Post by Lindsay Rachow on Apr 7, 2016 18:22:40 GMT
Workforce development is something that I have found interest in as early as my internship. My thesis analyzed a year long program who's goal was to build economic self-sufficiency with women. What I found out was that a key component was building self-efficacy. When a person has increased self-efficacy - they had increased their economic sufficiency. Self-efficacy is theory developed by Albert Bandura (who I referenced to in the first module). There are 4 key elements to the theory and how a person can build their self-efficacy. The program inadvertently used these key elements to help increase the participates self-efficacy regarding their economic self-sufficiency (that's a mouthful!)
I cannot speak for the NYC area without doing some more extensive research - but I believe that this can be applied to all areas of workforce development. We have a local company that works with individuals that struggle to get employment (substance use issues, hx of incarceration, poverty, I.D., etc.). They assist the individual to be prepared and offer volunteer experiences. This program also assists to set them up with a job.
I have worked with Re-entry men and assisted them getting back to "life". Rochester has a community program - "Re-Entry" that assists this population to assimilate into society. In my experience this program is underutilized. This program is not equipped to provide assistance to people who also have mental health/substance use problems - which most do.
I think it would be great to offer the community a "hub" - a one stop shop where people can receive counseling and workforce development. It's important to connect to the courts (drug/mental health/family), probation, parole, schools, drug tx facilities, hospitals. These are all great places to obtain referrals from.