Jobs for the Future invites you to visit our redesigned Web site. We think you will continue to find www.jff.org to be a timely, accurate, and useable resource on creating educational and economic opportunity for youth and adults. The Web site's heart is "The Knowledge Center," providing easy access to JFF publications and information about our projects. And you can download almost any JFF product from the Web site at no charge.

The Web site is brand new, so please tell us how it works for you. And remember, because the site is changing all the time, we'd like to hear about what doesn't work as well and what features you want to see in the future.

To visit Jobs for the Future, go to: http://www.jff.org.

To comment, please click "Contact Us" on the Web site or e-mail us at: info@jff.org.

At JFF, we believe that the institutions comprising the "infrastructure" of the nation's educational and employment systems must meet the needs of two constituencies: those who are looking for employment AND employers who can provide jobs and advancement opportunities. Yet the top challenge faced by the people and organizations whose mission is to serve the first constituency—job seekers—is the challenge of engaging effectively with the second constituency—employers.

This issue of Newswire features strategies, policies, and resources that address this challenge. See items 3, 4, 5, and 6 below.

Does employer engagement matter if the goal is to help the unemployed and low-income workers find and succeed in family-sustaining careers? One answer comes from a poll conducted by Jobs for the Future and our partners in Workforce Innovation Networks (WINs).

In July, WINs asked a group of workforce development professionals who share that goal, "What is the primary workforce development challenge facing your community?"

HALF the respondents answered, "Employers are not connected to the system."

We asked, "What is the biggest challenge you face in implementing the Workforce Investment Act?" Over 40 percent of respondents said, "Engaging employers."

These workforce development professionals—from non-profit organizations, community colleges, and state and local intermediary organizations—had assembled for Workforce Innovations 2002, a three-day national conference sponsored by the U.S. Labor Department's Employment and Training Administration and the National Association of Workforce Boards.

The WINs partners made several presentations at the meeting, including a "super-session" on "Reaching Employers Through Business Associations." We focused on the WINs model, in which business organizations become intermediaries in large-scale, "win-win" strategies for meeting both employers' need for a skilled workforce and individuals' need for opportunities to succeed in family-sustaining employment.

Download the poll results and to read about WINs

For more information on Workforce Innovations 2002, go to: http://www.wi2002.org.

For the sponsors of Workforce Innovations 2002, one goal was to bring the message of "employer engagement" into discussions of reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. This summer, that message was part of "Comments on WIA Reauthorization" that JFF submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor. JFF focused on changes to improve WIA's ability, in combination with welfare reform and other federal legislation, to help address the skill, credential, employment, and earning needs of our nation's emerging and incumbent workforce—and the businesses and organizations that employ them.

Download Comments on the Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act

http://www.origininc.org
Check out the Web site for Origin, Inc., JFF's partnership with Jeff Jablow, a leading social entrepreneur in the workforce development field. With an innovative business model, Origin secures multi-city job orders from large corporate customers and then partners with local training organizations to train and place low-income residents in technology-intensive jobs that pay $25,000 to $40,000 a year. Origin provides wide-ranging human resource solutions to corporations, enhances the impact of community organizations, and offers jobs and career advancement to low-income individuals.

The Origin Web site includes sections geared to training providers, corporate customers, and job seekers. It currently serves corporations in five sectors: technology, banking, financial services, insurance, and media and advertising. Origin's first corporate customers include Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase.

http://www.winwinpartner.com
This new information clearinghouse serves business executives seeking to increase profits and address common business challenges through investments in low-income communities. The Web site, created by Laufer Green Isaac, offers examples of successful win-win strategies from American Express, Bank of America, Chevron, IBM, Pfizer Inc., Timberland, Xerox, and many others. The site features more than 175 publications and research products from a number of organizations, including Jobs for the Future.

Writing in Commonwealth Magazine, JFF Executive Vice President Richard Kazis explores strategies that leading community colleges use to improve the quality and effectiveness of their services to low-income youth and adults. As a result of innovations identified through the METLIFE FOUNDATION COMMUNITY COLLEGE EXCELLENCE AWARDS, first-time college-goers, new immigrants, working adults, welfare recipients, high school dropouts, and others with limited college experience and success are entering college, going farther in their education, and earning credentials that matter in life and work.

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