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February 2016
Policy&Practice
5
Photographs courtesy of Seattle Jobs Initiative
I
n the December 2015 issue of
Policy
& Practice
, we introduced readers to
APHSA’s new initiative, the Center for
Workforce Engagement (CWE). The
center’s purpose is to advance a system
of human services, workforce devel-
opment, economic development, and
education and training that effectively
supports greater capacity and indepen-
dence, employment, self-sufficiency,
and well-being for low-income indi-
viduals and families. In consideration
of this purpose, one of the goals of the
CWE is to share existing innovations
and highlight leaders in the field of
workforce engagement. The Seattle
Jobs Initiative (SJI) is one such leader
driving innovation and transformation.
Seattle Jobs Initiative
The Seattle Jobs Initiative began
in 1997 through a partnership
between the city’s Office of Economic
Development and the Annie E. Casey
Foundation to combine job-skills
training, wrap-around services, and
local employer involvement to connect
low-income and low-skilled adults with
employers offering good paying jobs.
By 2003, SJI had established itself as
an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit
organization. Today, SJI acts as a
workforce development intermediary
dedicated to improving local workforce
systems to benefit low-income people.
The Seattle Jobs Initiative is cur-
rently focused on increasing the
number of low-income adults who
obtain one- and two-year college cre-
dentials. Through its Career Pathways
program, SJI works with community
colleges and community-based orga-
nizations to increase access to and
perseverance in community college
from
the
field
Leading Change in Workforce Engagement
The Seattle Jobs Initiative
among low-income adults. Career
Pathways is centered on providing
innovative “career navigation” services
to the hundreds of individuals they
serve each year. Career navigators
work with SJI participants to help them
negotiate the often complex commu-
nity college system, into careers in key
sectors of the local labor market, while
also connecting themwith needed sup-
portive services (e.g., transportation,
child care, housing, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP],
counseling). SJI has also developed and
integrates into Career Pathways unique
training in “soft”—or “performance”—
skills that employers find critical for
successful employees.
In addition to its direct services
program, SJI also conducts innovation,
research, and policy work. This work
is aimed at identifying and sharing
solutions to address the barriers that
low-income individuals face in building
their education and skills and accessing
employment opportunities that lead to
upward mobility. To meet this objec-
tive, SJI conducts focused labor market
research to help ensure that education
and training programs are connected
to middle-wage employment opportu-
nities and meet the workforce needs
of local employers. SJI also develops
and shares tools, research, and best
By Mary Brogdon
See Jobs on page 31
Thomas Turner, left, and Ellen
Martinez, above, are among the
many success stories coming
out of the Seattle Jobs Inititative.
Thomas works as a welder while
Ellen participated in the office
occupations program.