Welcome and Introductions
DRAFT MINUTES
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
3:30pm-5:00pm
Anne Arundel Community College
Arnold, Maryland 21012
MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS ABSENT GUESTS
Gino J. Gemignani, Jr., Chair Leo J. Blackwell Bernie Antkowiak
Craig Bancroft Calvin W. Burnett, Ph.D Robert Burns
James D. Fielder, Jr., Ph.D. Robert J. Lawless Mollie Dugan
M. Carrie Forrest Richard Madaleno Peggy Gemignani
Kevin Garvey Christopher McCabe Lisa Guderjohn
Toby Gordon, Sc.D. Kathleen McKirchy Judy Hendrickson
Nancy S. Grasmick, Ph.D. John A. Palmucci Tomi Hiers
Wayne T. Hockmeyer, Ph.D. Jerome A. Ratliffe Phil Holmes
Robert P. Iorizzo William G. Robertson Tanya Lowe
Brendan M. Keegan Jean W. Roesser Kevin McGuire
Susan W. Krebs Mary Ann Saar Andy Moser
George Littrell, III Margaret A. Thomas Bob Noble
Fred Mason Kathy Oliver
Aris Melissaratos Eric Seleznow
Ronald R. Peterson Ed Trumbull
Marion Pines Carol Walter
Karen Sitnick John Wasilisin
Martha A. Smith, Ph.D. Barry Williams
Grace Zaczek
BOARD STAFF
Robert W. Seurkamp
Halima Aquino
Trudy Chara
Darla Henson
Joanna Kille
Art Taguding
Chairman Gino J. Gemignani, Jr. called the meeting to order at 3:30pm. He said that as soon as there is a quorum we will take a vote on two items.
Chairman’s Report
Gino gave a brief overview of what GWIB has been doing since the September 15, 2004 Board meeting. The purpose of GWIB is to coordinate, cooperate and communicate. There are $2 billion in workforce and training funds that the GWIB oversees. We need to make sure those are wisely spent. There are several initiatives taking place. Collegetown is one of them. Collegetown is comprised of thirteen area college CFOs working together on social and cultural events. On the Collegetown website there is also a form for students to fill out for internships. The website will eventually be linked to DLLR’s Maryland Workforce Exchange. This is important because of smaller firms that don’t have access to students for internships. It is easy to do this through this network.
Collegetown also has a program called More House for Less, which is geared towards first-time homebuyers. Maryland brings in 25,000 students per year and when they graduate they usually go back home. Collegetown incentives include a low market rate mortgage and offsetting settlement costs. These are initiatives that will pay off in future.
On November 15, 2004, GWIB held its Governor’s Workforce Conference, entitled “Business-Driven Solutions for Today and Tomorrow.” More than 360 people attended the Governors Workforce Conference with only 300 expected to be there. 65-70% of attendees were from the private sector.
Gino commented that the Board membership is still under the goal of private sector people of 22 people. He is working with Secretary Fielder to get people on board.
Executive Director’s Report
GWIB Executive Director Bob Seurkamp reviewed the GWIB organizational chart. He introduced new staff people Trudy Chara, Art Taguding and Halima Aquino. There are two industry analyst positions open. There is also a vacancy for a policy-analyst position for WIA-specific issues, focusing on local area recertification and WIA regulatory requirements.
Bob Seurkamp said that he and Kathy Oliver, Assistant State Superintendent of the Maryland State Department of Education, went to Seattle, Washington to present on MSDEs Career Cluster approach and GWIB’s Maryland Industry-Cluster approach. Maryland is way ahead of other states and MSDE and GWIB are frequently asked to make presentations around the country.
Bob discussed the initial meeting that Gino, Deputy Secretary John Wasilisin and Secretary Jim Fielder had with Governor Ehrlich about moving to a demand-driven system. A number of Board member terms are up and will be up this coming year as GWIB is looking to replace these openings with industry leaders, not just high-level executives, to represent different industries. GWIB also needed to define the Workforce Development System to determine demand. Bob referenced the chart and where the money goes. We also need to determine demand. He said that when he came on board the healthcare initiative was in process and after the healthcare summit was completed they determined it was an excellent process, with positive outcomes. GWIB determined that this process could be replicated in 13 other identified sectors and that is the process we will follow.
Of all of the clusters entering the process, Aerospace is the most advanced. Hospitality and Tourism are the next two clusters underway. GWIB is also hoping to get the construction industry cluster underway. Bob then showed everyone the industry leaders’ guide executive overview. He said that GWIB is working with MHEC and MSDE to better link education and business and also spoke with Marty Smith about linking community colleges as well.
Bob referred everyone to DBED’s Economic Pulse newsletter and the industry profiles in their packets, as well as the MWDA newsletter which will bring everyone up to date on local areas.
Hard-to-Serve Subcommittee
GWIB is starting a “Hard to Serve” committee. Marge Thomas, President of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake will chair this committee, which will first define all populations that fall in the “Hard to Serve” category and then focus on the ex-offender population to start. The reason GWIB is moving forward on this is that with such a low unemployment rate this is good workforce development business. And, from a social and fiscal perspective we must look at the cost of education versus cost of incarceration. Gino then asked Ron Peterson from Johns Hopkins Hospital to make some comments and said that Secretary Melissaratos from DBED has also mentioned this time and time again. Ron Peterson said that people think of Hopkins as employing Doctors, nurses, etc. Johns Hopkins Hospital also employs many entry level workers. They are hiring 1200-1400 persons per year, 25-30% for entry level positions.
Four-five years ago, there were real challenges in getting able bodies in. At the same time Johns Hopkins Hospital was becoming increasingly aware of the ex-offender population in Baltimore, and was looking at this group as a source of possible employment. This was a real business-driven need and a source of possible employment. Johns Hopkins committed to do something. Since 1995 Johns Hopkins Hospital has done criminal background checks. It looks carefully at this group in terms of the type of violation and other factors. They hire approximately 100 ex-offenders per year and the experience has been excellent.
There are privacy issues connected with this program – only the department head is aware of the person’s background. All of the ex-offenders are afforded every opportunity to take advantage of skills enhancement programs. There is a real correlation between lack of job opportunity and recidivism. We need to give people an opportunity.
Secretary Fielder said that 60% of ex-offenders go back to Baltimore. As the unemployment rate continues to go down, Maryland will need to hire from non-traditional populations. Secretary Melissaratos said he was most concerned with the entry level jobs. There is a huge problem with getting certain populations such as immigrants and ex-offenders into the workforce. We also need to get those 40-60% of African American males who are unemployed in Baltimore City into good jobs such as in construction and landscaping. He commended Ron Peterson for getting off to a good start.
Board member George Littrell with Merrill Lynch said that the Frederick Board was also struggling with these issues. Community Colleges have programs but the problem is that there is no money for people to go to school. For ex-offenders, there is no continuation of training, no place to live, etc. We need to give these folks a pathway to move through the system. Kevin Garvey from UPS said that when he worked for the Annie E. Casey Foundation they had problems getting employers to embrace the concept of hiring ex-offenders. The employers all said that no employer in open forum wants to be labeled as an “employer of choice” for ex-offenders. Employers did say, however, that they would talk seriously about early intervention by getting into the court system and giving first-time offenders a choice between going to jail and going to work. All of the employers said they would be willing to actively work together on this and Kevin Garvey viewed this as a starting point.
Fred Mason from the Maryland AFL-CIO said this was a very good beginning. He said that the magnitude of the problem requires a much more conscious attempt to get ex-offenders into work. Karen Sitnick from the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development said that at the local level, each local WIB has identified the ex-offender target population as one of their priorities. She said that Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation was awarded $500,000 to help train people behind bars, as well as low-income workers. Senator Mikulski was also able to earmark $450,000 to Baltimore City for a program called Project Bridge. Through this program ex-offenders will get job readiness skills. She also commended Johns Hopkins for their outreach. Ron Peterson compared this to the HIV controversy they faced several years ago when Johns Hopkins Hospital made a decision to go forward with a dedicated unit to treat aids patients. Secretary Fielder also said that the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) is working on several issues with the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS). He asked Tomi Hiers from DPSCS to speak. Tomi Hiers said that DPSCS is looking at skills behind the fence, licensure and skill demands. Secretary Melissaratos said we need to link all of these things together and that Baltimore should be a national model.
Karen Sitnick commented that a dozen organizations are working together on Project Bridge. Fred Mason said we need to look for ways to incentivize employers through things like grants, tax incentives, etc. Kevin Garvey said employers don’t care about incentives. Gino Gemignani said that each industry clusters should carve out a piece of their agenda to look at the hard-to-serve population.
Since there was a quorum Board members approved the minutes and the final adoption of the by-laws. Gino introduced Secretary Fielder who provided an overview of DLLR and its divisions. Assistant Secretary Bernie Antkowiak then provided an overview of the Maryland Workforce Exchange program, which should be completed in the first half of 2005.
Kevin Garvey complimented Andy Moser from Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corporation who coordinated an effort among 6 local WIBs to help UPS find applicants. They received 3200 applicants in Prince George’s County, Anne Arundel County, Montgomery County and Southern Maryland.
Gino mentioned that the Wall Street Journal talked about the ultimate costs of and the real economic impact of education and opened up the discussion to the Board members. Nancy Grasmick thanked the Maryland Business Roundtable (MBRT) who supported the Maryland State Department of Education’s efforts to ratchet up standards. There is now a State Board-passed requirement that students develop a mastery of mathematic skills. There has also been a 41% increase in minority students who take AP courses. MSDE has worked in partnership with higher education to insist on preparation of teachers. Nancy Grasmick also thanked Robert Iorizzo for the $10,000 scholarships that Northrop Grumman awards to Maryland engineering students. Secretary Melissaratos concurred.
Robert Iorizzo, Corporate Vice President and President, Northrop Grumman Corporation said he was worried about the changing demographics of students. On average, students are less and less interested in science and mathematics. The challenge is how to influence the younger children. The outreach needs to go focus on pre-high school students. Northrop Grumman has lots of volunteers. It needs to hire qualified US citizens but lots of qualified persons are usually Asian. Aerospace is a very high-paying industry. Gino said that GWIB should be linked with MBRT.
Nancy Grasmick with MSDE said that the state is spending $328 million per year on remediation but less than $10 million per year on gifted and talented youth. Robert Iorizzo said that Northrop Grumman’s ”Worthy” internship program targets inner city African Americans. This effort can be accomplished. The kids that participate have no future but Northrop Grumman will give these kids college money if they stick with it and 100% of them have gone to college. Wayne Hockmeyer from Medimmune, Inc. commented they have a similar problem with recruiting. Secretary Melissaratos mentioned that we are in the midst of a high tech transformation and Maryland will need a more agile workforce.
Bob Seurkamp asked Nancy Grasmick or Kathy Oliver to comment on virtual job shadowing. Kathy Oliver said that MSDE had invested $1.5 million in high school engineering programs. There were 20 schools participating with 500 students enrolled. The programs requires kids to have co-requisites in mathematics, and works on getting them excited about engineering.
With regard to virtual job shadowing MSDE partnered with the Upper Shore Health system, Verizon, Maryland Hospital Association, Chesapeake College, where students from a school in Easton, Maryland watched an operation being performed. VJS provided an opportunity for the students to learn about the breadth of careers in healthcare. Bob Seurkamp said that this is the kind of thing we could do in other industries. Secretary Fielder said that we also have to ensure capacity is there in postsecondary. He wants to remind everyone that we have the #1 workforce in the US for college graduates, PhDs and Masters and we need to keep pushing.
Karen Sitnick said that there is no better way to expose children to high growth industries than to send students to visit companies. Companies should be encouraged to create more summer jobs.
Gino closed the meeting by asking Board members to fill out the evaluation sheet. The meeting adjourned at 5:00pm.