Abdul Fatah Waziri - Refugee Social Service Employment Program with the Ethiopian Community Development Council

Mr. Abdul Fateh Waziri moved to the United States on a Special Immigration Visa (SIV) program. He participated in the Refugee Social Service (RSS) Employment Program with the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC) in Silver Spring, Maryland. Mr. Waziri has a bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering and more than five years of experience in construction quality control projects. While he had multiple professional certificates from Afghanistan, he needed to fine-tune his résumé to demonstrate his skills and expertise. Mr. Waziri stated that following his intake with ECDC, he received job training to assist him with résumé and cover letter writing, understanding job sites, and U.S work culture. Following this, he began working with the ECDC Business Engagement team, which connected him to a network of local employers. Learn more...

Workforce Partners

Maryland Department of Labor                                                                  Maryland Department of Human Services

Maryland State Department of Education                                                Governor's Workforce Development Board

Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development                            Maryland Workforce Association

Maryland's Latest Workforce Development Updates

• MD Labor Celebrates 2021 Black History Month - National Black History Month, also commonly referred to as African American History Month, is a nation-wide celebration observed each February to recognize the achievements and central role African Americans have played in the history of the United States (U.S.). American historian and author Dr. Carter G. Woodson established the first Black History Week nearly a century ago on February 12, 1926. The celebration took place during the second week of February for many years to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, two key figures in the history of African Americans. The celebration’s observance was expanded from a week to a month in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Every U.S. president since then has proclaimed February as National Black History Month.

          To read the Black/African Americans’ inspiring success stories and testimonial and watch videos, please                  visit: Black History Month 2021.

          To see some fascinating statistics on Maryland’s Black/African American community today and learn about              some of the Black Americans and African American immigrants contributing to Maryland’s vitality and                      richness, download and share the new Black History Month 2021 flyer.

• Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace - The movement towards greater diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is receiving increased recognition in the work world. Research has shown that the implementation of DEI principles and practices yield a wide range of benefits, including improved team performance, increased productivity and profits, higher levels of creativity and innovation and more. To begin to understand the expansive and evolving field of DEI, we went looking for basic definitions for the three central terms. We discovered a wealth of options, but ultimately selected definitions presented by the University of Edinburgh for their clarity and simplicity: 
  • Diversity is recognizing, respecting and celebrating each other's differences. A diverse environment is one with a wide range of backgrounds and mindsets, which allows for an empowered culture of creativity and innovation.
  • Equity means fairness: ensuring that individuals, or groups of individuals, are not treated less favorably because of their protected characteristics. Equity also means equality of opportunity: ensuring that those who may be disadvantaged can get the tools they need to access the same, fair opportunities as their peers. (Note: The term “protected characteristics” is referred to in U.S. federal law by the correlate term “protected group” or “protected class.” More information is available here.)
  • Inclusion means creating an environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. An inclusive environment can only be created when group members recognize their own unconscious biases and learn how to manage them.

           The national celebration of Black History Month is a great time to learn more about DEI and how                             this powerful approach can transform the workforce! Below are some excellent articles we curated                           to get you started!

• Free course from the University of Michigan: Diversity Equity and Inclusion – The Basics
• Article tying research to the business case for DEI: Why Diversity and Inclusion Has Become a Business Priority
• Article from Harvard Business Publishing: Start Here: A Primer on Diversity and Inclusion
• Society for Human Resource Management: Resource Page for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
• Video from InspireFest: How Diversity and Inclusion Drive the Future of the Workplace
• Language Access Plan: Practical Guide for Frontline Staff Serving English Language Learners -

  Are you a career specialist at one of Maryland’s American Job Centers (AJCs), looking for guidance on how to translate vital documents to help customers secure needed workforce services? Are you one of Labor’s Division of Unemployment Insurance (DUI) staffers, struggling to communicate important benefit information to a claimant with limited English proficiency (LEP)? Or maybe you are a supervisor who would like to find staff training to help your frontline service providers become more familiar with policies and procedures for serving LEP customers/claimants, but you aren’t sure where to look?

  Good news! Maryland’s Language Access Plan is a user-friendly tool designed to provide answers to these questions and many others related to serving LEP customers/claimants.

  Labor’s Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning worked collaboratively with DUI, Local Workforce Development Areas, and Labor’s Office of Fair Practices to develop Maryland’s Language Access Plan. This handy document covers a wide range of guidance that will help frontline service providers ensure LEP customers/claimants have the same access to services as native English speakers. Check it out!

• Education and Training Scholarships for New Americans - New American Workforce Program - Many scholarship programs exist that provide financial support to foreign-born workers. Labor has compiled an extensive list of these scholarships here. 

• Ethics Commissions Bring the Voice of Marylanders to the Governor's Office - Opportunities to build connections with community members who share their backgrounds can provide jobseekers with a valuable support system. If you are a service provider working with foreign-born jobseekers or individuals from underrepresented populations, consider investigating the resources available through the seven Ethnic Commissions that operate within the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives:

  • Governor’s Commission on African Affairs
  • Governor’s Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs
  • Governor’s Commission on Hispanic Affairs
  • Governor’s Commission on Middle Eastern American Affairs
  • Governor’s Commission on South Asian American Affairs
  • Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture
  • Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs

  Over 100 commissioners represent more than 40% of the total population in Maryland and have the unique ability to engage with the 18% of the total population of Maryland who are multilingual, bilingual, and non-English and limited-English speakers. The commissioners engage the more than 2.7 million Marylanders of diverse communities by sharing resources available across Maryland.

• Johns Hopkins Medicine Highlights Registered Apprenticeship Program Targeting New Americans - 

  In 2016, the Baltimore Alliance for Careers in Healthcare (BACH) received a grant from Labor to launch an innovative new health care apprenticeship program targeting current workers and unemployed refugees or immigrants. In addition to providing participants with valuable occupational skills and a path to higher wages, the program also set out to address the critical shortage of skilled workers in the health care industry. The 14-week program coordinates full-time supervised work assignments with Related Instruction provided by the Community College of Baltimore County. Graduates of the program are prepared to take on roles as Environmental Care Supervisors. Learn more about this creative and successful program by reading the original article.

• Accessibility Tip of the Month - All Maryland Workforce System staff should be sure that the digital and printed materials they publish are accessible to individuals with disabilities, including internal and public-facing documents. But if accessibility issues are not a focus of your job, knowing where to start can feel a little overwhelming. We will include tips each month to help our newsletter readership introduce themselves incrementally to easy accessibility tips and tricks.

  People with visual impairments frequently use assistive technologies to read a document. This is typically software that reads a computer screen out loud. These screen readers detect the structure and features of a document by looking at the document’s underlying code. When the document is coded properly, it is accessible.

  There are seven requirements to make a Word document accessible, including:

  1. Document Structure
  2. Figures
  3. Hyperlinks
  4. Lists
  5. Columns
  6. Color and Contrast
  7. Tables

  This month we’ll tackle #2 - Figures.”

  Another requirement concerns Figures. A figure can be a photograph, drawing, chart, graph, or other image. You will need to add Alternate Text, which is a brief description of the figure, and position the figure properly. The Figures module provides more details.

  • Watch YouTube Video: How to Make Figures Accessible
  • Download Instructional Adobe PDF: How to Make Figures Accessible

  Content excerpted from the Office of the Texas Governor’s Creating Accessible Microsoft Office Documents resource page.

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Benchmarks of Success Newsletters

• Issue 01, July 2018
• Issue 02, August 2018
• Issue 03, September 2018
• Issue 04, October 2018
• Issue 05, November 2018
• Issue 06, December 2018
• Issue 07, February 2019
• Issue 08, March 2019
• Issue 09, April 2019
• Issue 10, May 2019
• Issue 11, June 2019
• Issue 12, July/August 2019
• Issue 13, September 2019
• Issue 14, October 2019
• Issue 15, November/December 2019
• Issue 16, January 2020
• Issue 17, February 2020
• Issue 18, April 2020
• Issue 19, September 2020
• Issue 20, October 2020
• Issue 21, November/December 2020
• Issue 22, January 2021

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Benchmarks of Success Committee Updates

Committee Chairs welcome questions from newsletter readers regarding the work in which their groups are involved! To be connected with a committee's leadership team, feel free to contact the Communications Committee at dlwdalcommunications-labor@maryland.gov.

All committees are currently meeting virtually.

• The Executive Steering Committee is composed of the agency leaders of the partner agencies who meet periodically to provide the WIOA Alignment Group with high-level guidance. You can learn more about the Executive Steering Committee’s ongoing activities here.
• The WIOA Alignment Group is composed of the department and division-level leaders of partner agencies who meet on a monthly basis to collaboratively address issues, plan joint efforts, make recommendations to the Executive Steering Committee, and manage and guide the activities of the Benchmarks of Success committees. The WIOA Alignment Group meets on the last Monday of each month. The most recent meeting was held on February 22, 2021 and the next meeting is scheduled for March 29, 2021. You can learn more about the WIOA Alignment Group’s ongoing activities here.
• The Data and Dashboard Committee is comprised of representatives from partner agencies who possess subject matter expertise in program-based performance requirements and data collection methodologies and tools. The Committee meets on a quarterly basis to develop a consistent, sustainable system all workforce partners can use to measure, analyze, display, and apply Benchmarks data to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of services. The Committee’s most recent meeting was held on February 16, 2021. You can learn more about the Data and Dashboard Committee’s ongoing activities here.
• The Communications Committee is comprised of representatives from partner agencies who possess subject matter expertise in programs and communications methods and tools. The Committee meets on a monthly basis to foster the integration of Maryland’s workforce system by broadly promoting the activities of the Benchmarks of Success committees and the services and resources of partner agencies and programs. The Committee produces this monthly newsletter as a forum for partners to share information on important developments that impact the system. The Committee held its most recent meeting on February 11, 2021. The group's next scheduled meeting will be held on March 11, 2021. You can learn more about the Communications Committee’s ongoing activities here.
• The Policy Committee is comprised of representatives from partner agencies who possess subject matter expertise in workforce system policy issues. The Committee meets on a monthly basis to research policy issues and produces an annual Policy Recommendations Report. The recommendations included in the Report help to guide system priorities and initiatives. The Committee’s most recent meeting was held on November 19, 2020. The Committee’s next meeting is scheduled for March 18, 2021. You can learn more about the Policy Committee’s ongoing activities here.
• The Professional Development and Technical Assistance Committee works to advance a unified professional development program that helps all partner programs maximize access to and use of skills and credentialing and life management skills, eliminate barriers to employment through the use of supportive services, and strengthen and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the workforce system. The Committee held its most recent meeting on January 21, 2021. The next meeting is scheduled for March 18, 2021. You can learn more about the Professional Development and Technical Assistance Committee’s ongoing activities here.

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