An Initiative of the
Northeast Minnesota Office of Job Training

• The Office of Job Training has served the seven-county region since 1974
• 25 professional career counselors
• Workforce Center partner in Aitkin,
Virginia, Hibbing, International Falls,
Cloquet, Grand Rapids, and Duluth
• Administers State and federal funding for dislocated workers, low income adults, public assistance recipients, and at-risk youth

Northeast WIB mission:
Lead, convene, and mobilize regional resources to build and maintain a world-class workforce.
Strategic Planning (AHOD): Ensuring All High School
Graduates are Ready for Success:
Recommendation 11 - Helping students navigate the challenges and opportunities they encounter on their way to career and postsecondary success

• 1,783 served since 2007, ages 14-21
• Deficient in basic skills, low income, foster children, criminal record, homeless, drop out
• Summer and year round work experience
• Transition planning, IEP consultations, post secondary planning; tuition funding and support services
• WIOA changes to youth program

• Need to innovate; address local needs
• 2012-2013, grant from the State of MN
• 2013-2015, Higher Education Career
Advising Pilot
• Create standardized menu of free career planning resources
• Connect business & industry with education
• World’s Best Workforce Legislation

Key components of WBW legislation, Sec.
120B.11, includes:
Schools must provide “age-appropriate exploration activities and career assessments to encourage students to identify personally relevant career interests and aptitudes and help students and their families develop a regularly reexamined transition plan for postsecondary education or employment
without need for postsecondary remediation.” https://www.revisor.m
n.gov/statutes/?id=12
0B.11

• Career assessments of personality, interest, and aptitude
• Post secondary training planning, including funding
• Preparation for job search, interviews, and the world of work (resumes, mock interviews, etc.)
• Career exploration opportunities such as job shadowing and informational interviews
• eMentoring

• CEOs in the Classroom
• Navigating Business Culture
• Computer-based career exploration
• Career-related games and activities
• Financial Literacy series
• Social Networking and the Job Search
• Industry-specific learning opportunities

• Workforce Investment Board
• The Northland Foundation
• Arrowhead Manufacturers and Fabricators
Association
• Iron Mining Association
• Arrowhead Human Resource Association
• Chambers of Commerce / Local Businesses
• BestPrep
• UMD Center for Economic Development, and more

• 29 schools in 6 counties received services
• 1,165 individual students served 9/13-9/14
• Of individual students served:
76% juniors & seniors, 17% sophomores & freshmen,
7% younger and older youth
• Group activities included:
C areer planning/assessment (750 students)
Mock interviews (95 students)
School-based job/career fairs (460 students)
Industry-specific learning events (116 students)
CEOs in the Classroom (738 students – 8 th grade)

• WBW Personal Learning Plans
• Minnesota College & Career Readiness
Collaborative
• Effectively Leverage public systems & limited funding
• Workforce Investment Boards
• Minnesota Workforce Council Association
• Develop local/state workforce pipeline

• Parent resources to better advise students
• Comprehensive lesson plans for activities/ workshops
• Regional job shadowing protocol
• Resources for younger students
• Incorporate STEM learning opportunities
• System for sharing materials & resources
• Garner support to expand statewide

Michelle Ufford, Executive Director
Northeast Minnesota Office of Job Training
(218) 735-6173
Michelle.ufford@nemojt.org
www.nemojt.org