Work Based Learning Services

The Vendor is required to provide Work Based Learning models and may include employer activation as well as wraparound supports to maximize long-term employment outcomes.
- Services include:
• Lack of practical or recent work experience and/or long-term unemployment.
• Skills gaps and labor shortages in the labor market.
• Limited networking skills and opportunities.
• Limited life management and pre-employment skills, such as low skills for success including financial and digital literacy.
• Limited soft skills in the workplace, such as time management, working as a team, problem solving, etc.
• Limited employer collaboration for skills training and employment maintenance.
• Need for focused projects with heightened levels of wraparound client supports and experiential learning opportunities.
• Reduction in high barrier financial support caseloads.
• Contribute to the development of a talented workforce, addressing skills gaps while providing clients with the supports they need to address their barriers to employment.
• Forge and strengthen local partnerships across local services, the voluntary and community sector, and employers to build strong cross-sector collaboration to design and implement an improved approach to connecting highly barriered clients to the labor market.
• Coordinate support and better integrate community services that support adults experiencing multiple barriers to enable a comprehensive approach and connect clients to needed services that may be outside the traditional scope of employment services.
• Include people with lived experience and utilize a trauma-informed approach in the design, delivery and evaluation of improved services and future decision making.
• Continue to drive lasting system-change, with long-term sustainable improvements that benefit people experiencing multiple barriers.  • To create an alternative pathway for clients with barriers to employment to access stable, meaningful employment.
• To reduce recidivism rates by providing individuals with the job-specific skills, resources, and support they need to succeed in the workforce.
• To activate local industry, employer, business and community organizations in providing work based learning, job opportunities, mentorship, and support for clients. - Provide services to clients with a high risk of long-term unemployment.
- These clients are employable, but experience a single or set of significant disadvantages and barriers:
• Require multiple forms of support to enter and stay in the labor force.
• Require heightened skills training (e.g., essential and oral communication skills).
• Require heightened access to support and services (e.g., housing stability, community supports).
• Sustain multiple severe barriers to employment (e.g., criminal record, disability, addictions).
• Recruitment and enrollment: clients should be able to self-refer but will also be recruited through collaboration with state supports, state community outreach programs, and community social service organizations.
• Efforts should focus on individuals ready to transition into the workforce and who face barriers to employment.
• Job creation and placement: the project seeks partnerships with local industry associations, businesses and community agencies to create work-based learning and employment opportunities that align with client interests and employment goals.
• Focus should be on sectors where demand for workers is high and supported by labor market information, such as construction, public infrastructure, and manufacturing.
• Training and development: clients should undergo job readiness training, including soft skills (communication, time management, conflict resolution, etc.), hard skills (workplace safety, specific trade skills, etc.) and essential skills (literacy, digital literacy, etc.).
• Training programs should be tailored to meet the needs of both clients and employers.
• Job maintenance and retention: the continuation of active support services after a client obtains employment for the purposes of employment maintenance and may include innovative solutions that may or may not be outside of the current scope of policy, such as the enhancement of job quality through the provision of benefits and/or an employee and family assistance program (EFAP) conditional on the continuation of employment.
• Monitoring and evaluation: the project will collect data on client outcomes, including job retention, income levels, and overall well-being.
- Contract Period/Term: 3 years
- Proponent Information Session Date: May 14, 2025
- Questions/Inquires Deadline: June 6, 2025