Census of construction pre-apprenticeship programs: As policymakers seek ways to stimulate employment and encourage the creation of “green jobs,” further information is needed on the capacity of the workforce system to prepare individuals – particularly low-income and minority job seekers – for emerging opportunities. To begin to address that need, in early 2009 WSI conducted a “census” of pre-apprenticeship programs in the construction field. The census was designed to capture information such as program size, location, services offered, populations served, etc. This project, which was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, resulted in a report that is designed to help inform discussions about the need for investment in skills training, and strategies for to ensuring that apprenticeships and construction-related jobs are open to more low-income and minority candidates. Based on responses from 260 programs nationwide, the report presents information about program size, services offered, populations served, funding sources, and successes and challenges in placing trainees in apprenticeships or jobs.

With continuing support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, WSI is building on this work through further investigation of some of the key program models within the field of construction pre-apprenticeship training. WSI has interviewed a group of leaders from select construction pre-apprenticeship programs that responded to the census. The results of these interviews provide a more in-depth analysis of successful program models and promising practices in pre-apprenticeship programs. Read brief profiles of 13 programs.

A comprehensive examination of the sectoral employment development field: Over a two-year period, WSI and a team of colleagues examined the depth and breadth of the sectoral employment development field. Their work culminated in the 2007 publication, Sectoral Strategies for Low-Income Workers: Lessons from the Field. Project researchers sought to define “sector” in light of current workforce development practices, and to provide examples of specific strategies being used to improve opportunities for low-wage workers in local labor markets. The research team visited 13 sector initiatives and spoke with more than 60 leaders of workforce programs who used a sectoral approach for at least part of their work. In addition, the researchers conducted a brief e-mail survey of 227 workforce organizations using an industry-specific approach to their work.

In related work:

• WSI published an 8-page companion document in November 2007, Sector Strategies in brief. It offers a succinct definition of the sector strategy, highlights key outcomes achieved by past sector program participants, describes how the approach has spread over time and includes several examples of innovative initiatives.
• In March 2008, WSI created Systems Change: A Survey of Program Activities, which explores ways sector initiatives have addressed structural issues – in industry practices, the education and training infrastructure, and in public policy – that hamper their effectiveness. Based on the systems change activities of approximately 250 sector programs, this 28-page on-line document provides a framework for understanding commonly used strategies, offers practical examples and discusses challenges programs face engaging in this work.
  

Skills to Live By: Participant Reflections on the Value of their Sector Training Experience: To better understand how sectoral training participants view their experiences in hindsight and what barriers they see to future success in the workforce, WSI conducted a series of focus groups and 26 in-depth interviews with graduates four years post-training. Those conversations are synthesized and shared in Skills to Live By, which also delves into some of the recurring themes that surfaced in the discussions. The publication reveals how participants may experience positive changes in their work and personal lives as a result of their sector training experience, yet still struggle to make ends meet, balance work and family responsibilities, and advance in the workforce. Using extensive excerpts from interviews, the publication provides a rare opportunity for participants – in their own voices – to share their insights about sector training and their ongoing challenges to career advancement.

Sectoral Employment Development Learning Project (SEDLP): This 4½-year project was an intensive learning evaluation of the outcomes, strategies and industry relationships of six leading sectoral programs. The project produced a series of research reports that highlighted the labor market outcomes of low-income participants of these projects both prior to receiving training, and one and two years following training. In addition, extensive research was done on the particular strategies each program employed to provide services to low-income people and to industry. Results of that research appear in research reports that discuss the methodology used and provide an overview of the outcomes; in-depth case studies of each of the organizations participating in the SEDLP; and policy papers that benchmarked findings about participants in the six programs against findings from other well known studies of workforce development demonstrations, such as the National Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Study. Click here to find out more about the research reports, case studies, and policy papers that resulted from this research.

Department of Labor Sectoral Employment Development Demonstration Project: Beginning in Program Year 2000, the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor funded 39 local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) to participate in the sectoral employment demonstration. WSI and the Urban Institute collaborated to serve as evaluators for the project from September 2002 through December 2003. The Evaluation of the Sectoral Employment Demonstration Program: Final Report (published June 2004) discusses grantee strategies and progress in using the sector approach to engage local businesses and meet their needs, to identify and address needs of specific segments of the labor force, and to support the overall health of the targeted sector. The final evaluation report is accompanied by a separate volume that profiles the work of each of the grantees. The evaluation built on work by WSI and the National Network of Sector Partners in 2002 to conduct an interim review of the progress made by the grantees. Results of the interim evaluation are available in the report: Mid-Project Review: The Department of Labor Sectoral Employment Development Demonstration (published May 2002).

Jobs and the Urban Poor: Privately Initiated Sectoral Strategies: In the early 1990s, the Aspen Institute became engaged in an effort to assess the potential of newly emerging sectoral employment development strategies. This research looked at the experience of community-based organizations that were undertaking sector approaches to workforce development. Published in 1995, Jobs and the Urban Poor: Privately Initiated Sectoral Strategies is an initial attempt to define sectoral workforce development strategies and to assess their potential to alleviate urban poverty by providing good jobs for low-income individuals.

From the Bottom Up: Toward a Strategy for Income and Employment Generation Among the Disadvantaged: Published in 1993, this report was the result of the Aspen Institute’s earliest efforts to define and document innovative income- and employment-generation strategies to assist disadvantaged workers. In conducting the research for this report, Aspen assessed 60 self-employment, job training and placement, job creation and retention, and community-based finance programs nationally. One important finding was that organizations that adopted market-oriented (often sectoral) approaches offered some of the most promising models of practice.