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Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News September 22, 2008 - Take action to address workforce literacy concerns By Sally Cutler for the Daily Tribune Many workforce professionals regard workforce literacy as an epidemic rather than just a problem. Many area employers lament that the level of quality job applicants, at all educational levels, continues to deteriorate. At the Institute for a Competitive Workforce Education Summit held last September in Washington, D.C., speaker Judy Moog, Program Manager at the Verizon Foundation, cited that 70 % of eighth graders are below their grade-level proficiency in reading and will never catch up, and 93 million adults have poor or marginal literacy skills. Verizon’s human resource department wanted Moog to reinforce to the summit’s attendees, that they are finding people incapable of interviewing, of working interactively and of having professional discussions. What actions can we take to improve the workforce literacy of our applicants? • Become a Mentor - If you are an employee who gets to work on time, acts as a team member, and meets the challenges of the job, you can mentor others to do the same. Become a mentor, a trainer, a coach… to your kids, relatives, fellow employees or join a formal program like 4-H or Big Brothers/Big Sisters. • Communicate the Problem - Employers please spell out the skills and capabilities you need. Send job seekers that you don’t select for a job or have to terminate, to the Job Center for help and assessment. Let applicants know why they weren’t selected. Communicate to the education system exactly the skill needs your business requires. • Get involved - Systemic change requires partnerships between leading business organizations, the education community, and the workforce system. Join a Community Progress Initiative (CPI) cluster group, or ask your business to apply for a local Business and Education Partnership Challenge Grant. There are successful initiatives across the nation to improve workforce literacy readiness. These initiatives can be replicated in our community but it will take cooperation, communication and resources. One initiative your local Workforce Development Board has engaged in is the WorkKeys Assessment System. WorkKeys helps jobseekers identify their basic skill levels and assists employers in hiring the right person for the job. Another initiative is developing career pathways to help low-skill workers rise to middle-skill levels. Unfortunately resources are far too scarce for any one organization to solve this epidemic alone. Take action. For more information, contact Sally Cutler, Executive Director of the North Central WI Workforce Development Board at 422-4720 or at scutler@ncwwdb.org. Sally Cutler is executive director of North Central Wisconsin Workforce Development Board and a member of the CPI Workforce Training & Education Cluster.
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