Winter 2016/2017 Newsletter

Registration Now Open for 14th Annual Sharing Skills~Building Connections Conference

For 14 years, the Commonwealth Workforce Coalition (CWC) has worked to strengthen and build the capacity of the Commonwealth’s workforce development sector through the annual Sharing Skills~Building Connections conference. The conference brings together employment counselors, job training professionals, and others who work with the under- and unemployed to help sharpen their skills and deepen their expertise.

“We’re looking forward to seeing job training providers, educators, career counselors, and others in the workforce development community at the 14th annual Sharing Skills~Building Connections conference in May,” said Susan Crandall, director of UMass Boston’s Center for Social Policy, CEDAC’s partner in managing CWC. “We know that the workforce development professionals benefit greatly from the connections they make and the best practices they learn at the conference.”

Last year’s conference drew more than 350 attendees from across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Participants not only included those from workforce community-based organizations (CBOs), One Stop Career Centers and Workforce Investment Boards but also professionals from housing agencies, community development corporations, and adult basic education providers.

This year’s conference will feature keynote remarks from Ronald Marlow, Vice President for Workforce Development at the National Urban League. His remarks will focus on how the public workforce development system and community-based organizations can meet the needs of disadvantaged populations and how each system can work in tandem to assist populations to make the transition to economic self-sufficiency through access to job training, education, and supportive services. Additionally, organizers have developed a conference track focused on young people and ways that community-based organizations can help build the skills opportunities for today’s youth.

For more information and to register for the conference, which will be held on Thursday, May 11th at the Sturbridge Host Hotel & Conference Center, visit the CWC website.

In 2016, CEDAC entered into a partnership with the University of Massachusetts Boston Center for Social Policy to administer the Commonwealth Workforce Coalition.