Nonprofit faces funding gaps
Two-year grants are just too short
One local executive from a nonprofit aimed at providing workforce training says the state needs to stop taking a "band-aid" approach to grant allocations.
"There needs to be much more coordination emphasized," between potential employers and workforce development agencies, said Toni Wolf, executive director of Marlborough-based Employment Options Inc. "Offer more positions for community folks. And keep it long term. Eighteen months is a band-aid approach."
Wolf recently attended a panel discussion with Suzanne Bump, Massachusetts secretary of labor and workforce development, where she voiced her concerns, calling the current grants "two-year little babies."
Bump said that in the short-term, more collaboration was needed between local non-profit workforce development agencies and state-funded Massachusetts One Stop Career Centers to overcome service gaps.
Wolf, executive director of Marlboroughbased Employment Options Inc.Mind the gap
Employment Options subsists largely on public and private grant money, according to Wolf. Because the terms and timeframes of the grants very often don't match the real-world timeframes of the people Wolf strives to serve, she said she is forced to find creative ways to bridge a growing funding gap between grant approvals.
The typical grant is for 18 to 24 months, Wolf said, but the average workforce development program can take as many as five years.
"As an agency, we're constantly looking at new programs and saying, 'OK, we've started it, now how do we maintain it?'" Wolf said. "So far we've not been successful. We've been doing some workforce development for seven years. It takes a while to build relationships."
Employment Options Inc. helps both low-income and mentally ill residents find work throughout Metrowest, Wolf said. They also help displaced workers and legal immigrant workers find new jobs and re-educate themselves with new job skills.
Particularly for immigrant workers, the typical two-year funding grant represents a significant shortfall, said Shannon Hall, associate director of Employment Options.
Learning English alone can take many years, Hall said, all while trying to work constantly at as many as three jobs to make ends meet.
One of the organization's main goals, Hall said, is to get potential workers the education they need. But laying the foundation for higher education takes time.
And time is at a premium, said Wolf.
"There has to be a beginning step for a lot of our people," she said. "You've got to walk before you can run, and that's the piece we see missing."
Wolf said she has become more entrepreneurial in her efforts to both secure funds and build relationships. In the past four years, Wolf said she has re-doubled her efforts at private fundraising, in order to fund the agency's programs through the gaps in grant funding.
"The current grant system is forcing small organizations to be more entrepreneurial," Wolf said. "We're nimble and proactive because we have to be."
Hall said she has also been consulting with local businesses.
"Employers realize that to help their employees progress, they need to eliminate some of the barriers like education or language," Hall said.
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