Thursday, June 3, 2010

Fwd: News from Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board <oneilb@nmsda.org>
Date: Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 5:00 PM
Subject: News from Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board
To: blipchitz@comteam.org



May 2010                                           
Welcome to the Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board

Greetings!

2010 Youth Job Fair

Youth fill out applications and speak with employers at Lowell High School.

On May 5th, 2010 the Connecting Activities Program of the Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board in conjunction with the Career Center of Lowell and Middlesex Community College hosted the 2010 Youth Job Fair.

The Youth Job Fair was held at Lowell High School  with 38 employers participating, making this job fair a successful event. 750 students attended the fair completing applications and interviewing on-site.


GLWIB Meeting & Events
  • June 10, 2010 - Emerging Sectors Committee, 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm, Nobis Engineering, 585 Middlesex Street, Lowell MA
  • June 11, 2010 - GLWIB Youth Council, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm, Career Center of Lowell, 107 Merrimack Street, Lowell MA
  • June 15, 2010 - GLWIB Quarterly Meeting, 7:30 am - 9:00 am, UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, 50 Warren Street, Lowell MA
  • June 22, 2010 - GLWIB Workforce Issues Committee, 9:00 am - 10:00 am, GLWIB, 107 Merrimack Street, Lowell MA
  • June 24, 2010 - Merrimack Valley Manufacturing Advocates (RIG) - 9:00 am - 11:00 am, Holiday Inn Tewksbury, 4 Highwood Drive, Tewksbury MA
Community Events
  • June 4, 2010 - Job Search Insights from an IRS Recruiter - 10:00 am, Career Center of Lowell, 107 Merrimack Street, Lowell MA
  • June 10, 2010 - Evening Mixer, 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm, Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, TD Bank, 45 Central Street, Lowell MA
  • June 17-19, 2010 - Innovative Cities Conference, UMass Lowell Inn & Conference Center, 50 Warren Street, Lowell MA

Member Corner


Name: Tom Foster
Organization: SEIU 509/MVCLC AFL/CIO
Title: Organized Labor Representative
Website:

www.seiu.org, www.mvclc.org







About Member:

Tom grew up in Somerville, Massachusetts and graduated from Springfield College  before choosing to settle in the area 19 years ago. Tom's past positions include worker and management for Pizza Hut, Filenes Department Stores, financial accounting for Brown Brothers Harriman and the Mutual Fund Service Company, as well as a short stint in Child Support Enforcement. With many other part-time and night jobs ranging from water safety instructor, janitor, plumber assistant, stock clerk, loading trucks for UPS and finally settling down as a state social worker at the Department of Transitional Assistance, it's safe to say that Tom has a vast knowledge and experience of many occupations. With Tom's experience and understanding of Business and Workforce Development, he was chosen by the Affiliated unions to represent the voice of the working people of the area

For the past 10 years Tom has held various Union posts  including  AFL/CIO Labor Council Treasurer and Public Sector Vice President culminating in his most recent role as the Regional Vice President of the SEIU 509 representing the Social Workers of Massachusetts. His responsibilities include negotiating contracts, defending union members and supporting other unions in their fight for reasonable wages and working conditions. This experience has given Tom the skills necessary to assist the region with job development and unity between organizations for the benefit of creating sustainable jobs with a living wage and proper affordable benefits


Tom has been a member of the GLWIB for 10 years. He is the Chair of the Workforce Issues Committee. As chair, Tom uses his humanics philosophy to orchestrate meetings of WIB members, staff and other community participants to review and improve the services offered at the Career Center of Lowell.


One highlighting achievement for Tom during his tenure on the WIB, was being elected as the Chair of the GLWIB Youth Council. Tom's experience and skills have helped bring together the collective resources of the the regions youth service providers to greatly improve the  youth services provided by the Career Center of Lowell


Organization Description:

SEIU Local 509 represents 11,000 Human Service workers throughout Massachusetts.  8,000+ State social workers (bargaining units 8 and 10, DTA, DMA, DOR, DCF, DMR, DMH, Department of Ed, etc.) and private sector Health care workers.  Several thousand SEIU 509 members work as professional, direct care, and support staff at private agencies that receive public funding to provide a variety of social services to elders, at-risk children, and people with mental illness and developmental disabilities.


The Merrimack Valley Central Labor Council AFL/CIO  is made up of the unions in the region including AFGE, AFT, CWA, IAFF, IBEW, IAM, Iron Workers, IU BAC, IUE, IUPAT, LIUNA, OPEIU, SEIU, Teamsters and UFCW over 40 thousand strong, pooling resources and electing officers for the combined united good of working people.  

 

Unions elect officers and delegates to the AFL/CIO who then elect from that pool higher officers and delegates to boards. This is somewhat different than other board members who are sponsored by one organization. The Labor Delegate to the board brings forth the collective knowledge of the group.

Issue: 14
In This Issue
Spotlight Events
Member Corner: Tom Foster
MVRIG Strategic Plan
2010 Youth Summer Jobs Program
Academy of Health Professions

MERRIMACK VALLEY REGIONAL INNOVATION GRANT STRATEGIC PLAN RELEASE


On Thursday, June 24, 2010 the Greater Lowell and Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Boards of Massachusetts and the New Hampshire Office of Workforce Opportunity will conduct a meeting with key stakeholders to announce release of the Merrimack Valley Regional Innovation Grant (RIG) Strategic Plan.

 

To help promote business and job growth, the RIG Strategic Plan will focus on developing collaborations between traditional and advanced manufacturing employers, workforce development, economic development, and education and training providers in support of a regional effort and vision designed to:

Provide the current workforce with the skills needed to ensure the regions competitive advantage;


Support innovation and product development and design;


Promote partnerships and collaborations among employers, educators and economic.


Promote the region as a center of innovation with a highly educated and experienced workforce.


If you have questions regarding the RIG or development of the Strategic Plan, please contact Gail Brown,  Senior Program Manager at the Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board.

2010 Youth Summer Jobs Program

The 2010 Summer Youth Jobs program will begin on July 6th and will end on Wednesday August 18th.Youth ages 14-24 will be placed in worksites in the Greater Lowell area. Participants will be paid the current Massachusetts minimum wage of $8.00 per hour. Each youth will participate in a paid Summer of Safety/World of Work seminar before the program begins.

There are 450 total jobs available this summer, 319 of which have already been secured. The types of jobs include food service,
maintenance/landscaping,  office support, and camp counselor among many others.

The deadline to apply for youth from Lowell was May 28th, however youth living in the Towns of Billerica, Chelmsford, Dracut, Dunstable, Tewksbury and Tyngsborough and Westford, have until June 11th to hand in applications.

Please contact Vera Gallagher at vera.gallagher@cclowell.org
GLWIB/MCC Partnership for the Academy of Healthcare Professions

The AHP Partnership is a collaboration between the GLWIB and Middlsex Community College. The  project, funded through Commonwealth Corporation will train individuals for entry-level healthcare occupations, while they earn college credits.

Trainings for Certified Nursing Assistant, Medical Receptionist, and Phlebotomy prerequisites begin on July 6, 2010 at Middlesex Community College. Courses are offered at night and on Saturdays


If you or someone you know may be interested in these training opportunities please contact Leslie Burke at leslie.burke@cclowell.org or call the Career Center at 978-459-2336

Latest Job and Unemployment Rates

MA Recovery
Join Our Mailing List

Editor: Shaun McCarthy
www.glwib.org                                                                                      www.careercenteroflowell.org/

Barbara O'Neil                                                                                                               Kevin Coughlin
Director                                                                                                                          Chair
Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board
Safe Unsubscribe
This email was sent to blipchitz@comteam.org by oneilb@nmsda.org.
Greater Lowell Workforce Investment Board | 107 Merrimack St | Lowell | MA | 01850

No comments: