UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways

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UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways

UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways

Your local United Way Cass-Clay is changing the way we address issues such as hunger, homelessness, poverty, and workforce development. We want to collaborate to tackle the source, not just the symptoms, to solve them for good.

No one organization can solve complex community problems. The only way we can create real, lasting change is by innovating the way people, organizations and systems work together.

GOAL 1: ESTABLISH & INCREASE collaboration and partnership among workforce development agencies, educational institutions, and community based organizations to leverage resources and align services to help New Americans and low income individuals enter the workforce and elevate their employment and career opportunities

GOAL 2: IDENTIFY & REMOVE the gaps and barriers that currently exist for New Americans and low income individuals to enter the workforce and attain and retain family sustaining employment

GOAL 3: POSITION under and unemployed workers on a path to long-term family sustaining employment and career success

GOAL 4: INCREASE
• Access to educational services such as training classes, skill training, GED classes and ELL classes
• Access to supportive services such as housing, transportation, and child care
• The number of eligible workers to enter the workforce to meet and respond to the local workforce shortage

With an extremely low percent unemployment rate, our local workforce shortage is impacting local companies, our local economy, and inhibiting growth in our community.
In addition, 1 out of 9 local people are living at the poverty level (annual income of $25,100 for a family of 4).
The New American population and low income individuals are seeking opportunities for family sustaining employment opportunities.
Low paying jobs, combined with low-skilled workers, are key contributors to ongoing generational poverty, affecting workers today and future generations. Without access to training for higher paying jobs that have greater prospects for growth and career development, individuals and families struggling cannot move out of poverty.
By 2020, we will need an additional 30,000 workers in our community.

The UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways is a NEW initiative led by United Way of Cass-Clay and will be executed by a new Community Impact Manager on the United Way team, Ahmed Shiil.
United Way is encouraging the community to see people not for who they are, but for who they can become.There is tremendous potential for individuals currently living in poverty to be a part of solving our workforce shortage in our local community. We will work to UNITE our community to see the potential of under and unemployed individuals to positively impact their own lives and meet our community’s growing workforce demands.
Everyone wins when individuals have family-sustaining employment and employers have access to workers that are educated and more economically self-sufficient.
When we connect workers to career pathways in industries that are hiring, we refuel the local economy, and ensure families can reach their potential for a successful and self-sufficient life.

View the UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways shareable PDF HERE

UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways is a strategy developed to achieve United Way of CassClay's BOLD Community Goals:

The Community Impact Manager position leading the UNITED for Workforce Development Pathways is collaboratively funded by:

United Way of Cass-Clay
The Chamber
City of Fargo
Cornerstone Bank
FM Area Foundation
Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation
Microsoft
the Otto Bremer Trust
West Central Initiative
Private investors

For more information contact:
Thomas Hill | Community Impact Director • thill@unitedwaycassclay.org
Ahmed Shiil | Community Impact Manager • ashiil@unitedwaycassclay.org
Kristi Huber | President • khuber@unitedwaycassclay.org

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