Saturday, December 10, 2005
Science Building - South, Room 143
9:00-12:30 p.m. (arrive by 8:30 a.m. for check-in)
Photo ID required (CA identification and high school identification are
appropriate)

If you know of any students who are interested or expect to need the Summer Bridge program for admission into CSUEB for the Fall 2006 quarter, please refer them to the test. Please also inform your contacts from other agencies who work with students that may be interested and/or post to your departmental newsletters.

For further information about the Educational Opportunity Program at CSUEB, visit http://wwwsa.csuhayward.edu/%7Esasweb/EOP/index.shtml

For further information about the Summer Bridge Program, visit http://wwwsa.csuhayward.edu/%7Esasweb/summerbridge/index.shtml

The San Francisco Chronicle continues its coverage of foster care issues.

Click below to read an December 2nd editorial responding to the budget reconciliation bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that includes slashing $600 million from the nation's already-underbudgeted foster-care system -- $23.6 million of which would be an annual cut for California.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/02/EDG5TG0SEI1.DTL&hw=foster+care&sn=005&sc=656

The December 4th Chronicle included this two-part editorial about the California dependency court system, including a profile of Judge Leonard Edwards.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/04/EDGE1G0OT71.DTL&hw=foster+care&sn=006&sc=624

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/04/EDG5TG0N6R1.DTL&hw=foster+care&sn=003&sc=913

Click the link below to read a piece in the Open Forum, “Brighter Future for Foster Youth” from the December 5th edition.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/05/EDGUDG26B21.DTL&hw=foster+care&sn=007&sc=607

http://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/articles.cfm?article_id=1073&ref=htmlEml

SUMMARY
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) redefines the nature of youth and adult programming efforts within the nation's workforce development system by focusing on a systematic approach that offers both youth and adults a broad array of coordinated services. WIA provides for high quality learning, developing leadership skills among youth, and preparing both youth and adults for entry into employment, re-employment (for those who have had prior employment), further education or training, and long-term follow-up services to promote employment retention and career advancement.

The primary focus under this solicitation will be to examine approaches that assure that "high-risk" youth and adults are provided with quality workforce investment services that address their unique needs through the WIA system. High-risk individuals may be described as those who have multiple environmental, social and/or educational barriers to becoming employed. This population includes individuals who are homeless, recovering addicts, those who generally reside in communities of high poverty and unemployment, or who are involved in gangs or the criminal justice system. In the Conference Agreement for the Fiscal Year 1999 Appropriation for Title IV of JTPA, "high-risk" individuals are those described as: "including displaced homemakers and older workers, and those adults or youth who are under the supervision of the criminal justice or penal systems, or who are living in foster care, homeless facilities, and public or assisted housing. Barriers to employment faced by these individuals include homelessness, addiction recovery, transportation, criminal records or reentry from prison or other justice-related or social service-related institutions."

High-risk individuals are not always aware of services provided through the employment and training system. The work to be conducted under this solicitation seeks to further improve the array of services authorized by WIA to reach and serve individuals who may not otherwise have access to information regarding WIA services. This solicitation also seeks the provision of quality job training and related services including follow-up services tailored to the interests and aptitudes of the client population that facilitates at-risk youth and adults returning from various institutions to their communities.

Further, as WIA emphasizes the need to ensure that training services be directly linked to job opportunities in their local area or may be linked to jobs in another area to which the individual is willing to relocate, these grants will need to demonstrate that services under WIA are in fact linked to local employment opportunities. As a result, recipients of these grants will be expected to build connections to local workforce investment systems, such as linkages with Local Workforce Investment Boards (LWIBs) / Private Industry Councils (PICs), while demonstrating approaches that ensure that "high-risk" youth and adults are provided with quality workforce development services.

For the purpose of this solicitation, quality workforce investment services are defined as those services (including training) that can provide high risk individuals with improved long-term employability prospects and increased earnings. According to Winning the Skills Race (1998), a report compiled by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, competition for low-skilled occupations has escalated as jobs today increasingly demand higher skill levels. Thus, any job training program to prepare new labor market entrants or reentrants for employment--even individuals with multiple barriers to employment--should emphasize the concept of high (or advanced) skills training. As a result, this solicitation will also seek to provide skills training for high risk youth and adults in new and growing occupations in information technology and related areas.

If you have questions about this announcement please look on the announcement and direct your questions to Denise Roach, Grants Management Specialist, Division of Federal Assistance at (202) 219-8739.