ERIC Number: ED405468
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1997-Mar
Pages: 17
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Workforce Development Success through Community, Business, and School Partnership.
Taylor-Dunlop, Korynne; And Others
A cooperative program in Benton Harbor, Michigan, joins schools, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and a university to address local work force issues and needs identified by area employers and to place program graduates in jobs with a livable wage in an area of high unemployment and crime. The program consists of two major instructional components: (1) a job-specific applied skills program accomplished through self-paced, multimedia, interactive computer-based lessons; and (2) a life skills seminar designed to develop work maturity and life-coping skills needed to maintain employment. In addition to instruction, the following services are provided to participants: assessment, counseling, mentoring, resume writing, referral, placement, follow-up, and continuing education. Following the first year of operation, 182 participants had completed the 12-week program, and 132 had been placed in jobs with average wages of $7 per hour with fringe benefits. The work retention rate is about 80 percent, with some program completers having been employed for more than a year. Many are recent high-school graduates from at-risk environments who were unable to get jobs before participating in the program. Factors in the program's success include commitment, administrative style, staffing, environment, and the curricular and instructional process. (Contains 15 references.) (KC)
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Michigan
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A