Presenting the Budget Essay

INTRODUCTORY SUMMARY: V.C. & Associates along with New York City propose to offer a job training program housed within the NYC Department of Social Services beginning July 1, 2013 the beginning of the fiscal period 2013. STATEMENT OF NEED: Since Super Storm Sandy in 2012, years of collaboration within the Mayor’s office to crackdown on slumlords, the market crash of 2008 and the continuing efforts to keep New Yorkers safe since 2001, an influx of jobs have been created throughout New York. Since 2007, City-certified Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises have been awarded over 26,000 City prime contracts and subcontracts worth more than $1.9 billion. (nyc.gov 2014) An evaluation of high growth and rapid demand in office administration, security, construction and apartment maintenance poises a need for employable individuals to enter the market place. The Department of Social Services has administrative responsibilities for families not only in crisis but those seeking to enrich their lives t hrough training to better prepare them for the workforce. Presenting the Budget  2 Once individuals are provided hands-on job training workshops they will be able to go out and seek employment. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: The Human Resources Administration, Department of Social Services (DSS) provides services and temporary assistance that help families and individuals with economic and social service needs to achieve their highest level of self-sufficiency and that help other families and individuals remain self-sufficient. (nyc.gov 2014) Fifteen percent of U.S. adults lack a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential, and another 30 percent have a high school diploma with no postsecondary education. Collectively, these individuals make up over half of today’s unemployed adults. Adults without a high school diploma are more likely to be in need of temporary cash assistance and in-kind benefits such as Medicaid, food stamps, and housing subsidies. BENEFITS: The primary benefit from this project would be to strengthen the link between employers’ urgent needs and individuals who are job ready because of hands-on job training workshops. Having a few companies commit to expressing their needs would allow DSS to deploy skilled individuals in the workforce instead of a company having to train them. For example, within the office administration training, hands on training would consist of building confidence in Microsoft Word and Excel because these two are the basics for administration assistance. Presenting the Budget 3 PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: Measurements Measure Target InputCost to provide hands-on job training workshops in office administration, security, construction and apartment maintenanceAs budgeted for $500,000 over 3 years beginning Outcome Over 85% of trained individuals placed in the workforce. Sustain initial 85% placement rate for years two and three. EfficiencyCost per individual trainedApproximately $625 to train each individual to receive employment and become self-sufficient. EffectivenessPercent of individuals  placed Provide repeat workshop for 20% of population if requested after placed and not successful Quality or ProcessPercent of employers satisfied with placed individuals at the end of six monthsOn a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being very satisfied and 1 being dissatisfied, projected target will be between seven and ten. Equity Percent of individuals who remain in the workforce one year after placement.70 percent of individuals still with initial placement after one year. COSTS: The program costs are mostly allocated to personnel and contractual services because of the nature of the program. The Social Services Department would have one full-time equivalent employee charged 35% of the time to the program to oversee the operations for the next three years. In addition to the full-time staff member, a part-time staff member will be hired to perform all functions related to carrying out day to day duties related to but not limited to contracted personnel scheduling for training sessions, classroom and equipment set-up, ordering supplies, recordkeeping of stipends associated with travel for offsite visits. Presenting the Budget 4 Other costs associated with the program are computer and software purchases in year one, which the computer costs are lower in years two and three because only software licenses should be updated or additional software purchases required but computers purchased in year one should have a useful life of five years which will exceed the program by two years. STAFFING IMPACT: One part-time employee will begin working in FY2013. For fiscal years 2014 and 2015 an additional part-time employee will be employed to assist because of anticipated numbers of individuals will increase in years two and three. Within the small business sector contracted instructors/trainers from each of the four sectors will provide employment and training services for low-skilled, unemployed adults, including veterans for the workforce. These instructors will be vetted from NYC’s Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Program, the Emerging Business Enterprise (EBE) Program and the Locally-base d Business Enterprise (LBE) Program. Breakdown of Expected Individuals Per Sector 32040%Office Administration 28035%Security 8010%Apartment maintenance 12015%Construction 800100% OPTIONS: A cost of $625 per individual for training is pennies compared to what the state and federal assistance cost would be for each of the anticipated 800 participants in one year. For example, in New York State an individual could receive $600 monthly for housing and food assistance. The cost of three years of training 800 individuals would be equal to that of the state paying 800 welfare recipients in one month. Presenting the Budget 5 To ensure that our nation rises to the task of developing a skilled workforce that meets the demands of employers, policymakers need to widen their focus to expanding education and training to lower-skilled adults and youth, including high school dropouts, adults who have a high school diploma or GED but are not college ready, and adults with low English proficiency. Without a targeted strategy to educate more low-skilled Americans, the U.S. will continue to lag behind in measures of educational attainment and hence in economic competitiveness. (Foster, Strawn, Duke 2011) After evaluating years one and two the Department should determine whether additional funding should be requested for additional years. The economy will continue to grow and no deserving individual should be left behind because of lack of skills. Budget allocation Object codes201320142015 Personnel services (PS), Total: Full-time, permanent=FTE ($125,000*.35) 43,750 46,000 48,000 Part-time (1 employee yr 1; yrs 2 & 3 = 1.5 employees) 30,000 40,000 40,000 Contractual (Professional trainers from various industries) 20,000 55,000 28,000 Nonpersonnel services (OTPS), Total: Supplies 20,000 30,000 25,000 Computers & Computer Software 25,000 10,000 8,500 Rental Equipment 5,000 7,000 6,500 Travel Benefits 2,750 5,000 4,500 Social Services Contractual services Charges, awards, grants and subsidies Bonds and other Fund, Total: General funds Federal funds State funds146,500193,000160,5000 Other funds Employees, Total ACCOMPANYING LEGISLATION: No legislation is required to implement this program. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Adult formula program provides employment and training services for disadvantaged, low-skilled, unemployed, and underemployed adults, including veterans, within the public workforce system. The program is well-positioned to meet the needs of adult job seekers and support the economic recovery by helping adult customers understand their skills in the context of the current labor market and improve those skills to find better jobs with career pathways. Specifically, the WIA Adult formula program: †¢ Supports an economy that is built to last by aligning the skills of American workers with needs of businesses so they can compete in the rapidly evolving job market of the 21st century; †¢ Transforms the unemployment system into a reemployment system by providing adult job seekers with job placement, career counseling, skills-training, credential attainment, and labor exchange services that make it possible for disadvantaged, low-skilled, and underemployed adult workers to get back to work quickly; †¢ Puts veterans back to work by providing priority of service to veterans and eligible spouses; and †¢ Offers seamless service delivery  with multiple workforce-related programs housed in American Job Centers. A consolidated entry point provides the best value in terms of positive outcomes for job seekers and business customers by capitalizing on the administrative efficiencies and shared resources. (nyc.gov 2014) The Department will award 4 – 5 competitive grants ranging in size from $2 – 3 million to regions to implement sector-based strategies to meet the dual goals of providing customized solutions for business while providing training and career advancement opportunities for targeted populations. These grants would support the development of partnerships between the workforce system, business, community colleges, economic development, and others such as organized labor, the adult basic education system, and supportive service providers; modify existing training based on business demand; and train and provide career advancement opportunities for targeted populations such as acutely or chronically long term unemployed low-wage workers, new labor market entrants, and veterans. (dol.gov 2014) Presenting the Budget 7 Keeping in tandem with other major cities it would be to New York’s advantage to pursue this program. Reference http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/html/about/about.shtml Foster, Strawn, J., Duke-Banfield, 2011, Beyond Basic Skills http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED538035.pdf http://www.nyc.gov/html/sbs/html/procurement/mwbe.shtml http://www.dol.gov/dol/budget/2015/PDF/CBJ-2015-V1-04.pdf