The SHARE Network

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Web-based Resource Directories Access Points Opportunity for States Interested in Joining the SHARE Network Training Materials

Introduction

Since the Faith-Based and Community Initiative began in 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has developed strategies that enable the One-Stop Career Center system to partner with faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) to better serve Americans in need. Over the past five years, DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has invested more than $44 million in pilot grants to increase "universal access" to the One-Stop system and engage FBCOs as committed and active partners in the workforce investment system.

Two pilot grants in 2002 produced important innovations enabling the One-Stop Career Center system to draw more effectively upon the unique strengths of local FBCOs. Job Service North Dakota’s (JSND) Web-based Resource Directory enables referral of job-seekers to social services across the state that can help them obtain, retain, or advance in employment. In Florida, the United Way of Brevard (UWB) partnered with the Brevard Workforce Board to place "Access Points" in targeted low-income communities, where local FBCOs were trained to help individuals conduct online job searches and use the One- Stop Center’s virtual job search tools.

These two innovations were combined in 2005 when DOL launched the Sharing How Access to Resources Empowers (SHARE) Network to help states implement both "Access Points" and Web-based Resource Directory projects to expand access to workforce development services.

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Web-based Resource Directories

Job Service North Dakota’s (JSND) Web-based Resource Directory included non-profit FBCOs, for-profit organizations, and government service providers. JSND populated the directory through extensive grassroots outreach. This outreach also provided information and education to ensure that the directory would be actively used by the One-Stop system, FBCOs, and individuals across the state. As a result, JSND increased awareness of the One-Stop system among FBCOs by more than 100 percent.

The JSND Resource Directory includes features that allow users to search for services by county, service type, and/or provider name. Organizations that join the Resource Directory are responsible for updating their contact information quarterly, encouraging others to use the Directory, and removing themselves from the Resource Directory when they are unable to accept referrals. By giving service providers the ability to update their information simply and electronically, the project eliminates much of the staff time normally dedicated to maintaining resource directories.

In the initial 18 months of the project, JSND increased its number of FBCO partners from 3 to more than 400 partners offering services in 565 locations across North Dakota. In addition, the JSND Resource Directory made 80 new kinds of services available to One-Stop clients. Organizations and individuals use the system to make approximately 2,000 referrals per month, a significant number for a largely rural state. The JSND Web-based Resource Directory continues to operate, even though grant funding ended in 2003, and can be accessed at www.sharenetworknd.com.

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Access Points

When partnering with committed FBCOs, One-Stop Career Centers can extend the reach of their resources into underserved communities. Seeking to advance this goal, the United Way of Brevard County, Florida (UWB), joined with the Brevard Workforce Board to identify impoverished communities that made little use of the One-Stop system. UWB then recruited and trained twenty FBCOs to act as "Access Points" to the county’s One-Stop Career Center system. Each FBCO partner designated specific "Access Point" hours and an official contact person that would help individuals conduct online job searches using the virtual One-Stop resources and fill out a "master application" accepted by most local employers. In addition, many FBCOs that housed an "Access Point" identified in-kind services—such as clothing, transportation, and mentoring — that it could provide to help jobseekers succeed. The UWB project gave more than 2,500 individuals with barriers to employment and no previous connection to the One-Stop system the ability to access One-Stop services and conduct job searches in their own neighborhoods. The UWB "Access Point" project produced an inexpensive, replicable model.

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Opportunity for States Interested in Joining the SHARE Network

Through SHARE Network, states are trained to adapt Web-based Resource Directories and "Access Points" to meet their unique needs. States joining the SHARE Network project sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA). As part of this MOU, participating states receive the following services:

1. Assessment of how to adapt Resource Directory and "Access Point" projects to meet the state’s specific workforce needs;
2. Free, customized, online statewide Resource Directory for two years;
3. Three-day training to help state’s team develop work-plans to implement the project;
4. Additional facilitated workshop to finalize preparations for working with "Access Points", and Year-long coaching in project implementation. The training, resource materials, and coaching are provided by the same professionals who pioneered the successful projects in Brevard County, Florida and North Dakota.

In addition, states participating in the SHARE Network agree to:

1. Set goals which define project success in terms of key measures; and
2. Identify team who will implement the project and identify a project leader who will manage that team.

The states of New Mexico, Missouri, Michigan, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee, have already begun their participation in SHARE Network. Delaware, Virginia, Arkansas, and Kansas have also made a commitment to participate. However, both Arkansas and Virginia will utilize existing statewide online Resource Directories while implementing the "Access Point" portion of the project.

To learn more about how Access Points work as well as how to implement them within each state, please visit www.dol.gov/cfbci/accesspoints.htm.

States interested in becoming a SHARE Network state or in further information about the SHARE Network can contact Erica Sager Pelman, Special Assistant, Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, at pelman.erica@dol.gov or 202-693-6451.

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Training Materials

(MS Word® and MS PowerPoint® formats)

• SHARE Network Team Member Training Manual
• SHARE Network Access Point Toolkit

Documents in this library were either created by Department of Labor grantees or sub-grantees and are listed for the purposes of peer to peer sharing or were created by contractors for training and assistance to grantees. The U.S. Department of Labor is not responsible for the specific contents of these documents.