MDC has a 40-year history in workforce development at the local, state, regional, and national levels. During that time, MDC has:
- operated adult and youth programs
- developed employer-based programming
- provided direct technical assistance to local/state/national agencies and organizations
- developed and disseminated model evaluation practices and procedures
- developed and demonstrated state and regional technical assistance networks
- established one of the two first state workforce development councils (NC Manpower Council)
- researched and developed major federal legislation and state, regional, and national workforce development policy.
MDC is one of few organizations whose work has spanned the four major pieces of federal workforce legislation over the last half of the 20th century: The Manpower Development and Training Act, the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, the Job Training Partnership Act, and the Workforce Investment Act.
While our workforce development agenda has changed over time due to the region's evolving needs and our increasing expertise, MDC has been consistent in one important way: removing the barriers between people and good jobs.
Programs
Latino Pathways
- is a demonstration project designed to increase job entry, retention, and advancement for Latino immigrants in two major North Carolina labor markets: Greensboro and Charlotte.
- Latino Pathways now has a wiki - MDC Jobs Partners - for those organizations working to connect people to economic opportunity.
Over the past decade, North Carolina has seen explosive growth of its Latino population, but segregation into dead-end jobs coupled with low educational attainment restrict opportunities for Latinos to contribute more fully to the state's economy and to improve their personal and family well-being and security. The Latino Pathways project is forming community partnerships comprising community colleges, grassroots Latino organizations, employers, and other stakeholder groups to increase entry, retention, and advancement in living wage jobs for Latino immigrants. read more >>
Project Director: Colin Austin
Connecting People to Jobs
- is an initiative to move low-skilled Southerners into skills training and better paying jobs at three sites in Virginia, West Virginia, and South Carolina, respectively.
MDC and the Center for Community Change are collaborating to move low-skilled Southerners into skills training and higher-wage employment. Supported by the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the project has three sites: Charlottesville, VA; Charleston, WV; and Columbia, SC. At each site, a grassroots organization, a community college, and employers will collaborate to help disadvantaged adults get and keep decent jobs. In Columbia, the program will focus on occupational advancement for Latino workers.
Project Director: Colin Austin
Policy Research and Development
Mississippi Workforce Development
- is an MDC policy research and analysis project designed to increase Mississippi's workforce and economic competitiveness.
In 2003, Mississippi's major public workforce development resources were split between two different oversight entities: the State Workforce Investment Board handled federal WIA resources and the State Workforce Development Council handled state funding for a community and junior college system of one-stop workforce centers. This arrangement resulted in a lack of coordination and expensive duplication of effort, ultimately affecting the state's ability to ensure the availability of a competitive workforce.
Through a contract with the Employment Training Division of the Mississippi Development Authority, MDC recommended forming a Joint Task Force comprising members of the two workforce oversight bodies to explore how to improve workforce system effectiveness and to make recommendations to the governor and state legislature.
MDC then worked with the Joint Task Force. Findings and recommendations are published in Generations of Progress ? A Future of Our Choice (pdf), a Task Force report to the governor and state legislature. The report was used to inform subsequent legislation: The Mississippi Comprehensive Workforce Training and Education Consolidation Act of 2004.
MDC will continue to work with Mississippi on workforce development.
Project Director: Sam Scott
Past Projects
Program for the Rural Carolinas
- was a five-year, $10.6 million rural development project in North Carolina and South Carolina, funded by The Duke Endowment. The program ended March 30, 2007.
MDC designed and served as the managing partner for the project, in cooperation with the senior staff of The Endowment.
The Program for the Rural Carolinas supported seven communities in large-scale collaborative projects to spur economic and community revitalization. It also supported 13 of The Endowment's eligible grantees in smaller-scale projects to promote economic opportunity in their communities. MDC provides technical assistance, coaching, and skills and knowledge development opportunities for the grantees.
For more information, see the full program description and its related data. Read two stories about program achievements in the Northwest (North Carolina) and Lower Orangebur/Upper Dorchester counties in South Carolina.
Project Director: Sam Scott
Franklin/Southampton County Development
- was a community-building initiative for Franklin City/Southampton County, Virginia, designed to revitalize the region's economy and reduce poverty
The Camp Foundation and Franklin-Southampton Charities are supporting a major community-building initiative to improve the quality of life for all residents of the area by revitalizing the economy, reducing poverty, and building a more equitable and inclusive civic culture. Read a feature story about the work in Franklin and one of the area's movers and shakers.
MDC coached a broad group of residents through implementing our Vision to Action strategic planning process, providing research and data analysis services, and connecting the community to expert technical assistance and information about effective strategies. The process has already prompted the creation of a joint city/county economic development structure, a permanent civic leadership structure - Franklin Southampton Futures - and an initiative to explore closer collaboration between city and county schools to maximize educational resources.
Project Director: David Dodson
Workforce Systems Research and Development
North Carolina JobLink Career Center System
- an MDC workforce development systems research and analysis project to assess the progress and effectiveness of North Carolina's JobLink Career Center system of 83 one-stop workforce development centers and recommend steps for improvement.
As North Carolina's one-stop workforce development system matured into a network of 83 Career Centers (JobLink), management of the JobLink centers fell to differing state agencies - most notably community colleges and local employment service offices. Consequently, the need to ensure a high standard of effectiveness and continuous improvement throughout the JobLink system took on added importance.
The MDC project was designed to increase the knowledge of JobLink Career Center management and operations staff and to recommend steps to improve individual Center effectiveness and performance - as well as the strength of the JobLink Career Center system as a whole. MDC emphasized identifying and disseminating information on exemplary management and operations practices and gathered input from Career Center managers, partner agency staff, and workforce investment boards and staff directors rearding the depth and breadth of interagency (partner) involvement and collaboration; center management approaches and arrangements; Workforce Investment Board oversight and support; exemplary Center strategies and arrangements; and gaps and weaknesses in Center management and operations. Findings and recommendations are documented in North Carolina JobLink Career Center Feedback: An Appraisal of Progress (pdf), the project's report to the Commission on Workforce Development of the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
Project Director: Sam Scott