Welcome to the Massachusetts Workforce Association's Exclusive Member's Only Newsletter: The Quarterly Voice! Look for this publication in your inbox each quarter, detailing MWA's work for you.
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- State Legislative Advocacy
- Federal Policy Advocacy
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- UI Data Dissemination
- Member Survey Results
- MassHire Award Finalist Workshops
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- MWA Workforce Webinars
- MWA/MASSCAP Virtual Convening
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- Committee Recruitment
- MWA Board Recruitment
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MWA advocates for public policies and resources to support our members in meeting the talent needs of local businesses and connecting job seekers to employment and career pathways.
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State Legislative Advocacy
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On September 24th, MWA and the Workforce Solutions Group hosted a Workforce Conversation with Secretary Kennealy. With over 30 attendees, it was a great conversation about the role of the workforce system and better ways to partner with economic development. MWA plans to hold these types of policy roundtables at least three times a year given their success and feedback from members. Reach out to Tonja anytime with suggestions on future speakers.
Over the past three months, MWA staff have also communicated with colleagues and other legislative offices about the state’s plan to close out FY20 and pass a budget for FY21. With talks around the FY21 budget beginning again, advocacy efforts have increased including meetings and preparing members with collateral and other necessary information to engage their local delegations.
In addition to multiple meetings, MWA submitted testimony, letters and comments to: (click on bullets below to read the testimony/comments):
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Our partnerships with USWA and NAWB have continued. With no additional federal funding thus far, having a collective and coordinated advocacy effort continues to be critical. In addition, state associations similar to ours have been sharing local reopening plans, virtual services successes and challenges, and how the historic numbers of individuals in need of unemployment assistance are impacting the workforce system.
Advocacy efforts at the state and federal levels in FY21 will be a top priority for MWA. Ensuring the workforce system has the resources it needs to effectively serve the number of businesses and job seekers who will need assistance in the months and years to come remains a top priority of MWA members.
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MWA is a thought-leader for workforce development, sharing best practices and elevating our members’ local expertise and strengths statewide and nationwide.
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MWA Shares UI Data for Workforce Areas
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Cities and town leaders and elected officials are in great need of information as they try to tackle the economic effects of the pandemic. As more data about who is unemployed become available, MWA has been working to try to support the dissemination of this information in a way that will be most helpful to our members. The Metro Area Planning Council published this Community and Regional Rapid Response Plan in response to the significant labor force disruptions and unemployment in the Metro Boston region.
See below for several summative posts on our blog for April and May that offer links to relevant unemployment data. We will continue to offer this information to members as it is particularly timely and important.
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MWA 2020 Member Survey - Looking to 2021
As mentioned in our last Quarterly Voice, our first annual MWA Member Survey was completed this past spring. Many thanks to all the members who took the time to respond! As a reminder, the survey was distributed to 50 members (including the MWA board) via Survey Monkey this spring. We received 26 total responses (52% of those emailed). We are happy to report that the overwhelming majority of feedback received was positive and we have a lot of good information to inform our work and programs for the coming year.
Click here for a PowerPoint shared with the MWA Board in September summarizing some of the responses related to priorities for FY21 and ideas for growing membership.
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MassHire Day Awards and Workshops
MWA has been working closely with EOLWD, MDCS and the MassHire State Workforce Board to offer 8 workshops across 4 webinars featuring the excellent work of the finalists for the MassHire awards. MWA has also featured the finalists in blog posts on our websites and on social media. Click below for the first 4 blog posts.
Metro Area Planning Council
Tonja and Raija continue to engage with the Metro Area Planning Council (MAPC), in particular, helping to get access UI data so that MAPC can help municipal leaders use data to effectively craft strategies to assist residents who have lost their jobs due to COVID. Tonja and MWA Board member Mary Sarris have also participated over the past 10 months on MAPC's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Advisory Committee. The committee is made up of representatives from public, nonprofit, and private sector organizations and businesses who are leaders in advancing economic development in the region. As a member of the committee, we helped shape and provide feedback on MAPC's 5-year economic development strategy plan. A final report is expected later this year
National Fund for Workforce Solutions Trauma Informed Workforce Development Project
This project has held two virtual meetings so far and is in the stage of gathering and vetting resources, tools and training organized by key audiences (workers, employers, workforce boards/CBOs, and job coaches). Several of the selected resources will be examined by focus groups organized by the Multi-Agency Alliance for Children. The advisory committee includes representatives from across the country and has been a great opportunity for Raija to learn more about how trauma-informed practice is evolving, specifically related to workforce development. We’ve invited the project manager from NFWS, Janell Thomas, to lead a webinar about this project for MWA members in January.
EOLWD Road to Reemployment (R2R)
Through this initiative Tonja has been on weekly calls with EOLWD and MDCS leadership to think about systems change, technological investments, and communicating the value of MassHire. We have worked to ensure that local boards and career centers have a voice in these conversations.
Massachusetts Long Term Care "Day After" Conversation
Raija was invited to join more than a dozen other leaders, advocates and experts in the direct care workforce from Massachusetts for a conversation about whether the current moment - COVID-19 and recent calls for racial justice - offered any opportunities to improve these essential jobs. PHI and the Institute for Work & Economy convened the group, in addition to convening several others around the country. To learn more about the "Day After" project, click here.
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MWA convenes our members for strategic partnership development,
peer-to-peer learning and networking opportunities.
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MWA Workforce Webinars: Virtual Professional Learning Sessions
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In July, MWA launched a new MWA virtual member benefit. Our new Workforce Webinars, to be held monthly, will feature experts presenting webinars on timely and relevant topics for the workforce development field. In July we kicked off this new benefit with a webinar on pay for performance from Third Sector, followed by a webinar in September on remote work and the new normal office environment by EANE.
- October will feature MassINC Polling Group sharing the latest workforce and education related polling data in the state; and
- December will feature an Advocacy and Budget 101 with MassBudget.
Ideas for future presenters or topics? Reach out to Raija anytime.
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MWA and MASSCAP Reschedule Convening on Addressing Inequality through Workforce Development Partnerships
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We were disappointed to have to postpone the planned convening with community action colleagues scheduled for March 11th. However, we have developed a two part interactive virtual convening Thursday, November 12th and Thursday, November 19th, 10-11:30AM, that will help accomplish many of the goals we had for March, including:
- Facilitate and strengthen local connections regionally and statewide between community action agencies, workforce boards, and career centers to take action.
- Share research and information on public policies and program practices.
- Develop and strengthen partnerships to address income inequality in Massachusetts.
- Develop regional strategies to tackle barriers to employment, particularly given the current challenges our shared customers face due to COVID-19.
Who should attend?
- MassHire Workforce Board and Career Center Directors and Leaders
- Career advisors and/or other staff who work with your local community action agency
- MASSCAP is inviting community action agency leadership and staff, as well.
Those of you who registered previously should have already received an e-mail from MASSCAP inviting you to reconfirm your registration. Any of you who would like to attend, but haven't registered, can click here to do so. Please reach out to Raija with any questions.
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Over the past quarter we've said good-bye to several of our colleagues and are welcoming new ones. Patricia Crosby welcomed Rebecca Bialecki as her replacement as Executive Director of the MassHire Franklin Hampshire Workforce Board.
Dean Rizzo left the MassHire South Shore Workforce Board and is now Executive Director of the Brockton Area Arc. Robert Cerasoli is currently interim Executive Director of the MassHire South Shore Workforce Board.
Finally, we said bon voyage to long-time MassHire North Shore Career Center Director, Mark Whitmore, who retired at the end of September.
We wish Patricia, Dean, and Mark well and look forward to working with Rebecca and Bob!
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Committee Recruitment
MWA has four active committees that meet on a quarterly basis, comprised of members of our Board of Directors and our members. We welcome members - both leadership and staff - to join these committees as we look ahead to our work for 2021. Click here to learn more about each committee and go to our Member Portal for past committee meeting notes, charters, and work plans.
Board Recruitment
MWA is always looking for nominations for our Board of Directors. Our 15-member Board is composed of knowledgeable leaders from business, nonprofit, labor, and the workforce system. The Board is private sector-led and helps guide the strategic direction of the organization. A description of what this work entails can be found here. If you know anyone who would be a good fit from your region to work with us, please fill out a brief nomination form telling us about them here. Feel free to contact Tonja or Raija with any questions.
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