Responding to the Demographics of a Community

• Navajo and Apache County Workforce Investment Board, Snowflake, AZ
• Capital Workforce Partners, CT
• Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago, IL
• Rochester Workforce Development Inc., MN

Overview

In Rochester, much of the growth in the local labor force is in immigrant communities whose members face both linguistic and cultural barriers in the workplace. The Mayo Clinic and other health care providers approached the WIB to ask for help in addressing the shortage of workers to fill health care positions. In response Workforce Development, Inc. (WDI)—the Rochester area WIB—developed a range of specialized approaches to promote the self-sufficiency of three communities within the immigrant workforce.. The approaches include the design of innovative, occupation-focused instructional software for individuals with limited English proficiency and the establishment of a healthcare sector initiative that includes services tailored to meet the needs of immigrant jobseekers and that includes career ladders that lead to self-sufficiency wages.

Workforce Development, Inc. educated employers about the special cultural and language needs of their potential employees. After WDI identified cultural and language biases in many of the state healthcare certification exams, state agencies have revised the test format and also created a "Promise of Language" program to help potential applicants.

top ^

History

In 2002, WDI was awarded a grant through IBM’s Community Services Program to work with an interactive voice recognition instructional software program (Reading Partners) that helps individuals with limited English proficiency improve their English comprehension and speaking ability. The innovative software is tailored to teach words and concepts that are specifically associated with a specific occupation.

After the Mayo Clinic and several other local health care providers approached WDI for assistance in addressing the shortage of workers to fill health care positions, WDI launched a health care sector employment initiative, with assistance form a USDOL Sector Demonstration Grant. This initiative was designed to address the needs of health care employers to find new workers, hire workers who can serve the diverse members of the community, and assist immigrants in the community gain access to career ladder opportunities in health care. The initiative targeted three growing immigrant communities: Somalis, Sudanese, and Hispanics.

Through the health care sector initiative, WDI added to its standard orientation procedures an assessment for individuals with limited English proficiency. This assessment helped determine whether customers had the appropriate English language, reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills required to obtain employment. WDI also created additional modules for the Promise of Language program. New Reading Partner modules focus on health care concepts developed to prepare entry-level health care workers to pass the Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) exam and to support the CNA skills training curriculum. CNA training sessions were held in several different formats for specific populations at WDI offices, at community colleges, and onsite at employer locations.

Other additions to the Promise of Language program included services to help individuals identify career ladders and develop the language skills necessary to obtain and retain jobs, help employers understand the special cultural and language needs of these potential employees, and to develop the occupational vocabulary, training tools, and comprehensive curricula necessary to help workers develop the communication skills (such as patient communication and listening) required in the health care field.

WDI staff also identified cultural and language biases in many of the state health care certification exams and have led efforts at the state level to have these tests revised.

top ^

Partners and Funding

IBM’s support was essential to adding the Reading Partners software to the Promise of Language Program. Success with this program provided the foundation for further work.

The active partnership with the Mayo Clinic, a major regional employer, provided the impetus for developing the health care sector initiative. The Clinic's continued involvement contributed much to its success.

The USDOL Sector Demonstration Grant made it possible to develop the additional tools needed to impact immigrants’ access to career ladders in health care.

 

top ^

Keys to Successful Implementation

• Identify and respond to demographic transitions in the community such as the growth in particular immigrant populations.
• Assess community workforce needs and challenges and develop solutions that go beyond traditional workforce development activities.
• Reach out to leaders within different ethnic or cultural communities to better understand how to adapt curriculum and conduct outreach to expand the pool of ready and able workers.
• Build on existing strengths and successes to expand the scope of services to employers and the community.

top ^