Creating Partnerships with the Department of Labor & Training

Background

The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) http://www.ccri.edu is engaged in a three-year Community Based Job Training Grant called Health Care Futures. One of the important elements in the grant is to work with the Rhode Island Department of Labor http://www.dlt.state.ri.us/ and Training's One-Stop Career Center System Network called netWORKri http://www.networkri.org. The goal is to identify project liaisons and ensure robust recruitment efforts to CCRI among their approximately 20,000 clients in six centers statewide. Early on in the project's life, the manager of the grant met with several key managers of the Department of Labor and Training (DLT) and netWORKri to get the project off the ground.

Among the state's resources for the unemployed are career information and counseling, which include aptitude and interest testing to match clients abilities and preferences to appropriate careers and training. This provides an impetus to advance opportunities for clients to enter careers in health science. The DLT also tracks common measures to report to the federal government, something that CCRI was nor previously familiar with. For the purposes of the grant, we needed to find out more about common measures. The college does track its own graduates for employment and wage increases, as required in the Health Care Futures Grant. Tracking the outcomes for the grant clearly required coordination with the DLT and the Workforce Investment Act officials, but more importantly, we needed to find out how we could work together to recruit clients into the health science programs at CCRI and to facilitate their academic progress to graduation. This article focuses on strategies used in developing a working, sustainable relationship between CCRI and Rhode Island's Department of Labor and Training.

Gap in the Recruitment System

A major barrier to recruitment was a lack of long-term financial support for the unemployed clients. Traditionally, unemployment benefits are exhausted long before clients complete job training. All of the programs in the grant lead to an associate degree and take approximately two years to complete. To be successful in this element of the grant, we had to find a way for clients/students to continue to receive benefits while attending school full time to earn their intended degree.

Additional barriers existed at the college. Poor attendance at meetings was a barrier for the HCF grant; our meetings could not compete with the other priorities at the college. Finally, while a previous partnership existed between CCRI's Lifelong Learning and DLT, no degree programs had been offered until these provider agreements, described in the next paragraph, were in place.

Getting Started

The health science coordinator, hired with grant funds, had previous experience providing career counseling and training for adults who were unemployed, underemployed, and academically and economically disadvantaged. Through her persistence, the Community College of Rhode Island applied to become a WIA-Eligible Training Provider for three of the health science degree programs: Clinical Laboratory Technology, Respiratory Therapy and Physical Therapist Assistant. The careers associated with these programs are designated as high growth, high demand. These particular programs had under enrollment at CCRI. After a series of meetings with the president of the college and his administrative staff, the president signed the provider agreements, which were accepted by the DLT and the state Workforce Investment Board.

Under the WIA-Eligible Training Provider Agreement, the college would receive up to a maximum of $3,500 per client/student to cover the cost of tuition, fees, books and uniforms. When clients/students qualify for a Pell Grant, the WIA funds would be added in after the Pell Grant is applied, thus increasing funds available to the client/student.

Meeting the Goals for the DLT Recruitment

In order to achieve the goal of increasing enrollment through the DLT and WIA, we had to set up a system to educate the managers and counselors at the six centers and engage them in participating in the process of designing a service provision.

The Health Care Futures grant focused on six health science degree programs at CCRI, all identified as high growth, high demand. Since three of the six programs were underenrolled, it was clear that recruitment efforts should be concentrated in those three areas: Clinical Laboratory Technology, Respiratory Therapy and Physical Therapist Assistant.

Fact sheets containing information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics with regard to job descriptions, salary range, job outlook, job settings and the training a student will receive at CCRI were developed for each of the three targeted programs. In addition to the fact sheets, the coordinator created an informational tri-fold brochure about the HCF grant at CCRI and the employment outlook for the six high-growth, high-demand health care careers identified in the grant.

The coordinator decided to try the informal and personal approach at the local netWORKri centers. The health science coordinator made unannounced visits to six NETWORKri centers so she could introduce herself and promote the three WIA-approved programs. The coordinator provided the centers with fact sheets, grant brochures and three health science programs brochures for distribution. At each netWORKri center, the manager welcomed and oriented her to the agency. The health science coordinator and the staff related through the common goal of helping clients, and each party learned a great deal about the services of the other. The coordinator introduced the sites staff to the grant's Website and reiterated that the common goal was that of service provider. There is now an ongoing relationship between the netWORKri centers and the health science coordinator. The counselors call regularly with questions not only about the WIA-approved programs but also about other health science courses of study as well as the college's other programs and services. They continue to refer clients to the coordinator for in-depth interviews that usually result in the client enrolling.

Orientation and Education about the Health Care Futures Grant

The coordinator was asked to provide one of the One-Stop centers with an orientation to the grant and health sciences at the college. She focused on the three programs targeted for recruitment through the grant, showed career tutorial DVDs and answered more questions from the clients and staff. The health science programs for which CCRI is an authorized Training Provider are the only degree offerings on the list of WIA-Eligible Training Programs. This informal and personal approach to communication and education has been very successful and has strengthened the ties among the grant, the college and DLT.

Benefits of Working Together

This new partnership has been mutually beneficial. First, for the college, it means continuing increases in revenue. Since the coordinator first visited the centers in April, the college has received 11 referrals. Four of those enrolled at CCRI for the Fall 2007 semester and are currently enrolled for the Spring 2008 semester; two are pursuing a degree in Respiratory Therapy, and two are enrolled in the Physical Therapist Assistant program. These enrollments could yield $15,000 to $45,000 to the college depending on student retention. Second, the partnership has created a new source of awareness of CCRI health science programs among a wide range of stakeholders; and third, the partnership enables DLT to offer its clients degree programs that can be completed within the time limits specified by DLT funding while the clients continue to receive benefits. Further, the counselors and managers have expressed their appreciation of having someone from CCRI make personal visits and with whom they could establish a relationship.

For the client/student, the benefits will be many. First, those who qualify for WIA funding will have their tuition, books and fees paid for up to the maximum of $3,500 while continuing to receive their unemployment benefits. The client/student can take advantage of the services offered at both DLT and CCRI. Moreover, earning a degree in a high demand, high-growth career will enable the client/student to become gainfully employed and ultimately self-sufficient.

Sustainability

When the grant period ends, this partnership is easily sustainable. The logical CCRI liaisons to DLT are those in the Office of Enrollment Services who serve the health science programs. There experience in recruitment and knowledge of the college make them valuable liaisons. By naming an individual for each program, no one person would be overwhelmed with the additional responsibility. The netWORKri managers may serve as liaisons between their centers and the college.

The Eligible Training Provider application must be submitted on a yearly basis prior to the end of the fiscal year.

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