Round table discussion on Employment and Training

In Attendance: Sandy Ashurst(Paraquad), Desere Terry-Singletary(Mother's Way Career Counseling), Renee Richardson(Mother's Way Career Counseling), Bert Emmons(Missouri Goddwill Industries), Linda Kesler(C-FAR), Jack Quigley(SLCC), and Chuck Kindleberger(CDA) on April 20th, 1999 at Missouri Goodwill Industries.

"Important changes that helped the partnership during the last five years"

There have been various changes that have shaped Employment Training Programs over the last five years. The nation's economy has been "booming" for the last several years. This has created a vision of full-employment, leading to an attitude that everyone should be working. Thus, if people are not working, it is their fault. This has contributed to perhaps the greatest change effecting the partnership, which is Welfare Reform. Unlike previous welfare strategies, Welfare Reform is not considered an entitlement program, but more of a short-term assistance program. Some in the Employment Training Programs have compared the new welfare system to a "life boat."

A lifeboat can only support so many people for a designated amount of time. In the case of Welfare Reform it is for two continuous years or a maximum of five years over a lifetime. After the designated time expires, passengers on the lifeboat will be forced off the boat to either sink or swim on their own. Hence, there will be no further welfare assistance from the government.

Another major change has been the philosophical political shift on how the federal government funds projects. It can be described as "devolution," because funding is now being pushed down to the local level. The ideology is that local people know what is best for the local areas. Therefore, ideally communities now have an opportunity to provide input on projects that directly effect them. Unfortunately, smaller community organizations are finding it harder to procure funding, especially if these organizations are not directly involved with major projects, such as 2004 or ARCHS.

Thus, all communities are feeling the impact of 2004. ARCHS is playing a major role in 2004. ARCHS has been characterized as more local governance, modeled after the Atlanta Center Project. However, some have criticized ARCHS for trying to advance their own agenda and for not trying to empower people.

Services becoming more efficient, city demographics, the city school system and operational capital will continually shape the St. Louis Region. As in the past, there will be an increase in the consolidation of agencies in order for services to become more efficient. Local agencies will continue to build upon local input. An increase in technology will also contribute to services becoming more efficient. This efficiency will also contribute to a transition of public welfare becoming more privatize. This will contribute to more for-profit agencies. There will also be an increase in faith based agencies, who will build upon providing services to their congregations and neighborhoods.

The population in the City of St. Louis continues to dwindle. In April 1990, there were 396,685 people living in St. Louis City. It is estimated that in July 1998, there were 339,316 people living in the city. Thus over the last 8+ years there has been a 57,369 drop in the population. This is a rate of 14.5%. If this trend continues, the city's population in 2004 will be 314,715. The loss of people, contributes to more empty spaces and abandon buildings throughout the city. These empty lots possible could lead to small business opportunities for people to redevelop the city.

Another important city demographic is that the city is made up of 79 different neighborhoods. Many of these neighborhoods have multiple leaders with various agendas. Some neighborhoods struggle with identifying who represents their ideas, concerns and who defines the neighborhoods.

Desegregation will have a major impact on the city. This will contribute to the establishment of stronger communities, as local children will be attending schools in their local neighborhoods. This will encourage a stronger sense of community. However, this could also lead to possible growth in gangs.

Finally, a majority of funders concentrate on funding projects based on final outcomes. Thus, if the final outcomes or goals are not met, the agency receives nothing. In other words, it is often seen as "all or nothing." This raises a need to establish benchmark funding, where agencies will receive partial funding for partial outcomes and is funded throughout the process as oppose to receiving one lump sum.

Recommendations

The City of St. Louis should consider the following initiatives in its effort to improve the delivery of employment training:

Funding(Capital & Outcome Based Initiatives) - There needs to be capital funding for small non-profits if they are to survive. If this does not happen, many of the large agencies will "swallow them up." Capital funding will establish funding for neighborhood groups and allow them to reinvest in their own neighborhoods. For example, local communities should have the opportunity to clean(abandon) lots and establish their own initiatives for their neighborhoods.

Contract Monitoring - The Workforce Partnership of Metro St. Louis(formerly the Enterprise Community Employment Partnership) should be staff with at least one full time employee. Furthermore, the partnership is in need of an office in order to establish one central location. Also, the city could further assist the partnership through helping with the media and marketing.

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