http://www.clasp.org/experts/highlights.xml?id=0010 Resources & Publications from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) en-us Sun, 19 May 2013 14:58:42 -0500 info@clasp.org webmaster@clasp.org 40 Thu, 31 May 2012 00:00:00 -0500 /postsecondary/publication?id=1126&list=publications Evelyn Ganzglass, director of Workforce Development at CLASP, presented on the panel Financing College Success: Innovations to Promote Readiness, Access, and Completion on May 31 at the New America Foundation. Ms. Ganzglass discussed specific issues related to community college affordability and focus on a range of interventions that aim to improve community college success, including building assets, accessing public benefits, emergency loans, financial literacy education, and work opportunities more conducive to full-time attendance at school. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=1126&list=publications Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Wrong-Direction-for-WIA.pdf On March 29, 2012, Rep. Virginia Foxx, Rep. Joseph J. Heck and Rep. Howard P. McKeon introduced a Workforce Investment Act (WIA) reauthorization bill (H.R. 4297). To help advocates and stakeholders, CLASP has developed a set of criteria for evaluating this bill and other proposals that consolidate programs offering workforce services to low-income families and individuals. In applying these criteria to H.R. 4297, CLASP finds that the bill fails on most counts. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Wrong-Direction-for-WIA.pdf Mon, 09 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Litmus-for-Legislation.pdf During the past year, a number of bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to reduce the number of federal workforce programs, consolidate programs in some cases and to improve the efficiency of the workforce system. CLASP recognizes the need for a more coherent and effective workforce development system. However, it is wrong to assume that the federal government's support of multiple workforce programs necessarily amounts to or results in duplicative services. To help advocates and other stakeholders, CLASP has developed a set of criteria with which to evaluate proposals that consolidate or restructure programs offering workforce services to low-income families and individuals. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Litmus-for-Legislation.pdf Tue, 07 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /postsecondary/publication?id=0971&list=publications On June 7 CLASP hosted a webinar discussing the policy recommendations presented in the report Giving Credit Where Credit is Due. The webinar also highlighted innovative work to strengthen educational and workforce credentials and create a bridge between credit and noncredit learning. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0971&list=publications Wed, 11 May 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Removing-Inefficiencies-in-the-Nations-Job-Training-Programs.pdf In May 2011, the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training to the Committee on Education Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives, held a hearing on removing inefficiencies in the nation's job training programs. Evelyn Ganzglass, Director of Workforce Development at CLASP testified before the committee on the steps Congress should take to create a more coherent and effective workforce system. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Removing-Inefficiencies-in-the-Nations-Job-Training-Programs.pdf Tue, 19 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/Giving-Credit.pdf Postsecondary credentials are the keys to individual self-sufficiency, greater civic participation, and higher levels of family well-being and the catalysts for local, regional, and national economic growth. Often overlooked in discussions of increasing the number and quality of postsecondary credentials awarded is that a great deal of credit-worthy education and training is taking place, but it is often disconnected from educational pathways that could lead to postsecondary certificates or degrees. Given the growing importance of postsecondary credentials to economic success, this disconnect of high-quality, noncredit education and training from education that can be counted toward a degree suggests a gaping hole in education policy and in employment and training policy. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Giving-Credit.pdf Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0600 /admin/site/publications/files/Responding-to-the-Great-Recession-ARRA-and-WIA-2011.pdf Two years after the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act or ARRA) became law, Congress is preparing to take up reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). With its one-time infusion of resources, the Recovery Act nearly doubled federal funding for adult, dislocated worker and youth programs under WIA during 2009-2010 and set national priorities for the public workforce system's response to what is now being described as the Great Recession. The lessons from Recovery Act implementation should inform WIA reauthorization as it proceeds. This report examines the response of three states and local areas to the urgency of the recession, additional funding and the opportunities and challenges afforded by the Recovery Act. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Responding-to-the-Great-Recession-ARRA-and-WIA-2011.pdf Wed, 16 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0600 /admin/site/publications/files/Subsidized-Employment-Paper-Final.pdf During 2009 and 2010, 39 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and eight Tribal TANF programs received approval to use $1.3 billion from the TANF Emergency Fund to create new subsidized employment programs or expand existing ones. This paper examines how states used the flexibility they were given to design and implement subsidized employment programs and what challenges they faced in getting them up and running, and draws lessons for future such programs. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/Subsidized-Employment-Paper-Final.pdf Mon, 13 Sep 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /postsecondary/publication?id=0810&list=publications Postsecondary education and credentials are key to economic mobility for individuals and economic competitiveness for our nation. Yet too many low-income adults and disadvantaged youth are locked out of the opportunity to earn credentials and are falling further and further behind. To combat this national challenge, CLASP has launched a new project, the Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success (C-PES) and kicked off the initiative with a policy discussion featuring thought leaders from the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation. Each of these foundations has made improving postsecondary access and success a top priority. During this webinar, they discuss their specific policy priorities for helping lower-income adults and disadvantaged youth attain postsecondary credentials and achieve economic mobility. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0810&list=publications Fri, 21 May 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /postsecondary/publication?id=0764&list=publications On May 20, CLASP Executive Director Alan Houseman sent this urgent letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging support for the Promoting American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0764&list=publications Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /postsecondary/publication?id=0734&list=publications http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0734&list=publications Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 /postsecondary/publication?id=0732&list=publications This testimony calls on Congress to sustain the level of Recovery Act investment in workforce programs. It further urges lawmakers to increase the funding for youth programming to $3 billion for expanded summer and year-round youth activities and for targeted grants to high poverty communities to build pathways for youth to opportunities in growing sectors of the economy. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0732&list=publications Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0600 /postsecondary/publication?id=0557&list=publications Recommendations on Performance Accountability in the Workforce Education and Training System urges the federal government to change current performance accountability provisions in WIA Titles I and II to address specific problems in each program and over time to implement a system of shared accountability across workforce and other education and training programs. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0557&list=publications Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0600 /postsecondary/publication?id=0716&list=publications Our nation faces many domestic challenges, including improving access to affordable health care, improving access to education as well as education outcomes, and providing debt and foreclosure relief. CLASP's 2010 federal policy recommendations are equally essential to achieving healthy and thriving families and improving the nation's prosperity. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0716&list=publications Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0600 /admin/site/publications/files/WIA_ReauthCareerPathways_FINAL_Updated.pdf CLASP proposes the establishment of a Career Pathways State Policy Leadership Grants program within the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The program would be jointly administered by the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor to strengthen and align adult education/ ESL, postsecondary education, career and technical education and workforce development systems in a career pathways framework. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/WIA_ReauthCareerPathways_FINAL_Updated.pdf Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/federalpolicyrecommendations.pdf The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has developed an extensive federal policy agenda for President Obama and the 111th Congress directed at improving the lives of low income people. That agenda is outlined in this document. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/federalpolicyrecommendations.pdf Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/arra_careerpathways.pdf This paper discusses how the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) system can use new funding and flexibility under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to implement cutting-edge workforce education and training strategies that can help low-skill adults and out-of-school youth gain the skills and credentials they need to fill the pipeline of skilled workers for jobs important to local economies. It focuses on career pathways as a framework for strengthening employer engagement and linkages among workforce education and training programs; and as a model for improving how training and related services are delivered in the WIA adult, dislocated workers and youth programs. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/arra_careerpathways.pdf Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0600 /postsecondary/publication?id=0443&list=publications Education and training are major contributors to economic prosperity. They are drivers of economic mobility and opportunity. Workforce policies to help individuals who are struggling in the labor market also are a critical component of a recovery package to get America working again. This report contains CLASP workforce policy recommendations for Congress and the Administration to address the immediate economic crisis and to make a down payment on the longer-term agenda of building a stronger and more equitable economy. It includes actions they can take to: help workers and families recover from the current recession; renew the nation's commitment to good jobs and upward mobility for all and rebuild middle class jobs. http://www.clasp.org/postsecondary/publication?id=0443&list=publications Wed, 29 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0500 /admin/site/publications/files/0438.pdf This paper advocates expansion and better integration of efforts to connect high school dropouts between the ages of 16 and 24 to pathways to postsecondary credentials that have value in the labor market. The paper highlights examples of innovations in policy, program delivery, pedagogy in adult education, youth development and dropout recovery, and postsecondary education that should be built upon in developing more robust and successful dropout recovery and postsecondary education policies and practices to open the door to higher wages and career opportunities for this population. The authors urge federal officials, governors, school administrators, college officials, workforce leaders and employers to provide leadership in building the supports and pathways at scale to bring dropout youth back into the education and labor market mainstream. The paper was prepared for the Center for American Progress. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0438.pdf Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0600 /admin/site/publications/files/0384.pdf At a time when employers increasingly need better educated and skilled workers to succeed, too few states have taken significant actions to improve adult education and literacy. This brief, prepared for the Working Poor Families Project, provides an overview of state adult education policies and programs and recommends ways they can be strengthened to provide better job advancement opportunities for lower-skilled adults and older youth. http://www.clasp.org/admin/site/publications/files/0384.pdf