Center News: October 2002

Delaware and Florida State Chambers Launch Job Corps Connection
The Delaware and Florida state chambers of commerce have begun statewide, CWP-sponsored initiatives to help local chambers connect with Job Corps graduates who return to their home communities and begin careers. The partnerships are part of a multiyear CWP project funded by the National Job Corps Office.

 

CWP facilitates the partnerships and provides tools, resources, and promising practices to assist and promote business-driven benefits to each chamber and its members. In raising businesses’ awareness of Job Corps, both state chambers will develop electronic links between their business communities and graduating Job Corps applicants. The partnerships will focus on ways to connect workforce, public high school, and community college training opportunities for Job Corps students.

 

Each state chamber will sponsor on-site tours of local Job Corps centers for businesses to view firsthand the curriculum and tools being used in Job Corps training. For information on how you can develop a Job Corps connection for your chamber, contact Jan Magill at 202-822-2471 or jmagill@uschamber.com 

 

Disability Employment Awareness Month
October is Disability Employment Awareness month. To help promote the employment of people with disabilities, CWP, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), will host a ChamberCast, "Disability Employment 101: Learn to Tap Your Hire Potential," on October 18 at 9:00 a.m.

 

Dr. Robert Pasternack, the assistant secretary for OSERS, will be a guest speaker. This event is the first in a series of nationwide forums sponsored by OSERS. The forums will provide business with the opportunity to learn more about how to successfully recruit from nontraditional sources of workers. Information about the program is available on CWP’s Web site. 

 

Higher Skills, Bottom-Line Results
On Wednesday, September 18, CWP presented "Higher Skills, Bottom- Line Results: Setting a National Agenda to Improve Workplace Literacy." This ChamberCast was sponsored by Verizon SuperPages, and featured a one-hour discussion on the impact of illiteracy on the workplace. Experts in literacy research and representatives from the business community participated. The assistant secretary of the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Carol D’Amico, provided closing remarks.

 

The event is available for viewing on CWP’s Web site. 

 

Upcoming Employer Survey
CWP will be conducting a survey of employers to gain their insight regarding businesses engagement in the publicly funded workforce development system. The information gained through the survey will be used to inform the upcoming Workforce Investment Act reauthorization process.

 

Working with local and state chambers, CWP will seek the participation of at least 100 chambers to collect surveys from their employer members and return the completed surveys to CWP. Customized, comparative benchmark reports summarizing the employer responses will be provided to each participating chamber. Be on the lookout for more information and sign-up forms in the coming weeks

 

The Achiever

The Achiever is a new biweekly newsletter published by the U.S. Department of Education to spread the word about the No Child Left Behind initiative. Secretary Rod Paige and the U.S. Department of Education want every parent, teacher, education leader, and taxpayer to have timely information about the reforms that this law brings to public education including accountability for results, flexibility and local control, emphasis on research based practices, and choices for parents. The Achiever, which replaces Community Update, will include news and articles about education reform, tips for parents and teachers, and resources related to No Child Left Behind. Please visit http://www.nochildleftbehind.gov/Newsletter/.

 

Please direct any questions or comments to Beth B. Buehlmann, executive director, Center for Workforce Preparation, 1615 H Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20062, (202) 463-5525.

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