Hartford Business Journal

January 27, 2020

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20 Hartford Business Journal • January 27, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com Nonprofits play key role in workforce development By Liese Klein Special to the Hartford Business Journal T he path from high school to a job was once direct — many companies were willing to take on unskilled workers and train them for entry-level posts. Now more than 70 percent of open positions in the state require some kind of post-high school education or certification, leaving those without a college degree or advanced credentials in lower-paying jobs or no job at all. That's helped exacerbate income inequality in Connecticut and na- tionwide, but it's also a main driver of the state's shortage in so-called middle-skill jobs in key industries like advanced manufacturing, construction and health care. The issue is so acute — it's estimated Connecticut employ- ers will need to fill 56,000 jobs annually through 2024, while the state's popula- tion shrinks and high schools graduate fewer pupils — that Gov. Ned Lamont recently named two dozen business and nonprofit executives, and several state and union officials, to a newly revamped council aimed at reviewing the state's workforce-development initiatives and strategy. But government alone, experts say, can't solve the problem, and increas- ingly nonprofit organizations have stepped in to help close the gap. "Because of technology, employ- ers are looking for a more skilled employee," said Karen Kakley, senior director of development and com- munity engagement at Our Piece of the Pie, a Hartford nonprofit focused on workforce development. "I see the work that nonprofits do to kind of be the bridge be- tween the schools and the employ- ers. We help to further develop and refine some of the skills that aren't able to be covered within the classroom." An estimated $130 million in public money was spent in Connect- icut on workforce development in the last year, along with more than $30 mil- lion over the past three years in private funding, according to a study by the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy. Our Piece of the Pie (OPP) spends 53 percent of its $8.5-million budget on community workforce-develop- ment programs, putting $1.5 million directly back into the community by employing young Hartford residents like 19-year-old Nyah Rivera. Rivera became a youth ambassador at OPP after overcoming years of strug- gle in Hartford Public Schools. She had gotten into trouble and been assigned to an alternative program a few years ago when OPP offered jobs to students who kept their grades up. "It was very helpful; a lot of us didn't know where we were going in life, we doubted our- selves," Rivera said. With help from an OPP mentor and experience work- ing at Hartford City Hall and the Asylum Hill Boys & Girls Club, she learned skills like public speaking and found her life transformed. "OPP pushed me to do better and move for- ward," Rivera said. Now she plans to attend community college for two years starting in the fall and eventually transfer to UConn for business studies. Almost 1,400 young people were enrolled in OPP programs in the most recent fiscal year, of whom 169 gained employment and nearly 200 earned vocational certifications, post-secondary degrees or high school diplomas. Funding for the nonprofit comes from state grants and donors like the Dalio Family Foundation, Newman's Own Founda- tion and The Hartford. A typical OPP client might be a fast-food worker with a high-school education who is seeking higher earnings and more consistent hours. The nonprofit matches the worker with a program that offers new skills, like forklift certification, along with customer-service training. After ob- taining those credentials, the worker is encouraged to continue their educa- tion at a community college to embark on a more specialized career path. The agency also works with young people reentering the workforce from prison. All through the process, Our Piece of the Pie staffers serve as mentors providing advice and guidance. Workforce preparation has also evolved into a main focus for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Hart- ford, according to President and CEO Samuel S. Gray Jr. "When you look at it from a nonprofit lens, it's really how are we contribut- ing to building a young person in regards to those soft skills that are necessary for them to be marketable in the future," Gray said. The non- profit's programs include the Bank of America Student Leaders Program, which offers paid summer internships for high school students along with fi- nancial literacy and job-skills training. Future plans for the Boys & Girls Club, which has a $4.2-million annual budget, include a partnership with Hartford Public Schools to allow for more job training and internship op- portunities to help incentivize school attendance and graduation. "I feel very optimistic," Gray said. "These are our kids, this is our town, this is the future." NONPROFIT NOTEBOOK The Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford offers several workforce-development programs for members, like those shown above, including its Bank of America Student Leaders Program, which offers paid internships for high school students. CT's federal workforce- development funding The state receives federal funding each year under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to support workforce-development programs for youth, adults and dislocated workers. Here are the funding totals since 2015. Year Federal funding 2015 $32,104,008 2016 $34,160,175 2017 $36,944,556 2018 $34,286,515 2019 $34,678,250 Source: CT DOL Boys & Girls Clubs of Hartford President and CEO Sam Gray Jr. said his nonprofit will add more job-training programs. PHOTO | HBJ FILE PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED

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