Workforce New York Long Island Business Services Team Progress Report February, 2006

1. Workforce New York Long Island Business Services Team Progress Report February, 2006

2. Introduction The Workforce New York Long Island Business Services Team is guided by a Steering Committee, comprised of the three Long Island local workforce investment boards (LWIBs), the New York State Department of Labor Division of Employment Services (NYSDOL/DoES), the NYSDOL Division of Research and Statistics (R&S) and the Long Island Regional Adult Education Network (LI-RAEN). On behalf of the Team, the Steering Committee conducts coordinated strategic planning designed to conceive, develop and implement business services and workforce/economic development initiatives for the benefit of the Long Island Region.

3. Member Organizations • Abilities, Inc. • Alliance for Defense Diversification in Peacetime Transition, Inc. • City of Long Beach Office of Youth and Family Services • Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau County, Inc. • Goodwill Industries of Greater New York and Northern New Jersey • Hauppauge Industrial Association • HempsteadWorks • i-Park Bio-tech and Life Sciences Center • Long Island Association • Long Island Forum for Technology • Long Island Life Sciences Initiatives • Long Island – Regional Adult Education Network • Long Island Works Coalition, Inc. • Nassau Community College • National Council On The Aging, Inc. • New York State Department of Labor • New York State Education Department of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities • New York State Empire State Development Corporation • Stony Brook Research Foundation • Suffolk County Community College • Suffolk County Department of Labor • Town of Hempstead Department of Occupational Resources • Town of Oyster Bay Department of Intergovernmental Affairs Division of Employment and Training • The Workforce Partnership

4. Vision Our strategic, public-private partnership will continually improve the quality of the Long Island workforce, business climate and economy. Through regional coordination, we will: • Create an enhanced business perception of the publicly funded workforce investment system • Provide multiple access points where businesses can obtain coordinated assistance in recruiting, training and developing workers • Maintain a customer-friendly process for leveraging available resources from a variety of funding streams in response to business, employment, community and economic development needs

5. Mission • Develop a strategic, on-going approach to the delivery of business services that combines resources, is non-duplicative and remains flexible in its ability to respond to the needs of the business customer • Plan, create and implement business services initiatives that help businesses to hire, train, educate, upgrade and retain skilled workers • Collaborate to identify and access sources of grant funds that will assist businesses to develop our local workforce and strengthen our economy • Project, assess, analyze, and rapidly respond to changing needs of businesses, with input from the business customer, to ensure maximization of all available resources of the workforce investment system • Measure, evaluate and continually improve our services and products for businesses, using customer feedback and other standardized performance data

6. Progress • Worked in partnership with a variety of business organizations, including the following: Alliance for Defense Diversification in Peacetime Transition, Inc. (ADDAPT); Hauppauge Industrial Association (HIA); i-Park Bio-tech and Life Sciences Center; Long Island Association (LIA); Long Island Forum for Technology (LIFT); Long Island Life Sciences Initiatives; Long Island Works Coalition, etc.

7. Progress (continued) • Managed the Mapping Career Ladders in Aerospace Project, which has been named as a “promising practice” by The National Performance Institute, resulting in an invitation to present at the Institute’s national conference in Washington, D.C. • Began the process of coordinating business services at each of the full service One-Stop Career Centers on Long Island and at their affiliate sites and satellite offices, as well as, through the NYSDOL/DoES Business Services Resource Unit • Convened meetings, disseminated information and /or provided support to each of these constituencies regarding a variety of federal, state and local grant and contract opportunities

8. Progress (continued) • Met on a regular basis to plan, implement and evaluate cooperative initiatives, such as job fairs, business briefings, rapid response meetings, surveys, etc. • Assisted in the planning of a Mechatronics Training Center, a Retail Skills Training Center, a Worker Language Proficiency Training System, etc. • Coordinated job development efforts designed to eliminate duplication and streamline the process for listing and distributing job orders, and marketing of On-The-Job Training, Customized Training, Tax Credit Programs, etc.

9. Progress (continued) • The Team has developed or supported applications for funding from the following sources: United States Department of Commerce Technology Opportunities Program (TOPS) Grant; United States Department of Labor (USDOL) High Growth Job Training Grants, Community-Based Job Training Grants; Limited English and Hispanic Worker Initiative Grants; Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS) Grants; WIA Statewide Skilled Manufacturing Resource Training (SMART) Grants; Empire Zones; Perkins III Grants, the Nassau County Tech Prep Consortium Grant; the BioPartners Emergent Worker Training Program Federal Earmark, etc.

10. Long Island Regional Workforce Analysis “A number of industries have received priority from the local workforce system. Some of these industries are outlined below. • While the shortage of nurses is well known, the health care field also faces many other shortages. It will see additional challenges as the industry incorporates new bioscience technologies, information technologies, and the integration of information records, while also working to contain costs. • The related biosciences sector includes a diverse array of companies, products and services. Long Island has one of the largest biotech industry clusters in New York State and one of the largest consumer health care markets in the country.

11. Long Island Regional Workforce Analysis (continued) • Defense-related and other advanced manufacturing companies face worker shortages in a number of occupations. These include engineers, computer software specialists, machinists, sheet metal workers and others. • Information technology (IT) has gone through a boom and bust cycle for both companies and individuals. Not only have market conditions improved, but IT is now key to the competitiveness and quality of service for nearly all businesses today. • Homeland security concerns are creating increased demand for products, services and people. While its local employment impact has been smaller than originally expected, it remains a strategically important sector for the region.

12. Long Island Regional Workforce Analysis (continued) • Reversing earlier trends, employment and pay levels in manufacturing have recently begun to increase. Much of the increase in wages is due to a shift in industry employment toward higher-skill, knowledge-based positions that incorporate intense use of computers. Providing the increasingly high-skilled workforce needed for these new jobs is the next challenge for the local economy and its workforce system partners.” Gary Huth, Labor Market Analyst, New York State Department of Labor, Long Island Region

13. Mapping Career Ladders in Aerospace Project Findings Under a Workforce New York Grant, local consultants have conducted a Mapping Career Ladders in Aerospace Project on behalf of the Workforce New York Long Island Business Services Team (described below). Based upon their research, The Alliance for Defense Diversification in Peacetime Transition, Inc. (ADDAPT) and Stony Brook Research Foundation have submitted the findings listed below: • “There is an immediate need to inform educators of the state-of-the-art workforce demands of employers in the aerospace industry

14. Mapping Career Ladders in Aerospace Project Findings (continued) • Employers in this industry have consistently found that the vast majority of new employees and incumbent workers lack the mathematics and science foundation to enter and advance along career ladders in this field • Major manufacturers are no longer buying just component parts or just machined components, they are buying major subassemblies • Small manufacturers must grow to be “mini” prime contractors or be acquired by larger companies

15. Mapping Career Ladders in Aerospace Project Findings (continued) • These changes will result in the need for completely different manufacturing processes and management techniques that the typical small company does not currently have, resulting in extensive re-training of the incumbent work force” Mapping Career Ladders in Aerospace, Final Report, David Bottomley, Executive Director, ADDAPT

16. Long Island Life Science Career Pathway Mapping Initiative Findings • “Long Island employers consistently request that applicants and incumbents alike have more hands on experience either through internships, previous work experience or working in a college laboratory • Employers also have responded that the new workforce entrants from colleges and universities have solid theoretical skills and knowledge, but need experience with writing technical documents and understanding regulatory affairs • In the second tier of the career pathway, employers note that senior level employees may lack the business acumen, interpersonal skills, and knowledge of regulatory affairs to take on leadership and managerial roles” Workforce Strategy Center

17. The Workforce New York Long Island Business Services Team Offers • Assessment of the needs of business and marshalling of resources in response to those needs • Recruitment of new workers, including free space for on-site interviewing at our Career Centers  • Assistance in accessing grant funds to train new and current employees   • Development of On-The-Job Training and Customized Training programs   • Information regarding tax credits and financial incentives  • Rapid response aversion 

18. New York State Department of Labor Request For Applications (RFA) Number 37-L Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS) • The New York State Department of Labor has issued Request For Applications (RFA) Number 37-L, entitled “Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS).” The purpose of this Request for Applications (RFA) is to support employer strategies and local efforts for lifelong learning for the development of the incumbent (employed) worker by providing funds for upgrading the skills of those workers.

19. New York State Department of Labor Request For Applications (RFA) Number 37-L Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS) (continued) • Businesses throughout New York State need to ensure that the skills of their workers do not deteriorate or become “stale” in an ever more competitive and technologically complex global economy. Workforce development has become a critical component of every business plan. • BUSINYS uses Workforce Investment Act (WIA) monies to address employer demands for skilled workers. The program will fund projects that solve workforce problems by addressing identified skilled worker shortages within an industry or within a single employer's establishment, and promoting skills upgrading for incumbent workers.

20. New York State Department of Labor Request For Applications (RFA) Number 37-L Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS) (continued) • BUSINYS will provide funds to businesses to train incumbent workers in specific skills needed by that business or industry and that lead to potential career growth and increased wages. • BUSINYS will provide funds to businesses to train incumbent workers in specific skills needed by that business or industry and that lead to potential career growth and increased wages. • The position targeted for training must exist and be filled at the time the application is submitted. The applicant must demonstrate that the training will result in the workers' acquisition of transferable skills. Public – that is federal, state, county and municipal - employees are not eligible to be trained under this initiative.

21. New York State Department of Labor Request For Applications (RFA) Number 37-L Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS) (continued) • BUSINYS grants are intended to fund training for the applicant’s employees. If the applicant business has no employees or if the workers are independent contractors or contract employees they are not eligible. • Applications will be rated on criteria relevant to that particular labor market region (i.e. importance of the acquired skills to the local board’s priorities for the area and relevance of the proposed training program to the local economy). • Applications will be scored on their individual merits and will not be compared to other applications.

22. New York State Department of Labor Request For Applications (RFA) Number 37-L Building Skills in New York State (BUSINYS) (continued) • Awards may not exceed $50,000.00 per company per federal program year (July 1st – June 30th), subject to funding availability. • There is no minimum award amount. • Additional information can be found at www.workforcenewyork.com.

23. Workforce New York Long Island Business Services Team To learn more, please call (516) 934-8558, or e-mail us at LI.Business.Services@labor.state.ny.us.