Legacy 2016 Miami: Black History Month Issue | Page 15

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2016

AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MIA MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS GROUP TO MIAMI HERALD

BB15

Promoting Economic and Career Success
Through Subsidized Employment

By Rick Beasley

Rick Beasley
Executive Director
CareerSource South Florida
In July 2014, President Obama signed the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
(WIOA). Passed by an overwhelming
bipartisan majority in Congress, WIOA is the
first update to the nation’s core workforce
training programs since the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA) 16 years ago.
Low-skilled and low-income workers face
more barriers than ever to securing an
education and getting a good job. The
updated law recognizes the need for a new
game plan and reauthorizes the
employment, training, adult education, and
vocational rehabilitation programs that
made up WIA. WIOA improves connections
to employment and training opportunities
that lead to economic prosperity for
workers and their families, as well as
strengthens existing workforce
development and adult education programs
to enable better service to adults and youth
with barriers to economic success.
Subsidized employment programs use
public funds to create temporary job
opportunities for people looking for work.
These programs have existed in varying
forms for decades, but there has recently
been renewed interest in these models with
the increased recognition of the success of
worker-based training as a promising
method that benefits both the employee
and employer. As a particular model of
subsidized employment, transitional jobs
combine work-based income and support
services for disadvantaged workers to
improve their employability. Summer
employment programs encourage
disconnected youth to gain work experience

while increasing educational growth and life
skills. WIOA explicitly authorizes transitional
job models and has an overall emphasis on
serving more disadvantaged populations.
Subsidized employment programs are
designed to give people immediate access
to employment and earnings, and to
increase people’s work experience, skills,
and connections in order to improve their
employability after the subsidized job ends.
Most transitional jobs structures include
skills training, work site supervision, and
other support services, along with
assessments of participants’ job readiness
throughout the program, which is a vital
program component when trying to
increase employability among
harder-to-employ individuals.
CareerSource South Florida (CSSF) has
created a subsidized employment program
called Ready-To-Work Employment
Program. Ready-To-Work will provide job
opportunities to eligible young adults ages
18-24 residing in Miami-Dade or Monroe
counties. By collaborating with CSSF, local
businesses will provide young adults with
job opportunities and guidance in
appropriate work place behavior, at no cost
to the employer.
Subsidized employment programs, like
CSSF’s Ready-To-Work Employment
Program, are aimed at increasing overall
worker employability are targeted at people
with significant disadvantages that make
them harder to employ even in periods of
overall low unemployment. Targeted
populations include youth and adults with
significant barriers to stable employment,
such as ex-offenders and the long-term
unemployed; Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) recipients; adults and
youth with low education attainment; and
individuals with a history of mental health
and substance abuse problems. Subsidized
employment programs can be tailored to
address the barriers to employment of these
specific groups by enhancing the job search,
job training, and employment experiences.
The most promising strategies for serving
people with barriers to employment involve
a concurrent mix of employment and
training. Employers interested in
participating in the Ready-To-Work
Employment Program, please contact
CareerSource South Florida at 305-594-7615
ext. 405.,

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