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IMLS and Gates Foundation Study "Opportunity for All: How the American Public Benefits from Internet Access at U.S. Public Libraries"
In March 2010, the Institute of Museum and Library Services released a study of the use of computers at public libraries. It shows that 30 million Americans used a public library computer for a job-related reason last year, of whom 75 percent searched for a job online, and half of those filled out an online application or submitted a r?sum?.
Posted On :
06/30/10 05:47PM
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95
/Downloads :
28
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Flyer on the partnership between the Employment and Training Administration and the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Last year, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) launched a partnership to encourage collaborations between the public workforce system and public libraries at the state and local levels. Joint activities include sharing of data, information and other resources and an upcoming Webinar highlighting workforce-library partnerships. This flyer provides an accessible graphic representation for the partnership and can be used for handouts at events or other dissemination purposes.
Posted On :
06/30/10 05:02PM
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654
/Downloads :
88
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TEN 50-09: Encouraging Partnerships between the Workforce Investment System and Public Libraries
This TEN announces the partnership between the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration and the Institute of Museum and Library Services to provide better services to job seekers, workers and employers. The TEN discusses the types of partnership activities such as co-locating One-Stop Career Centers and libraries and training library staff on resources available through the workforce system. The TEN also highlights examples of workforce-library partnerships at the state and local levels.
Posted On :
06/29/10 06:19PM
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112
/Downloads :
44
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Libraries as Job Centers
This Colorado Public Radio segment discusses the role of public libraries in providing services to jobseekers in the state.
Posted On :
06/29/10 05:53PM
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124
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23
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Public Workforce System and Public Libraries: Stronger Together
In my career with the workforce development system, I have time and again seen that our mission relies critically on making connections. At the most fundamental level, we connect individuals with career assistance and employment opportunities. We are also connecting workers, job seekers and employers with other community resources to ensure that we are meeting the complex and varied needs of our customers. In this light, I am especially pleased at the opportunity to use this Community of Practice to share an exciting partnership ETA is developing with the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Library professionals are expert at facilitating access to and helping people make sense of new information, and I know that our system can benefit enormously from engaging them in meaningful and concrete ways. We have summarized the different aspects of our partnership, from sharing information about our electronic tools to the July 19 Webinar highlighting promising state and local examples of workforce-library collaboration, in the newly issued Training and Employment Notice No. 50-09, “Encouraging Partnerships between the Workforce Investment System and Public Libraries to Meet Career and Employment Needs.” I hope that after you read the TEN, you will be inspired to engage your local library and find out if there are logical areas where its resources complement yours. After all, this is what we do best as workforce developers—leveraging assets from multiple sources to make a difference in the lives of people, whether they walk in the door of our One-Stop Career Center, use our electronic tools, or maybe even turn to their community library.
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06/29/10 03:21PM
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328
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What Is in Your Assessment Toolbox? Making Informed Investments in Your Assessment Suite
The $250 million in Reemployment Services Grants provided through the Recovery Act have generated a host of creative and innovative approaches to helping the unemployed. In particular, we have learned a great deal over the last year about how assessment tools can strengthen reemployment services. Personality assessments, work values assessments, skills transferability assessments/tools, interest assessments, educational assessments, occupational skills assessments, work readiness assessments and the list goes on and on. All of these types of assessments and more increase the workforce system’s ability to match job seekers and employers. If you are still looking for ways to invest your ARRA RES funds, we want to help you learn about which instruments are the most effective by connecting you with your workforce system colleagues who can give you unbiased, first-hand feedback on their experience with specific products. If you are interested in purchasing a particular assessment instrument or tool and would like to see if there is a workforce system colleague that is using the instrument you are interested in, please contact our resident expert on assessment tools: Lauren Fairley-Wright Workforce Analyst USDOL – ETA – Office of Workforce Investment wright.lauren@dol.gov
Posted On :
06/09/10 10:48AM
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373
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The Reemployment Dollar Menu: New York State’s Investment Yields Great Value
Lawrence C. found himself without a job. The collapse of the financial sector (and related industries) had affected him and 868,000 other fellow New Yorkers. New York State’s Workforce Development System was overwhelmed and ARRA funds helped provide additional staffing for New York’s bustling One-Stop Centers. With some One-Stop Centers seeing over 700 customers daily, New York’s Labor Department was concerned about providing quality services to customers like Lawrence C. New York got SMART – literally. With a financial investment of less than the cost of a cheeseburger per customer, New York’s SMART 2010 job lead service was launched. New York State has partnered with Burning Glass Technologies in developing their existing recruiting tool to work for New York State’s unemployed. This technology has been successfully used by the private sector and has now been transformed into a job lead tool for job seeking customers. Minnesota’s experience with this technology, helped New York State plan their SMART 2010 pilot. One Stop staff submit customer resumes to SMART2010 where they are then “matched” with existing job openings in the New York Job Bank. The SMART 2010 system goes beyond traditional job matching technology. SMART doesn’t focus only on keywords; it understands s the knowledge, skills and abilities that people acquire over their entire work history. SMART then rates the selected job leads (using a five star rating system) and emails these leads directly to the customer’s email in-box. Customers can read a brief description of the job lead and click on a hyperlink that provides additional detail on the job opening.
Posted On :
05/25/10 01:49PM
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440
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Transitional Jobs: Background, Program Models, and Evaluation Evidence
The budget for the U.S. Department of Labor for Fiscal Year 2010 includes a total of $45 million to support and study transitional jobs. This paper describes the origins of the transitional jobs models that are operating today, reviews the evidence on the effectiveness of this approach and other subsidized employment models, and offers some suggestions regarding the next steps for program design and research. The paper was produced for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by MDRC as part of the Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ project, which includes two random assignment evaluations of transitional jobs programs. Transitional jobs programs provide temporary, wage-paying jobs, support services, and job placement help to individuals who have difficulty getting and holding jobs in the regular labor market. Although recent evaluation results have raised doubts about whether TJ programs, as currently designed, are an effective way to improve participants’ long-term employment prospects, the studies have also confirmed that TJ programs can be operated at scale, can create useful work opportunities for very disadvantaged people, and can lead to critical indirect impacts such as reducing recidivism among former prisoners. Thus, in drawing lessons from the recent results, the paper argues that it may be important to think more broadly about the goals of TJ programs while simultaneously testing new strategies that may produce better long-term employment outcomes.
Posted On :
04/22/10 10:05AM
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241
/Downloads :
67
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Stategic Workforce Development as a Catalyst for Economic Growth
Based on significant work in the field, the authors of this paper identify three major contextual issues shaping the re-authorization of the Workforce Investment Act: 1) the imperative across the United States for better systems integration; 2) the realization that social change happens most effectively at the regional level; and 3) the need for new systems of accountability that better integrate the outputs of both economic development and workforce development systems. This paper then suggests critical workforce system characteristics and policy factors that are needed to assure the success of collaborative strategic efforts.
Posted On :
04/22/10 09:56AM
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263
/Downloads :
93
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A GPS for Your Career: Helping Working Learners Navigate their Careers in a Changing Economy
The US has never had a coherent, cohesive career development system – in part because career development has been seen as a personal responsibility, and also because the need for lifelong services has not always been felt as acutely. But a new paper released last month by the Center for American Progress argues that the provision of lifelong career navigation services is a critical issue, and that it must be tackled at the national level. “A New National Approach to Career Navigation for Working Learners” was written by Vickie Choitz, with Louis Soares and Rachel Pleasants. As Choitz explained at the paper’s release, “We are in a new economy, yet we continue to use the same old methods and tools of helping people connect to jobs and navigate careers.” The traditional career trajectory was to find a job after high school or college – based loosely on skills, interests, and the available jobs – and work one’s way up to higher-paying positions. This traditional career path is a thing of the past.
Posted On :
04/06/10 11:10AM
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479
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NYT: In Hard Times, Lured into Trade School and Debt
An article on March 14 about for-profit schools and training programs and their effect on students' financial well-being and employment prospects.
Posted On :
03/15/10 09:51AM
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282
/Downloads :
86
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Announcing the 2010 Heartland Conference - take part in the discussion!
The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) Region 5, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Employment and Training Association (GLETA), is hosting the Heartland Conference to be held April 7-9, 2010 in Chicago, IL at the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel. Don't miss the opportunity to connect with Heartland 2010 presenters and participants. We will be posting many of our upcoming Conference sessions. Share your ideas and best practices, post your comments and help build an interactive learning community. STAY TUNED, TAKE PART IN THE DISCUSSION & REGISTER TODAY!
Posted On :
03/09/10 02:28PM
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1068
State Library Launches WorkSC website
The newly launched website www.worksc.org was created by the South Carolina State Library to assist libraries, government agencies and jobseekers find workforce-related resources. It exemplifies the various resources for use by library staff in providing services to job seekers.
Posted On :
06/29/10 02:17PM
/Views :
86
/Downloads :
12
WebJunction Project Compass
This is a collection of resources created by WebJunction for library staff to help them serve job seekers.
Posted On :
06/29/10 12:46PM
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91
/Downloads :
16
Highlights from the Heartland Conference on Reemployment
Did you miss the opportunity to connect with Heartland 2010 presenters and participants? No worries - we have posted video of many of theConference sessions. The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA) Region 5, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Employment and Training Association (GLETA), invites you to get connected with session presenters, other attendee's, and ETA staff by wathcing the videos of the sessions. To view the videos, just click "read more" and then click on the video links.
Posted On :
06/08/10 10:42AM
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136
2010 Chicago Heartland Conference: Building Service Bridges for UI Claimants
Reconnecting UI claimant to the One-Stop System: The Wisconsin Job Service, Minnesota DEED, USDOL ETA and Washington DC will discuss new initiatives and strategic efforts to bridge this gap.
Posted On :
03/12/10 03:52PM
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704
2010 Chicago Heartland Conference: Expanding Opportunities for Mature Jobseekers through Innovative Partnerships
Innovations in the expansion of opportunities for the mature jobseeker: Mature Services, Inc., SCSEP and Easter Seals will discuss several new pathways for improving opportunities for the mature worker during these tough economic times.
Posted On :
03/12/10 03:44PM
/Views :
486
2010 Chicago Heartland Conference: Self-Employment Lessons from the Public Workforce System
Tough economic times? Why not create your own job?: Project GATE II, IMPAQ International and the LLC, Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education showcase best practices and lessons learned from various entrepreneurial efforts.
Posted On :
03/12/10 03:37PM
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551
2010 Chicago Heartland Conference: Transitioning Offenders to Today's Workforce
How can an offender survive today's economy? The Iowa Workforce Development and the Iowa Department of Corrections will discuss proven methods to prepare offenders for the transition from incarceration to employment.
Posted On :
03/12/10 03:31PM
/Views :
474
2010 Chicago Heartland Conference:Preparing Targeted Populations for Self-Employment
The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will show how self-employment can work in today's troubled economy.
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