JOTF E-Newsletter

January 2005

The Job Opportunities Task Force (JOTF) is pleased to bring you the latest edition of its electronic newsletter. The JOTF E-Newsletter includes news, announcements, and information about upcoming events in the Baltimore area that we hope will be of interest to you. If your organization would like to publicize an event, job announcement, or other information, please e-mail: info@jotf.org.

In this issue:

JOTF NEWS

• JOTF Calls for Child Support Debt-Leveraging Program for Low-Income Parents
• JOTF's 2005 Public Policy Agenda Available Online

OTHER NEWS

• Baltimore Ex-Offender Initiative Launches Web Site
• The Washington Post: "Average-Wage Earners Fall Behind"
• The Baltimore Sun: "Workers' hourly pay continues to decline"
• The Baltimore Sun: "Old skills out, new ones in"
• The Baltimore Sun: "Jobs program aimed at helping parents make child support payments"
• The New York Times: "For Unemployed, Wait for New Work Grows Longer"
• The Daily Record: "Prisoners to get personal finance education"

UPCOMING EVENTS

• Maryland Public Television and Goodwill Industries to Sponsor "Reentry Career Fair" (1/14)
• Maryland Justice Coalition to Sponsor "Justice Monday" Rally in Annapolis (1/17)
• Maryland Works Presents "Quality Resumes for all Job Seekers" Workshop (1/20)

OPPORTUNITIES

• Catholic Charities Seeks Assistant Director of Social Concerns
• SEIU Maryland/DC State Council Seeks Member Political Action Director
• Baltimore City Teaching Residency Program Seeks Director of Operations
• Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore Seeks Business Services Coordinator
• Maryland New Directions Seeks Part-time Career Development Facilitator
• Second Genesis Seeks Vocational Counselor
• Open Society Institute Seeks Full-time Executive Assistant
• Mayor's Office of Employment Development Seeks Career Development Facilitator
• Power Inside Seeks Volunteers and Interns
• Reinvestment Fund Seeks Baltimore Fund Workforce Manager

JOTF NEWS

JOTF Calls for Child Support Debt-Leveraging Program for Low-Income Parents
JOTF is supporting legislation in the 2005 General Assembly session that will create a state child support debt-leveraging program for low-income parents. On Monday January 11, The Baltimore Sun published a letter to the editor from JOTF calling for the creation of a state-wide program.

Read "Helping parents meet obligations to their children"
Read JOTF's position paper on Child Support Arrearages

JOTF's 2005 Public Policy Agenda Available Online
The JOTF Public Policy Agenda for 2005 sets forth state policy recommendations to improve education and training among low-skill workers and job seekers; enhance job opportunities; increase access to work supports; and assist ex-prisoners in finding employment.

Aimed at reforming Maryland's policies toward low-income workers, our Public Policy Agenda provides a map of JOTF legislative, budgetary, and regulatory advocacy in the 2005 General Assembly session.

Read JOTF's 2005 Public Policy Agenda.

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OTHER NEWS

Baltimore Ex-Offender Initiative Launches Web Site
Baltimore City's Ex-Offender Initiative has launched a new web site at: http://www.oedworks.com/exoffender.htm. The web site includes an "Ex-offender Resource Guide", created by Baltimore's Citywide Re-entry and Re-integration Steering Committee.

The Washington Post: "Average-Wage Earners Fall Behind"
A December 31 Washington Post article describes the impact of the shifting job market on American workers: "Those who don't obtain some combination of specialized skills, higher education and professional status...will be in danger of sliding down the economic ladder"' While some economists are optimistic about what the restructuring of U.S. industries will eventually bring, others predict rocky times ahead for lower-skill workers and job seekers.

Read 'Average Wage Earners Fall Behind' (Free registration required)

The Baltimore Sun: "Workers' hourly pay continues to decline"
Barbara Rose of the Chicago Tribune writes that "U.S. workers' hourly wages continue to decline when adjusted for inflation with little hope of a sharp turnaround anytime soon." Some companies have found little need to increase wages faster than inflation in order to retain employees.

Read "Workers' hourly pay continues to decline"

The Baltimore Sun: "Old skills out, new ones in"
Paul Adams of The Baltimore Sun writes about Maryland's transition from "old, traditional manufacturing to a new, modern era of manufacturing." The high-tech positions that have been replacing Maryland's older blue-collar jobs require "substantial education, software experience and science."

Read "Old skills out, new ones in"

The Baltimore Sun: "Jobs program aimed at helping parents make child support payments"
Baltimore Sun staff writer Jennifer McMenamin reports on Baltimore County's new Family Employment and Support Program, which "pairs chronic underpayers [of child support] with an employment coordinator who meets weekly with the parent to help him find a full-time job and monitor his child support payments." Local jurisdictions like Baltimore and Harford counties are moving away from a strictly punitive model of child support enforcement and are beginning to think creatively about how to address the inability to pay arrearages.

Read "Jobs program aimed at helping parents make child support payments"
Read JOTF's position paper on Child Support Debt

The Daily Record: "Day-laborer advocates turn sights on Baltimore"
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer Lawrence Hurley writes about a new report, prepared by CASA of Maryland (www.casademaryland.org) and Homeless Persons Representation Project (www.hprplaw.org), focused on day laborers in Baltimore city. The report calls for "stricter enforcement of workers’ rights and a code of conduct for employers."

Read "Day-laborer advocates turn sights on Baltimore"

The Daily Record: "Higher Education" and "Work-force Training"
The Daily Record's Barnaby Wickham reports on higher education and workforce training in two special features. "Maryland’s higher education system is one of the country’s best, but due to cuts in state funding, it also has become one of the most expensive," he writes. The articles explore Maryland's various approaches to satisfying the growing demand for well-trained workers.

Read Higher Education
Read Work-force Training

The New York Times: "For Unemployed, Wait for New Work Grows Longer"
John Leland of The New York Times writes about the increasing difficulty people are having finding long-term employment. According to Isaac Shapiro, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (www.cbpp.org), about 3.6 million American workers "ran out of unemployment insurance benefits last year, the most in at least three decades."

Read "For Unemployed, Wait for New Work Grows Longer"

The Daily Record: "Prisoners to get personal finance education"

An article in the December 12th edition of The Daily Record describes how inmates participating in the Maryland State Department of Education's correctional education program are beginning to receive financial literacy training as part of their GED coursework. The addition to the correctional education curriculum was made possible through a partnership between MSDE and the Maryland Council on Economic Education (MCEE).

Read "Preparing for life on the outside: Prisoners to get personal finance education"

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Maryland Public Television and Goodwill Industries Sponsor "Reentry Career Fair" (1/14)
Maryland Public Television and Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake will sponsor a "Reentry Career Fair" to promote employment of former inmates on Friday, January 14, 2005 from 9am–1pm at Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake headquarters, 222 E. Redwood Street, Baltimore, MD 21202. For more information contact Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake (410-837-1800 x135, www.goodwillches.org) or Maryland Public Television (410-581-4349, www.mpt.org/reentry).

Maryland Justice Coalition to Hold "Justice Monday" Rally in Annapolis (1/17)
The Maryland Justice Coalition will sponsor “Justice Monday: An Historic Civil Rights/Human Rights March On Annapolis” on January 17, 2005 from 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM in Annapolis, MD. For more information contact Kimberly Haven - 410.366.0600 x117, kimberlyh@justicemonday.org or visit www.justicemonday.org.

Maryland Works Presents "Quality Resumes for all Job Seekers" Workshop (1/20)
Maryland Works presents "Quality Resumes for all Job Seekers," a workshop for workforce development practitioners, on Thursday, January 20, 2005 from 8:30 am - 12:30 pm in Columbia, MD. For more information call 410-381-8660 or visit www.mdworks.com.

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OPPORTUNITIES

Catholic Charities Seeks Assistant Director of Social Concerns
Catholic Charities is seeking an Assistant Director of Social Concerns. The Assistant Director of Social Concerns advises the agency on social policy issues and advocacy approaches. The full job description may be found on the Catholic Charities web site at www.cc-md.org and applications may be submitted online.

SEIU Maryland/DC State Council Seeks Member Political Action Director
Service Employees International Union Maryland/DC State Council seeks a Member Political Action Director who will be responsible for a broad range of program objectives, with a priority on membership-based small donor fundraising, volunteer programs, member mobilization, legislative work, and political communications. For more information e-mail: info@seiumddc.org.

Baltimore City Teaching Residency Program Seeks Director of Operations
The Baltimore City Teaching Residency program is seeking a Director of Operations. The Director of Operations will work on-site with clients and is responsible for the management and processing of all incoming applications and the ongoing tracking of current Baltimore City Teaching Residents. Interested candidates should send a cover letter and resume to: Julie Hershey-Beatty, The New Teacher Project, 304 Park Avenue South, 11th Floor, New York, New York 10010 or jobs@tntp.org. Application deadline: January 15, 2005.

Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore Seeks Business Services Coordinator
Women Entrepreneurs of Baltimore is seeking a Business Services Coordinator to develop and manage action plans for program participants; provide personalized training using in-house curriculum; and develop relationships with formal and informal resources to assist participants in completing assigned program objectives. Email resume and 3 professional references to: cpbattle@webinc.org. No phone calls, please.

Maryland New Directions Seeks Part-time Career Development Facilitator
Maryland New Directions, a nonprofit organization providing workforce development services to women in transition, is seeking a part-time Career Development Facilitator. For more information call (410) 230-0630.

Second Genesis Seeks Vocational Counselor
Second Genesis is seeking a Vocational Counselor to coordinate client services that include social, housing, pre-employment skill preparation, job training, and the self-help community method. For more information call (301) 563-1545.

Open Society Institute Seeks Full-time Executive Assistant
Open Society Institute-Baltimore (www.soros.org/baltimore) is seeking a full-time Executive Assistant. To apply for the position, please send a cover letter with resume, a list of three references and salary requirements to: OSI-Baltimore, 201 North Charles Street, Suite 1300, Baltimore, Maryland 21201. For more information call (410) 234-1091.

Mayor's Office of Employment Development Seeks Career Development Facilitator
The Mayor's Office of Employment Development is seeking a Career Development Facilitator for its Workforce Exchange division. If interested, please forward a cover letter and updated resume (with salary requirements) via fax at (410) 396-8132 or via e-mail at rbellina@oedworks.com. No phone calls please.

Power Inside Seeks Volunteers and Interns
Power Inside is seeking volunteers and interns to commit 3 - 6 hours per week for 9 - 12 months. Power Inside is a nonprofit program for women impacted by incarceration, street life and abuse. To request a volunteer application call Jacqueline at 410-889-8333 or write jacquelinerobarge@msn.com.

Reinvestment Fund Seeks Baltimore Fund Workforce Manager
The Reinvestment Fund (www.trfund.com) is seeking a Baltimore Fun Workforce Manager. The Baltimore Fund Workforce Manager will be the lead team member on all workforce and human resource aspects of Baltimore deals, working closely with the Human Resource Services Director and the Managing Directors of TRF Private Equity. Please mail, email, or fax resume with cover letter and salary requirement to: Human Resources, The Reinvestment Fund, 718 Arch Street, Suite 300N, Philadelphia, PA 19106, hr@trfund.com, 215-923-4764 (fax).

Newsletter Co-Editors: Kevin Griffin Moreno and Larry Schugam

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