Learn more about the Workforce Tactical Guide
Action:
Invest in and partner with local CDCs, technical assistance providers, district management associations, merchant associations, and other nonprofit partners, which support MWBEs and businesses in LMI communities. Examples include sponsoring fellows or secondees, building philanthropic support, and providing small grants for board development or succession planning.
Why:
In this way, you are extending their ability to do local outreach, leveraging additional funding sources, and building neighborhood capacity to deliver local programming.
Case Study
Neighborhood 360° – New York, NY
The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) created the Neighborhood 360° program to support projects that revitalize commercial districts and build capacity amongst community-based organizations who provide assistance to neighborhood businesses.
The program is funded from City tax levy funding and provides multi-year grants, up to $500,000 annually, to local nonprofits to deliver projects based on needs identified in a Commercial District Needs Assessment (CDNA) report. The nonprofit is required to use part of the funding to hire a full-time program manager.
A CDNA report analyzes a commercial corridor’s storefront and retail mix, consumer profile, streetscape conditions that affect the shopping experience, and any unique characteristics. The analysis includes data obtained from door-to-door merchant surveys and consumer and shopper surveys. It is intended to be a roadmap for community-based partners to use to prioritize needs and interventions, as well as a tool to support fundraising efforts.
SBS also funds Neighborhood 360° Fellows for community-based organizations. These are paid SBS employees placed at community-based partners who work full time for 10 months to oversee commercial revitalization projects. Fellows also help the organizations expand their outreach to local businesses and to connect to City resources.
To date, the program has invested over $11 million in direct support to community-based organizations in 20 neighborhoods. Projects have included cleanliness and beautification, business support and retention (including free legal and accounting support), placemaking and district marketing, merchant organizing, and coordination of local program partners. Support has been provided to business improvement districts, merchant associations, local development corporations, and chambers of commerce.
How to Adapt This Approach:
- Identify possible municipal or Federal (e.g., CDBG dollars) funding to invest in a nonprofit capacity building program
- Develop goals and grant eligibility criteria
- Determine the staff resources and expertise required to administer the funding and provide technical assistance and program management support to the recipients
- Reach out to nonprofits with local trust and cultural competency, as well as organizational capacity, to support MWBEs
- Use a tool like TCC Group’s Core Capacity Assessment Tool to assess a nonprofit’s ability to achieve its mission
- Facilitate best practice sharing and group technical assistance among grantees
– Develop cohort learning opportunities including workshops, corridor tours, subject matter trainings, and convenings
– Create and moderate a platform for grantees to communicate and share successes outside of formal convenings (e.g., Google Group, Slack, Facebook group, etc.)
– Foster connections with other City agency resources; request staff from other departments (e.g., parks, sanitation, transportation, planning, etc.) to speak to community-based partners about their services - Design an outreach plan to market fellowship opportunities to residents in priority neighborhoods; post information on local neighborhood anchor websites and brick and mortar locations and with local universities’ alumni networks
- Establish a tracking system to collect data from partners to measure program impact
Learn more about the Tactical Guide