1. Assessing Your Progress at the Mid-Point of Your America’s Promise Grant: Part 2
High Impact Partners on behalf
of the Employment and Training
Administration, DOL
March 7, 2019

3. Greg Scheib
America’s Promise Federal Lead
U.S. DOL/OWI/Division of Strategic Investment
Bruce Rankin America’s Promise Coach American Association of Community Colleges

4. Review the Mid-Grant Assessment Process
How are we using this information?
Present high-level observations about the process and outcomes
Hear Directly from the Grantees
The challenges they faced and strategies implemented to stay on track
Lessons Learned/Next Steps
Feedback from the Project Directors
Q&A

5. America’s Promise Grantees Presenting Today
The following grantees will share their insights on modifying their projects:
Lexi Mason - America’s Promise (City of Springfield, MO)
Addressing a projected shortfall in their participant numbers
Gary Sulski - Brevard Workforce Development Board, Inc. (FL)
Addressing better inter-staff engagement
Greg Goloborodko - Worksystems, Inc. (OR)
Addressing current program design to increase degree/credential attainment

6. The Self-Assessment Process
The intent of this exercise was to:
Capture quantitative and qualitative data to observe how your grant is progressing against your goals
Use these observations to develop a gap analysis/needs assessment
How can we assist our grantees?
Fine-tune the TA provided by DSI and the HIP Team to align with these needs

7. Summary of Quantitative Progress
Aggregate Quantitative Metrics – What did we learn?
First 2 years:
Participants Served
Target Population
Other Populations Served
Participants Enrolled in Training
Participants Completing Training
Credentials Awarded
Employment Placements

8. Summary of Qualitative Success
Success Factor
Challenge
Promising Practice
Strong Organizational Management
Monitoring efforts (tracker for career counselors that has weekly/monthly targets, updates, and success)
Improved the sharing of success stories by leveraging support from other college departments
Strong Operational Systems
Best indicators to improve grant performance
Regularly assess training and feedback from students and employers
Sustainability Thinking
Co-investment strategy with employers to ensure that businesses are on board in hiring our participants and continuing partnerships beyond the grant
An extensive history of trust built with all project partners, CBOs, and employers will support the consortium after the grant

9. Summary of Qualitative Success
Success Factor
Challenge
Promising Practice
Effective Employer Engagement
Employer engagement is high, but employer commitment is low
Use a "heat map" to identify hot jobs and employers
Effective Partner Engagement
Strategies for youth agency partners to offer more input to our programming
Hired a liaison to coordinate activities with other partnership colleges. The position also collects and reports on best practices
Effective Participant Engagement Along a Career Pathway
Enrollment is difficult in a strong economy as people are more interested in job placement than training
Create a lifelong learning mentality to encourage students to continue their education, gain new skills, and attain a college degree

10. America’s Promise, City of Springfield, MO
Lexi Mason
Outreach Specialist and Project Lead
Industry: Healthcare
Challenge:
Address Projected Shortfall in Program Participants and Training Completions

11. America’s Promise, City of Springfield, MO
Goals
Incorporate short-term training programs to expand participant pool
Identify and recruit new participants from targeted populations
Implement new programs under a tight deadline
Aligns with Success Factors:
Strong Organizational Management, Effective Employer, Partner & Participant Engagement

12. Brevard Workforce Development Board, Inc.
Gary Sulski
I.T. Sector Strategy Program Manager
Industry: Information Technologies
Challenge:
Addressing how to create better inter-staff engagement

13. Brevard Workforce Development Board, Inc.
Goals
Improve Intake process (participant assessments)
Conduct Group Role Playing
Have One-on-Ones with staff to address personal needs (Career Counselors vs. Business Liaisons)
Provide monthly update meetings on performance goals and IT industry trends
Aligns with Success Factor:
Strong Organizational Management

14. WorkSystems Inc.
Greg Goloborodko
Sr. Project Manager
Industry: Health Care
Challenge: Addressing current program design to increase degree/credential attainment

16. Worksystems Inc. Goals: Aligns with Success Factor:
Review how best to serve the right candidates and aligning our program design to account for some shorter-term trainings that will directly lead to employment outcomes and industry recognized credentials.
Provide better communication to the system, around the alternative (shorter-term) training options that would be available to participants in order to reach outcomes while still progressing on their career pathway.
Aligns with Success Factor:
Effective Participant Engagement along a Career Pathway

17. What Did We Learn? Technical Assistance Priorities
TA Priority 1 – Outreach and Recruitment
TA Priority 2 – Management Systems and Structure
TA Priority 3 – Partner Engagement

18. Feedback
Did this process help uncover an issue or challenge that might affect the success of your grant?
If so, please share the challenge faced in the chat box?

19. Next Steps
HIP Team Coaches will leverage these observations to fine tune Technical Assistance products and services
Including the upcoming Data Driven Decision Making Webinar in April
Grantees can use this information to make decisions about their activities and guide their efforts in Years 3 and 4

21. Data Driven Decision Making Webinar Grantee Infographic Template
April 2019
Grantee Infographic Template
Released to each Grantee
Community of Practice

22. AmericasPromise @dol.gov
U.S. Department of Labor