May 3, 2010

The U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council (WDC) gathered for its Annual April Board Meeting on April 22-23 in Baltimore. WDC President and Baltimore City Director of the Office of Employment Development Karen Sitnick presided over the meeting with WDC Vice President and President and CEO of Capital Workforce Partners in Hartford Tom Phillips.

Linda Harris, Director of Youth Policy, and Neil Ridley, Senior Policy Analyst for Workforce Development at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), set the tone for the meeting by discussing the role of local workforce systems in recent jobs bills. The WDC then heard from a variety experts and key players in jobs creation legislation, employment and training.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake welcomed the WDC to Baltimore and emphasized the importance of the workforce system in Baltimore and in cities throughout the nation. “You really represent the pulling together of so many resources that impact the future of all of our cities. I hope you use the resources that are here at the table to make all of our cities better,” she said.

“We say in Washington that all politics are local, and I say that all jobs are local,” said Congressman John Sarbanes (MD) in his keynote address following Rawlings-Blake. Sarbanes focused on the workforce development system as a central part of the economic recovery, stressing the role of local systems in the Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812) introduced by Representative George Miller. “What I like about [the Local Jobs for America Act] is it tries to accommodate the input, not just accommodate but really be guided by the input of local officials who are on the frontlines, and who really understand where the job creation opportunities are,” said Sarbanes in support of the bill.

“I think that the workforce development system and your leadership on the local level really did a great job in taking the resources available in the Recovery Act and putting them to use in the Summer Youth program,” said Grace Kilbane, Administrator for the Office of Workforce Investment in the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. She stressed how the recent economic climate should dictate a new perspective on training and employment, including increased funding and reinstatement of several programs that may not have been necessary when the economy was more prosperous.

Steve Hill, Public Division Policy Director for Service Employees International Union; Allegra Baider, Senior Legislative Associate for the Center for Community Change; and Marion Pines, Senior Fellow for the Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, discussed the legislative specifics, advocacy efforts and relevant program components of the Local Jobs for America Act.

Hill underlined the immense need for a comprehensive jobs bill speaking to the state of affairs in local areas across the country. He focused on the one million state and local workers being furloughed and 200,000 laid off, noting that there have now been 15 consecutive months of revenue declines, which has only occurred once before.

“In Colorado Springs, they have made tremendous cuts in services: they’ve taken away public trash receptacles because they can’t pay for people to empty then, they’ve cut off park services, turned off street lights and encouraged local residents to bring their own lawnmowers to the public parks,” said Hill. He then discussed how the legislation would address these crises by retaining or creating a million jobs.

“The retention part is important. At the same time, these jobs are used to maintain the public services that are being cut, so the clinic is staying open, the street lights are on, the park is open, the city is picking up trash,” Hill concluded.

Baider discussed the advocacy efforts of the the Jobs For America Now Coalition and discussed what local communities can do to advocate and prepare for passage of the legislation. “It’s a good thing to be thinking right now about what types of jobs you would like to see in your community. If this passes, the money will immediately start to flow and those that have already thought about that will be better prepared,” said Baider.

Pines highlighted her work with a highly successful public service employment program several decades ago, reflecting on the possibility of the Local Jobs for America Act to produce similar results.

“It is a mystery to me why this Administration has not been more aggressive in pushing for a public service employment program,” insisted Pines, explaining that these programs are not very expensive in terms of all the money the government has been spending on jobs creation and they can be put on quickly and easily.

The Business Service Toolkit Best Practices panel, moderated by Jeff Smith, Executive Liaision for Public Policy at Baltimore Office of Employment Development, provided technical assistance to the workforce directors on several key issues including upgrading skills training, On-the-Job training and customized training. The panel featured Rosalind Howard, Business Services Program Manager for Baltimore Office of Employment Development; Bruce England, Executive Director for the Susquehanna Workforce Network; Susan Tagliaferro, Business Liaison for Baltimore Office of Employment Development; and Ed Fangman, Executive Liaison for the Baltimore County Office of Workforce Development.