Grant Provides 2nd-Year of Funding in Total $200,000 Pledge to Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest, Inc.-Barnabas Health Workforce Partnership to Upgrade the Skills of More Than 200 Incumbent Workers
CareerWorks Awards $100,000 to Prepare Barnabas Health Frontline Workers for Careers
Regina BarbozaGreater Newark Workforce Funders Collaborative973-596-6400, ext. 203
CareerWorks: Greater Newark Workforce Funders Collaborative today announced a one-year, $100,000 grant to Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest, Inc. to enable more than 200 incumbent frontline workers at Barnabas Health to upgrade their skills for career advancement. This is a second-year award in support of Barnabas Health, New Jersey’s second largest private employer. While the initial grant trained 315 incumbent workers, the second-year JVS/Barnabas Health workforce partnership will provide Barnabas Health workers with multi-tiered training as follows:
“We know that this kind of program not only helps to advance our employees into higher positions, but also provides a ready pipeline of Barnabas Health workers who can be readily deployed as the needs of the business dictate. Having trained workers who can easily move into positions will be critical as more baby boomers begin to retire and we face potential shortages in patient-care and administrative occupations,” said Sid Seligman, Senior Vice President of Human Resources for Barnabas Health.
“We are excited about this opportunity to train incumbent workers from food service, housekeeping, security and transport, thereby developing in-house talent for core Barnabas Health patient-care and administrative positions,” said Beatrice S. Anzur, Vice President, Human Resources Development, Barnabas Health.
In addition to offering incumbent workers opportunities to further their skills and advance, the hope is that job seekers will be able to gain entry-level employment within the Barnabas Health system.
“JVS is thrilled to partner with Barnabas Health and CareerWorks for a second year to position entry-level workers for career advancement pathways,” said Nancy T. Fisher, Assistant Executive Director, Education & Training, JVS MetroWest. “We’re seeing how workforce partnerships – CareerWorks’ model of aligning training to the needs of business – not only help entry-level employees gain the skills required for core occupations but also help institutions better meet their business needs.”
“New Jersey Labor and Workforce Development has collaborated on a 5-year Unified Workforce Investment Plan designed to transform the State’s workforce system into an innovative talent development engine,” said Aaron R. Fichtner, the Deputy Commissioner of NJ LWD. “Key to that transformation are seven industry-specific Talent Networks and the creation of ‘stackable’ credentials – successive higher levels of education – that lead to careers in those industries. As an investor, we see the CareerWorks model as enabling NJ citizens to gain initial stackable credentials and access to the first rung of career ladders in sectors that fuel our economy.”
CareerWorks creates employer-led or employer-centric “workforce partnerships,” a nationally recognized model for aligning skills development and training to employers’ true career requirements. It supports a program at Jersey City Medical Center to advance 24 incumbent workers through training in Electronic Medical Records and Multi-Skills HealthCare Tech. It is currently launching an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) training program for 42 Newark job seekers. CareerWorks goal is to create a steady pipeline of technically proficient workers for the healthcare industry and transportation, logistics and distribution (TLD) industry to meet increasing demand for services and overcome talent shortages in northern New Jersey.
CareerWorks: Greater Newark Workforce Funders Collaborative is the only regional collaborative of workforce investors in New Jersey and the 31st collaborative to join the award-winning National Fund for Workforce Solutions network of innovative workforce solutions across the country. Managed by the Newark Alliance, CareerWorks seeks to link and leverage public and private dollars as it taps business, civic, and philanthropic stakeholders to develop a sustainable workforce pipeline that advances low-skilled workers and growth industries in northern New Jersey. CareerWorks’ funders include The Prudential Foundation, Newark Alliance, Bergen County Workforce Investment Board (WIB), Garfield Foundation, Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, Hudson County WIB, JPMorgan Chase, Kessler Foundation, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, Newark WIB/Newark Works, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Nicholson Foundation, PNC Bank, United Way of Essex and West Hudson, Victoria Foundation, Walmart Foundation and Wells Fargo Foundation.