Innovative jobs programs for people with barriers to employment?
June 23, 2017 12:58 PM Subscribe
Can you point me toward any successful programs which prepare and train people with significant barriers to employment for jobs and career opportunities? I am even more specifically interested in programs which do the pre-employment prep and training as well as actually placing people in jobs with decent wages and benefits or a career ladder.
The components of the sort of programs I’m looking for include:
• Barriers to entry such as – prior incarceration, addiction and recovery, foster care, job discrimination based on race, gender, or sexuality, living in a high-unemployment and high-underemployment area, etc.
• Services provided include – mentorship, “wraparound” services, soft skills training, community and team building, and straight-up job training.
• Ideally the end-result is employment – participants are actually placed in employment, jobs have standards related to wages, benefits, and career ladders, all of this likely arranged via a partnership with a private or public sector employer.
Basically, what is the most innovative and inspirational type of stuff in this space that makes you wipe a single tear from your eye? – EMS Corps in Alameda County, CA is an example of what I’m looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ-DSSSehVI
The components of the sort of programs I’m looking for include:
• Barriers to entry such as – prior incarceration, addiction and recovery, foster care, job discrimination based on race, gender, or sexuality, living in a high-unemployment and high-underemployment area, etc.
• Services provided include – mentorship, “wraparound” services, soft skills training, community and team building, and straight-up job training.
• Ideally the end-result is employment – participants are actually placed in employment, jobs have standards related to wages, benefits, and career ladders, all of this likely arranged via a partnership with a private or public sector employer.
Basically, what is the most innovative and inspirational type of stuff in this space that makes you wipe a single tear from your eye? – EMS Corps in Alameda County, CA is an example of what I’m looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ-DSSSehVI
That's what Goodwill is in business to do. Lots of info and stories here, but specific programs are local.
posted by headnsouth at 1:29 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by headnsouth at 1:29 PM on June 23, 2017
Greyston Bakery, which bakes brownies for Ben & Jerry's.
Happy Cup Coffee in Portland, OR
Dave's Killer Bread outside Portland, OR
posted by knownassociate at 1:33 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Happy Cup Coffee in Portland, OR
Dave's Killer Bread outside Portland, OR
posted by knownassociate at 1:33 PM on June 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
Homeboy Industries (When I first heard of them, they were Homeboy tortillas--delicious). Give training, etc. to formerly incarcerated, gang-involved folk. And here in the Bay Area, Delancey Street--great restaurant and I've used them for every move I've done in the last 20+ years. Training jobs for formerly incarcerated, addicted, homeless, etc.
posted by agatha_magatha at 1:40 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by agatha_magatha at 1:40 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]
Provisions bakery provides social skills and employment skills to people with mental illness.
posted by SyraCarol at 2:26 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by SyraCarol at 2:26 PM on June 23, 2017
The NY Ontrack program provides wrap around services including job placement and coaching for persons experiencing psychosis.
posted by SyraCarol at 2:29 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by SyraCarol at 2:29 PM on June 23, 2017
They aren't really "innovative" because they are big govt programs that are slow to turn around, but the big players in this area are JobCorps, Americorps NCCC, Ticket to Work, and DVR. And the military.
posted by Snarl Furillo at 4:36 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by Snarl Furillo at 4:36 PM on June 23, 2017
Here in Atlanta, Central Outreach and Advocacy Center's Main Frame Program is near and dear to my heart. It is aimed at people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity. And here is a heart-warming blog post about it.
posted by hydropsyche at 8:23 AM on June 24, 2017
posted by hydropsyche at 8:23 AM on June 24, 2017
Here in Portland, OR, Portland YouthBuilders and Contructing Hope help train youth and adults (respectively) with low income, legal history, and other barriers to enter good-paying jobs in the construction trades.
posted by cnidaria at 8:41 AM on June 24, 2017
posted by cnidaria at 8:41 AM on June 24, 2017
There's also Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc. They focus their mission on women (self-indentified women -- they are trans-inclusive) generally and prioritize training women of color, but don't necessarily have a specific focus on folks with legal barriers.
Personally I think trades programs are great for the kind of person who's
interested in working with their hands, because someone with only a GED can start in a union apprenticeship at $16/hr plus benefits and (with regular union raises as they pass training exams) be at $42/hr plus $30/hr in benefits in 5 years.
posted by cnidaria at 8:51 AM on June 24, 2017
Personally I think trades programs are great for the kind of person who's
interested in working with their hands, because someone with only a GED can start in a union apprenticeship at $16/hr plus benefits and (with regular union raises as they pass training exams) be at $42/hr plus $30/hr in benefits in 5 years.
posted by cnidaria at 8:51 AM on June 24, 2017
Cafe Reconcile in New Orleans I think fits the bill. There's also an organization called REDF that supports social entreprenurship.
posted by radioamy at 1:20 PM on June 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by radioamy at 1:20 PM on June 24, 2017 [1 favorite]
Fedcap Rehabilitation Services: Located in NYC and dedicated to providing vocational and job skills training along with job placement.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 9:27 PM on June 24, 2017
posted by chrono_rabbit at 9:27 PM on June 24, 2017
San Francisco's Bakeworks is a project of Toolworks, which has "janitorial and staffing businesses which employ over 100 individuals with disabilities." (The Bakeworks page says they provide employment and training for "people with disabilities, who are homeless or at risk.") I haven't tried their quinoa potato crust pizzas, but their root beer cake is really good.
Better known in SF is the Delancey Street Foundation. From their home page: We’re considered the country's leading residential self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless and others who have hit bottom. ... We said we were going to take ex-convicts and ex-addicts and teach them to be teachers, general contractors, and truck drivers. They said it couldn’t be done. We said we were going to take 250 people who had never worked and had no skills and teach them to build a 400,000 square foot complex as our new home on the waterfront. They said it couldn’t be done. We said we were going to partner with colleges and get people who started out functionally illiterate to achieve bachelor of arts degrees. They said it couldn’t be done. We said we were going to run successful restaurants, moving companies, furniture making, and cafés and bookstores without any professional help. They said it couldn’t be done.
Probably their best-known businesses in the city are their restaurant and their moving company. Wikipedia has more on the Delancey Street Foundation.
posted by kristi at 9:57 PM on July 3, 2017
Better known in SF is the Delancey Street Foundation. From their home page: We’re considered the country's leading residential self-help organization for substance abusers, ex-convicts, homeless and others who have hit bottom. ... We said we were going to take ex-convicts and ex-addicts and teach them to be teachers, general contractors, and truck drivers. They said it couldn’t be done. We said we were going to take 250 people who had never worked and had no skills and teach them to build a 400,000 square foot complex as our new home on the waterfront. They said it couldn’t be done. We said we were going to partner with colleges and get people who started out functionally illiterate to achieve bachelor of arts degrees. They said it couldn’t be done. We said we were going to run successful restaurants, moving companies, furniture making, and cafés and bookstores without any professional help. They said it couldn’t be done.
Probably their best-known businesses in the city are their restaurant and their moving company. Wikipedia has more on the Delancey Street Foundation.
posted by kristi at 9:57 PM on July 3, 2017
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The inspirational part - to me, at least - is the enthusiastic adoption of the coffee around here. Lots of restaurants and coffee shops and stores sell their stuff even though it is a premium product, and several local businesses use it in their break room. The recognition of the true value of the product, both as good coffee and as a driver of change, is nice to see.
posted by AgentRocket at 1:20 PM on June 23, 2017 [1 favorite]