Colorado Human Resource Association: Workforce Readiness

Charter
CHRA Workforce Readiness Committee

Mission:

The CHRA Workforce Readiness Committee (WRC) exists to develop local strategies and tactics for the Denver Metro Area in support of the SHRM Core Area Goal to improve the level of Workforce Readiness in the United States.

We will achieve our goals by partnering with other stakeholders, building awareness in the workplace and community, and providing our members with tools and techniques to improve their workplaces as well as opportunities to work with, develop and support our target workers.

Workforce Readiness Vision

• The Denver Metro Area Workforce of tomorrow has the skills, competencies and behaviors in order to succeed in tomorrow’s workplace.

• The Denver Metro Area Workplaces can optimize the potential of today’s and tomorrow’s workforce.

Target Populations:

• New Entrants to the Workforce (e.g. school exits (hopefully graduates), housewives with grown children, immigrants, people with disabilities)
• Incumbent Workers (e.g. skill up-graders, career changers)
• Transitioning Workers (e.g. job losers, displaced workers, people w/ new disabilities)
• Re-entrants to the Workforce (e.g. people with criminal records, retirees forced back to work, returning veterans and their spouses)

Workforce Readiness Team Responsibilities:

1. Build a more responsible attitude amongst Denver Metro Area Employers towards workforce readiness
2. Create communication and education plans for the chapter and hold at least one chapter program to promote awareness and knowledge of the value and importance of workforce readiness programs.
3. Serve as the information conduit to the members about significant Workforce Readiness news and events.
4. Develop a working relationship with the Colorado Urban Workforce Alliance (formerly Denver Metro Workforce Board).
5. Partner with the regional Workforce Investment Boards (Adams County, Arapahoe/Douglas Works, Denver, Tri-County(Clear Creek, Gilpin & Jefferson) and Broomfield) to place new, transitioning, or re-entering workers into the workforce.
6. Engage and partner with local, state or national workforce readiness organization, such as America’s Promise, to complement and support the workforce readiness efforts in the community. Local support may include sponsoring or participating in community workforce readiness activities (e.g., job shadowing, mock interviews, providing speakers for schools, career counseling, etc.)
7. Engage a local higher education institution, such as community college, technical school, college or university, to build/ strengthen relationships between the business and education communities. Research Obama’s Community College Initiative to look for opportunities.
8. Participate in one or more national or statewide workforce readiness initiatives, such as Groundhog Job Shadow Day, Workforce Readiness Certification (e.g., WorkKeys) or Jobs for America’s Graduates, the BETR Project, etc.
9. Develop awareness of CHRA’s Job Bank, and other programs such as internships, State Supported OJT programs or evaluation services to both employers and potential employees
10. Support public discourse and provide information in support of legislation to forward the Workforce Readiness cause.
11. Recruit and promote Chapter Member(s) to serve on a state or local workforce development boards and Youth Advisory Boards.

Reporting Relationship

The WRC is led by the Director-at-Large who reports to the CHRA President.
The Director at Large also serves as CHRA’s representative to the COSHRM Workforce Readiness Committee.

Relationship to COSHRM Workforce Readiness Team

The WRC wishes to support the COSHRM Workforce Readiness Initiative, at the same time we do not wish to be constrained to only those activities.

Timeframe:
Although the WRC will have short-term objectives and activities, the long term nature of the strategies will require working in an extended planning time frame of 2010-2014.

Deliverables:

Identify Goals for CHRA’s Workforce Readiness Program
Develop Measures to chart our progress. (Baseline, Leading Indicators and Final)
Develop a multi-pronged Workforce Readiness Plan to achieve our goals.
Assign responsibilities for task accomplishment.
Follow-up, measure progress and report results

Pre-implementation: Develop the baseline using data from 2008 survey.
• Percentage of CHRA Member firms with WR initiatives in place.
• SHR/CHRA Attitude data

During: Leading indicators: What are the indicators of our progress?
• % of Workforce Boards with CHRA Member
• Interim SHRM/CHRA Attitude measures
• Communications accomplished
• Businesses interviewing more people with disabilities
• Businesses interviewing more people with criminal backgrounds

Post Implementation: We will know we are successful when we see:
• Decreasing drop-out rates.
• Increasing placement rates for People with Disabilities
• Decreased unemployment amongst Veterans
• We have a SHRM/CHRA member on every Youth Advisory Committee in each of the Adams County, Arapahoe/Douglas Works, Denver, Tri-County(Clear Creek, Gilpin & Jefferson) and Broomfield) Workforce Investment Boards. (Five Boards)
• We have a SHRM/CHRA member on every WorkForce Investment Board in each of the Adams County, Arapahoe/Douglas Works, Denver, Tri-County(Clear Creek, Gilpin & Jefferson) and Broomfield) Workforce Investment Boards. (Five Boards)

CHRA’s geographic range:
Broomfield, Adams, Denver, Arapahoe/Douglas Works, Tri-County (Jefferson, Gilpin and Clearcreek)
Boulder belongs to BAHRA.
Weld County and Larimer County are would be handled by NCHRA.

The SHRM Colorado State Council (COSHRM) is the governing council for the six local chapters within Colorado and all SHRM members at large. The six local chapters include Boulder Human Resource Association, Colorado Human Resource Association (Denver metro), Colorado Springs Society of Human Resource Management (El Paso, Teller, Pueblo & ?) High Country Human Resource Association (Our membership covers the Central Colorado Mountains in Eagle, Summit, Garfield, Routt, Moffat, Lake, Pitkin and Grand Counties , Northern Colorado Human Resource Association, and Western Colorado Human Resource Association. (Mesa , Delta, Montrose & ?)

Workforce Readiness

There are three primary goals:

1. Cutting the number of students who drop out by half requires improved readiness for kindergarten and closer attention to students as they move through the school system.
2. Cutting the number of financially unstable working families by half requires strategies to help people increase income, save, and grow long-term assets.
3. Increasing by one-third the percentage of healthy youth and adults requires that more Americans have access to health coverage and to good primary care from (and even before) birth, as well as the resources to avoid or stop substance abuse and other risky behaviors.

COSHRM has taken a primary focus on drop-out prevention using the Target Issue: Productive and engaged youth. The intended result: Young adults make a successful transition from high
school to work life. To measure our results we will be tracking the indicator: Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds who are not working or in school.

COSHRM was looking for programs where they could develop a consensus between the Chapters.

Although we will be working on the COSHRM goals, we also have the opportunity to look at a wider range of workforce readiness issues including, the employment of people with disabilities, access to the workforce for people with criminal records, employment of veterans and the integration of immigrants into the workforce.

Click on the link to review the COSHRM Workforce Readiness Plan.

Below is a listing of the Workforce Readiness Team Members: