Workforce Development Resources for Hospitals There are many opportunities to access funding for training, education and workplace support services through collaborations with community based organizations, community colleges and other non-profit organizations providing workforce development services. Local, state and federal requests for proposals (RFP) are issued regularly. These RFPs seek creative and sustainable collaborations between community organizations and businesses whose goals are to recruit more people into the health care field, strengthen training and education for incumbent workers and to create career ladders for those currently working in health care. Below are some of the resources available to hospitals which may be useful in thinking about models of collaboration and access to funding. A) Training and Education Funds B) Other state resources C) Best practices and models in health care - Massachusetts D) Best practices and models in health care - nationally E) Federal Department of Labor High Growth Job Training Initiative A) Training and Education Funds There are public resources that employers may access to assist in training and career development within their institutions. These resources are targeted to encouraging employee development and professional growth and to assist employers in building the infrastructure of their own internal workforce. The Workforce Training Fund and the Hiring Incentive Training Grant are administered by the Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development and the Workplace Education program is administered by The Massachusetts Department of Education. Workforce Training Fund General Program - Training and Technical Assistance Hiring Incentive Training Grant Workplace education Training and Technical Assistance Grants The Workforce Training Fund was enacted in 1998 and is financed by Massachusetts employers. Funds are administered by the Division of Career Services, an agency of The Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development (DWD). The funds provide training and technical assistance to Massachusetts businesses for their current and newly hired employees. The purpose is to improve employee skills in small to medium sized businesses by providing resources that the business may otherwise not be able to offer on their own. Priorities for the training fund are: " projects that result in job retention, job growth or increased wages; " projects that make a difference in the businesses' productivity, and " projects that provide a cash or in-kind dollar-for-dollar match for the duration of the grant and as well as continued commitment and investment after the grant has expired. There are two categories of grants: training grants and technical assistance grants. Training grants range from $2,000 to $250,000. Technical assistance grants range from $5,000 to $25,000. Costs covered under training grants include: curriculum development, tuition and supplies and can operate for up to two years. Grants cover training for full-time and part-time employees alike. Between FY2000 and FY 2004, 1,203 businesses were awarded grants totaling over 81 million dollars. For more information about The Workforce Training Fund, go to www.detma.org and click on Workforce Training Fund, or call 1-800-252-1591. Questions can be emailed to: WTF@detma.org. Hiring Incentive Training Grant This program is open to all employers. It provides up to $2,000 per employee and up to $30,000 a year per business to assist in paying training costs for newly hired employees who have been unemployed for over a year and do no have a call back date from their last employer. Employers can choose their own training provider within or outside of their institution. They may use qualified employees of their own business to conduct internal training of new hires. Employees considered for training must be permanent hires and be paid regular wages while in training. Training must be directly related to the job and can last up to 12 months. For more information about the Hiring Incentive Training Grant, go to www.detma.org and click on Hiring Incentive Training Grant, or call 1-800-252-1591 for more information. Workplace Education The Workplace Education program is administered by the Massachusetts Department of Education Adult and Community Learning Services Unit. The Workplace Education Program funds eligible agencies that provide instructional services in basic literacy, numeracy, and English for speakers of other languages to incumbent workers who lack the basic skills in English expected of a high school graduate. Services are provided through partnerships among businesses, workers, labor organizations (where businesses are unionized), and adult education providers. Projects are supported with a combination of state and local funds and matching resources for up to three years at which point programs are expected to institutionalize these services and continue with local and/or private funds. For more information about Workplace Education, go to www.doe.edu, select Adult and Community Learning in the dropdown menu and click on Workplace Education. back to top B) Other state resources Massachusetts One Stop Career Centers Under the Romney administration, The Department of Employment and Training split into two divisions: The Division of Career Services and the Division of Unemployment Assistance. The Division of Career Services manages programs related to training, unemployment and workforce development. According to its website, "DCS oversees the Commonwealth's network of One-Stop Career Centers that assist businesses in finding qualified workers and provide job seekers with career guidance as well as referral to jobs and training." There are 32 One Stop Career Centers statewide and at least one in every major city in Massachusetts. One Stop Career Centers, workforce development initiatives and youth councils are overseen by 16 Workforce Investments Boards (WIB) statewide. Local WIBs have responsibility for the workforce development system and policy oversight for funding streams and programs in their region. One Stop Career Centers are resources that hospitals can use to post jobs, find qualified workers and investigate publicly funded programs and opportunities to assist them with their workforce needs. Hospital employees interested in furthering their careers in health care can find access to testing and assessment, workshops, career counseling and resources for further education and training. Individual Training Accounts In addition to these resources, Career Centers also administer Individual Training Accounts (ITA) to the unemployed. These ITAs are funded by the Department of Labor under the Workforce Investment Act. Training vouchers are administered to unemployed applicants who can demonstrate eligibility based on income, residency and other criteria established by each Workforce Investment Board. Career Center counselors work with applicants to assess training that will give them marketable skills and help them identify a training vendor that is listed on the state's approved vendor list. A list of career centers with contact information and a list of services can be found at and clicking on "Career Centers". back to top C) BEST PRACTICES and MODELS for collaborations in health care - Massachusetts Commonwealth Corporation The BEST Initiative (Building Essential Skills Though Training) - The Commonwealth Corporation supports the Massachusetts workforce development system through research and evaluation, industry responsive program development and system development services. In 2002, three projects throughout Massachusetts were funded to address the workforce needs of Massachusetts in health care: The Metro South/West Hospital Industry, The Boston Health Care and Research Training Institute and the Northeast Regional Hospital Partnership. The "promising practices" and results of these projects can be found in their research and evaluation brief entitled, BEST Benefits: Employer Perspectives located on the Commonwealth Corporation website. Click on www.commcorp.org and The Center for Workforce Innovation and BEST for a complete description and findings. BayStateWorks - In 2004, the BEST Initiative was transformed into BayStateWorks. The project uses state resources to award employer-driven partnerships that design and deliver skills training, education, and career pathway development for incumbent workers, the unemployed, and the underemployed. Through a competitive bid process, local workforce intermediaries partner with employers and education and training providers to devise education, training, career coaching, and career pathway solutions to increase employer productivity and improve worker and supervisor skills. Eleven workforce investment boards and nine community-based organizations lead BayStateWorks projects in partnership with employers from the following sectors: education, manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace, and human services. Worker wage gains and business impact are tracked and will be measured over time. The six health care sector awardees include: Boston Private Industry Council Health Care, Post Secondary Support Initiative, The Metro South/West Regional Employment Board - in collaboration with the Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board, the Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board and the North Shore Workforce Investment Board - Healthcare Works The Bristol County Workforce Investment Board Southeast Health Care Collaborative - in collaboration with the New Bedford Workforce Investment Board The Regional Employment Board of Hampden County - Healthcare & Manufacturing Cape Cod & Islands Workforce Investment Board - Healthcare Partnership Brockton Area Workforce Investment Board - Road to Nursing Project - in collaboration with the South Coastal Workforce Investment Board ECCLI - (Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative) - The Commonwealth Corporation works in conjunction with the Nursing Home Quality Initiative to enhance the quality of long-term care in Massachusetts. While the ECCLI Initiative is targeted to long-term care facilities, hospitals may be in a position to partner with extended care facilities in win-win collaborations under the ECCLI grant. The Extended Care Career Ladders Initiative (ECCLI) addresses the recruitment and retention of nursing staff by providing long-term care employers with flexible educational opportunities, incentives, career ladders and positive workplace practices which lead to improved patient care and employee retention rates in their facilities. A framework for Nursing Home Quality was also implemented in order to encourage better workplace conditions for CNAs while simultaneously promoting workplace culture change. Since 2000, ECCLI has helped 142 nursing homes and home health agencies train over 6,500 individuals. ECCLI sites report improved worker retention rates and reductions in the cost of doing business, while improving the quality of patient care. Direct-care workers who completed at least one training module have received a wage increase at an average of $.96 per hour. back to top D) BEST PRACTICES and MODELS for collaborations in health care - National Models In addition to Massachusetts health sector initiatives, there are several national organizations engaged in workforce development initiatives and sector work focusing primarily on specific industries such as health care. The Aspen Institute www.aspenwsi.org Workforce Strategies Initiative - identifies and advances strategies that help low income Americans gain ground in today's labor market. This website contains tools, publications, resources and a Business Value Assessment toolkit. Annie E. Casey Foundation www.aecf.org The Jobs Initiative - identified national employment and training models to assist young, low income workers to find meaningful jobs. The Human Services Workforce Initiative - addresses the critical condition of the workforce that helps care for America's most disadvantaged children and families. The website contains publications and studies about workforce development projects nationally. Public/Private Ventures www.ppv.org Working Ventures - manages and evaluates a variety of initiatives aimed at improving the policy and practice of workforce development. The site contains publications, resources and tools for business and non-profit organizations working with businesses. back to top E) Federal Department of Labor High Growth Initiative Excerpted from the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration website: Fields like health care, information technology, and advanced manufacturing have jobs and solid career paths left untaken due to a lack of people qualified to fill them. The High Growth Job Training Initiative targets worker training and career development resources toward helping workers gain the skills they need to build successful careers in these and other growing industries. To put this approach into action, the High Growth Job Training Initiative identified 14 sectors, including health care, that fit within the following criteria: (1) they are projected to add substantial numbers of new jobs to the economy or affect the growth of other industries; or (2) they are existing or emerging businesses being transformed by technology and innovation requiring new skills sets for workers. In addition to numerous industry specific solutions, ETA identified a core set of priority solution elements that are common to all 14 target industries. These elements include: Developing a pipeline of young workers; Building competency models, career ladders, and career lattices for new and incumbent workers; Expanding postsecondary training alternatives including apprenticeships and community colleges' workforce development programs; Accessing new and/or untapped labor pools; Transitioning workers from declining industries; Developing strategies for retaining incumbent workers and updating their skills; and Engaging small businesses. The High Growth Job Training Initiative is investing in national models and demonstrations of workforce solutions in these sectors designed to achieve the following outcomes: Targeted investment of workforce development resources and support for private and public sector partnerships to ensure the development of workers' skills in demand occupations based on industry need. Increased integration of community and technical college efforts with business and the public workforce system activities to meet the skills training needs of high growth industries. Increased opportunities for employers to use apprenticeship training as skills development methodology, combining on-the-job training and academics, to ensure a pipeline of skilled workers. Providing workers with paths to career enhancing opportunities in high growth occupations. Providing workers with paths to career enhancing opportunities in high growth occupations. For more information on the High Growth Job Training Initiative, to: www.doleta.gov back to top

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