Jobs for the Future Launches Workforce Solutions Week

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Mar 08, 2010, 12:40 ET

National Campaign Highlights Efforts to Rebuild U.S. Workforce

BOSTON, March 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit organization that identifies, develops, and promotes new education and workforce strategies, today launches Workforce Solutions Week (March 8 – 14, 2010), a celebration that is bringing together workers, employers, public officials, and business, community, and education leaders to honor successful ways for rebuilding the nation's workforce.

Through events around the country, the week is an opportunity for participants in JFF's four key national workforce initiatives to highlight the successes of individual participants, service providers, employers, funders, and other partners. Participant's initiatives include:

The 32 Breaking Through community colleges promoting and strengthening efforts to help low-literacy adults prepare for and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs;
The 5 Connecting Literacy and Work sites designed to strengthen the connections between adult literacy and workforce development;
The 17 Jobs to Careers projects helping frontline health care workers gain the skills and credentials they need to advance their careers, while helping their employers retain a talented workforce and ensure that patients receive high-quality care; and
The 22 regional funding collaboratives and over 60 local workforce partnerships in the National Fund for Workforce Solutions addressing a critical problem in America today: the crisis in workforce preparedness.

"With the rapid changes occurring on the employment landscape, many people will be unprepared for the jobs that will exist after the economy recovers," said Marlene Seltzer, President and CEO of Jobs for the Future. "Workforce Solutions Week is an opportune time to raise awareness of successful models and their strategies for helping employees and employers succeed."

For more information on Workforce Solutions Week, and a sampling of the events scheduled, click HERE.

About Jobs for the Future

Jobs for the Future identifies, develops, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In over 200 communities in 41 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.

www.jff.org

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About Breaking Through

Breaking Through is a multiyear demonstration project, promotes and strengthens the efforts of

community colleges across the country to help low-literacy adults prepare for and succeed in occupational and technical degree programs. The goal is to strengthen postsecondary outcomes for low-income adults by focusing on strategies that create more effective pathways through pre-college and degree-level programs. Breaking Through is a collaboration between JFF and the National Council for Workforce Education.

About Connecting Literacy and Work

With funding from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Connecting Literacy and Work

encompasses three strands of JFF work that are strengthening the connections between adult literacy and workforce development: connecting adult literacy to employment; building the capacity of literacy networks to partner with sector-based workforce development initiatives; and technical assistance and documentation. Together, these activities will deepen and disseminate strategies that advance low-skilled adults in their careers through tighter linkages between adult literacy and workforce initiatives at the community level.

About Jobs to Careers

Jobs to Careers helps frontline health care workers access the skills and credential opportunities they need to advance their careers -- at little to no cost to the workers. This $15.8 million initiative supports 17 partnerships of employers, educational institutions, and other organizations. The initiative is sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in collaboration with The Hitachi Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor.

About National Fund for Workforce Solutions

National Fund for Workforce Solutions is a partnership unprecedented in its scope. Nearly

200 funders are investing millions of dollars in local communities to help get people back to work and ensure that American businesses are able to compete. In 22 sites across the country, the National Fund is working closely with employers and leaders from the public and nonprofit sectors to find solutions, testing how the lessons learned from groundbreaking pilot projects can be applied on a national scale. The ultimate goal: helping employers and employees succeed in a post-recession economy.

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Marlene Seltzer

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SOURCE Jobs for the Future