On November 17, 2003, SkillWorks (formerly the Boston Workforce Development Initiative) announced $5 million in grants aimed at significantly enhancing employment opportunities for low-income Boston residents. The Initiative sought to change the way employers hire and promote entry-level workers from Boston’s neighborhoods, and to raise the income levels and standards of living of immigrants and other low-income Boston residents. Partners Health Care (PHS) received a three-year $1 million SkillWorks grant to design and implement Partners in Career and Workforce Development (PCWD).
SkillWorks is the single largest public/private investment in workforce development in Boston’s history, with an overall investment of $14.3 million over five years. It is funded by: the Boston Foundation; the Annie E. Casey Foundation; the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation; the Fleet Charitable Fund and the Frank W. and Carl S. Adams Memorial managed by Fleet’s Charitable Assets Division; the Hyams Foundation; the Rockefeller Foundation; the State Street Foundation; the United Way of Massachusetts Bay; the Mayor’s Office of Jobs and Community Services; and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
PCWD began December 1, 2003 and during the three years of its operation, served 125 community residents in its Health Care Training and Employment Program and 466 incumbent workers. PCWD’s goal was then – and remains today - to help low-income individuals attain family-sustaining jobs in health care, while meeting Partners urgent need for skilled health care professionals including nurses, radiology technologists, surgical technologists, and respiratory therapists.
PCWD’s programming included the following:
- an improved Health Care Training and Employment Program in collaboration with community-based organizations
- education and skills training opportunities for incumbent workers including on-site pre-college classes
- career coaching for program participants
- engagement of managers and supervisors as Workforce Development Champions
- the development of new programs in collaboration with higher education institutions including a Clinician as Educator certificate program with MGH Institute of Health Professions, an associate degree program in Respiratory Therapy with Bunker Hill Community College, and a technology-facilitated Surgical Technologist program with Mass Bay Community College.
- a web site that serves as a comprehensive workforce development resource
In its SkillWorks-funded phase, PCWD was a broad-based partnership that included Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH); Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (SRH); MGH Institute of Health Professions; Jewish Vocational Service; WorkSource Partners; Whittier Street Health Center; Project HOPE/Transition to Work; The Urban League of Eastern MA; Bunker Hill Community College; Mass Bay Community College; Roxbury Community College; and the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education.
PCWD is now institutionalized as an important Partners HealthCare workforce development initiative that sponsors the PHS Health Care Training and Employment Program, maintains the PCWD web site, and provides assistance to and collaborates with other workforce development projects within Partners HealthCare and at the Partners HealthCare hospitals.
