Monthly Archives October 2016

Today marks the beginning of the NAWDP 2016 Youth Development Symposium, an  annual event that KRA has championed, supported, and co-sponsored for many years.  Thus, it seems both appropriate and timely to shine our October Spotlight! on the Long Beach, CA Knowledge2Career (K2C) Academy, one of several KRA-proprietary programs operated across the country for young adults disconnected from school and work. Recognizing the critical nature of demand-driven job training—especially for young adults with their entire working lives ahead of them—KRA has always supported its business-customers in identifying the occupational skills, credentials, and training resources required to sustain and/or expand their
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In Why WIOA Matters to All of Us Working to End Homelessness, Rebecca Allen, Melville Charitable Trust, states, “…we always saw the resources and expertise of the workforce system’s American Job Centers to be the Holy Grail of finding a job.” KRA operates AJCs, coast-to-coast, utilizing resources provided through WIOA, and 35+ years’ workforce-development experience, to create innovative, integrated, and results-oriented opportunities for jobseeker-customers with severe barriers to sustainable employment, including homelessness. Recently, Diana Fernandez led a team of other KRA Career Agents and Business Services Consultants with the Greater Hartford AJC, operated for Capital Workforce Partners, to develop an aggressive Individual Employment
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On October 5, representatives of the KRA/Business Engagement Services (BES) team, including Pamela Carnes, Program Manager, traveled to San Pablo, CA to support Rich Kinney, Mayor; Stephen Baiter, out-going Executive Director of the Workforce Development Board of Contra Costa County (WDBCCC); and Patience Ofodu, WDBCCC Business Services Manager, at the West Contra Costa Career Fair, a community workforce-development event critical to the economic success of the area’s employers and jobseekers. The day before, the City of Oakland posted a press release, announcing “Stephen Baiter Appointed as Executive Director for the Oakland Workforce Development Board”, KRA funding partner for the BES operation
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Combating a young-adult unemployment rate of 20.7%, the Knowledge2Career (K2C) Academy, a KRA-proprietary workforce-services program, continues establishing mutually-productive partnerships to create innovative solutions for preparing young adults—disconnected from school and the workforce—to qualify for high-demand occupations with local businesses. Supported by the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network, KRA/K2C is developing employment-development agreements with Island’s Restaurant, PMG Athletic Funding, Two The Root Beauty Salon, and ScoutReach for Paid Work Experience (PWE) opportunities, with potential for fulltime employment. Also, an expanded program has been proposed to Island’s Restaurant corporate office to provide PWE assignments at their “fine burgers and drinks” restaurants in
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