When the Massachusetts legislature voted to override
Governor Romney's veto offunds for job training, it represented
a major victory in the fight to provide both good jobs for the
people of Massachusetts and the workforce our businesses need
to compete in a global economy, according to a spokesperson for
the Boston
Workforce Development Initiative. This action helps make available
$6 million for a wide variety of industry, union, and community-based
programs to enable residents of the state to learn the skills
needed for better-paying jobs.
The Boston Workforce Development Initiative,
which advocated strongly for the job-training legislation, is
a five-year partnership to address the gap between the needs of
employers for more skilled workers and of workers for jobs that
pay a family-supporting wage. “The initiative aims to improve
the ability of Boston’s workforce development system to
help low-income individuals achieve family-supporting incomes,”
said Mary Lassen, President of The Women’s Union, a partner
in the initiative. “The job-training funds are critical
to creating and sustaining the building blocks critical to that
system’s success.”
As a result of the veto, an estimated 1,500
people will be able to participate in extensive job training programs.
This training will prepare them for jobs that pay enough to support
a family, come with benefits, and put them on “career ladders”
to further advancement. Training workers in skills valued by the
new economy is critical, with the Massachusetts unemployment rate
still at 5.4% and more than 171,000 jobs lost since 2001, according
figures provided by the Governor.
The Boston Workforce Development Initiative
gave credit to many legislators for passage of the proposal and
the override. In the House, Speaker Thomas Finneran led the way
by proposing an Economic Stimulus bill, identifying funds to pay
for it, and supporting the veto override of this section after
Governor Romney vetoed the section related to job training. Representatives
Peter Larkin, Michael Rodrigues, Brian Dempsey, John Rogers, and
others played important roles in moving this legislation forward
and successfully overriding the veto.
The $6 million in funding first emerged in the
Senate version of the Economic Stimulus bill, with support for
skills training led by Senate President Robert Travaglini and
Senators Therese Murray, Jack Hart, Linda Melconian, David Magnani,
Dianne Wilkerson, and Steven Panagiotakos, among others.
The Boston Workforce Development Initiative,
along with many community organizations, campaigned to make this
new source of funds for training a reality. This effort was coordinated
by the Workforce Solutions Group, a partnership led by the Massachusetts
Workforce Board Association, The Women's Union, and the Organizing
and Leadership Training Center, and including the Massachusetts
AFL-CIO and others, that the initiative has funded to advocate
for effective public policies.
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The Boston
Workforce Development Initiative, the single largest public/private
investment in workforce development in Boston's history, seeks
to change the way employers hire and promote entry-level workers
from Boston's neighborhoods. In a unique arrangement, the Initiative
blends investments from several foundations and public sources
of workforce development financing into single grants to service
providers, providing a model for simplified, coordinated program
support.
To date, the funders have raised
$10.1 million toward a goal of $14.3 million over five years and
have made grants totaling over $5 million for the initiative’s
three components: Workforce Partnerships that build long-lasting
relationships among employers, workers, and providers of education,
training, and support services; Strengthening Capacity to improve
the ability of local organizations to engage in such partnerships
and best provide workforce development services to low-income
residents; and Public Policy efforts focused on analysis, organizing,
and advocacy toward institutionalizing successful innovations.
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