May 25, 2011 4:08 P.M.

In response to Jim Lacey’s article “Gates, Buffett, and Misguided Philanthropy,” National Review Online received this letter from Steve Gunderson of the Council on Foundations.

Read the article HERE.

The health-care industry is the largest employer in Pennsylvania, and as a result, this industry has a huge impact on the state’s economy.1 As baby boomers age and their health-care needs increase, however, the state is facing a health-care workforce shortage that is magnified by high turnover rates, an inadequate pool of qualified employees, and a lack of qualified instructors.

Read the full article HERE.

Now on to Lasik – that’s safe right?

In all seriousness, please tune in here for our musings on jobs, skills, policy, economic development, March Madness and Duke’s epic collapse. (Sorry Stephanie)

Let JOIN be your go-to resource for demystifying the world of workforce and skill development.

And yet – those of us working in public policy or philanthropy don’t always look critically at what our grants yield beyond a set of standard metrics. Here’s what I mean by that – at JOIN, when we make a grant we ask our grantees to report all sorts of information back to us. How many people did you train with our dollars? How many employers benefitted from hiring a new worker or training their current workforce? What new wages were triggered by the attainment of a new credential?

These are important questions.

But they are not the whole story- or at least we didn’t think they were. At JOIN we hypothesized (based on a lot of conversations with employers, workers, and partners in government, foundations and community based organizations) that our metrics don’t capture a lot of the other benefits employers, workers and the community receive from training partnerships.

So we decided to assemble a team of advisors to work with a really smart consultant to develop some new models for capturing the value workforce partnerships create. That study, ROI 360, is now out in the world – and you can read it here. Here’s what I like about the report:

• It gives us a new way of thinking about the value of the job training model JOIN supports. Heck it gives us a new way of thinking about ROI.
• Our ROI captures some of the magic (that’s a non technical word, see also: special sauce) that arises from true partnerships between employers, community based organizations and educational institutions.
• The study details how and how much employers, workers and community benefit
• 5 year returns to business – over 400%
• 5 year returns to workers – 190 – 376% (depending on the length of training)
• 5 year returns to community – 429 – 717%
• The report offers recommendations – drawn from the findings – for how to improve existing partnerships to drive maximum value.

Go on, read the report – it’s clear, concise and darn good looking. Click Here!

THE JOB OPPORTUNITY INVESTMENT NETWORK:
INVESTING IN A PROSPEROUS AND INCLUSIVE GREATER PHILADELPHIA

In 1950, three in every ten jobs required a postsecondary credential; today, seven in every ten jobs require such a credential. This need for skilled workers has outstripped the capacity of our higher education and training system, leaving communities with a tragic mismatch between the skills of their workers and the talent needs of their businesses.

Greater Philadelphia is a case study in this mismatch. Even during the recession and recovery, the region’s fastest growing industries—health care, university services, and clean energy—require post-secondary training and education. At the same time, 73% of residents have only a high school degree or less and most residents are functionally “low literate.” Indeed, Philadelphia ranks in the bottom ten percent of U.S. cities in residents with post-secondary education. As a result, businesses struggle to find skilled workers even as half the working-age population is unemployed. Greater Philadelphia thus confronts a “tale of two cities”: the region’s businesses are creating more skilled jobs than they can fill, while residents live in poverty because economic, social, and educational barriers make skilled careers unobtainable.

To address these dual challenges, a group of regional funders formed the Job Opportunity Investment Network (JOIN). JOIN believes the skill needs of workers and talent needs of businesses have a common solution: workforce partnerships. These partnerships bring together numerous employers in the same industry to identify mid-level talent gaps and connect these employers to social service agencies and job training organizations that can prepare low-skilled adults to fill these positions. JOIN’s strategy has three parts:

• Investment: JOIN increases the number of Greater Philadelphia adults earning family-sustaining wages by investing in innovative, effective, industry-led workforce partnerships that bring together businesses, social service organizations, and job training providers to create pathways into long-term careers for lower-skilled adults.
• Evaluation: JOIN works with an external evaluation team to assess the impact of its investments, identifying best practices and illuminating opportunities for improvement.
• Policy & Communications: JOIN advocates for the incorporation of these best practices into the public workforce system.

JOIN Investors include: The Knight Foundation, The United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, The William Penn Foundation, The Thomas Scattergood Foundation, Philadelphia LISC, the Delaware Valley Regional Economic Development Fund, Bank of America, Sunoco, Western Association, The National Fund for Workforce Solutions, Jobs for the Future, US Department of Labor and Corporation for National and Community Service.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM JOIN’S FIRST THREE YEARS

Investment Highlights

• Recruited 11 pooled and aligned funders to invest in JOIN, forming a $1 million collaborative
• Recruited 7 additional aligned funders to invest in JOIN-sponsored projects, such as the Social Innovation Fund, leveraging more than $1.8 million in additional local funds
• Attracted $4.2 million in new federal resources to the region from the Department of Labor, Corporation for National and Community Service and the White House, including Pathways out of Poverty, Social Innovation Fund, and Green Jobs Innovation grants

Workforce Partnership Highlights

• Invested in nine innovative workforce partnerships, in a range of growth industries
• Trained and educated more than 800 lower-skilled adults
• Helped over 600 lower-skilled adults gain industry-recognized credentials or degrees
• Connected over 400 lower-skilled adults to new job placements in a high-demand sector or wage increases in their current job
• Met the needs of more than 100 employers who directly benefitted from hiring JOIN-trained job-seekers, up-skilling their current workforce and connecting with peers through partnerships
• Improved access to career pipelines for low-skilled workers through career coaching, on the job training, apprenticeship opportunities and “earn and learn” training models

System Change Highlights

• Involved more than 1,000 community leaders and stakeholders in discussions about the workforce system, and touched more than 1,000,000 residents through earned media
• Recruited Governor Corbett’s endorsement of workforce partnerships
• Championed state legislation to institutionalize the workforce partnership model that is now law
• Educated key policymakers on the workforce partnership model by organizing Philadelphia site visits for senior Obama administration officials and leaders from the U.S. Departments of Labor, Education, and Health and Human Services
• Shaped federal legislation by presenting on the workforce partnership model to senior U.S. House and Senate staff, including the development of a Workforce Innovation Fund, which is now a reality

Emerging Opportunities

• JOIN is the regional test lab and thought leader in a national conversation focused on jobs and economic opportunity
• JOIN is an influential partner in the reorganization of Philadelphia’s workforce system
• JOIN’s engagement in economic development activity links economic development with human capital planning in new ways, e.g. serving in an advisory role at the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster at the Navy Yard.

Through our efforts, we ensure:

• Low-skilled workers have career pathways to quality jobs
• Employers have a robust talent pipeline

Learn more about us.