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The Greater Metropolitan Workforce Council, in
partnership with Minnesota High Tech Association, is pleased to introduce
TechHire - a new, regional initiative, preparing our area’s labor force for
careers in information technology.
Our goal is to provide a competitive,
highly-trained IT talent resource to our business partners. To make this happen
- we need your input! Join us on October
8 to receive information on accessing trained job candidates, as
well as on current IT workforce trends. We will ask you for your input on
future training programs, share data on “real-time” industry demand survey
results, and review labor market intelligence from Minnesota’s Wanted
Analytics.
Meeting Information:
Thursday, October 8, 2015, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Open Book, Target Performance Hall (second
level)
1011 South Washington Ave, Minneapolis, MN
55415
Parking: free lot on the east side of the
building; and along 11 Avenue South (Grumpy’s) numbered 1-21 ($4.00);
also metered street parking
No RSVP necessary. Email Marie Larson or call 612-673-5292 with any
questions.
On September 29, Minneapolis
Employment and Training hosted the first ever Minneapolis Services to Adults
Conference for its large network of employment and training service providers
who work with adults (including young adults ages 18-24). The daylong event at
the Hennepin County Minneapolis Central Library brought together staff from the
programs funded by Minneapolis Works, Minneapolis Youth Works, Train-to-Career,
Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult. The
100+ participants also included staff from organizations that don’t have
current contracts with Minneapolis Employment and Training but have applied to
become future eligible providers.
The conference offered the participants a great
learning experience and the opportunity to share knowledge through keynote
addresses, concurrent workshops, and networking.
Exhibitors from Housing, Health, Training,
Financial, Digital, Re-Entry, and other services shared resources that
conference participants can use to assist their clients in many aspects of their
lives.
Mayor Betsy Hodges and the City of Minneapolis
are partnering with Creating IT Futures Foundation and EMERGE Community
Development to bring a dedicated 10-week IT-Ready career program to young
adults, ages 18-24, in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood in October.
In early 2015, Minneapolis Employment and
Training held listening sessions in Cedar Riverside. At these meetings,
community leaders voiced concerns about the number of young people in the
neighborhood who lack employment skills and jobs. As a result of this and IT Ready’s interest
in Cedar Riverside, the idea of a targeted training program began.
“IT-Ready has been a tremendous success in our
region,” said Deb Bahr Helgen, Director of City of Minneapolis Employment and
Training. “This training opens up doors to living wage jobs and great career
paths in the IT industry. I’m very excited to have the IT-Ready training come
to the Cedar Riverside community.”
The IT-Ready program, is hosted by EMERGE and
funded by City of Minneapolis Employment and Training, the Pohlad Family Foundation, and Creating IT Futures Foundation.
To learn more about IT Ready, visit the
Creating IT Futures website.
Minnesota has received a new federal
apprenticeship grant of $5 million from the U.S. Department of Labor's American
Apprenticeship Initiative to bring more than 800 people into newly registered
apprenticeship programs in 29 different high-growth occupations.
The grant partners the Department of Employment
and Economic Development (DEED) and the Department of Labor and Industry (DOL) with
employers to support activities including outreach and recruiting, assessments,
adult basic education, wrap-around support services and on-the-job and industry
recognized credential training.
As of September 2015, Minnesota reached a high
mark of almost 11,000 registered apprentices; up from approximately 6,600 in
2011. Minnesota's apprenticeship employers and the state's construction labor
unions have increased their focus on outreach and recruiting of women and
minorities resulting in the number of apprentices that are women and minorities
rising from 17 percent in 2011 to 26 percent in 2015.
Laura Beeth, Minneapolis Workforce Council
member and Chair of the Governor’s Workforce Development Council, traveled to
the White House for the grant announcement. Laura said, “It was amazing to be
one of the 100 leaders invited to the White House Summit on Apprenticeships. I
witnessed the funding support and high level commitment from the White House to
advance apprenticeship workforce pipelines. Apprenticeships provide an
affordable career path leading to higher wage job opportunities. The cost of
education is becoming increasingly more expensive and we have a lot of people
coming into the workforce who don’t have the same education opportunities of
those who are leaving. I welcome the opportunity to bring apprenticeships into
the health care sector.”
Read Governor Dayton’s press release.
The second annual North Minneapolis Job and Resource Fair, serving
Minneapolis area businesses and the north side community, attracted more than 200
jobseekers. The September 16 event was held from
3:00 - 7:00 p.m. at
the Minneapolis North Workforce Center.
Exhibitor capacity was maximized,
as business turnout more than doubled over last year. In total, 58 businesses and resource
providers engaged with local jobseekers while Workforce Center staff provided
event concierge services, including a booth for resume’ review and application
assistance.
The North Minneapolis Workforce Center provides jobseeker services
on-site Monday - Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Services offered include
job search and resume’ help, computer and fax machine access, career counselor
assistance and workshops; all at no cost. A schedule is available here.
The White House has issued a report highlighting the steps taken since last
July to expand the number of pathways for Americans to gain the skills they
need to get better, higher-paying jobs.
The steps included, for example:
- Agencies awarded over
15 competitive job-training grants totaling over $1.2 billion and more than $8
billion in non-competitive formula funding that incorporate job-driven training
elements such as employer engagement, work-based learning, and use of labor
market information
- Some of the largest
competitive grant programs have been targeted toward expanding proven, job-driven
strategies. DOL awarded nearly $300 million in Sector Partnerships and
Job-Driven Training grants in 40 states, territories and tribes to expand
sector strategies, which lead to higher rates of employment and earnings
- The nation has experienced
the largest growth in Registered Apprenticeship in nearly a decade. The
President announced the largest-ever competitive investment to expand the
national apprenticeship system with $175M in American Apprenticeship grants to
46 winners across the country, which have committed to adding 34,000 apprentices
- The administration is working
with employers, communities, and training providers to get more Americans into
higher paying jobs with new initiatives like Techhire, with commitments from 30+
cities and states to expand innovative training and hiring models to get more
people into tech jobs. Minneapolis is a participating city.
See the whole report.
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