In this second annual summary of the their work, the Investing in Community Initiative provides practical advice for community leaders and policymakers around four critical issues. First, how should local needs be defined? Chapter 1 argues that data about local economies can show whether communities are best served by creating new jobs,…

Researchers asked 17 participants in a job-training program to describe their personal struggles following an economic restructuring. Examined through a critical theoretical lens, findings indicate that the learners enrolled in the program to reclaim security, dignity, meaningful work, and caring relationships. Program planners at community…

This handbook offers vocational educators several suggestions for becoming an active partner in their community's economic development activities. It is intended as a tool to use for coordinating activities between vocational educators and representatives of industry, government, and labor. An introduction offers background information, including…

In order to determine adequately how community and technical colleges can work with business and industry to meet the training needs of the existing work force, one must first understand the relationship between lagging productivity and the national economy. In the short run, lagging productivity increases inflation and unemployment, lessens our…

A study assessed the potential development of service sectors in different cities throughout the country and compared the results of growth in these and other sectors with respect to their effects on (1) total employment; (2) the geographic dispersion of metropolitan employment; (3) central city fiscal capacity; (4) metropolitan cyclical…

This publication is intended to assist economic decision makers in designing strategies for maximizing the economic development contributions of entrepreneurship and small business in Illinois. The challenges and opportunities for economic development through enhancement of entrepreneurial activity in the State are discussed. Various successful…

Technological, demographic, and competitive pressures have transformed the U.S. labor market and must be dealt with on a priority basis. The urgency of the problem can best be addressed by creating a national institution that is independent of government, business, and labor but that draws on all three sectors to develop a broad array of policies…

A committee examined the number, type, and quality of work and training opportunities available for heads of households under Maine's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) Program and suggested ways to improve them. Comprised of such representatives of the private and public sectors as employers, AFDC recipients, welfare advocates,…

This document details the purposes and principles of community audits and presents guidelines for designing and conducting a community audit to assess a local community's workforce development needs and resources. Section 1 presents an overview of the U.S. Department of Labor's Community Audit Project and explains the following key steps in…

These conference proceedings contain 18 presentations that represent a broad range of approaches to improving the effectiveness of public employment, education, and training programs. Papers include "Kentucky Job Training Certificate System" (Rigsby); "Public/Private Training Collaboration at the Workplace: The Michigan Job Opportunity…

A 2-day conference on vocational training as an instrument to combat unemployment was held to discuss employment policy, vocational training, and decentralization in the context of the European Union's (EU's) accession strategy, current employment initiatives, and experiences of the EU's member states and regions. The conference included papers on…