For Your Calendar
Minneapolis
Workforce Council Meeting
Date: Tuesday, March 15,
2016
Time: 8:00 – 9:30 am
Location: McKnight Foundation
Minneapolis
Workforce Council Meeting
Date: Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Time: 8:00 – 9:30 am
Location: TBD
2016
Guide to Starting a Business in Minnesota Now Available
The popular guide, now in
its 34th edition and free of charge, provides a concise summary of the major
issues faced by anyone starting a business in Minnesota.
Find the Guide.
2016
Minneapolis Teen Job and Opportunity Fair Seeks Exhibitors
Saturday, April 30
11:00 am to 3:00 pm
Minneapolis Central Library, Minneapolis
Connect with hundreds of
eager teens (14-19) for job, internship, and volunteer opportunities at
your organization.
Find more information on
the Teen Job Fair website.
Minnesota
Named Best State for Job Creation
Research company Gallup
gave Minnesota the top spot in its job creation index for 2015. Gallup noted
the state’s low unemployment rate, last reported at 3.5 percent, was in part
due to strong job growth. Over the course of 2015, Minnesota added more than
42,000 jobs, with the largest job gains in education and health, leisure and
hospitality, and professional and business services.
See the report.
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The Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is the foundation of workforce development
initiatives and job-training programs for adults and youth.
DEED (Department of
Employment and Economic Development) will hold a public forumfor members
of the public to learn about the draft of Minnesota's Combined State Plan for WIOA.
Wednesday, March 9 │ 12:15
p.m. to 2:00 p.m. │ DEED │ 332 Minnesota St, Suite E200 (skyway level) St Paul,
MN
The draft plan is
available for public comment through March 7, 2016.
Register for one of the
forums and/or find out how to submit comments here.
 100
Companies Pledge to Hire Youth at STEP-UP Employer Breakfast
On
February 2, Mayor Betsy Hodges and Governor Mark Dayton joined over 250 Twin
Cities business leaders at the Target Field Metropolitan Club to kick off the
employer recruitment season for the summer 2016 STEP-UP Achieve youth
employment program (a part of the City of Minneapolis STEP-UP program). At the
event, 100 Twin Cities employers pledged 626 paid summer internships toward a
goal of 750 internships.
Businesses, public
agencies and nonprofits interested in employing interns in 2016 can sign
up here.
The City of Minneapolis STEP-UP program is a nationally
recognized youth employment model that trains and matches Minneapolis youth
ages 14-21 with paid internships. In partnership with AchieveMpls,
STEP-UP works through a public‐private
partnership with over 225 local businesses and organizations. STEP-UP
serves populations that face some of the greatest barriers to employment,
particularly youth from low income families, youth of color, youth from
immigrant families, and youth with disabilities. Since its launch in
2004, the program has connected over 21,000 young people with internships at
top Twin Cities companies, nonprofits and public agencies, providing critical
work-readiness training, on-the-job experience, professional connections and
ongoing support for career and college success.
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The Creating IT Futures Foundation, EMERGE Community Development, Mayor Betsy
Hodges, and the City of Minneapolis are accepting applications for a
free, women-only class of the foundation’s IT-Ready career program until March
25th. The class is part of the Minneapolis TechHire Initiative, funded in part by the
City of Minneapolis, with the mission of closing the workforce skills gap in
the high tech economy by building a path for diverse workers to access
training, support and tech jobs across the Greater Minneapolis region.
The eight-week course runs
from 9:15 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. on weekdays from April 11th until June 3rd at the
EMERGE Career & Technology Center in North Minneapolis. Students will
receive hands-on experience building computers, setting up computer networks
and displays, and configuring operating systems and hardware. Students also
will learn about soft skills, such a team work, critical thinking, and
professional communication. Upon completion, IT-Ready students will be prepared
for the CompTIA A+ certification exam which covers desktop and help-desk
technical support duties and skills.
In 2015, 179 trainees
completed accelerated programs through the Minneapolis TechHire initiative.
Graduates placed in full-time positions received annual salaries averaging
$45,802.
In a first-of-its-kind report, the
Minnesota State Demographic Center describes the economic status of all
Minnesotans and the 17 largest cultural groups in the state—with new data on
employment, hours worked, income, education, language barriers, homeownership
and much more. This data can help us better understand the unique needs of all
those present in our state, and craft smart policy and programmatic responses
so that all can contribute to—and benefit from—the state’s economy.
The Chartbook
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