Teamworks: Families Forward Program

Purpose: To enhance employers’ methods for hiring and promotion and increase the pool of skilled workers in the region; to create more opportunities for low-income working parents for better jobs and provide methods of building assets including homeownership, reliable transportation, and self-sufficiency

As a workforce intermediary, Teamworks has an established history performing human performance solutions for many local manufacturing businesses in west central Minnesota, handling recruitment, selection, and hiring, as well as entry-level and incumbent worker training. This project expands that role to work with some new employers (as well as continue with current ones) to identify and train incumbent workers for promotion to advanced machine operators. In a second program, moving beyond Teamworks’ traditional focus on manufacturing, a new partnership with the White Earth Band of Ojibwe will train band members who are employees of the Shooting Star Casino for supervisory and management positions. Teamworks designs and administers both aptitude and skills assessments and offers training both on site at their facility and also at the job site, on paid time. They provide these services to groups of individuals, who can then provide collegial support for each other on the job. Teamworks also actively works to improve pay and workplace conditions for low-income workers in their region. Before they work with an employer they must be satisfied that the employer is committed to investing in their employees through a certain level of pay, benefits, and training. In a unique partnership between Families Forward grantees, Teamworks has paired up with the West Central Initiative Foundation to offer complementary services to selected participants in the west central region. If Teamworks, in the initial assessment, identifies manufacturing program (machine shops and potato factories) participants with unmet needs for supportive services to enable them to participate in training and/or maintain employment, they refer these participants to West Central for that program’s wraparound services.

	Partners: (As of April 2003)
		Educational: None
		Employers and business organization: ConAgra/Lamb Weston/RDO, Team Industries, other manufacturers
		Non-Profit Organizations: Teamworks
		Public philanthropic, and other organizations: White Earth Reservation including Shooting Star Casino and the Tribal government (as employers), West Central Initiative Foundation, State of Minnesota (provider of Job Skills Partnership grants)
	Participants: Low-income working parents in 10 counties in west central Minnesota. In the casino program, two-thirds have a high school diploma, and one-third have some post-secondary education. All have worked all of the last six months. About three-quarters are married or living with a partner. All are American Indians from the White Earth Band of Ojibwe. In the cooperative program with West Central, nearly two-thirds have a high school diploma, and one-sixth have less than a high school education and an equal number have some post-secondary education. Slightly over half have worked all of the past six months; most of the remainder have worked at least some of that time. About 60 percent are married or living with partners. All are White, and nearly all speak English as a primary language
	Recruitment: Casino workers identified by employer. Manufacturing trainees recruited and screened by Teamworks, who perform hiring and training functions for area employers. Criteria and selection tools used for selecting workers to receive advancement was designed and developed by Teamworks
	Training: (1) Manufacturing positions (machine shops and food processing companies): 40 to 80 hours of integrated hard and soft skills training along with on-site coaching and mentoring is provided for area manufacturers. Training is held both on-site at Teamworks and on-site at the facility. Multi-media components were designed to tailor the training for both large group instruction and individual instruction. Teamworks uses the contextual model for training with components of case study, application, and homework. Employees receive training on company time. (2) Casino management and supervision: assessment, soft skills, coaching, communication, and project management. Training is on paid time; total hours vary
	Support Services: Mentoring (by instructors and supervisors); transportation help for White Earth residents; micro-loans (up to $500) for work clothes or car repairs; $400 stipend per participant for individual services such as child care and transportation
	Job placement, retention and advancement: Placement is irrelevant because both strands target current employees. Participation is intended to lead to improved job retention and chances for promotion. Teamworks also works with employers to promote better pay, career laddering, and good work conditions. Teamworks also provides supervisory/leadership training for existing management, with the goal of affecting the culture of the organization.