Training Futures delivers a 25-week program that includes 17 weeks of curriculum in critical office skills and software, including Microsoft Office Suite software, keyboarding, business communication, customer service, business math, and filing. The Training Futures program is operated as a business site; trainees attend classes Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Trainees are expected to dress professionally – the program provides each student with three professional outfits – and students must be on time and attend classes regularly.

A key part of the Training Futures experience is the 3-week internship. Training Futures staff arranges internships with local employers by carefully matching trainees’ strengths to “job orders” placed by an employer. Trainees report to that employer during the same hours that they attend the training session. To support participants’ job search, Training Futures provides skills training in resume development and interviewing; hosts job fairs where employers interview participants on-site; provides office equipment for participants and graduates, such as computers, Internet access, fax, and telephones; facilitates job clubs where participants offer support to one another; and provides ongoing coaching from the trainers and volunteers during the job search process.

In 2008, the program was selected as one of six sites nationwide to be a participant with the Aspen Institute’s Courses to Employment three-year Demonstration Project. A study released by the Aspen Institute about Training Futures shows 94% of trainees complete the program. 84% of Training Futures graduates go on to find employment after program completion with an average of $6,000 annual wage gain. 84% of completers gain college credit for their work at TF.

Since 2005, WeCARE has provided a comprehensive, individualized and integrated approach designed to not only evaluate an individual’s functional capacity, but also to truly help clients achieve their highest levels of health, functioning, and self-sufficiency.  A Holistic biopsychosocial (BPS) assessments which highlight a client’s strengths as well as functional limitations. The BPS assessment identifies all relevant clinical and social barriers thereby minimizing the need for reassessments and often diagnoses serious conditions of which clients were unaware; some requiring emergency intervention. 

WeCARE has developed a continuum of services including assessment, vocational rehabilitation, job placement, wellness planning and disability advocacy under one umbrella thereby reducing duplication and fragmentation of services. • Proactive wellness plans which link clients to treatment, facilitate treatment adherence, and monitor clinical progress to help clients become more functional. • Begins the vocational rehabilitation component with a comprehensive evaluation that results in an individualized plan of employment and a continuum of case management services.

Programs that Arkansas CPI offers include adult General Education Development (GED), English as a Second Language (ESL), and basic education courses. The educational pathways developed by the initiative include: WAGE, Employability Certificate, Career Readiness Certificate, Certificates of Proficiency, Technical Certificates, and Associates Degrees. These certificate courses provide participants with skills in specific fields and provide training in areas such as computer literacy. Another program offered is the Bridge Program which prepares students for credit-based courses that result in college credentials.

Participants in the program are paired with a community outreach coordinator who works with the participant to create individual career plans and overcome barriers they may be facing. The coordinator also serves as a liaison between the participant and employers and/or other program coordinators. This relationship allows the participant to take full advantage of Arkansas Career Pathways Opportunities. 

• PIVOT is a wage subsidy program designed to meet the hiring needs of local employers by paying the full-time wages of the participant for six months, during training.
• Individuals referred to PIVOT are assessed and screened to match skills with jobs/employer needs.
• PIVOT is currently working with employers in the banking, hospitality, community service, legal, hotel, manufacturing, health, childcare, clerical, warehousing and retail sectors.
• At the conclusion of the 6-month training period, clients become permanent employees with the respective companies.
• After placement, PIVOT provides ongoing supportive services, monitoring and works as a liaison between the client and employer.

The comprehensive CLIMB Wyoming Program Model includes the five phases that help move low-income single mothers out of poverty and into self-sufficient jobs: Phase 1 is dedicated to sector-based research to identify career opportunities in growing fields, and then to purposefully engage these businesses and industry groups within these growing fields. Following the businesses’ input, CLIMB works with a community college or private training entity to develop a curriculum that trains for the occupation’s required knowledge, skills and abilities. This research and planning phase ensure that staff will be able to place participants in long-term job opportunities. 

Phase 2 of the project is focused on participant recruitment.  Activities of this phase are also conducted year round but become more intense approximately two months prior to the comprehensive training start date, and after the requirements of the training and employment are known. CLIMB’s unique participant recruitment approach is vital to connecting well-matched, qualified and ready-to-work individuals to high-quality jobs. During this phase, program staff members assist and coach candidates to overcome obstacles such as low self-esteem, childcare, transportation and housing so that they can participate in the program.  

Phase 3 moves to the comprehensive training component of the model. This phase lasts approximately two to four months depending on the job training curriculum. The comprehensive training phase develops the participants’ strengths and builds upon them through extensive training in high-demand, high-growth occupations that lead to self-sufficient wages. During this phase, CLIMB participants are guided through job training and also receive services that allow them to begin to address personal barriers to success. The comprehensive training phase includes industry specific training, work readiness training, life skills training, parenting skills training, mental health services (including both group and individual counseling) and advocacy services. 

Phase 4: This phase includes two to three months of subsidized work experience followed by long-term placement. During this phase, staff members place participants into positions where they will be able to take what they learned during the comprehensive training phase and transition it to on-the-job training allowing them to build upon the skills they learned during training. Employers are reimbursed during the two to three month work experience, and staff members work closely with each employer to ensure that the participants are meeting appropriate expectations and to offer additional support or training as needed.

Phase 5: This phase is dedicated to providing ongoing support to the individual women and their families. Ongoing support has proven to be as important to the participants’ long-term success as the participant recruitment process. To continue to support the participants, CLIMB staff members meet with graduates after they finish the program to support success in the workplace and family stability. Staff members and graduates meet as a group to discuss life challenges and possible solutions as well as continually review community resources.

Ready to Work coordinators, who are paid with federal TANF funds but are employees of individual community/technical colleges, serve as on-campus case managers. They help students arrange financial aid, work with local TANF offices to ensure that students receive support services such as transportation and child care, and recruit TANF recipients into Ready to Work. In their role as recruiters, coordinators often attend TANF orientation sessions for new recipients and actively seek out potential students. The coordinators provide counseling to students at risk of dropping out of college, and connect students with educational and employment support, including tutoring, career counseling, job placement, and post-graduation follow-up. Ready to Work also provides students with TANF funded work study opportunities. Work-study participants often start off with jobs at their colleges or at local non-profit organizations. Once they have adjusted to the work environment and learned basic work skills such as punctuality and reliability, they may earn work study placements off campus and in the field they want to enter, an opportunity that provides them with invaluable experience and exposure and often leads to unsubsidized employment opportunities.

Services are accessed via TANF, OneStops, career centers, youth programs, public libraries, offender programs, community colleges, and Tribal workforce programs.

Job Seeker Resources

• JobSearch Guides for Adults, Youth and Ex-Offenders
• Online Training for Adult & Youth Job Seekers
• “The Job Interview Simplified" DVD

Online Staff Training

• Online Staff Training & Professional Certification Preparation
• Virginia Workforce Certification Preparation & Business and Employer Services
• Migrant & Seasonal Farmworker (AFOP) Certification Preparation Modules

The KEYS Auto Loan Program is the Employment & Human Services Department’s (EHSD) low-interest auto loan program for employed CalWORKs participants who have difficulty obtaining an auto loan from other sources.

Referral to the KEYS program is through the CalWORKs participant’s EHSD case manager.

In its 20+ years as a program KEYS has provided 150 loans to CalWORKs participants in Contra Costa County to assist them in maintaining their employment. The program has a maximum loan amount of $7,000.00 and an average monthly loan payment of $180.00 a month. All vehicles financed through the program are diagnostically inspected by a certified mechanic at no cost to the loan participant. The program also provides budget management material to all loan participants as well as car maintenance on their vehicle that they finance through KEYS.

Responses from the participants in the program were very positive.

Good News Garage, a program of Lutheran Social Services, accepts, repairs and awards donated vehicles to individuals and families through a variety of programs. Clients use the vehicles to get to work, bring their children to the doctor, extra-curricular activities, access affordable housing and more. The vehicle help clients break the cycle of poverty by becoming financially self-sufficient. All vehicle donations to Good News Garage qualify for a tax deduction, some qualifying for the highest deduction allowable under IRS regulations. Eligibility requirements to receive a vehicle vary from state to state.

Car Ministry program accepts donated vehicles, checks their condition, and assesses the need for repairs. Then, the ministry gives the car or truck, at no cost, to someone in serious need, or the program uses the car to further the goal of providing transportation. The program has a long waiting list of people in need.

The Car Ministry insists that the donated vehicles must run well and pass Virginia safety and emission tests before they are given. Most charitable organizations simply pass them through or sell them without repair, a disservice to needy people who cannot afford to pay for immediate car problems. People are referred to the Car Ministry by social workers and pastors. Once given a vehicle people have opportunity to get to work and take care of family needs. Between 50 and 150 vehicles are given each year depending on the number donated.