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Annual Conference Program
November 4-6, 2009
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| Wednesday, November 4, 2009 |
| 4:00 - 8:00 pm |
Registration Open |
Lake/Chicago |
6:00 - 8:00 pm
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Networking Reception
Meet fellow practitioners, renew old acquaintances, make new friends, and unwind from the day’s travel. Beverages and hors d’oeuvres will be served. |
Lake/Chicago |
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| Thursday, November 5, 2009 |
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| 8:15 - 9:30 am |
Registration Open |
Lake/Chicago |
| 8:30 - 9:15 am |
Breakfast and Welcome
Fuel up for the day as Emerge Staffing officially welcomes us to Minneapolis andprovides a brief overview of their work. Emerge Staffing began operating in 1995 and mainly serves low-income people in north Minneapolis. It is one of several workforce and supportive housing programs of Emerge Community Development which together provide a holistic model of human services and touch thousands of disenfranchised individuals throughout the Twin Cities. |
Lake/Chicago |
| 9:15 - 9:30 am |
Break |
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| 9:30 - 11:00 am |
Concurrent Sessions
A. Everyone Sells: How Placement Specialists Can Step Up Sales
Placement specialists tend to see themselves as customer service associates and reject the notion that they can “sell.” But these staff members are often closest to your clients and candidates, and can be your organization’s best sales representatives if you show them how. In this session, staffing industry expert Amy Bingham will give you a roadmap to guide placement specialists to sell as they service. You’ll learn how to reframe their perceptions, change their behavior and build their confidence in the sales process, helping them use basic sales techniques and grow from reactive order fillers into proactive revenue generators. To support the successful application of these techniques, all attendees are invited to a one-on-one post-conference follow-up call with Ms. Bingham.
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Portland |
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B. Notes from the Field: Supporting Successful Workforce Transitions for Ex-Offenders
In last year's Alternative Staffing Alliance performance survey, 75% of ASOs named ex-offenders as one of the top three job seeker populations they serve. What are others' experiences using social enterprise models for transitional employment to help ex-offenders reenter the job market, and what innovations are being developed to help these individuals advance in the workplace? Jennifer Phillips, a consultant and former senior employment program officer at The Joyce Foundation, will update us about the results of their Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration, which she coordinates. This research study includes a staffing service model as one of The Joyce Foundation’s four demonstration sites. We'll also hear from Marta Nelson, director of policy and planning at Center for Employment Opportunities in New York, about the CEO Academy, a new strategy they have implemented in partnership with local community colleges. The CEO Academy creates opportunities for ex-offenders employed in entry-level jobs to improve their literacy skills and pursue trades training to enhance their prospects, increase their wages and fulfill their career goals. Ms. Nelson will also describe CEO's integration of shorter trainings into their signature transitional work program. |
Park |
| 11:00 - 11:15 am |
Break |
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| 11:15 am - 12:30 pm |
Concurrent Sessions |
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A. Communicating Your ASO's Value Proposition
In the intensely competitive staffing industry, it's critical to be able to articulate your service's value in a way that compels a prospect to listen. In this interactive workshop, Amy Bingham will review the components of an effective value proposition and guide you in drafting one that will capture the attention of your target customers and set you apart from your competitors. You'll leave with a new "elevator pitch" to share and tweak with your team and begin using in your selling activities. |
Park |
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B. Moving Workers From Survival Culture to Learning Culture For Better Job Retention
Many individuals served by alternative staffing agencies are stuck in a survival culture mentality. These job seekers blur the boundaries between survival and learning culture in work relationships, and often get into even deeper water by placing loyalty and power goals before achievement goals. Mark Kaufman, cofounder of Career Advancement Network will introduce intervention methods you can use in one-on-one and classroom settings to orient workers to the cultural norms of the workplace and support their greater employment success and job retention. |
Portland |
| 12:30 - 12:45 pm |
Break |
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| 12:45 - 1:45 pm |
Lunch
Our host hotel is part of the Midtown Exchange, a mixed-use development resulting from 12 years of efforts by neighborhood groups, local government and private-sector leaders. In addition to the Sheraton Midtown, this project features 359 units of rental and owner-occupied housing, the city’s largest public market, Allina Hospitals’ headquarters, a Hennepin County service center and a new transit facility. The Midtown Global Market is itself the product of an extraordinary collaboration of local entrepreneurs, the City of Minneapolis, private donors and the development firm Ryan Companies and its subcontractors. Atum Azzahir, Executive Director of the Cultural Wellness Center, a founding partner and Kimberly Hanna, market coordinator, will share the remarkable story of realizing the Midtown Global Market's vision of grass roots community economic development and creating a dynamic public space.
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Midtown
Global Market |
| 1:45 - 2:00 pm |
Break |
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| 2:00 - 3:15 pm |
Best Practices in Sectoral Business Development
ASOs' strong market orientation keeps them attuned to developing workforce opportunities that fit with their jobseekers' abilities and offer prospects for stable employment. We'll hear from two practitioners who identified niche opportunities in security services and property maintenance, developed custom training to supply qualified workers, and steadily built market share and recognition as star performers. David Shaffer from DePaul Industries in Oregon and Dawn Williams and Norma Jean Litch from Emerge Staffing in Minneapolis will describe this organizational process, from their initial decision to target these business sectors, to engaging employers and other partners, to expanding their original customer base and establishing their position as preferred suppliers. |
Portland |
| 3:15 - 3:30 pm |
* * Board bus for site visit to Emerge Community Development |
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| 3:30 - 5:00 pm |
Site Visit - Emerge Community Development
Join Mike Wynne and Dawn Davis for a tour of Emerge Community Development's headquarters which houses Emerge Staffing and ECD's other workforce initiatives along with a credit union and café. Since moving in two years ago, Emerge has breathed new life into this northside neighborhood, transforming a building that was vacant and boarded for 10 years into a vibrant hub of activity and promise for the lowincome residents it serves there every day. We'll also get a sneak peek at ECD's current renovation of an historic library into a community technology center and executive offices for ECD's parent organization Pillsbury United Communities. |
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| 5:00 - 6:15 pm |
Break |
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| 6:15 - 6:30 pm |
* * Board bus for transport to Dinner ** |
Hotel Lobby |
| 6:45 - 8:45 pm |
Dinner at Cowles Conservatory and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden
Relax, mingle and enjoy the sensory delights of this glass-walled garden within a garden. Inside the Conservatory, you can dine at your leisure and bask in a warm, tropical setting amid exotic orchids and lush, towering palms. Just outside the door, step into the crisp fall air and wander among an amazing collection of bold and unique sculptures including the not-to-be-missed Spoonbridge and Cherry. (Pack some warm walking shoes for maximum comfort.) |
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| Friday, November 6, 2009 |
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| 8:00 - 9:15 am |
Gulf Coast Alternative Staffing Initiative Participants Meeting |
Lake |
| 8:30 - 9:15 am |
Breakfast |
Chicago |
| 9:30 - 10:45 am |
Concurrent Sessions
A. Ask the Experts! Nuts and Bolts for New Practitioners
The alternative staffing sector continues to attract new entrants, with over a halfdozen start-ups during the last two years and other organizations at various stages of market assessment and planning. Whether you're a new practitioner or simply grappling with a business challenge, use this free-form exchange to pose your questions to our panel of experts. The panel includes: |
Portland
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• Beverly Vaughan, Manager, FirstSource Staffing
• Dennis Moore, Ph.D., Executive Director, Galt Foundation
• Cheri Joseph, National Staffing Services Specialist, Goodwill Industries International
• Bill Schwartz, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Harborquest, Inc. |
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B. Accessing Capital: A Look at Program-Related Investments and the L3C Structure
ASOs need capital to finance accounts receivable, smooth out sales fluctuations and support their growth. This session examines two opportunities for ASOs to expand their financing options. Program-Related Investments (PRIs) are a tool some foundations use to provide loans or make equity investments in charitable organizations and other ventures, often at very favorable terms. Peter Berliner from the PRI Makers Network will give us an insiders’ view of foundations’ investment goals, PRIs' typical size and terms, and how to pursue this source of capital to fund your business activities. You’ll also learn about L3Cs, a new “lowprofit, limited liability” structure designed to expand the pool of PRIs and help social enterprises access these and other capital investments. Robert Lang, creator of the L3C structure and John Plunkett, CEO of Harborquest and an L3C champion for his ASO and others will walk us through the details. |
Park |
| 10:45 - 11:00 am |
Break |
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| 11:00 am - 1 pm |
Focus on Green Jobs |
Portland |
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Market Overview and National Resources
The rising tide of efforts to revitalize our economy, conserve resources and lower carbon emissions has brought the promise of green jobs, supported by substantial federal investment in green jobs training. What does this mean for alternative staffing agencies and the job seekers we serve? Juliet Scarpa, senior policy analyst at Seattle Jobs Initiative will bring us up to speed on the green economy, mapping out key industry sectors and their respective labor needs, now and going forward. Next, she'll provide an overview of development resources, in the form of both public stimulus investment and national advocacy efforts. Finally, she'll outline basic steps to assess local market opportunities and reach out to local allies and |
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Green Jobs and Alternative Staffing
What are practitioners doing to connect low-income job seekers with green job opportunities in their markets? We'll hear from three organizations that are leading the way. Michele McGeoy, founder and executive director of Solar Richmond in California, a US Conference of Mayors Best Practice green-collar job training program, will share lessons learned during the last four years and their recent experience piloting a solar staffing agency, begun in response to the temporary nature of solar panel installation and other green collar positions. Carrie Hersh, director of Triada Employment Services, LLC in Milwaukee and consultant John Hess will describe Triada’s success supplying green workers and wage monitoring services to public sector customers, along with steps they are taking to build alliances with local trade unions. Mike Wynne, executive director of Emerge Community Development and consultant Lance Knuckles will relate the process and results of ECD's recent and evolving efforts to align their workforce training and social enterprises with green industry and federal stimulus opportunities in Minneapolis, and highlight Emerge Staffing's role in supporting these initiatives. |
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| 1:00 - 2:00 pm |
Lunch and Wrap-up |
Lake/Chicago |
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