Worksystems coordinates a network of community-based organizations that provides antipoverty employment services to many of our community’s most underserved and vulnerable populations. These include people experiencing housing instability and/or homelessness, communities of color, immigrants and refugees, people in recovery from addiction, people with justice system involvement, and people in poverty. Partners across our network work together toward the shared goal of helping the populations we serve to enter career-track employment in high-demand, middle-income jobs. 

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY PROGRAM

The Economic Opportunity Program (EOP) is a cornerstone of our community-based approach to serving vulnerable populations.  EOP has grown from five community-based employment service providers who deliver individually-tailored workforce development services to twelve providers and counting.

Funding and support for this program comes from Prosper PortlandMultnomah County Department of Community Justice, the Joint Office of Homeless Services, Washington County Office of Community Development, the US Department of Agriculture and other sources.

Our Economic Opportunity and Rent Assistance Programs Featured as National Best Practice!

EOP participants are supported by a Career Coach from start to finish, including outreach and enrollment, career plan development, occupational training and other skill development, job search assistance and placement, job retention and advancement, and addressing barriers to success such as housing and childcare needs.

In addition to funding and coordinating Career Coaching through our community-based network, Worksystems directs a broad array of resources available to EOP participants such as scholarships for occupational training, paid internships, employer and job connections, eviction prevention and housing placement services, and access to childcare. These wrap around services available to EOP participants are organized in partnership with the public systems overseeing these services, including WorkSource Portland Metro, Oregon Department of Human Service, Multnomah and Washington County Departments of Community Justice, Joint Office of Homeless Services and others.

Services include:

  • Individualized Career Coaching
  • Career Mapping (A best-practice career planning tool developed by Worksystems)
  • Career exploration resources
  • Work readiness training
  • Paid internships
  • Job search assistance and placement
  • Retention and advancement supports after job placement
  • Child care including placement into quality childcare and childcare tuition payment
  • Housing placement and eviction prevention
  • Contextualized, cohort‐based Adult Basic Education
  • Industry sector­ based preparatory training
  • Occupational skills training leading to employer‐recognized certificates
  • Pre-­apprenticeship Training Programs
  • Individualized job placement for certain industries and participants
  • Access to specialized scholarship funding in high-growth, high-wage industries, such as healthcare.
  • Enrollment in the TriMet Low Income Fare program, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) and other services.

Current EOP providers are: Central City ConcernConstructing HopeHuman SolutionsIRCOLatino NetworkOregon TradeswomenPCCPortlandOIC, and SE Works.

ALIGNED PARTNER NETWORK

The Aligned Partner Network (APN) is a network of over 20 community-based organizations who collaborate with us to address poverty across a wide array of vulnerable and underserved populations through access to jobs and careers. APN members align their own resources and services with services available through WorkSource, the public workforce system, which enables job seekers to have access to a robust array of support and assistance they need to achieve economic independence. Members are community-based organizations that serve low-income residents of Washington County, Multnomah County and the city of Portland. They benefit from partnership with the public workforce development system as they assist program participants to find quality, middle-wage employment in in-demand occupations. These coordinated relationships build upon the strengths of each partner to ensure high-need customers have the supports they need to reach success.

Community-based organizations have a designated point person in WorkSource Portland Metro to ensure smooth access to services, ensure access to services and resources that Worksystems directs toward these partnerships, share new opportunities, and troubleshoot. We also provide technical assistance in developing and implementing career plans with their customers that successfully connect them to WorkSource Portland Metro resources, set-aside scholarships and other occupational training programs. 

For more information about our Community Investment programs, contact Deanna Dsouza.

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