Luis' First Meeting with Tammy (Step-Up)
During my time with Tammy, I went through information overdrive. I learned a lot about their model/operations. Some of the topics that we discussed and I feel that need to addressed soon are:
What systems will be using for our application process of interns? (is survey monkey with manual selection a viable option for this first cohort?)
What systems will be in place for tracking participation of participants and how will we be assessing them as work ready? (I have drawn up a rough assessment process; will provide tomorrow prior to the meeting)
Defining our scope of service
Setting a timeline with deadlines (I have created a suggested timeline; will provide tomorrow prior to the meeting)
Having some measurement tool to assess the progress of youth during program and how will these be stored
What makes Step-Up different from what we are currently in the process of providing is the scale of the program and what they provide. They have three-tiers and they’re broken up like this:
Step-Up Achieve: Opportunities for youth 16-21 in the private sector businesses, public agencies or non-profits. These are youth who they feel are considered work ready and have the highest abilities (stand-out students)
Step-Up Discover: Opportunities for youth between 14-21 in entry-level summer jobs (working park and rec). This is for students who have limited work experience and prepares them for Achieve internships.
Step-Up Explore: Opportunities for youth 14-21 to be a part of specialized work and training. This tier is specifically for those youth who are from recent immigrant families, have special needs and/or need additional support. (least like our program) (but it makes me wonder what if we do get applicants who fall under this category?)
Step-Up also gears its trainings specifically to the youth’s corresponding program. Tammy provided me with a copy of their training model as well as a schedule from the past year. What was interesting for me to hear was that they do all their required training in one day, rather than in multiple training days. Also, they provide several dates in the months of March and April for participants to choose as their training date.
Lesson topics are broken down into ten areas:
Jobs vs. Careers (15 min)
Networking (30 min)
Marketing Yourself, Online Presence, Cultural Competencies (25 min)
Resumes (60 min)
Interviewing (30 min)
Communication types/ situational communication (25 min)
Professional Communication/Etiquette/ Professionalism (25 min)
Attitude/Character (20 min)
Problem Solving/ Decision Making/ Ethics/ Asking Questions (20 min)
Landing the Job, Dress for Success, Starting your job (20 min)
Program Details (15 min)
Next Steps (15 min)
Feedback (20 min)
This structure seems well, but I’d like to know the actual process and how it’s executed. Speaking with their trainers?
I will try and scan the deliverables she gave me, that way it’ll be easier for you to understand the information and visualize.
This is how they determine if a youth is work ready:
Youth completes application and qualifies for program
Youth is invited to attend training and successfully completes training (miss their training makes them ineligible to proceed)
Youth is invited to partake in mock interviews (they’re evaluated by interviewer and they determine if participant is ready or not to proceed; they use a certain evaluation that she is in the process of sending me. Basically it’s whether they answered questions well and professionally and had a successful interview)
Youth is invited to apply for an internship
Youth applies for internship and interviews. The supervisor determines if they are a good fit or not.
*Essentially they weed through participants and filter them out as they continue with the process, based on whether they feel that they are fit to proceed.
If a youth does not land an internship, but are considered work-ready, they are just told to come back the following year. (this I will have to figure out so that we can keep retention of those who don’t land an internship)
In terms of their database:
Tammy said they currently use a CRM software ( I thought CRM was the name of the software, but I was wrong so I didn’t ask specially which one) She does however recommend using Access for the first year as it will be more manageable. IF we use access, we’ll have to gather a list of criteria that we feel are necessary for us to track on each participant; i.e. trainings attended, phone number. This I don’t have much expertise on, but I will support in any way I can.
For tracking growth:
Step-Up uses MHA Labs (I don’t know anything about this, so I am in the process of doing some research.)
I know you had a list of questions, so I handed them to her so that she could answer those directly to you. She is out of town for a few days, but she will get you the info as soon as possible.
These are her suggestions for the first year:
Keep it simple and focus on quality, do not stretch.
Be picky the first year, we don’t want to over-commit ourselves and our resources.
Keep a scale that’s manageable
Leverage partnerships
Use simpler technologies as we are starting with fewer numbers.
Email to Luis about Tiers
I am going to attach a fact sheet that describes each tier and then do my best to clarify in email. Let me know if I answered with what you needed or not.
Explore – for existing programs like Upward Bound, Transition Plus, etc. that have their youth in programming already. We provide the wage, the partner agency provided the work experience, additional supports, etc. Youth apply on a different timeline and don’t go through the regular work readiness training.
Discover – subsidized work at non-profit agencies for our youngest workers (ages 14 and 15) or youth that need a more supported experience (not fluent in English, significant special needs, etc.). Youth attend 7 – 14 hours of work readiness training. Job matching, coaching and placement is done by our contracted Minneapolis Workforce Centers. Youth attend a 3 hour weekly class during the summer to enhance their personal and professional skills.
Achieve – youth ages 16+ that will mostly be placed in private sector paid jobs. Youth go through 7 hours of work readiness training. Job matching, coaching and placement is done by AchieveMpls. Youth can attend optional trainings to enhance their skills over the summer.
Achieve is the program that is most like what you are trying to do with the BBA, so I don’t talk much about Discover or Explore as it is not particularly relevant at this point for what you are trying to do.
Hope that helps.