CareerRise

Westside works programcareerrise's westside works continues to be a vital resource for the community, offering a range of services and programs. In 2023, westside works had over 16,000 visits, with more than 4,700 unique visitors attending community events, meetings, and participating in workforce activities.in the expanded 2022-2023 service year, just over 1,900 customers used at least one westside works service, including rapid employment services, digital skilling, career prep, and training. Programmatic outcomes included: 289 customers trained in credentialing programs, with an 81% graduation rate. Graduates earned credentials in healthcare (47), hospitality (22), information support (58), skilled trades (92), and other tracks (70). Participants earned 447 job placements, with 30% directly resulting from participation in a credentialing program. The average wage for job placements was $16.57 per hour.

Equity @ work programjobs for the future workforce communities inquiry of the deep south (phase 1) jff selected six workforce organizations across the deep south to form the pilot cohort of workforce communities of inquiry (wci). The wci model equips these organizations with an asset-based research protocol and supporting tools and training to engage community stakeholders in exploring service delivery, equitability, and jobseeker outcomes within the context of race and diversity. This appreciative approach amplifies positive and aspirational practices in an effort to replicate, adapt, and expand those across systems. Organizations will utilize cutting-edge artificial intelligence that identifies patterns and themes across conversations, which supports data organization, structure, and analysis. Each organization will develop a set of insights and recommendations based on their respective data sets. Participating organizations received a grant award of $15,000.

Industry partnership programcareerrise's industry partnerships program serves as a region-wide workforce intermediary, convening employers, educators, and community organizations to collaboratively solve shared workforce development challenges. The industry partnerships team provides a broad suite of services aligned with six strategies: hiring, candidate sourcing, and workforce planning; training and registered apprenticeships; employment success supports; quality careers and workplaces; career awareness and promotion; and regional systems support. This is achieved through leveraging grant funding to develop and implement programs and projects that benefit employers and job seekers. Additionally, the team provides valuable education, information sharing, and connectivity for the 700+ members of its network. 2023 was a banner year for industry partnerships programs and impacts. The team partnered with the technical college system of Georgia on its untapped workforce initiative, supporting the hiring and retention of untapped workforce populations through employer engagement and best practice sharing. The team hosted the untapped workforce webinar series, providing insights into building talent pipelines of priority groups such as veterans, individuals with disabilities, and opportunity youth, with additional sessions showcasing innovative employer practices in metro atlanta's high-demand industries. Webinar attendance increased dramatically, with an average of 120 employers and workforce professionals at each session. Careerrise was also awarded quest dislocated worker funds to produce the untapped workforce summit, a 2-day event focused on hiring and engaging members of untapped workforce populations, to be held in february of 2024.the industry partnerships team renewed its partnership with prologis in the community workforce initiative, focused on providing free training and connections to employment in the warehousing and distribution industry. In 2023, nearly 500 students enrolled in the prologis learning academy to develop skills for frontline worker positions. Through partnerships with community partners, we helped nearly 200 individuals find employment in related jobs.we saw great success related to our career awareness and promotion strategy. Our highly successful career compass academy a 5-week virtual career readiness boot camp for youth aged 16-24 expanded beyond the metro atlanta area to serve students across Georgia. Over 220 youth learned work readiness skills, developed a career plan, cover letter, and resume, and met with employers and educators to explore career pathways. We also saw great success with our regional systems support strategy, continuing to create policy and practice alignment across metro atlanta's five local workforce development areas. Additionally, we launched our inaugural industry partnerships summer educator externship, in which 8 educators from across the metro atlanta region were matched with local employers. Teachers spent 3 days with their employer hosts, gaining in-depth knowledge of the aptitudes needed for members of the future workforce. Educators also submitted an education plan for how they planned to use their learnings in the classroom and were provided a stipend. In support of industry partnerships' employment success supports and job quality strategies, the team organized a flyout of employer and workforce partners to the talent rewire retreat in san diego, California. 9 companies and 3 workforce organizations were represented at the retreat, where attendees connected, celebrated, and learned from other employers advancing mobility for frontline employees.