Department of Labor–Employment and Training Administration Aligning … · 2017-06-15 · ©2007 Abt Associates, Inc. and Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. Department of Labor–Employment

©2007 Abt Associates, Inc. a

Department of Labor–Employment and Training Administration

Aligning Supply with Demand The High Growth Youth Offender Initiative

Lessons around Employer Outreach

nd Full Capacity Marketing, Inc.

Final Report

©2007 Abt Associates, Inc. and

Aligning Supply with Demand

The High Growth Youth Offender Initiative Lessons around Employer Outreach

Final Report

Prepared for

Richard Morris Office of Workforce Investment

Division of Youth Services U.S. Department of Labor–Employment and Training Administration

200 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20210

Prepared by

Abt Associates, Inc. Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. 55 Wheeler Street 3525 Del Mar Heights Rd. #296 Cambridge, MA 02138 San Diego, CA 92130 www.AbtAssociates.com www.FullCapacityMarketing.com

Full Capacity Marketing, Inc.

http://www.abtassociates.com/

http://www.fullcapacitymarketing.com/

Abt Associates Inc. & Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. Contents i

Contents

Executive Summary ..............................................................................................................1 1. Background: Integrating the Demand Driven Vision to Youth Programs......................4 2. HGYOI Grantee Sites: “The Sweet Sixteen”................................................................6 3. The Conceptual Roadmap: Making Business a Priority...............................................9 4. Site Assessments: Understanding the Challenge.......................................................11 5. Technical Assistance: Addressing the Gaps ..............................................................13 6. Site Outreach Strategies: Moving Into Action.............................................................15 7. Demand Driven Performance Metrics: A Framework for Measuring Success............28 8. Conclusions and Lessons Learned: Sustaining the Demand Driven Vision...............34 Appendix: Profiles of HGYOI Grantees

© 2007 Abt Associates Inc. & Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. 1

Executive Summary

The U.S. Department of Labor–Employment and Training Administration is engineering a strategic shift in the design, implementation and operation of its key workforce development initiatives. Traditionally, program initiatives have been primarily shaped by the education and training needs of job seekers and incumbent workers (i.e., the “supply” side). While this remains a core focus, the DOL–ETA’s overriding mission is to pursue these efforts within a more “demand driven” context of employers’ workforce development and hiring needs. To promote this paradigm shift, the DOL–ETA recognized the importance of providing highly focused technical assistance to employment and training service providers. The report that follows summarizes the strategic support provided to grantees awarded under the High Growth Youth Offender Initiative (HGYOI). Under this program sixteen grantees were selected to implement promising strategies for transitioning at-risk, court-involved youth to successful employment in targeted high growth industries in their local economy. The DOL–ETA retained Abt Associates Inc. (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. (San Diego, California) to develop a highly targeted technical assistance (TA) strategy to support grantees in proactively reaching out to and engaging businesses/employers in their program. Key steps in the process are summarized below. 1. Developing a conceptual framework. Effectively promoting the alignment of supply and demand requires the development and implementation of outreach strategies that emphasize the concept of “business/employer as a core customer.” While the HGYOI grantees largely acknowledged the importance of serving this customer, many of the systems in place were geared toward supporting the youth client, and thus required a more thorough understanding of the DOL–ETA’s demand driven vision. Teams learned how to effectively apply a continuous cycle of market research, planning and implementation. 2. Conducting grantee site needs assessments. HGYOI grantees vary considerably in their experience, expertise and general service delivery capacity. Therefore, it was critical that the technical assistance team conduct a needs assessment to determine grantees’ individual and collective capacity to pursue an employer outreach plan. The assessment was conducted along three core dimensions that support the employer outreach process.

• Market research. While roughly half of the sites have conducted some type of market research in the past, only two had used the results to inform their business and employer outreach strategies.

2. Position your Mission

3. Build

Relationships & Sell

1.Understand your Market


3. Build

Relationships & Sell



• Market strategy. The majority of sites have pursued partnerships with employer organizations. However, the communication tools that promote their active involvement tend to be heavily focused on the benefits to youth versus benefits to businesses and employers.

• Customer processes. While approximately three quarters of the grantees (12) indicated that they regularly gather business customer feedback, only half regularly review and use the data to improve the employer outreach process.

3. Designing a TA strategy to address “the gaps.” The needs assessment process outlined in the previous section was instrumental in identifying critical competency “gaps” that would shape the TA and support strategy: Specifically, these included the use of basic market research techniques, development of public relation strategies, refinement of internal employer outreach and sales processes, and effective use of business language. To maximize both the effectiveness and cost efficiency of its support strategy, the consulting team developed a two-tiered TA process to balance cross-site group needs with individual grantee-specific needs. The group technical assistance strategy consisted primarily of a five-part Webinar series that addressed the competency gaps identified above. Each Webinar consisted of a live interactive session supplemented with a Training Toolkit. Additionally, program staff received a monthly peer-to-peer e-newsletter that shared ideas and best practices across the community of HGYOI grantees. To complement the group support, monthly customized technical assistance was also made available to address grantee-specific challenges and priorities. The cornerstone of this effort was the development and monitoring of a customized Strategic Outreach Plan (SOP) for each grantee. 4. Reaching out to employers. With support from the TA team and guided by their strategic outreach plans, grantees developed employer outreach strategies customized to their local employment environment. These strategies included 1) the implementation of a consultative sales process to create a win-win for the HGYOI program and employers; 2) tracking mechanisms to allow for better follow-through with employer commitments; 3) creating a more prominent brand in the community of the youth agencies and the HGYOI program; 4) informing the news media around the urgency of pipelines issues to better educate businesses and the community; 5) using the language of business to communicate the benefits of hiring alternative labor pools, such as the youth ex-offender; 5) creating standard and consistent messages about the value proposition of the program for businesses/employers; and 6) creating a team of brand ambassadors that understood the dual mission of both serving youth [supply], and the needs of business/employers [demand]. Since each market is highly diverse in its high growth sector composition, the SOP was monitored monthly to address employer challenges and objections, and to modify the plans as needed for optimal results. 5. Measuring performance and tracking results. A dedicated set of performance metrics and a supplemental reporting system were designed to gauge the progress and effectiveness of grantees’ employer outreach efforts. The results were reported in a monthly


“Demand Driven Dashboard” that provided aggregate feedback to the DOL-ETA as well as operational-level feedback to individual grantees. A review of the “dashboard” data generated between December 2006 and May 2007 revealed several encouraging trends. First, the number of high growth employers contacted by grantees rose steadily by nearly 75 percent during this time frame. Similarly, the number of employers who were successfully “engaged” in grantee programs (providing job placements or pre-employment internships, work tours, etc.) also rose by over 75 percent. Most importantly these employer outreach efforts resulted in a doubling of the number of number of youth placements between the first three months and the last three months. Collectively, these trends suggest that the TA and the resulting implementation of grantees’ Strategic Outreach Plans have led to a steady increase in proactive employer contacts as well as meaningful employer engagement. 6. Sharing the lessons. While the challenges and progress of each grantee varied, the TA team can nonetheless, conclude that for the most part, grantees support the demand driven approach. In working with the programs, several key lessons emerged that may be applicable as the DOL–ETA considers expanding this type of support to other programs.

• Establish a conceptual foundation for the demand driven approach.

• Avoid standardized “one size fits all” approaches.

• Promote staff-wide involvement in order to ensure full support and ownership of the demand driven strategy.

• Provide ample peer-to-peer support to maximize credibility.

• Maintain a personal touch to effectively support the importance of the demand driven message.

• Sustain the commitment to performance measurement.


1. Background: Integrating the Demand Driven Vision to Youth Programs

The U.S. Department of Labor-Employment and Training Administration (DOL-ETA) is engineering a strategic shift in the design, implementation and operation of its key workforce development initiatives. The Presidents High Growth Job Training Initiative is a strategic effort to meet high growth industries workforce needs by preparing workers for new and increasing job opportunities in rapidly expanding or transforming industries. Traditionally, program initiatives have been primarily shaped by the education and training needs of job seekers and incumbent workers (i.e., the supply side). While this remains a core focus, the DOL-ETAs overriding mission is to pursue these efforts within a more demand driven context of employers workforce development and hiring needs. The net result, ideally, is a more productive alignment of supply (needs of job seekers and incumbent workers) with demand (needs of businesses/ employers). Preparing youth for this demand driven market is the goal of the DOL-ETAs Division of Youth Services. This report provides insights into one of the demand driven youth initiatives, the High Growth Youth Offender Initiative (HGYOI), a project to provide opportunities for at-risk court-involved youth to successful transition into working in high growth industries. The HGYOI aims to serve the neediest out-of-school and at-risk youth through the workforce investment system by improving alternative education services and meeting the demands of businesses, especially in high growth industries and occupations. The foundation of these initiatives is partnerships that include the public workforce investment system, business and industry, community-based agencies, education, training providers, and the juvenile justice community to help youth offenders enter careers in high growth industries. In April 2005, the DOL-ETA solicited funding applications for the HGYOI, and selected 16 grantees from among 168 applicants who applied through a competitive procurement process. The grantees were selected to prepare youth offenders for successful entry into the workforce, specifically economic sectors identified as high growth industries. Each grantee was awarded a two-year grant between $851,000 and $1,000,000, with a total of $15.6 million distributed. During the first year of the award, the 16 grantees focused on stabilizing their service delivery structure by assembling resources and planning services with their partner organizations. Each grantee focused on the youth customer and provided occupational training, on-the-job training, apprenticeship opportunities, internships and other work-based learning to help former offenders gain the skills for which high growth industries have strong demand. During year two, the grantees were expected to adopt a dual focus by expanding their attention to a second customer, businesses/ employers, and proactively supporting the DOL-ETAs demand driven emphasis, by developing and maintaining connections to high growth industries.


Proactive outreach is a key element to the success of the programs in engaging businesses/employers. Recognizing that the 16 HGYOI sites are largely social service providers, DOL-ETA retained Abt Associates and Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. to develop a comprehensive technical assistance (TA) strategy to support grantees in proactively reaching out to businesses/employers to achieve demand driven results. The overriding mission of the TA initiative was to

• Introduce key concepts that support a demand driven delivery system;

• Promote alignment of supply and demand in serving young offenders;

• Facilitate a “paradigm shift” by promoting both a social service mission, along with actively serving the businesses/employer customer;

• Develop and integrate performance metrics that reflect a demand driven orientation; and

• Identify key “lessons learned” that support the application of technical assistance in similar settings.

The TA was comprised of 1) individual analysis of the 16 grantees readiness to conduct business and employer outreach; 2) customized TA to implement individual outreach plans; 3) multiple online learning events to build capacity among sites; 4) and peer-to-peer education and support via a monthly e-Newsletter. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the technical assistance process and the objective outcomes obtained, by building capacity within the organizations to better respond to the needs of businesses and employers. The report is accompanied by an online breeze presentation that further summarizes the successes, challenges and resources that that can be transferred to other workforce development programs seeking to better engage businesses and employers as a valued customer.


2. HGYOI Grantee Sites: “The Sweet Sixteen”

The HGYOI is a collaborative project consisting of partnerships formed by a lead agency with participating representatives from the education and training community, the juvenile justice system, social service providers, as well as targeted high growth sectors of the local economy. The DOL-ETA’s aim was to fund grantees that could be effective in simultaneously addressing the needs of ex-offender youth re-entering the labor market and the needs of high growth/high demand employers who face hiring challenges or skill development needs. To this end, coordination among the partners was an important criterion in the selection of grantees. Additionally, DOL-ETA was seeking applicants who could design and implement an effective strategy to serve communities with the greatest needs. Sixteen grantees in 11 states were selected in 2005 to receive Demonstration Grants for the HGYOI. Florida, Arizona, Ohio, Texas and Oregon each had 2 grantees in their states. In most instances, grantees served a city, county or region within the state. The Oklahoma grantee, however, had a service area that covered the entire state. Most grantees served urban areas, such as Dallas, TX; Tampa, FL; Portland, OR; and Phoenix, AZ. However, four grantees provided services to more rural populations in such areas as Riverside; San Bernardino; Imperial and north San Diego Counties, California; the rural communities in the state of Oregon; the southeast corner of Arizona; and southeastern Wisconsin. All grantees served economically disadvantaged, high crime areas facing problems of youth violence and delinquency where there was a considerable need for youth services. Several grantees also described their target areas as having high rates of gang violence, drug use, teen pregnancy and other related social problems.

Most grantees defined their target youth population as broadly as possible, serving individuals 16-21 years old, who have been involved in the juvenile justice system. Specifically this includes 1) youth currently held in correctional facilities; 2) youth who have been released from those facilities, and 3) court-involved youth who have been sentenced to probation. By defining their target population broadly, grantees maximized their opportunities to flexibly recruit and serve those most in need of and/or those who could most benefit from HGYOI program services. Ultimately, however, the youth served by grantees’ programs are largely disconnected from mainstream institutions and are at-risk of being left behind in our nation’s economy without the support of coordinated programs to help them transition successfully to adult roles and responsibilities. In order to help these youth transition into jobs that could lead to careers, grantees were required to target growth sectors of the local economy. Ideally, participating youth would seek skill development and employment opportunities that match the growth and hiring trends of the local economy. To this end, grantees systematically assessed the needs of businesses/employers in their community to determine which high growth industries to target. Most grantees selected four or five target industries, depending on the mix and needs of businesses within their communities. The industries targeted by the grantees matched those industries identified by the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.


Nearly all grantees (88%) chose construction as one of their target industries. There are considerable opportunities for youth offenders in the construction industry, as the needs of employers often include a broad range of skills across a variety of entry level positions. Historically, the construction industry has been receptive to hiring workers from alternative labor pools such as ex-offenders. Health services is another industry targeted by many of the grantees (63%). While some health care jobs require background checks and may not hire prospects who are ex-offenders, there is nonetheless, a severe workforce shortage in this industry, and the HGYOI sites were able to penetrate this market. Even when faced with a constrained set of choices, many grantees are focusing on potential employment opportunities for youth ex-offenders. Other target industries included hospitality (56%) and retail trade (50%). While job turnover in both these industries is high, the diverse range of activities required by entry-level occupations provides an excellent opportunity for youth who are first-time job seekers . Half the grantees also targeted the advanced manufacturing sector, as it is an industry with strong potential for upwardly mobile career growth and higher than average salaries. Other industries, targeted by grantees include automotive services, financial services, information technology, transportation, geospatial technology, energy and aerospace. Exhibit 1, on the next page, provides a summary profile of the 16 HGYOI grantees. The HGYOI Grantee Sites

New JerseyOhio

WisconsinOregon

California

Texas

Oklahoma

Colorado

FloridaDallasFort Worth

Colorado Springs

Stillwater

Sierra VistaPhoenix

Arizona

ClevelandDayton

LaCrossePortland

Cherry Hill

St. PetersburgSarasota

HammondLousiana

Imperial Beach

The Oregon Consortium

© 2007 Abt Associates Inc. & Full Capacity Marketing, Inc

Exhibit 1: Summary of HGYOI Grantees

Grantee Name Stat

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Aspen Diversified Industries Services, Inc. CO urban ! ! !

Camden Community Connections NJ urban ! ! !

Colors of Success AZ rural ! ! ! ! ! ! Community Learning Center, Inc. TX urban ! ! ! ! ! !

Cuyahoga County Community Collaborative OH urban ! ! ! ! !

Goodwill Industries of Central Arizona AZ urban ! ! ! !

Goodwill Industries, Suncoast FL urban ! ! ! ! ! !

Improved Solutions for Urban Systems, Inc. OH urban ! ! ! !

Quad Area Community Action Agency, Inc. LA rural ! ! ! ! !

Richland College of the DCCCD TX urban ! !

State of Oklahoma OK both ! ! Suncoast Workforce Board, Inc. FL urban ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

The BRIDGE CA rural ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

The Oregon Consortium OR rural ! ! ! ! ! Workforce Connections, Inc. WI rural ! ! ! !

Worksystems, Inc. OR urban ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Total 2 10 1 6 1 14 1 4 9 10 3 10 1 1 4

. 8


3. The Conceptual Roadmap: Making Business a Priority

Effectively promoting the alignment of supply and demand requires the development and implementation of outreach strategies that emphasize the concept of “business/employer as a core customer” of HGYOI grantees. While grantees largely acknowledged the importance of serving this target audience, many of the systems in place were primarily geared toward supporting the youth client, and thus, required a more thorough understanding of the DOL-ETA’s demand driven vision. Teams learned how to effectively apply a “customer-centric” model, which placed the business/employer customer at the heart of a continuous research, planning and implementation cycle summarized in Exhibit 2. The three core steps that comprise this model are summarized below: Step Actions

Understand Your Market Utilize basic market research tools (e.g., interviews, focus groups, surveys) to identify specific hiring needs and workforce priorities of employers within the designated high growth sectors

Position Your Mission Position the relevancy of the HGYOI mission and communicate in the language of business the value propositions [benefits] of participation.

Build Relationships and Sell Develop internal processes and resources to implement and support a systematic and cohesive employer outreach plan that is tracked by objective data.

The customer centric model provides the conceptual roadmap for all technical assistance and support provided to HGYOI grantees. Complementing this basic approach is a number of core operating principles that were consistently communicated and emphasized throughout the project.

Exhibit 2


3.Build

Relationships& Sell



3.Build

Relationships& Sell



Principle Explanation

Everyone is a “salesperson” All program representatives and stakeholders must actively understand and embrace the responsibility of selling in order to successfully reach employers.

It’s about relationships Successful sales and outreach to businesses/employers requires building and nurturing “public/private” partnerships to ensure an opportunity to better align supply with demand.

Become “relevant” to businesses/employers

Effective outreach to employers requires that the program establish a “value proposition” that clearly links their services to articulated business needs.

Update outmoded perceptions Traditional concerns about selling and outreach must be replaced with a “consultative” approach that seeks win/win solutions for employers and participants.

Mirror business values Effective outreach to employers requires an understanding of, and commitment to, business values that emphasize reliability, simplicity, time and money.

Manage with metrics Like any core business function, an effective business/employer outreach process cannot be effectively managed without gathering, tracking and analyzing basic performance data.

Build on your market position Creating a positive image about the initiative in the community promotes long-term program sustainability by creating a platform for continued outreach and selling to businesses/employers


4. Site Assessments: Understanding the Challenge

As emphasized in Chapter 2, grantees vary considerably in their expertise and service delivery capacity. In the same vein, they also vary in their capacity to pursue the broader “paradigm shift” by integrating the principles of DOL–ETA’s demand driven vision outlined above. Given this diversity, it was critical that the technical assistance team conduct an in-depth needs assessment to determine grantees’ individual and collective capacity to pursue a business/employer outreach plan. The three-part assessment consisted of 1) an initial interview with each of the site leads; 2) an online survey of the site’s perception of their readiness levels and existing outreach structures; and 3) an evaluation of each site’s current employer/business outreach communication tools including, for instance, prospect lists; brochures, facts sheets, collateral materials used to promote the HGYOI, tracking mechanisms for businesses/employer contacts, news media stories placed about the HGYOI, current outreach mechanisms, and available market research. The collective aim of this assessment step is to identify the “gaps” in grantees’ readiness to systematically contact and engage employers and track the productiveness of their efforts. The assessment was conducted along three core dimensions of grantees’ operations which are summarized below along with related findings. Market research, which reflects grantees’ use of objective data to identify business/employer skill development and hiring needs which in turn, focus communication and outreach strategies. Key findings include:

• Approximately half of the sites indicated that they have conducted some type of market research in the past. However, it appears that only two of the sites have used the results of that research effectively as part of their business and employer outreach strategies.

• A small minority of sites (2/16) systematically used prospect lists that actively targets high growth sectors. The remaining sites appear to use less formal processes for creating and maintaining prospect lists.

Marketing Strategy, which addresses grantees’ use of strategic partnerships including secondary target audiences such as chambers, industry associations, private sector partners, news media, and ability to secure funding/in-kind donations, deploy effective marketing tactics. This dimension further examined current message strategies used and quality of collateral materials and communications tools (e.g., ads, PowerPoint presentations, brochures, fact sheets). Key findings include:

• A vast majority of the sites have made attempts to proactively partner with the chambers, industry associations and other organizations to promote the HGYOI.


• While the majority of sites have developed communication tools such as PowerPoint presentations and brochures, they tend to be heavily focused on the benefits for youth versus benefits to businesses and employers.

• Approximately one quarter of the grantees have been successful in using the news media to promote and highlight the successes of the HGYOI. The majority of the stories highlighted youth successes with limited emphasis on business participation and broader economic benefits.

Customer Processes, which reflects grantees’ efforts to strategically reach out to businesses and employers, gather customer input, track outreach efforts, and organize and implement an effective sales process. Key findings include:

• Approximately three quarters of the grantees (12) indicated that they regularly gather employer and business customer feedback. Approximately half of this group had some form of formal tracking mechanism. Similarly, only half appear to regularly review and use the data to improve operations.

• Only one of the grantees was already gathering metrics that were later proposed for inclusion in DOL-ETA’s expanded performance measurement system for the HGYOI initiative (see Chapter 7 below).

• Approximately three quarters of the grantees had no plans to implement consultative sales processes or training, which confirmed sites’ limited understanding of the importance of this process in effectively building business and employer relationships.


5. Technical Assistance: Addressing the Gaps

The needs assessment process outlined in the previous section was instrumental in identifying several critical competencies that would shape the TA and support strategy: Specifically, these included:

• Use of basic data and market research techniques to support strategic planning

• Development and implementation of public relations and news media strategies

• Design of effective employer communications that integrate business language and priorities

• Identification of strategic partnerships to enhance or leverage resources

• Development of internal employer outreach and sales processes

To maximize both the effectiveness and cost efficiency of its support strategy, the consulting team developed a two-tiered TA process to balance cross-site group needs with individual grantee-specific needs. Group TA Strategy

The group technical assistance strategy consisted primarily of a five-part webinar series profiled below: Webinar Description Broadcast Date

Orientation Webinar To introduce sites to the concepts of the demand driven vision, and its importance

September, 2006

The Demand Driven Dashboard

An introduction to the performance metrics used to track employer/business relationships

October, 2006

Partnering with Business and Employers Successfully

How to build a value proposition so that HGYOI is understood and valued

November, 2006

Telling Your Story: Building the Value in At-Risk Youth Programs

How to develop and implement cost effective communication strategies to tell the HGYOI story to the community by emphasizing its demand driven mission

December, 2006

Speaking the Language of Business

How to meaningfully engage employers using an action plan based on market research, targeted prospecting and concise communication with businesses.

January, 2007


Each Webinar consisted of a live interactive session supplemented with a customized Training Toolkit. Together, this package provided a real time opportunity to address key concepts in a (cyber) group setting In addition to the Webinar series, the group TA design also included the circulation of a monthly peer-to-peer “e-newsletter” prepared specifically for the community of HGYOI grantees.

Customized TA

To complement the group support, customized technical assistance was also made available to address grantee-specific challenges and priorities. Each of the HGYOI sites possess a unique environment with varying demographics, political landscapes, high growth sectors, youth populations, media availability, and community partners. This requires an individual approach to building relationships with businesses/employers. Additionally, operational environments are also unique within each of the grantees. Some agencies provide most or all of their services in-house under

the agency’s brand name, while others use a more decentralized model in which there are multiple partners and organizations providing services for the HGYOI. Each of these situations has unique communication challenges in building name recognition and value among businesses/employers. To address each site’s unique characteristics, a customized Strategic Outreach Plan (SOP) was developed, based on a local analysis of the programs’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT analysis) as they relate to their effective engagement of businesses/employers. The implementation plans and activities detailed in each sites’ SOP were actively monitored and supported by the TA team through monthly contacts by phone and e-mail. Highlights from the specific employer outreach activities undertaken by the HGYOI grantees are summarized in Chapter 6 of this report.


6. Site Outreach Strategies: Moving Into Action

The Strategic Outreach Plan for each site included a wide variety of strategies and tactics. Sites used one or all of the following to build relationships with businesses/employers and engage them with the HGYOI. Market Research. An understanding of how to obtain cost-effective objective data to better help match employer needs with the HGYOI. Message Development. Development/refinement of employer/business fact sheets, elevator speeches, grantee Web sites, marketing materials, PowerPoint presentations to articulate clear value propositions for the business/employer, and build the agency’s brand. Public Relations. Creation of special business/employer outreach events and/or networking, and strategies to promote these for maximum attendance and results. News Media. Implementing news media policies and proactively telling the story of the HGYOI to the community in a way that demonstrates the impact to businesses/employers. Business Communications Systems. Customized sales training for teams on how to approach a cold call or warm lead to secure an appointment with a business/employer, in order to ascertain needs and develop a win/win, as well as develop targeted prospect lists. Details of each site’s strategies are found in the report Appendix with several noteworthy case studies detailed below. From the Field: Case Studies and Innovations

The following six high impact case studies exemplify innovations in engaging businesses and employers as valued customers, partners and supporters of the HGYOI. Each site used a unique marketing and outreach strategy that demonstrates excellence in positioning the urgency and importance of youth initiatives with the business community.


High Impact Case Study I Employer and Youth Symposiums: Packaging Employer Events as an Outreach Tool Project Bridge – St. Petersburg, Florida

"It is great working with Goodwill's Project Bridge. The partnership allows the youth to learn the construction trade while giving the youth the opportunity to give back to their community".

Jeanie Almo – Project Coordinator Habitat for Humanity

“Since the collaboration with Project Bridge, we have seen an improvement in the student's knowledge of interviewing skills and employability skills, and I believe this is a direct result of the training provided to the students by Project Bridge".

Howard Smith – Program Manager Home Builders Institute

The HGYOI is a dynamic initiative that promotes a dual mission. The social service component assists youth ex-offenders, while the demand driven component focuses on partnering with high growth businesses and employers. To raise awareness among businesses and employers, the Project Bridge team from St. Petersburg, Florida packaged a series of employer events as “Youth Development Month” to attract and engage new business prospects.

In three different counties, the events invited businesses and employers to learn about the multitude of ways to participate in the HGYOI through its campaign theme “Tap into your Workforce of the Future”. The multi-faceted events included activities for both youth and employers:

1. Opening kick-off included speeches from key county officials and program representatives:

a. Keynote presentation on high growth industries b. Awards for current HGYOI employer champions c. Recognition of HGYOI community partners d. Sharing HGYOI youth success stories e. A call to action to engage businesses/employers

2. High growth employer break-out sessions to talk with youth about career opportunities in their sectors

3. Career exposure to introduce youth to the HGHD industries 4. Community partner booths to show the depth of partnerships and available

resources 5. Partnerships with the local chambers and news media to cross promote the event


A marketing and outreach package was designed for the events containing fact sheets; press releases; employer invitations; and event agendas. The events were well covered by the news media, and proved to be an excellent tool to attract and engage new business and employer prospects. Results: In-Kind Donations – 6 companies donated a variety of items valued at $2,706.76 Community Partner Participation – 14 agencies Employer Participation – 49 Youth Participation – 117 New Employer Relationships – 22 New Employer Interest in Following Engagements:

33 Class Presentation on Industry 20 Worksite Tour 18 Job Shadow 14 Work Experience/Internship

12 Job Opportunity for the Youth 1 Immediate Youth Hire at Event

News Media Coverage Bay News 9, local television station St Petersburg Times – regional newspaper covering Tampa Bay Tampa Tribune – regional newspaper covering Tampa Bay Suncoast News – local newspaper Weekly Challenger – local newspaper covering Pinellas County Latin Connections Publication – covering the Hispanic community in Tampa Bay 98.7 WILD – urban radio station

Campaign Web Site

. 17


High Impact Case Study II Brand Strategies: Building Relevancy in an Agency’s Cause Improved Systems for Urban Solutions – Dayton, Ohio

“I wanted to let you know how pleased we are with the ISUS healthcare students volunteering at the Hospital this term. The departments are thrilled to have the extra hands; things are running smoothly-especially the first time around. Thanks for creating this opportunity.”

Kelly Fackel - Vice President of Development Grandview (Hospital) Foundation

“The ISUS Health Care Institute graduates we hired this year do a good job of following procedures when working with clients. I will look into hiring more students from ISUS”.

Michael Manes, Owner Right at Home Healthcare

Creating a dynamic agency that is relevant in the mind of the community goes well beyond a logo or tagline. It includes the ability of an agency to respond to the needs of the public, and consistently deliver value-added and relevant programs that support the community and private sector businesses. Such is the story of Improved Solutions for Urban Systems (ISUS) in Dayton, Ohio, an agency that is exceptional at positioning its cause and demonstrating economic impact in the community. As social entrepreneurs, the ISUS mission is to transform the lives of out-of-school youth, by giving them a second chance at high school, job skills, and higher education. But, their dual mission is heavily demand driven rebuilding neighborhoods and demonstrating the economic impact of its projects. And ISUS has delivered on both components of its mission. After the passing of charter school legislation by the State of Ohio in 1999, ISUS created the first of three Ohio Department of Education sponsored charter schools. ISUS is a pioneer in the field of education, being the first charter school in Ohio to offer High School Diplomas instead of GEDs. Each of the three ISUS Institutes (Manufacturing, Construction and Healthcare) is a State of Ohio Charter High School offering an 18 to 30 month career centered course of study. The youth development goal is to help young people, who odds are would not succeed, to become transcenders (people who rise against all odds). Students work to learn skills and contribute to projects that support the economic vitality of the community. As a non-profit corporation and educational institution, ISUS is able to buy properties in distressed inner-city neighborhoods and invest in redevelopment when for-profit builders cannot because of the low return-on-investment potential. As ISUS works in a neighborhood, drug dealers and prostitutes begin to scatter, long-term residents start tending more to their own properties and beautiful houses spring up on lots that were once


either condemned or barren. At the ISUS Construction Institute, ISUS students are building affordable, energy smart homes in the inner city. As part of the Advanced Manufacturing Institute, ISUS installed a fully automated production and training facility to provide a state-of-the-art manufacturing training program; build home packages of affordable, high quality, energy-smart homes for infill in Ohio’s deteriorating urban neighborhoods; and provide high quality, competitively priced panelized home packages to area builders. ISUS uses the state-of-the art Intelligent BUILDING System (IBS) IntelliBuild Manufacturing System, to produce interior and exterior wall panels for the construction of single-family homes and low-rise apartment buildings. ISUS has a production capacity of five miles of wall panels a day and the design capability of fabricating any residential architectural design, regardless of the complexity. Distribution takes place through a network of Neighborhood Development Corporations , Community Housing Development Corporations, Public Housing Authorities, low-income housing tax credit builders, and other affordable housing sponsors and advocates. The primary goals of the Automated Facility are to 1) provide training and job placements ISUS students; 2) produce high-quality, affordable wall panels, and 3) generate income for ISUS through the sale of wall panels for the rebuilding of inner city areas. The ISUS Healthcare Institute program specifically focuses on a healthcare career ladder with training components for such high demand jobs as Certified Nurse Assistant, Home Health Aide and Respiratory Aide. The Institute is partnering with several area hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities to provide volunteer service opportunities for ISUS Healthcare students, and with Kettering College of Medical Arts to develop a new healthcare curriculum. Miami Valley Hospital, Grandview Hospital, Grand Place, Harborside and Grafton Oaks provide volunteer service opportunities for 40 ISUS Healthcare students. Just as entrepreneurs change the face of business, social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for society, seizing opportunities others miss and improving systems, inventing new approaches and creating sustainable solutions to change society for the better. This is the ISUS brand that is promoted to the community to engage businesses and employers. It is the core component to ISUS partnership strategies that serve both the youth participants, as well as the community at large.

Comm

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unity Service Learning Projects


High Impact Case Study III Responding to Business Needs Single Point of Contact: Industry Pathway Coordinator Model Worksystems, Inc. – Portland, Oregon

“The Sheraton’s partnership with the WorkSuccess Career Pathways Program has produced excellent employees for our corporation. Our direct involvement in delivering the Career Pathways Program allows us the opportunity to interact with prospective employees and get a sense of their fit for the Sheraton. We are extremely pleased with the results and look forward to continuing this win-win partnership!”

Cathie Coffman - General Manager Sheraton Portland Airport Hotel

“I am constantly thinking about our long term needs and the future pipeline of healthcare workers is key to all of our long term planning. I need access to a diverse and motivated talent pool and that is what I have found in the Healthcare Career Pathways program overseen by Worksystems. I delivered a workshop about employment in this industry and I was absolutely impressed with the groups’ questions, motivation and genuine interest in healthcare professions. This is proving to be a valuable partnership to Kaiser Permanente and other healthcare providers in the region!”

James Paulson Recruitment and Workforce Planning Manager – Northwest Region

Kaiser Permanente Worksystems, Inc. (WSI) in Portland, Oregon responded to a core complaint of businesses in trying to work with public workforce agencies – multiple contacts and time consuming processes. To focus on the needs of business, WSI developed a unique system in which each of their identified high growth sectors has one dedicated Pathway Coordinator (PC) to work with industry. This single-point of contact is a key component of the industry pathways system, as they are specialists in the industry and serve as the primary liaison between employers and WSI’s network of alternative education providers. They provide retention support, including day-to-day crisis intervention and problem solving, and make it easy for employers to participate in the pathway program. The PCs also 1) market the pathway training opportunity to employers and youth education and training providers; 2) coordinate screening of youth into pathway training; 3) oversee day-to-day pathway training schedule/logistics; 4) monitor, track, document and report on youth participation and progress; 5) maintain/manage inventory of pathway internships offered by participating employers; and 6) solicit feedback from employers and youth providers about ways to improve program quality.


6/5/2007 5

Employment, Occupational Employment, Occupational Training, Postsecondary Training, Postsecondary

EducationEducation

Career Exposure/ Career Exposure/ InternshipsInternships

Secondary Education & Secondary Education & Work Readiness TrainingWork Readiness Training

Employer Provides: •entry-level temporary, part-time or full-time gateway jobs

Employer Provides:

•Participation in curriculum development & classroom inst.•Orientation to industry & careers•Industry workplace expectations•Prerequisites for industry employment•Site Visits/Company Tours/Job Shadows •Paid Internships

WSI Provides:•tuition for postsecondary education & occupational training

WSI Provides:

•Industry Pathway CoordinationSingle Point of Contact

•Retention/Support Services•Marketing•Matching/Screening•Employer Training & Support•Quality Control

WSI Provides:

•High School diploma/GED instruction, career awareness, remedial education, work readiness and retention services

Mutual Investment Model

This program is 75% funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities

To create a better “product” for employers, WSI is also working to address the issues on the supply side [preparing youth]. Like all youth, offenders and others that are high-risk, need to know about the educational and career options that are available, and believe that these options are open and achievable for them. Most of these youth have only limited, minimum wage work experience or no work experience at all, little understanding of workplace and college expectations for behavior and demeanor, and very few work and college readiness skills. To address these needs, WSI has been working with local employers and community colleges to build and pilot intensive Career Exploration Pathway Programs for at-risk youth, focused on industry themes. Over the past year, Career Exploration Pathways have been launched successfully in selected high growth industries such as healthcare, hospitality, construction and public service.

Each Pathway Program provides a progressive sequence of career exposure and exploration experiences in the target industry. In each Pathway, youth receive an orientation on multiple topics about the range of occupations and careers available in the industry, education and skill requirements to qualify for these jobs, and how to apply for employment and get a “foot in the door” through part-time, temporary and seasonal employment. Youth participate in classroom instruction on the

language of the industry, workplace expectations, and work readiness/pre-employment skills. Each Pathway emphasizes post secondary education certification and degree programs necessary for career employment in the industry. As part of the Pathway curriculum, students tour post-secondary school campuses, visit with counselors and placement staff and sit in on classes in relevant education and occupational training programs. The curriculum for each Pathway Program is driven and shaped by employers who also participate as instructors in the orientation to the industry. Employers also offer youth company tours and job shadows at work sites in the industry, and internships and/or workplace simulations for those youth that successfully complete the classroom orientation and career exposure. Following completion of the Pathway Program, some employers offer “gateway employment” in their companies, providing youth with a part-time job while they are attending secondary school to obtain their high school diploma or post-secondary school or training to gain the skills necessary to qualify for jobs with career potential.


High Impact Case Study IV Workforce Development Month: Creating Urgency through the Media Workforce Connections, Inc. – La Crossse, Wisconsin

“Workforce Connections, Inc. has proven to be a valuable resource and tool for competitive organizations striving to be the employer of choice. They assisted us by conducting an employee survey, discussing the results, and suggesting improvements. We have also had Workforce Connections dynamically present ideas and perspectives to our employees. The presenter had a unique ability to open the minds of listeners and to help create self-realization. I would highly recommend Workforce Connection’s services.”

Sarah Fecht Director of Human Resources

Community Credit Union “Workforce Connections, Inc. does an excellent job screening candidates. Almost everyone who is referred is hired. We appreciate their excellent work.”

Jeff Kroes Pacal Industries

The Workforce Connections, Inc. (WCI) is a private, non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization that has been providing employment and training assistance to adults, dislocated workers and youth in western Wisconsin, since 1983. The workforce development area includes Buffalo, Crawford Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Vernon, and Trempealeau counties. La Crosse is considered primarily the region’s urban and economic center with a population of 51,818. The WCI’s approach to marketing is to build a single brand strategy that encompasses all of its programs under one identity. This decreases customer confusion about the multitude of services and programs available through the workforce investment system, and allows the team to develop brand recognition through the workforce board and career centers. By bundling their services as one brand, the WCI can offer a network of employment and training solutions for businesses. The HGYOI is one of the WCI’s services that is promoted within the community under this brand strategy.


By collectively promoting all of its workforce products and services, the WCI leveraged Labor Day as an opportunity to educate the community about the urgency and importance of workforce development. Creating a “Workforce Development Month” as a communication umbrella that was timed in conjunction with Labor Day, the team developed an extensive outreach strategy that included:

• A declaration from the Governor as Workforce Development Month in Wisconsin to provide media exposure and political constituency support at the local level.

• A clearly defined focus on four high growth sectors. • Presentations to Local County Boards to brief Board of Supervisors on Workforce

Development Month and key workforce issues in the community. • Employer and occupational showcases in which a local employer would speak at

the Job Center about opportunities within a specific sector. • A media partnership with the River Valley Newspaper Group, to run articles in the

Sunday edition of the La Crosse Tribune and local papers each week that highlighted the workforce issues in selected high growth sectors and human interest stories about WCI’s customers.

• A media partnership with La Crosse Radio Group that ran spots in five different markets on "Good Jobs".

• Four different newsletters on each high growth sector that were sent electronically to students in high school and the tech colleges, to invite them to the Employer Showcases.

• Participation in a Labor Day Parade with the La Crosse Radio Group. Raising awareness of workforce issues and solutions is a strategy that has great return on investment for WCI. In 2007, Workforce Connections, Inc. will again leverage Labor Day into an opportunity to promote employment and training services to the community at large. The 2007 campaign will center around the theme of “Do You Know? Do you Care? Do You Dare?” And will again tap into partnership with media, schools, local elected officials and participation in the Labor Day Parade. The campaign is well rounded, and should have a very positive impact on the complex topic of workforce development.

Workforce Development Month News


High Impact Case Study V Cause-Related Marketing: Positioning for Funding and Corporate Support THE BRIDGE – Imperial Beach, California

“THE BRIDGE has become one of the first places I call when I need new employees. I have hired several employees that completed the program and they have proved to be hard working employees. Also the services provided by the Job Developer and Case Manager providing follow-up with myself and their client really helped when concerns come up on the job. I look forward to continuing to offer opportunities to individuals who have taken advantage of the great services that THE BRIDGE offers.”

Charles Carter Dalton Trucking, Fontana, CA

“I am very pleased with the individual we hired who completed training through THE BRIDGE. He has been with our company for almost a year now and is a reliable, consistent and an appreciated employee. Hiring employees in the future who have participated in THE BRIDGE program will be no problem because we have had such a great example of the success of their services. Thank you.”

Blanca Garcia - HR Coordinator Dart Container Company, Corona, CA

THE BRIDGE team in Imperial Beach, California is using cause-related marketing (CRM) to engage employers as a corporate sponsor of their agency. CRM is a strategy in which a for-profit company champions a cause by donating money, time and/or energy to a specific initiative. CRM dates back to 1887 in the UK, but started gaining clear recognition in the 70s when American Express decided to donate a portion of its proceeds to the Statue of Liberty’s renovation efforts. For-profit companies have long understood the value of linking its efforts to a non-profit cause to show the community its good corporate citizenship. There are many reasons why businesses seek out worthy causes to champion. There is sufficient research that shows that CRM impacts a company’s bottom-line in more ways than one. Overall acceptability of CRM has increased to 74 percent and nearly two-thirds of all Americans agree that it should be a standard business practice. Another two-thirds indicate that they would likely switch brand/retailers to one associated with a good cause, when price and quality are equal. Eighty-three percent of Americans have a more positive image of companies who support a cause [Cone/Ropper]. Using CRM as a focal point strategy, The BRIDGE has created giving opportunities for businesses, to alleviate one of its greatest challenges in serving youth - - the issue of student transportation. In the southern California market, transit passes are not provided to THE BRIDGEs students at a customary student discounted rate, which is a significant monthly expense [$60/month versus $15/month student rate]. Additionally, public


transportation routes are not always user-friendly, especially in the rural communities in which BRIDGE students live. THE BRIDGE developed various giving levels and corporate sponsorship opportunities for businesses to support their cause THE BRIDGE Kids. Businesses may donate at various levels and receive a variety of sponsorship benefits including:

1. Prominent signage at THE BRIDGEs annual Pow-Wow event attended by over 10,000

2. Full or partial van advertising that transports THE BRIDGE Kids to and from school and/or worksites

3. Acknowledgment in THE BRIDGEs newsletter 4. Web site and member wall recognition 5. Presentations to THE BRIDGE Kids on industry options; and 6. Guaranteed participation during all of THE BRIDGEs job fairs and recruitment

events. To date, the agency has raised $5,000 from businesses and $2,800 from private citizens in cash. They are advancing their campaign through direct mail and follow-up phone calls, with a goal of $100,000.00 to support their program. CRM is a highly effective strategy and can be duplicated very easily, if the cause of workforce development is positioned as one of importance and urgency in the community.

Our public-private partnerships are the foundation of our success. As a proud member of THE BRIDGE Community Team, you become part of an important community solution to building a strong and qualified workforce that keeps our region competitive. Our flexible investment packages offer you brand affiliation, community speaking opportunities, and company promotional opportunities.


High Impact Case Study VI Partnership Marketing Building External Sales Teams The Right Track Project - Colorado Springs, CO

“We became acquainted with The Right Track Program (RTP) by attending a seminar sponsored by the Southern Colorado Better Business Bureau. As an employer (Four Square Finishing, LLC), we were very interested in taking on an RTP youth to serve in a 3 year drywall apprenticeship and hopefully become a journeyman drywaller. We never would have had the opportunity to realize such an undertaking if it had not been for RTP. From screening candidates, to submitting resumes, to acting as a liaison between employer and employee to make the smoothest and best matches possible, all RTP employees operated seamlessly. It is truly a win/win/win relationship for employers, future employees, and Colorado Springs alike. We hope that you are able to continue the program and keep the genuine heart of RTP which we support 100%”.

Dan and Christy Copeland Four Square Finishing, LLC

Communication to the business community to engage them as partners in workforce development is a much different strategy than “selling” the benefits of programs and services to clients. The Right Track Project used an effective method to contact and penetrate the high growth industries in their service areas of El Paso and Teller counties. The outreach team discovered that cold calling, site visits, and prospecting were simply producing too few new business partners. So, Right Track went in search of a front end loader to get as many businesses contacted and engaged in the least amount of time possible. One of their strategies involved contacting the executive director of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Colorado, Inc. (BBB) to discuss how they could partner to educate their 3,000 members about opportunities provided through the project. The BBB provided access to all members by sending an e-blast invitation to a Right Track Project reception for interested members.


The reception agenda included 1) a meet and greet breakfast; 2) a ten-minute PowerPoint geared toward businesses and employers; 3) a panel of youth and business Right Track Project participants that shared their experience about the program; and 4) a Q&A session. The BBB reception event had a single message – we have answers to your workforce challenges. Two businesses called the program on the same day to schedule follow-up appointments, with another 20 scheduling appointments in the following weeks. From one email blast and one reception, the team generated more employer and community interest than previous months of cold calling, which underscores the value and power of partnership marketing. The Right Track Project was so encouraged with the results that their outreach team conducted another reception, where the approach was industry specific. Contacting over 70 companies in the Landscaping industry, they presented their mission and objectives in a highly targeted reception. Three of the attendees had immediate positions and were willing to hire on site. The receptions have proven to be a relationship-building tool for the team, and is an ongoing monthly outreach strategy for The Right Track Project to tap into new business prospects.


7. Demand Driven Performance Metrics: A Framework for Measuring Success

The technical assistance and support strategy discussed above was specifically designed to help HGYOI grantees develop or refine business/employer outreach practices. The overriding aim of this effort was to increase the likelihood of reaching and engaging employers in a way that ultimately leads to employment opportunities for youth offenders. Consistent with its commitment to performance measurement, the DOL-ETA felt strongly that the effectiveness of this effort could not be adequately gauged without empirically measuring and tracking the extent to which grantees were reaching and engaging the employer “customer”. To this end, the consulting team in conjunction with the DOL- ETA, developed a dedicated set of performance metrics and a supplemental reporting system designed to gauge the progress and effectiveness of grantees’ employer outreach efforts. The resulting “Demand Driven Dashboard” was seen to be valuable at two levels. At the grantee level, performance feedback is useful in tracking progress made in implementing tactics raised in the Strategic Outreach Plan and supported by the TA. The feedback from the dashboard also provides valuable diagnostic insight to grantees that helped to monitor and refine local outreach efforts as well as focus the TA support. At the national program level, the summary “dashboard” affords an opportunity to examine the extent to which the broader technical assistance strategy is able to generate system-wide progress towards the more “demand driven” engagement of employers. Since the inception of the HGYOI grants, a traditional set of performance measures was gathered on a quarterly basis to track core enrollment and service delivery related metrics. This set of reporting requirements included for instance, enrollment data, such as the demographics of the clients being served; program activities; and basic outcome information, such as the number of youth placed in employment. It should be noted that this quarterly reporting system also includes one metric that began to capture important dimensions of a more demand driven system. Specifically, grantees were initially required to report on High Growth Employer Engagement Count, which is the number of new employers representing high growth/high demand industries a project has engaged through job placements, internships, mentoring arrangements, on-the-job training, and formal agreements. The new HGYOI Demand Driven Dashboard incorporated this measure and added five additional metrics to capture more in-depth insight into grantees’ efforts to engage employers. To maximize the immediate availability of program feedback, this expanded component of the performance measurement system was structured to gather data on a monthly (versus quarterly) basis. The five additional metrics included on the Demand Driven Dashboard are:


Metric #1: High Growth Market Outreach Definition: Percent of employers contacted that are in designated high growth sectors. Metric #2: High Growth Outreach ROI Definition: The percentage distribution of successful engagements of high growth employers across multiple outreach tactics including (for example, cold calls, networking, a referral or lead, a special event) that engaged new high growth employers to the HGYOI. Metric #3: High Growth Prospects Definition: Number of contacted employers who are aware of the program and have an interest in future participation. The dashboard further tracks how an employer heard about the program and concerns about participation. Metric #5: High Growth Market Penetration Definition: Percent of the total high growth businesses in a service area that currently engaged with the HGYOI program through, for instance, job placements, internships, mentoring arrangements, on-the-job training, and formal agreements in a month. Metric #6: Career Pathway Composition Definition: Percent distribution of how high growth employers are engaged with the HGYOI, for example through job placements, internships, mentoring arrangements, on-the-job training, and formal agreements in a month.

To systematically gather the data needed to support these metrics, the consulting team in conjunction with the DOL-ETA, developed a set of collection and reporting procedures that were introduced via a system-wide Webinar. The cornerstone of this system is the Employer Outreach Tracking Tool that is used by any staff person making contact with employers. The purpose of the Tracking Tool is to capture important relationship-building information; standardize business/employer tracking across all sites; provide insights into challenges with engaging the business/employer; avoid duplication of effort among outreach teams; and track important follow-up dates for surveying employers. Each month, sites were asked to “roll-up” the data collected through the Employer Outreach Tracking Tool by consolidating the information and forwarding it to the DOL-ETA for aggregation and dissemination. It is important to note that the Demand Driven Dashboard represented a first time effort to systematically gather and track key dimensions of the employer outreach and engagement process. As such, the HGYOI experience should be viewed as a pilot during which both the DOL-ETA and grantees worked to integrate and refine new data collection and measurement processes into their operation. While much of the effort was devoted to gaining support, training staff and resolving start-up issue inherent in a pilot, the system nonetheless was able to generate valuable preliminary data that helps to frame the success of the HGYOI support initiative. The reporting system


as it is currently constituted, only allows the tracking of employer outreach activity levels. As such, it does not provide benchmarks (e.g., engagement rates, awareness rates) that allow comparisons across programs. Nonetheless, the system was able to provide preliminary insight into the extent to which grantees were aggressively pursuing this demand driven agenda. Key highlights from this first six-month aggregation of the Demand Driven Dashboard are summarized below:

• Contacting Employers: Over the course of the TA period, grantees steadily reached out to more employers, increasing their employer contacts, as shown in Exhibit 3. The general trend is upward, with the number of contacts increasing by almost 74% from December 2006, when the dashboard was first implemented, to May 2007, the end of the data collection period. The atypical peak in month 21 is a result of one grantee holding a special employer event that reached out to 3,000 employees in their local area.

Exhibit 3: Number of All Employer Contacts

• Engaging Employers: Over the course of the tracking period, grantee sites were also increasingly successful in implementing consultative sales practices that led to employers’ program engagement by, for instance, providing either full or part time employment opportunities or related pre-employment experience through worksite tours or job shadowing opportunities. Between December 2006 and May 2007, the number of employer contacts that became engaged steadily increased by over 75% as seen in Exhibit 4. The Dashboard data generally reveals that grantees are actively drawing on a diverse range of outreach

1 Note that data reflects activity from the previous month, i.e. January, 2007 data reflects activity from December 2006

0500

10001500200025003000350040004500

Dec-06 Jan-07 Feb-07 Mar-07 Apr-07 May-07


strategies to engage employers. Over the six-month period, between 30 and 45 percent of the employer engagements were the result of cold calls while another 28–30 percent resulted from “warm leads” or referrals. The remainder of the employer outreach contacts were the result of networking events, special employer meetings or individual site visits.

Exhibit 4: Number of All Employer Contacts That Become Engaged

• Eliciting Interest in Future Engagement: The number of employers that responded positively to grantees’ inquiries about potential future engagement increased by almost 30% from December 2006 to May 2007, as shown in Exhibit 5. With the support of the technical assistance, it appears that grantees reached a new plateau in generating employers’ interest in their programs. It appears they have recognized that successful employer engagement is a protracted relationship building process. Grantee sites appear to have improved their ability to offer employers a sufficient number of options and possibilities to keep the door to engagement open for future involvement.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600



Exhibit 5: Number of All Employer Interested in Future Involvement

• Employer Concerns About Participation: Grantees also used the reporting system to capture the concerns of employers that were reluctant to engage their program participants. The data suggests that employers consistently voiced concerns about safety and drug abuse and the age of youth and their perceived lack of soft skills or lack of technical skills. This feedback allowed grantees to refine their consultative sales and communication strategies to effectively “counter” these concerns tracked by the “dashboard”

• Placing youth in part-time and full-time employment: As shown in Exhibit 6, the

number of youth hired either part-time or full-time rose over the data collection period from 65 collective hires in the first month to 142 hires in the last month. While the number of hires decreased slightly during the third month, the incidences of other types of engagement such as worksite tours and class presentations on industry increased, suggesting that sites were able to close more hesitant employers and begin the relationship building process through alternative engagement options.. Ultimately, however, the data suggest that the grantee “system” is operating at a more robust level by the end of the TA period, placing more youth into employment and accommodating employers by offering a range of engagement options.

0

100

200

300

400

500

600



Exhibit 6: Number of Youth Hired Either Full-Time or Part-Time

The HGYOI Demand Driven Dashboard

020406080

100120140160



8. Conclusions and Lessons Learned: Sustaining the Demand Driven Vision

The TA initiative summarized in the previous sections was unique in that it represents a concerted and proactive effort on the part of DOL-ETA to advance its strategic commitment to the employer/customer at the program level. While the perspective, experience and progress of each grantee varied, the TA team can nonetheless, draw several broad conclusions that underscore the viability and effectiveness of the approach taken.

Grantees support the approach. By and large, practitioners understand the value of a more balanced program approach in which at-risk youth are served within a more strategic context of employer needs. Prior to this TA initiative, most had engaged in ad-hoc outreach efforts but lacked the competencies, tools and support needed to engage employers in a systematic manner that emphasized business needs and motivations. The minority of grantees that were more resistant to the demand driven message were concerned that the effort required excessive time and resources that detracted from their core clients and social service mission. In reality, communication with potential business/employer partners occurs everyday, but not necessarily in a strategic manner. Employers are receptive customers. While many of the new business contacts have had little exposure to the public workforce development system previously, the experience of the HGYOI grantees suggest that employers are willing to give full consideration to the alternative labor pool and support services provided. Employers are most receptive to partnerships when 1) they are faced with systemic labor and skill shortages; 2) understand the urgency of the labor market trends around building a current and future competitive workforce; and 3) they understand the “win-win” nature of the prospective engagements offered through the consultative sales process. Meaningful progress can be made in a short period of time. A “paradigm shift” suggests a full-blown re-orientation of perspectives and tactics around a given objective. Experience working with HGYOI grantees confirms however, that the “shift” is an on-going process gradually shaped by an improved understanding of key concepts and pursuit of incremental program refinements. More importantly however, this initiative confirms that small incremental changes can lead to meaningful progress over a limited time frame. With targeted and proactive support, minor refinements to communication materials, staff deployment, or follow-up tactics can fundamentally alter the dynamics between a seller (i.e., the program grantee) and a prospective customer (i.e., an employer).


These preliminary conclusions strongly suggest that there is reason to be encouraged about practitioners’ capacity to meaningfully shift their perspective and tactics to more effectively address employer needs. In so doing a number of “lessons” have emerged that may be applicable as DOL-ETA potentially expands its support to other programs and other practitioners.

Establish the conceptual foundation. Grantees’ intuitively understand the importance of proactively targeting the employer as a customer. However, the design and implementation of a successful employer outreach plan requires that grantees fully internalize a number of concepts and competencies that form the foundation of an effective outreach strategy. Concepts such as “value proposition” and “consultative selling” are new to many practitioners. Similarly, many program staff have limited insight into employers’ frustrations with public programs (e.g., multiple contacts, cumbersome processes) and often lack familiarity with the language and strategy of communicating with business. As such, these basic competencies must form the cornerstone of any technical assistance strategy under consideration. Avoid standardized approaches. While practitioners can effectively draw on a common set of foundation concepts, employer outreach plans must be customized to address their unique program and organizational environment. Most notably, they must reflect local staff capacity and expertise, experience with previous employer communication and outreach activities, local target population and employer mix, known points of resistance and resource availability. While it is impractical for all technical assistance to be offered on an individualized basis, it is essential that some form of local needs assessment be conducted to identify the unique capabilities and constraints facing a service delivery organization as well as to ensure a necessary degree of “buy-in” from the organizations’ staff. Promote staff-wide involvement and support. Successful implementation of an employer outreach strategy cannot be seen as the responsibility of a single individual, job function, or staff unit. While there is clearly value in an organizational “champion” or point person, the ultimate effectiveness of the effort requires full “ownership” by all members of the practitioner’s team. To this end, the technical assistance must be sufficiently broad based to ensure that all staff see themselves as a sales person and “brand ambassador” who is capable of communicating with business about their program’s services and value. Provide ample peer-to-peer support. While the majority of grantees fully support the importance of a more demand driven program design, there remains a residual sense that the strategy may simply reflect a transitional priority of DOL-ETA. The active integration of practitioners into the TA process adds considerable credibility to the message and its importance. In addition, practitioners are particularly adept at identifying and responding to challenges that other grantees may be facing based on their own employer outreach experience.


Tackle the practical. Once an organization is comfortable with the demand driven mission and core concepts, there are countless ways to proceed in pursuit of more effective employer outreach. It is important to re-emphasize that there is no single formula or “proper” sequence of activities that applies to all programs and labor markets. Rather, it is important that technical assistance focus on action steps that are practical, affordable, “do-able” and likely to generate results. It is this sense of short-term progress and achievement that provides the platform for the continued pursuit of more aggressive and more sustained approaches to employer outreach. Sustain the commitment to performance measurement. The design and implementation of the “demand driven dashboard” is a critical ingredient in supporting both the broader “paradigm shift” and monitoring the effectiveness of grantees’ individual employer outreach plan. Specifically, the performance measurement process serves several critical purposes. First, by formally tracking incremental progress, it reinforces the strategic importance of DOL-ETA’s efforts to further solidify its commitment to a more demand driven delivery system. Secondly, performance metrics provide valuable diagnostic feedback that grantees can use to track their progress and make refinements to their employer outreach plan. Finally, performance measurement provides an important element of continuity in a program environment where staff turnover is common. The importance of the Federal commitment to performance measurement is particularly critical since it appears that few grantees would allocate sufficient resources to sustain the effort without the mandate. Maintain a personal touch. The rapidly evolving world of technology has allowed technical assistance and site support to be delivered using a variety of on-line, remote or virtual approaches. While these delivery modes can be effective and cost-efficient, the pursuit of change that is so fundamental to a program’s operation (i.e., a paradigm shift) cannot be achieved entirely through remote or “self-supported” methods. This type of change requires that external “personal” support be provided at two levels. First, DOL (through project officers or regional office representatives) must actively communicate the importance of its strategy to assure practitioners that they are not re-shaping their core practices in support of a passing or transitory priority. Secondly, the TA team must work with practitioners directly in developing, implementing and monitoring practical employer engagement strategies that are well suited to their local circumstances and are likely to generate results.

U.S. Department of Labor–Employment and Training Administration Office of Workforce Investment - Division of Youth Services

200 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20210

Documents

Department of Labor–Employment and Training Administration Aligning … · 2017-06-15 · ©2007 Abt Associates, Inc. and Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. Department of Labor–Employment