Berkshire County Regional Employment Board FY2010 Workforce Strategy
1. To ensure that youth and the emergent workforce have the academic and core competencies required by employers (Pipeline)
2. To enhance the effectiveness of the workforce system to align and coordinate resources/services, engage partners, and connect job seekers to
high-demand, high-growth jobs (Skills Gap)
3. To position the workforce system to support and align with regional business retention, expansion and job creation efforts (System)
GOAL 1: Enhance the Youth Pipeline
Ensuring that youth and the emergent workforce have the academic and core competencies required by employers
OBJECTIVE
ACTION STEPS
DELIVERABLES
Accountable
Resources Needed
Status as of 11/2009
Connect youth to work
based learning programs
 Implement Connecting
Activities internship
program
 275 youth placed in internships
 750 youth participate in job
shadow/career day/STEM activities
 Youth Council
 $75,000 – DESE
 $37,500 (2 hrs/youth x 750 youth
x $25/hr for mentors) – in-kind
schools
 $95,000 STEM Pipeline
 125 youth placed in internships
 365 youth participated in STEM
career fair (40 companies)
Develop/expand work
readiness program in all 12
high schools
 Develop basic guidelines
for schools
 Recruit schools to
participate
 Work readiness guidelines
 Sample curriculum developed, if
needed
 # of students participating in the
program
 Youth Council Berkshire Chamber
 $5,000 Berkshire Bank
 $5,000 Greylock Credit Union
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Committee formed
Students surveyed
Employers surveyed
Curriculum researched
Convening with superintendents
Implement Jobs4Youth
campaign
 Increase # of youth in
summer employment
 Increase # of youth working by 5%
(currently 70)
 Increase # of businesses providing
work experience by 5%
 Youth Council Berkshire Works
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65 youth in ARRA
40 youth in Youth Works
13 youth in BYRN/ARRA
Recruited 80 companies
Strengthen Reconnect
Center
 Maintain Reconnect Center
to provide options for youth
who drop out of school
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 Youth Council Berkshire
Community Action Council
 $75,000 (BCAC grants & local
resources)
 Evaluation Committee
 68 ACTIVE cases (FY10):
 22 enrolled in GED
 14 obtained GED
 16 employed
 6 enrolled in post-secondary
& training
# youth go back to school
# youth enter training
# youth receive GED
# youth employed
Evaluation of Program
GOAL 2: Close the skills gap
To enhance the effectiveness of the workforce system to align and coordinate resources/services, engage partners, and connect job seekers to high-demand, high-growth jobs
OBJECTIVE
ACTION STEPS
Accountable
Resources Needed
DELIVERABLES
Status as of 11/2009
Keep community
partners informed of
workforce trends and
labor market
information
 Conduct needs assessment, research &
development
 Convene training providers to identify
areas for potential collaboration
 Annual labor market fact sheet
 Updated Workforce Blueprint
 BCREB Workforce
Committee
 LMI research and development
started
Collaborate with
secondary and postsecondary school
systems to develop
workforce initiatives
that create pipeline of
workers
 Gather internship information from
colleges and vocational programs
 Review current academic offerings;
conduct GAP analysis
 Convene industry meetings for health,
manufacturing, retail, education, and
travel/tourism
 Overview of college internships
 List of recommendations for
academic offerings
 Apply for grant opportunities to
enhance/develop curriculum
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BCREB
Berkshire Compact
Colleges
Vocational programs
Community Based
organizations
 $100,000 implementation
grant
 75% colleges submitted information
 Convened with South Berkshire
Education Collaborative
 Convened with MCLA Lifelong
Learning
 Convened with BCC Business &
Industry division
 Convened with healthcare orgs
Develop/enhance
sector training
programs
 Evaluate Applied Manufacturing
WCTF grant
 Evaluate Pathways out of Poverty grant
 Conduct Non-profit study
 Convene Green Jobs/Clean Energy
companies
 Research/apply for industry sector grant
 125 peopled trained in
manufacturing
 25 people trained in clean energy
sector
 Non-profit study complete
 Receipt of training dollars
 BCREB Evaluation
Committee
 BCREB Workforce
Committee
 Berkshire Chamber
 Berkshire Compact
 Goal to obtain $200,000
implementation grant
 Non-profit study conducted
Reduce nursing and
allied health staffing
shortages
 Attract, train and retain healthcare
employees
 Implement CNA training
 Implement LPN/technician training
 Implement RN training
 Research/apply for industry sector grant
 Evaluate Project HEALTH
 Number of people trained in
programs
 Increase retention rate
 Reduction in job vacancy rate
 # of grants secured
 125 people trained in Project
HEALTH
 BCREB Healthcare Task
Force
 Goal to obtain $200,00 for
healthcare implementation
grant
 Task Force convened
 Applied for grant
 Implemented LPN program for 12
students at Sweetbrook
Attract, train and
retain school-based
administration and
educators
 Increase # of highly qualified school
based staff (administrators and
teachers);
 Increase retention rate of school-basedstaff
 Establish Berkshire Readiness Center
 Connect educators to community
 # of highly qualified schoolbased-staff
 School-based-staff retention rate
 Provide quality professional
development opportunities for
educators
 # of teachers in Externships
 Berkshire Compact
 BCREB Youth Council
 BCREB Executive
Committee
 $50,000 readiness project
 Information gathering process
GOAL 3: Enhance the Workforce System
To position the workforce system to support and align with regional business retention, expansion and job creation efforts
OBJECTIVE
ACTION STEPS
Accountable
Resources Needed
DELIVERABLES
Status as of 11/2009
Increase effectiveness and
visibility of the BCREB
and workforce system
 Promote work of the
BCREB through media
 Engage private sector
leaders
 Develop solid marketing
plan
 Increase number of media hits
 Convene with 24 new employers
 10 presentations to business
organizations
 Active participation on Berkshire
Compact, Berkshire Chamber,
Berkshire Economic Development
Corporation, and Berkshire Visitors
Bureau
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Quality assurance and
continuous improvement of
the regional public
workforce system
 Develop/implement
community evaluation tool
- internal
 Evaluate all workforce
programs – external
 Accountable to Berkshire
Compact
 360 degree evaluation of BCREB
conducted
 Evaluate all workforce
development programs
 Quarterly updates provided to
Compact members
 Assessment (on-line Chamber)
 BCREB Evaluation Committee
 7 programs evaluated to date
Identify and apply for
funding opportunities
 Increase resources for
region
 # grants applied for
 New resources
 BCREB Executive Committee
 Applied for:
 Service Learning Grant
 Green Pathways grant
 Healthcare Pathways
 Healthcare skills grant
Maintain effective
collaborative partnerships
 Develop workforce
development strategies that
support regional economic
development efforts
 Create clear roles and
responsibilities of
workforce and economic
development partners
 Identify gaps, overlap and
opportunities for improving
alignment and synergy
 BCREB integrated into Compact,
BEDC and Chamber strategic plans
 Complete Memorandum of
Agreements with partner
organizations
 BCREB Executive Committee
 Attended Compact and BEDC
meetings
BCREB Marketing Committee
# articles
# radio/television
80% participation rate
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32 articles
2 radio/television
Convened with 5 new employers
3 public presentations
Attended Compact, Chamber,
and BEDC meetings