Members
of the Select Committee on Biotechnology and others tour
Ohlone College's Biotech Lab and observe students in the
Biopharmaceutical-Biomanufacturing Program. This program
is the result of a collaboration between Ohlone College
and the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board (ACWIB),
and is designed specifically for displaced workers with
previous work experience that included skills that are transferable
to the Biotechnology workplace.
Click Here for more information
$1
million grant to help over 125 laid off Bay Area manufacturing
workers find jobs in growing life sciences field
Sacramento
- The California Labor and Workforce Development Agency's
(LWDA) Employment Development Department issued a grant
of nearly $1 million to help more than 125 unemployed
Bay Area manufacturing workers find high-paying jobs with
a future in the rapidly growing life sciences field.
"This
grant will benefit not only laid-off workers but also
life sciences companies searching for well trained job
applicants," said LWDA Secretary Victoria Bradshaw.
"The Bay Area's life sciences companies have been
growing briskly; this initiative enables us to move quickly
to retrain manufacturing workers to meet the biotechnology
industry's need for skilled workers."
The
$997,834 grant is awarded to the Biotech Workforce Network,
a consortium of five workforce investment agencies: the
County of Alameda, the County of Contra Costa, the County
of San Mateo, the City of Richmond and the San Jose/Silicon
Valley Workforce Investment Network.
The
grant builds on the success of the award-winning biotechnology
training program developed by the San Mateo County and
Alameda County Workforce Investment Boards. It will provide
more than 125 laid-off workers with the tools they need
to move into jobs with entry level salaries of $35,000
to $45,000 in one of the leading growth industries in
the Bay Area.
Over
the next 12 months, workers will receive skills preparation
services, industry-tailored classroom training, internships
to be paid by participating life sciences and biotechnology
employers, and on-the-job training.
Funding
for the program is drawn from the Governor's 25 percent
portion of Dislocated Worker Funds from Title I of the
federal Workforce Investment Act and is under the administrative
authority of LWDA's Employment Development Department.
For
more information about this project, contact the Alameda
County Workforce Investment Board at (510) 259-3842.
THE
VETERAN’S ASSISTANCE PROGRAM RESOURCE GUIDE
The
Veteran’s
Resource Guide is now online. The guide provides information
about community resources for Veterans including:
You may also go to Eden
I&R for additional information.
TRAINING
VENDOR PERFORMANCE REPORT
The
Training Vendor Performance Report is a collaboration
of the four Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) that make
up EASTBAY Works. The report highlights the eligible training
vendors, and their respective programs, utilized by the
WIBs, since 2000, provide training for participants under
the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) for Adults and Dislocated
Workers. Training vendors are required to register with
the State of California’s Eligible Training Provider
List (ETPL) in order to receive referrals from the WIBs.
This first annual report highlights training program outcomes
in the five (5) primary areas:
1.
The number of participants enrolled by each vendor training
program.
•
Training vendors often offer multiple training programs.
The training program of choice is determined by an assessment
of the participants’ prior skills, transferable
skills, and career goals.
2.
The number of participants who completed the training
program.
•
For a variety of reasons, outside the training vendor
scope of control, not all participants complete their
training program. The WIBs want to review outcomes for
those who do complete training.
3.
The number of participants who completed training and
found employment.
•
The primary goal of WIA is for the participant to obtain
or retain employment. The WIBs want to review completed
training outcomes that result in employment.
4.
The number of participants who found training related
employment.
•
The WIBs pay the training vendor to provide training for
each participant. The WIBs want to review completed training
outcomes that result in training related employment, consistent
with the career goals of the participant.
5.
The average wage of participants who had training related
employment.
•
A secondary goal of WIA is for the participant to obtain
or retain employment that leads to self-sufficiency. The
WIBs want to review completed training outcomes that result
in training related employment with an average wage leading
to self-sufficiency.
The
report allows potential participants, and their respective
WIA case managers, to search for training vendor programs,
by year, by program, and by successful outcomes to make
the best choice regarding potential training vendor programs
to meet their career goals.
We
hope you find this report useful.
Click
Here to View the Vendor Performance Report
2005
RECOGNITION OF EXCELLENCE AWARD
The
Department of Labor has selected the Bay Area Biotech Consortium
(BABC) as the first place winner for the 2005 Recognition
of Excellence Award. BABC is a collaborative among Alameda
County Workforce Investment Board (lead agency), San Mateo
County WIB, Skyline College (San Mateo), Ohlone College
(Alameda), and Genentech Corporation (lead employer). Out
of 100 entries throughout the nation, BABC came in as the
top winner.
Emily
DeRocco, Assistant Secretary of Labor, announced the winner
and presented the award at the Workforce Innovations Conference
in Philadelphia on July 11, 2005. In preparation for the
award ceremony presentation, STLEO Film and Video Production
recently taped a 90 second video featuring the BABC members
to highlight the collaborative program. As they allowed
only one person on stage to accept the award, Genentech
spokesperson was there to accept the Award on behalf of
the collaborative.
Briefly,
BABC grew out of the union of two complementary needs: (1)
the need for the regional bio-tech industry to build its
manufacturing capacity as promising new drugs move into
large scale production; and (2) the need for the regional
workforce system to assist thousand of airline workers dislocated
by the events of September 11. After a 3 month 200 hour
curriculum and re-training provided by the colleges, 190
dislocated workers are then placed in a three-month internship
at Genentech. Upon successful completion of the internship,
the participants are then placed at Genentech and other
biotech companies in jobs with wages starting at $35,000
and above.
Due
to the high placement rate and success of the BABC project,
the Department of Labor awarded Alameda County WIB $2 million
from the President’s High Growth High Wage Job Training
Initiative funds in July, 2004 to continue the project for
the next two years.
Department
of Labor will be releasing the press release of the award
during this coming week.
