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February 9, 2011 | |||
To Close the Gap for Women in the Workforce,
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Josephine began to explore the idea of a carpentry program for women. Many of those she initially talked to were skeptical whether women would be interested, so Josephine decided to ask the women themselves. With help from researchers at Mississippi State, she surveyed 100 local women receiving TANF. She asked them, “Would you do this work?” The answer, overwhelmingly, was yes.
That’s how and why Josephine launched the highly-successful Carpentry for Women program, which provides construction training and wrap-around services such as transportation and childcare to unemployed and underemployed women in Coahoma County. The program has trained and placed over 100 women in jobs paying between $11 and $15 an hour. Some graduates have helped build the area’s electrical plant and casinos. Others have started their own businesses; still others have helped to build or remodel their own homes. |
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Increasing access for women to good jobs
The story of Tri-County Workforce Alliance’s Carpentry for Women is a great example of how sector initiatives can make a difference for women in the workforce by increasing access to good jobs.
Sector initiatives use data to drive selection of target industries and occupations, develop deep understanding of and connections with an industry over an extended period, leverage the resources of multiple partners to meet employer and worker needs, and create lasting, structural change in industry practices, public policy, and the workforce development system. As such, they are ideally suited for addressing disparities in employment by gender.
In our next FieldNotes, we’ll look at what labor market data tells us about the gap for women in the workforce, and in last installment of the series, we’ll look at some implications for sector initiatives.
What’s your story?
In the meantime, I’d love to hear your version of Josephine’s story.
How have you identified your region’s need for quality employment opportunities for women? How have you chosen your sector of focus? How have you persuaded those skeptical of non-traditional employment? And what have been the results?
E-mail me your story, and I’ll include it in Part 2 of this series.
Note: For more information about Tri-County Workforce Alliance and other dynamic organizations working with Mississippians to make ends meet, see Building Economic Stability for Mississippi Families (2010), a report produced by the Insight Center.
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