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Speak
United leader tells Workforce Center employee:
'If
you can't stand the heat, then leave this meeting!'
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It was already a blistering hot summer day in Manhattan , Kans in
late August when members of Speak United turned up the heat on local
officials after they revealed results from a preliminary report
on the local Workforce Center .
The meeting
was the culmination of months of work by Speak United's Worker's
Justice Team to test if low-income workers were being placed into
job training programs and assigned jobs under a federal mandate.
During two months,
18 members participated in the testing project and no one received
job training.
The Workforce Investment
Act (WIA), which is currently up for reauthorization, is a Department
of Labor job placement and training program that aims to increase
wage earnings and provide career opportunities for low-wage workers.
WIA states that unemployed and underemployed workers should receive
the needed services through One Stop career centers also known
as Workforce Centers. The guidelines for providing services are
comprehensive and specific.
When Speak United members
surveyed the services at the center, it was revealed that not one
person received career counseling such as evaluations, information
on training or availability of childcare.
When
Richard Bodine learned he was going to be a father, he decided he
needed a better job and went to the Workforce Center ten times
in two months. During that entire time no one explained services,
asked if he wanted an evaluation or would be interested in training.
The most anyone ever did for me was to flip a pen at me and tell
me to sign in.
In fact, people
were on their own when it came to drumming up any kind of information
about any services. When Speak United youth leader Kiki Spickelmier
asked about youth services, the answer was there were none. "We
found money in the budget for youth services, so what have they
done with it?" she asked.
All the people who
participated in the survey were dissatisfied with the center and
no one found a job. Speak United members compiled a report and made
a list of recommendations for the Workforce Center Director Ross
Freeman. Those recommendations include offering skills assessments
and other career counseling such as developing employment plans.
In addition, clients need an orientation, including a checklist
of services offered to that person and a detailed description of
services available to them.
Speak
United invited Freeman to the public meeting, but he chose to send
Jo Brunner, an employment and training specialist for the Workforce
Center .
After
a series of interruptions from Brunners co-workers, Speak United
leader Nicole Belville asked Brunner to leave the meeting once it
became clear Brunner could not make any commitments on behalf of
the Workforce Center .
Once
the air cleared, SU leaders brought out a blown-up copy of the Workforce
Center 's own survey on customer satisfaction. The attendees repeatedly
gave the center failing gradesbased on their disagreeable experiences.
Immediately
after the meeting, over 30 Speak United members went then moved
to the home of Duane Dunn, a member of the Workforce Investment
Board. He agreed to set up a meeting with Speak United, Ross Freeman
and Kris Kitchen, executive director Heartland Works, the organization
that started the Workforce Center .
Similar
testing projects were conducted by the Anti-Displacement Project
in Springfield , MA and the Jobs and Affordable Housing Campaign
in Minneapolis , MN over the last year and a half. Both reports
revealed that no testers had received access to job training or
permanent job placement at their local workforce centers.
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