Past Projects: Employment
MDC worked with the National Fund for Workforce Solutions (NFWS) to help rural regions create better systems of employment and training. The NFWS approach sought to create innovative workforce partnerships by encouraging local philanthropy and other funding agencies to issue grants for demonstration projects and capacity building. MDC managed a rural affinity group that consisted of four NFWS funded rural sites and other communities that were interested in the method.
A Time of Reckoning was a report created for the Mississippi State Legislature's Special Task force for the Revitalization of the Delta Region. Over the last 40 years, the economic situation in the Mississippi Delta has been resistant to change, leaving it one of the poorest areas in the nation. Unemployment is high in the region even during the best of times: from 2001 until 2007, unemployment fluctuated between 8 percent and 10 percent.
Mississippi Workforce Development was 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.
Latino Pathways was a demonstration project designed to increase job entry, retention, and advancement for Latino immigrants in two major North Carolina labor markets: Greensboro and Charlotte. 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.
MDC and the Center for Community Change collaborated to move low-skilled Southerners into skills training and better paying jobs at three sites in Virginia, West Virginia, and South Carolina. Supported by the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the project had three sites: Charlottesville, VA; Charleston, WV; and Columbia, SC. At each site, a grassroots organization, a community college, and employers collaborated to help disadvantaged adults get and keep decent jobs. In Columbia, the program focused on occupational advancement for Latino workers.
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.
The project 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 supported 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.
JobLink was 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.
In 2000, MDC and the Center for Community Change collaborated to move low-skilled Southerners into skills training and higher-wage employment. Charlottesville, VA; Charleston, WV; and Columbia, SC. Supported by the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation and the Annie E. Casey Foundation , the project had three sites: At each site, a grassroots organization, a community college, and employers collaborated to help disadvantaged adults get and keep decent jobs. In Columbia, the program focused on occupational advancement for Latino workers.
From 1994 to 1996, as part of the Pew Delta Initiative, MDC built the capacity of leaders in seven Delta communities to redesign education and training systems to connect poor people to jobs.
In 1990, MDC consulted and provided staff support for the North Carolina Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Workforce Preparedness. The Commission report led to the creation of the Governor's Commission on Workforce Preparedness – a single state-level council to review, monitor, and develop workforce policies and initiatives for the state.
