Almost 70 percent have retained their employment thus far. Participants are primarily unemployed and low-income residents of central city neighborhoods. Member firms and unions select candidates for immediate placement or employment based upon their successful completion of standard training programs. Half receive TANF, Medicaid, or food stamps. Half also lack high school diplomas.
Participants typically have two or more children.
Their demographic and economic profiles generally reflect the impoverished central city population as a whole. The challenge now is to reach scale. The WRTP launched a Jobs 2000 campaign at the beginning of the year to double the cumulative number of placements by the end of the year. Having achieved 42 placements in a single month for the first time, the program is on track to reach a goal of 500 for the year. Yet the needs of employers, unions, and the community are far greater than the current capacity of the workforce development system to deliver.