Resource Center

MODERATOR(S)

• Tim Theberge, Division Director, Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance

PRESENTER(S)

• Adam Wagoner, Deputy Director, South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce
• Chris Mills, Program Coordinator, MassHire Department of Career Services

Link to Webinar Recording and Supplemental Documents

The goal of this research is to provide transit industry executives and transportation professionals with awareness of the many tools that are available to help attract more qualified candidates to the transit industry, as well as ways to advance the development
of the transit workforce. This research highlights social media recruiting; online hiring platform improvements; and partnerships with career centers, universities, and recruitment centers to attract new employees to the transit workforce. In addition, increases in pay, benefits, bonuses, providing flexible schedule options, and some other atypical ideas have successfully been used to retain workers in the transit workforce. This research focuses on ways in which all transit stakeholders can invest in all aspects of industry workforce development to ensure qualified employees choose the transit industry and that they are subsequently trained to be the most beneficial assets to the organization and remain there via effective retention strategies.

Link to Full Report

Administering Agency: Employment and Training Administration

Closing Date for Applications: Sep 16, 2024 Applications must be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

Estimated Total Program Funding: $99,000,000

Geographic Scope: National

Description: Under this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA), DOL will award grants through a competitive process to organizations providing pre-apprenticeship services that support education, occupational skills training, and employment services to opportunity youth, ages 16 to 24, who are performing meaningful work and service to their communities. The YouthBuild program model prepares participants for quality jobs in a variety of careers, in diverse industry sectors, particularly in infrastructure sectors, and includes wrap-around services such as mentoring, trauma-informed care, personal counseling, transportation supports, and employment preparation – all key strategies for addressing violence in communities. YouthBuild applicants must include construction skills training and may include occupational skills training in other in-demand industries. This expansion into additional in-demand industries is the Construction Plus component. Eligible applicants for these grants are public or private non-profit agencies or organizations, including consortia of such agencies or organizations. These organizations include rural, urban, or Native American/Tribal entities that have previously served opportunity youth in a YouthBuild or other similar program. DOL will fund approximately 75 projects across the country. Individual grants will range from $700,000 to $1.5 million and require a 25 percent match from applicants, using sources other than federal funding. This FOA features a matching waiver for Tribal entities and U.S. insular areas which allows these entities to not include a match commitment in their applications. The grant period of performance for this FOA is 40 months, including a four-month planning period and a twelve-month follow-up period.

Information page on grants.gov

Shifting demographics in the U.S. workforce indicate that businesses are probably going to need to recruit, train, and retain older workers to ensure their companies remain competitive. However, workplace surveys indicate that most firms are currently not prepared to find and welcome workers who are 50 years of age or older.

Fortunately, a broad array of evidence-based hiring and talent development strategies are at the ready for U.S. employers. These strategies draw from a recent and comprehensive review of employer practices and their influence on economic security and mobility for U.S. workers who experience structural disadvantages and exclusion from opportunity in the labor market.

Three key connected takeaways for employers to consider as they plan for ways to leverage this segment of the workforce are as follows:

• Engage directly with older employees in developing their digital skills.

• Seek out the social networks in which older workers operate to find the best recruiting matches.

• Lean into current or former employees and their online connections to identify these social networks.

Recruiting and Retaining Older Workers

The Project on Workforce released new recommendations for educators, employers, and policymakers on how to improve college-to-jobs connections. With these webinars and stakeholder briefs, they aim to increase attention and investment in college-to-career transitions and show how colleges can better deliver on economic prosperity.

Stakeholder Brief #1 | Strengthening College-Employer Partnerships Stakeholder Brief #2 | Expanding Equitable Work-based Learning Opportunities Stakeholder Brief #3 | Redesigning Postsecondary Accountability Measures to Promote Student Success Stakeholder Brief #4 | Driving Regional Economic Development Through Higher Education Stakeholder Brief #5 | Modernizing and Leveraging Education-Workforce Data Systems Stakeholder Brief #6 | Preparing Students with the Skills to Navigate the Future of Work