Employer engagement driving Ready to Work program
SPONSORED: Ready to Work training programs are being developed in partnership with more than 300 leading San Antonio employers. Ready to Work is a workforce initiative approved by San Antonio voters in 2020 to help unemployed, underemployed and underrepresented residents find easy access to professional training, education and quality careers. To date, Ready to Work has enrolled more than 2,550 San Antonians in approved training and is partnering with more than 310 local employers that have pledged support for the program. The program is being developed and validated in partnership with leading San Antonio employers to ensure participants have multiple job placement opportunities upon training completion. Avanzar Interior Technologies has been directly engaging in this transformational program alongside other manufacturers that will better equip our fellow San Antonian with training to enter into new career pathways in high-demand industries. The Alamo Colleges have also stood up an additional Advanced Manufacturing Training program at Palo Alto College to meet the growing need for advanced manufacturing technicians.
Diterbitkan : 11 bulan yang lalu oleh Christian Guerra di dalam
Ready to Work is a workforce initiative approved by San Antonio voters in 2020 to help residents of San Antonio find easy access to professional training, education and quality careers. The $200 million program offers unemployed, underemployed and underrepresented residents the following benefits:
• Tuition for industry-recognized certifications, associate’s and bachelor’s degrees aligned with targeted occupations in high-demand, well-paid careers;
• Wraparound support services and emergency assistance to ensure training completion; and
• Job placement and retention services.
A cornerstone of the Ready to Work program, and critical to its success, is employer engagement throughout the process.
Ready to Work training programs are being developed and validated in partnership with leading San Antonio employers to ensure participants have multiple job placement opportunities upon training completion. To date, Ready to Work has enrolled more than 2,550 San Antonians in approved training and is partnering with more than 310 local employers that have pledged support for the program. The pledged employers represent key sectors of the San Antonio economy, including skilled trades, health care, education, finance, technology, energy, logistics, manufacturing and transportation.
Avanzar Interior Technologies took the Ready to Work pledge, and we have been directly engaging in this transformational program alongside other manufacturers that will better equip our fellow San Antonians with training to enter into new career pathways in high-demand industries. Manufacturing provides the exact types of roles that can help San Antonians transition from jobs to careers that will equip them with technical skills and livable wages that will lift them and their families out of poverty.
To support long-term, sustainable workforce development solutions in our region, Greater:SATX, the region’s economic development partnership, leads structured industry employer collaboratives to align and take action in support of the most pressing workforce needs of the industry collective. For the past few months, we’ve been joining forces with over 20 fellow San Antonio manufacturers and the San Antonio Manufacturers Association to provide timely and data-driven feedback to Ready to Work on the target occupations and training programs they provide. This employer feedback loop helps to inform and ensure that Ready to Work participants are entering training that leads to available jobs that manufacturers are indeed hiring for now.
We, along with other manufacturers, are encouraged to know that Ready to Work and the training providers are listening and taking action based on our collective input. Our feedback on the critical roles needed and our anticipated demand has spurred the Alamo Colleges to stand up an additional Advanced Manufacturing Training program at Palo Alto College to meet the growing need for advanced manufacturing technicians.
What’s more, Ready to Work is engaging employers in the intake process even before candidates select their training. Today’s manufacturing is advanced, highly skilled and pays well above what many jobseekers may realize. In these manufacturing collaborative meetings, we are also directly informing the Ready to Work agencies like Workforce Solutions Alamo, Project Quest, Restore Education and Alamo Colleges of the needs of our industry to provide the best career counseling and guidance possible.
And I’m proud to say we have made some great hires from the program. Through our engagement in Ready to Work, we’ve hired San Antonians who are not only newly skilled but eager to make the life-changing transition from working a job to building a career. Additionally, by hiring Ready to Work participants through workforce agencies like Chrysalis Ministries, Avanzar has been able to tap into hidden workforces we may not have hired from previously that include justice-involved individuals.
We’re seeing the results of our collective industry voice to drive change in how our community invests in and prepares our workforce of the future. Employers must engage directly in workforce development efforts and, through Ready to Work, we are doing just that.
If your company is interested in taking the Ready to Work Employer Pledge, visit www.ReadyToWorkSA.com.