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MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board News
Greater New Bedford Area
FALL 2020 NEWSLETTER
09/30/20 
WELCOME MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Welcome to our first edition of the MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board quarterly newsletter.  Our goal is to provide you with knowledge and understanding of the workforce system while keeping you up to date on the latest news, events, and services available to the community through the Workforce Board’s efforts.  We hope you find the information compiled here both interesting and informative.  We invite your feedback and comments and encourage you to forward our newsletter to your colleagues and friends. 

Sincerely,
James (Jim) Oliveira, Executive Director
MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board
Sales In the New Normal – FREE
Interactive Virtual Workshop
October 6 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am

As we carefully reopen, adjust to working remotely, and protect the health of our employees; maintaining revenue is essential to keeping their jobs. By now, you probably have a handle on the impact of the pandemic on your business.

What should you be doing to ensure you maintain and increase revenue in a predictable and consistent way?

Some of your clients may still not be open. Every business has been affected in some way. There will be attrition in some sales from existing clients, increased sales from others. New business will need to outpace attrition to establish reliable budgets for 2021.

Now it is time to execute on your rebound plan and be fully engaged on how you will increase revenue, reduce costs and improve efficiencies.

This is the time to execute on your best opportunities between additional sales to existing customers, acquiring new ones, and penetrating new markets.

This workshop will provide you with strategies for adjusting to the current environment and set your company up to recover and maintain your predictions for top-line and bottom-line growth.

This includes open discussions on what you can be doing today to increase revenue and learn from what is working for others in this new environment.
What we will cover:

Corporate strategy-How to evaluate your current sales environments to compensate for any adverse impact on your sales and develop a more predictable revenue forecast for 2021.

Marketing and sales-With a limited budget and uncertain short-term future, where should you focus your time and resources? Should you invest in marketing, sales or both and how will you know you get a return on your invested time and money?

Sales/Account Management-How to adjust to remote contact and meetings to maintain revenue and keep the funnel full. Creating a proactive, rather than reactive sales plan. Working with your direct sales representatives, resellers, or sales agencies to get more from them.

Tracking Systems-Developing tracking systems to know where you are as a team and how each team member is performing, where they are stuck, where they need help and can improve.

All businesses in the MassHire Greater New Bedford area of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Rochester, and Wareham are eligible to attend this free workshop.
Also available!
Grant-Funded Consortium Program

Take a deeper dive into your marketing strategies, sales process, and financial planning. 

Join us for five and a half days to work collaboratively with your peers, and individually with your teams. Four to six companies will be selected for this grant funded training opportunity. We will spend two full days working with senior management on your marketing and sales strategy. 

Follow this link to learn more! >>>
DOWNLOAD PRINTABLE PDF FLYER
Coming Attractions
in Manufacturing…
Reduced Training Costs | ROI Calulator | 42% Certification Rate Increase | 23% Faster Training | Safer | Mobile Learning
Brush up on old skills or learn a new one using our new state of the art VRTEX Virtual Reality virtual welder. Students trained on the VRTEX360 platform have more positive training outcomes when compared to traditional welding training methods due to the feedback received from the virtual platform. There are many other positives including higher welding qualification rates, competency based assessments, simulation of real welding so the skills transfer to the shop and most importantly, the curriculum has been validated to meet industry standards.
The VRTEX Virtual welder can train on MIG, TIG, and stick welding and across multiple materials making it a well-rounded unit, all without wasting valuable raw materials.
Career Advancement Ticket

Training to start December 2020/January 2021. Watch SAMC's Training Services page for more information coming in November. >>>
https://www.samcnetwork.org/training-services/ >>>
Year Round Out of School Youth Programming
YouthWorks 2020-2021 Staffing Allocation

The Greater New Bedford Region has been awarded $30,000 from Commonwealth Corporation with a Year-Round Staffing Allocation. Our region intends to utilize the funds to support continued and strategic service to a sub-set of participants, increased capacity to engage and maintain private sector partnerships, stronger alignment with Connecting Activities, and an avenue for tracking participant outcomes. This year-round youth effort will provide for more youth served in several years. The funding request provides for additional administrative support funding to our Workforce Board and will support out of school youth year-round in meaningful internships leading to paid employment. Thanks to Commonwealth Corporation for their continued support.

COVID-19 – Year Round & WIOA Out of School Youth Programs

This recently approved Community Development Block Grant from the City of New Bedford in the sum of $150,000 will be used to provide support for WIOA funds in the amount of $148,500 in order to meet our recommendations for funding for our four youth vendors. The integration of the Block Grant and WIOA Out of School Youth Program will serve 51 Out of School Youth (ages 17 to 21) with 21 youth supported through the Block Grant.

This program is intended to provide opportunities for youth employment, training/education, while mitigating issues resulting from restrictions due to COVID-19 for residents of the Greater New Bedford area. The program will be accomplished through an effective mentoring model that will identify longitudinal career pathway strategies for designated priority and emerging industry sectors.

City of New Bedford Seal
We would like to thank the City of New Bedford and Mayor Jon F. Mitchell for the support and encouragement given to the Workforce Board to pursue this grant.
Age Friendly New Bedford Year Two Fact Sheet
The Age-Friendly New Bedford initiative brings together New Bedford residents, city departments, and non-profit agencies throughout the Southcoast to improve our community for residents of all ages. These partnerships have also enabled the Age Friendly network to navigate the many challenges brought on by COVID-19 pandemic.

MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board is proud to participate in the Mayor's Age-Friendly New Bedford initiatives. 
Follow this link to view Age-Friendly New Bedford's Two Year Summary Report online. >>>
DOWNLOAD AGE-FRIENDLY NB TWO YEAR FACT SHEET
Discover APPRENTICESHIPS for Your Business

Looking for a better way to develop highly skilled employees with a 94% retention rate?

Explore the Registered Apprenticeship workforce solution that over 150,000 businesses of all kinds and sizes utilize with great success. Whatever the industry, we’ll guide you in designing custom training programs specific to your needs that can be applied to incumbent workers or new employees.

There are also Massachusetts Tax Credits and Training Funds you may qualify for.

Let us help you develop a committed workforce that is both highly skilled and career-minded. Sustain your firm’s skill needs by contacting Rick Marshall at 774-425-4092 to learn more about our proven Registered Apprenticeship Program that 97% of Employer Sponsors would recommend to other companies.
LEARN MORE!
Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly Workforce Success Grant for Healthcare Workforce Hubs Award
On September 16, 2020 MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board was awarded the Senator Kenneth J. Donnelly Workforce Success Grant for Healthcare Workforce Hubs.
MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board will lead the grant efforts along with MassHire Southeast Region 6 partners from MassHire Bristol, MassHire Greater Brockton, and MassHire South Shore Workforce Boards.
MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board is also participating as a partner in a separate Healthcare Workforce Hubs grant awarded to the MassHire Cape Cod and Islands Workforce Board who will lead in their region. This will potentially allow MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center clients who reside in areas close to the Cape (such as Marion or Wareham) access to training seats developed for that region.
The grant will be allocated in two phases, with the first lasting up to 6 months and focused on planning and capacity analysis. This will be followed by an implementation phase of up to 2.5 years for plans developed in Phase 1 that meet approval. 

The grant is intended to address long-standing healthcare industry training needs as well as emerging needs due to COVID-19. The initiative's goals as stated in the grant request for proposal are, “The Healthcare Workforce Hub Initiative is designed to support regional coordination that results in additional training and placement/advancement program capacity and to fund capacity building and planning efforts to ensure workforce system-wide alignment.” 

MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board and our partners have already conducted initial outreach and surveys with some area healthcare, community based, and educational organizations for the grant proposal request.

We are also seeking to engage additional interested healthcare related organizations from MassHire Southeast Region 6 in the Phase 1 grant planning. Please call Jacqueline Sylvia at 508.979.1504 extension 116 or send an email to jacqueline@masshiregreaternewbedford.com to request more information about participating as a grant planning partner. Feel free to pass along this information to parties that you think may have an interest. We are gearing up to begin efforts in October with our MassHire Region 6 Workforce Board partners and conduct additional surveys and meetings with healthcare community partners later this fall.

Follow this link to learn more about the grant and Governor Charlie Baker's Healthcare Collaborative initiative. >>>
MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center remains open to virtually provide services to all customers.
Fall's Partner Spotlight:
MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center

The Career Center has come through the fire in regard to the Pandemic. At the start it was apparent the staff’s skills were not the most technologically advanced, and we all faced a steep learning curve. Throughout it all, we kept our customers at the heart of everything we do and proceeded to address the tasks at hand. 
Fast forward to present day; the Center now operates completely virtually, ready to assist our customers in any way we can. Our virtual services include Career Center Seminar, RESEA processing, Career Counseling, Intake and Eligibility, Workshops, Assessment, Business Services, Youth Services, and Training.

Our weekly statistics for the center reflected our new normal. We handled over 5,000 emails, including a weekly email blast to our customers. We engaged more than 40 employers, monitored nearly 500 files, and averaged 70 Zoom meetings with staff, our partners, and our Workforce Board and staff. Finally, our staff attended close to 70 zoom training sessions to keep us up to date and in contact with our operator, The WorkPlace in Connecticut.

When COVID pandemic began in March, the State started keeping stats on our progress. Since then we have conducted 635+ assessments and 643 counseling appointments, placed 145 people in jobs, provided job search assistance for 572 customers, and had 670 individuals participate in our workshops.
As we move forward, we are looking forward to our first Virtual Youth Job Fair with Market Basket along with our first Virtual Job Recruitment for CDL Drivers. We are also shifting personnel to focus on job development and job search to increase our success rates.

Aided by no less than 4 Workforce Board grants; we are recruiting for Brownfields, CDL drivers, Manufacturing, and now Marine Technical Skills as well as recruiting for the Youth Contracted Year-Round Program. This year our youth program is funded thanks to a City of New Bedford Community Block Grant and a CommCorp grant.
Additionally, we just completed the YouthWorks Summer Program; YouthWorksStrong initiative. This was a fully online virtual program with 243 youth. Participants were placed in 9 cohorts and through a fully web-based, gamified learning program, students gained a sense of ownership for their program, projects and team cohorts. The youth were made job ready with training that included self-responsibility, leadership, career pathways, media production techniques, and soft skills for job etiquette.

As we look to the future, the MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center is poised for a “virtual reality” new normal if you will. The services we have developed we will carry into the future far beyond this pandemic.

--Thanks to James Daniels, Director MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center for his contribution.
VISIT THE CAREER CENTER WEBSITE!
YouthWorks Summer 2020 Program
“YouthWorksStrong” Initiative
YouthWorks Summer 2020 Program “YouthWorksStrong” Project
YouthWorks Summer 2020 Program “YouthWorksStrong” Project
Despite the challenges presented by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board Connecting Activities Initiative in partnership with The Greater New Bedford Career Center, and One SouthCoast Chamber engaged 243 “at risk” youth participants ages 14 to 21 from The Greater New Bedford Region in a 100% online virtual setting this past summer.

Providing youth participants with a meaningful work experience was the most challenging obstacle we overcame in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. In the past, in person youth employment placements and reviews have served as the structure of the Connecting Activities Massachusetts Work Based Learning Plan (WBLP). We decided to take a team approach and collaborate in providing the structure and design of a meaningful, 100% remote, online work experience.
YouthWorks Summer 2020 Program “YouthWorksStrong” Project
Youth participants experienced an interactive method of learning that consisted of a gamified learning approach organized in a total of nine cohorts. Presentations were completed in various industries concentrated in the areas of art, health and wellness, oral history of COVID-19, manufacturing, social media, voter registration, and podcasting. A WBLP provided the perfect result with products such as Project Based Learning Modules, Zoom, Google Classroom,  Hangout platforms, podcasts, videos, and utilization of technology such as PowerPoint.
YouthWorks Summer 2020 Program “YouthWorksStrong” Project
YouthWorks Summer 2020 Program “YouthWorksStrong” Project
An example of a Project Based Learning Module created by Phillip Tran, Tia Vargas, and David Insley was a video presentation entitled Increasing Voter Registration in Your Community & Beyond. This video presentation included the importance of voter registration and active voting, awarding Phillip a $500 Gold Scholarship – one of only six recipients in the entire State. Honorable Mention ($50 e-gift Amazon cards) was awarded to Ethan Arruda, Naijaah Majette, and Skyla Costeira for their presentation on Manufacturing utilizing PowerPoint technology. Additionally, youth participants also reported, “enjoying their work experiences, achieved growth, and development in confidence levels and skill, and are extremely thankful for this program, and for all who made it possible for youth like me.”
Our entire team truly appreciates everyone’s hard work, patience, and dedication to the program. Youth were able to overcome barriers to success with the support, dedication, and expertise of our team achieving high retention and outcome rates. This program has provided youth with valuable experiences and positive outcomes in leadership, strength, resiliency, proper job etiquette, and becoming our community’s promise of a better future. We look forward to next summer and in continuing to improve future programs.

WATCH! YouthWorks Gold Scholarship Award Winning Presentation – Voter Registration

WHY SAMC?
SAMC focuses on connecting manufacturers with the resources for developing a sustainable, talented pipeline of employees. We achieve this by providing input on educating and training for your current and future workforce, and by identifying best practices in advanced manufacturing workforce activities.

Visit www.samcnetwork.org today.
MANUFACTURERS REGISTER FREE!
SAMC Calendar

Visit www.samcnetwork.org/calendar/ for a complete list of training, workshops, seminars, meetings and industry events for advanced manufacturing.
In case you missed it.... earlier this year.

Noted as "OUTSTANDING – INFORMATIVE – ENGAGING – RELEVANT – TIMELY" on August 26th, our own Youth Program Manager, Andrea McLaughlin, joined the Brockton Public Library Sufferage Centenial Celebration’s panel for “Protecting the Right To Vote in a Digital Democracy”. Read more or watch the webcast. >>>
Jim Oliveira's 9th Work-a-versary

Happy "Work-a-versary" to Jim Oliveira on his 9th year with MassHire Greater New Bedford serving as Executive Director since 2016! See more. >>>

CONGRATULATIONS MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center team members, Stephanie Smith, Chelsea Burke, and Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission's Kelly Travis for winning the 2020 Living MassHire Collaboration Award. We are proud of your teamwork that truly exemplified collaboration along with all of our Mission’s core values. Read more on masshiregreaternewbedford.com. >>>

Read "Collaboration is Key for these Successful MassHire Partnerships" on the Mass Workforce Association's blog. >>>
Our Values

Congratulations to all of the 2020 Living MassHire Award finalists throughout the State!

The 5 winning Regions:

  • Collaboration - Greater New Bedford
  • Respect - Greater Lowell
  • Reliability - Franklin-Hampshire
  • Ingenuity - Metro South/West
  • Living MassHire - North Shore/NAMC
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FALL'S FEATURED RESOURCE
Our Fall featured resource is the CareerOneStop Career cluster / Industry videos page. Job seekers can explore major U.S. industries and learn about the types of careers they offer.
(https://www.careeronestop.org/Videos/IndustryVideos/industry-videos.aspx)
VISIT CAREERONESTOP CAREER CLUSTER / INDUSTRY VIDEOS PAGE
Explore Workforce Resources on MassHire GNBWB Website!

ABOUT US

The MassHire Greater New Bedford Workforce Board is a business-led, policy-setting board that oversees workforce development initiatives in the ten-community region stretching from Dartmouth to Wareham, MA. Appointed by New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell, the Board is composed of business, civic, education, labor, and community leaders.

The workforce board oversees workforce development efforts in Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, New Bedford, Rochester, and Wareham. The board oversees the MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center operated jointly by The WorkPlace and the MassHire Division of Career Services (MDCS).

The Greater New Bedford Workforce Investment Board is one of 16 similar Boards in Massachusetts. Workforce Investment Boards direct federal, state, and private funding for educational and occupational skills programs.

In addition to responsibilities mandated under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA), Boards have been called upon to play a major role in a variety of workforce initiatives, and to define the board’s goals based on local community needs.

ABOUT OUR CAREER CENTER
 
The MassHire Greater New Bedford Career Center serves as a hub of activity focused on connecting job seekers and employers, to meet the employment and career advancement needs of individuals and the workforce needs of businesses. The Career Center is dedicated to providing high quality services in a professional and welcoming environment, including counseling, education, technology to support job search, labor market information and recruitment opportunities for businesses.

MHGNBWB FY20 EFFORTS
  • Secured $5,014,400 in Workforce Board grants
  • Facilitated $4,430,200 in Partners grants with an additional $1,350,000 grants still in process
  • Spearheaded initiatives in Manufacturing, Youth Programs, WIOA Planning, Apprenticeship and collaboration in our Regional Labor Market Blueprint 
MHGNBWB FY20 OUTCOMES
  • 4308 job seekers and 491 employers served through our Career Center
  • 796 job seekers entered employment with an estimated return to the community of between $10.4M and $24.4M in annual wages
  • Pre-COVID 90 individuals completed manufacturing training in regional Workforce Board sponsored programs. Post-COVID Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development pre-approved $125K in manufacturing grant funds were repurposed for safety training, apprenticeship liaisons, and 2 virtual welding machines with over 40 virtual training modules included
  • 78% completion rate for WIOA Out-of-School Youth programs with 4 vendors and 44 participants completing the program
  • Our Connecting Activities Program served 4,500 youth participants throughout 9 schools, with 3 additional schools signing on for 2021
  • Our YouthWorks Summer 2019 served 191 participants at 26 different employer worksites
  • Our SouthEast Cyber Security Program 2019 had an 83% completion rate with 24 student participants and 16+ employer sponsors
  • Initial planning and implementation strategies for a Youth Council coming in FY21

 

OUR MISSION
MassHire creates and sustains powerful connections between businesses and job seekers through a statewide network of employment professionals.

OUR VISION
MassHire envisions a better future for people and businesses of Massachusetts through meaningful work and sustainable growth.

OUR PROMISE
MassHire promises to champion prosperity, connecting employers with talent and job seekers with tools, services, and connections to achieve meaningful and sustained employment.
OUR VALUES
  • COLLABORATION
    MassHire believes in the power of partnership and streamlined integration of services to achieve effective and timely results for those we serve.
  • RESPECT
    MassHire is committed to understanding and valuing the diverse, unique requirements and professional goals of the businesses and people we serve.
  • RELIABILITY
    MassHire creates trust and reliability by consistently delivering high quality professional services at each location and in every interaction.
  • INGENUITY
    MassHire leverages flexibility, expertise, and knowledge to successfully meet our mission, regardless of new challenges and circumstances.
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