Twice a year, I sit down with my team and we discuss goals, strengths and areas for improvement as part of our company’s performance review process. It is the season for mid-year reviews and Congress should have theirs. As voters, we “hire” these elected officials for the job and as all good supervisors we should be providing feedback often.
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Sixty-nine years to the day after the D-Day invasion during World War II, seniors who landed on those beaches are facing a new threat: the highest rates of poverty and economic hardship since the Great Depression. Even though both the stock market and home values have rebounded in the last several months, it is too late for many seniors who were on the cusp of retirement when the Great Recession hit to recoup the staggering loses they endured. This is especially true for low-income seniors whose financial foundation was already precarious.
In 1920, presidential candidate Warren Harding campaigned on a “return to normalcy” promise after the end of World War I, a war that unhinged most of Europe from aristocratic rule and left many more people disillusioned. After the calamity of the Great Recession of 2008-2011, many Americans also became disillusioned with their government. What Americans needed was for their elected leaders to work together to right the ship of state. What they got instead were constant ideological battles, an inability or unwillingness to work together, and threats of government defaults, shutdowns and sequesters. But this year Congress might have finally woken up and listened.
READ MORE from America’s Budget Process: A Return to Normalcy?
Next week, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to consider the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act (H.R. 803). The bill proposes to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) while consolidating 35 job training programs in a single block grant to states. On March 6, 2013, the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed the bill 23-0. Democratic members of the committee walked out on the vote to protest the partisan process being used to advance the bill.
READ MORE from Action Needed to Prevent One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Job Training
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has noted concerns that the skills gap makes it difficult for employers to fill jobs with qualified workers and that the more than 50 federal job training programs present a complicated maze for job seekers to navigate. In response to these concerns, Rep. Foxx has introduced the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act, which proposes to eliminate 35 job training programs into a single one-size-fits-all block grant to states. Tell Congress to set aside old disagreements to build upon the strengths of existing programs to develop a broad workforce system that serves employers and businesses, serves people, and contributes to building stronger families and communities.
READ MORE from Tell Congress to Put Job Seekers’ Needs above Partisan Differences
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has noted concerns that the skills gap makes it difficult for employers to fill jobs with qualified workers and that the more than 50 federal job training programs present a complicated maze for job seekers to navigate. In response to these concerns, Rep. Foxx has introduced the Supporting Knowledge and Investing in Lifelong Skills (SKILLS) Act, which proposes to eliminate 35 job training programs into a single one-size-fits-all block grant to states. Tell Congress to set aside old disagreements to build upon the strengths of existing programs to develop a broad workforce system that serves employers and businesses, serves people, and contributes to building stronger families and communities.
READ MORE from Tell Congress to Put Job Seekers' Needs above Partisan Differences
As the president lays out the priorities for the administration during his second-term and a new Congress reconvenes with its own agenda, now is the time to let your voice be heard and to speak up for those groups who were not referenced. Sign up for Goodwill’s Legislative Action Center to contact your members of Congress. Share the alerts and updates with your own networks, and educate other stakeholders about how the acts of Congress will affect Goodwill. Let’s make sure the important groups overlooked in the State of the Union are not forgotten as Congress considers these cuts.
READ MORE from Stand Up for People, Priorities Overlooked in the State of the Union Address
The Prosperity Center at Goodwill Industries of Lane and South Coast Counties (Eugene, OR) opened in 2010 thanks to a community impact grant from United Way of Lane County. Since then, the center has helped 227 people improve their financial and employment situations through a unique one-on-one mentorship model made possible by local partnerships. The center’s participants are “members” not “recipients,” helped by five “prosperity planners,” not “case managers”—deliberate language that helps transition mindsets from reliance on social services to financial self-sufficiency.
While Congress may have averted the fiscal cliff for now, the new Congress will have its work cut out for it with a number of diverse policy issues vying for attention. In the midst of these discussions, organizations like Goodwill continue to take advantage of opportunities to educate new members about our mission of providing job training and other community based programs to people with barriers to employment.
READ MORE from Goodwill® Previews Issues on the Public Policy Front in 2013
This week, Congress reconvened in a lame-duck session in order to wrap up unfinished business. Its most pressing responsibility is finding a solution to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years in order to avoid automatic spending cuts that will otherwise take effect at the beginning of next year. Goodwill supporters can take action now by urging Congress to support a balanced and bipartisan approach to deficit reduction.
READ MORE from Tell Congress to Remember Key Job Training Programs in Fiscal Cliff Discussions
