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Training, Inc: a ‘total person’ approach to job training
Innovation profiles
Advanced information technologies for urban revitalization: the campus city Kawasaki plan Kawasaki is a city in transition. Economically advanced technologies are transforming a heavy industry-based city to one which manufactures, sells and provides services for such communication and information-related goods as telecommunication systems, computers and softwares. Socially, l o c a l r e s i d e n t s are u n d e r g o i n g tremendous changes due to increased wealth and standards of living. Politically, there is a growing awareness for more meaningful participation in city processes by the citizens. In response to these changes, the Kawasaki City Plan was developed to rebuild Kawasaki as an advanced information city using high technology as a tool for revitalization. It aims to develop communication and information resources as the means of transition from a 20th century, industrialized, productintensive city to a high technology, knowledge-based, humanistic city of the 21st century.
The 'campus city' The plan is organized around the image of the 'campus city', or university, in order to advance the concept of urban revitalization in ways which the citizen can understand. It conceives of Kawasaki as a coordinated series of educational and learning opportunities dispersed throughout the city which can contribute to a more wellinformed society as well as to the beautification of the environment. As such, it seeks to create a total living environment through the use of new communication technologies and information networks. It is based on the university concept because the positive attributes commonly associated with universities are values which Kawasaki wishes to promote. These include: an environment to foster learning, growth, and shared values and goals; a place which can satisfy the intellectual needs of the citizens throughout their lives; and a community which encourages involvement in
CITIES February 1990
public activities. Thus, the university image is seen as a powerful and unifying catalyst for building the city identity as well as a strategy for organizing development efforts.
The scenario Campus Area Network (CAN) is envisioned as the basic infrastructure needed to develop Kawasaki as an advanced information city. It is an information network system which uses audio, visual, and digital data transmission technologies to provide a new i n f o r m a t i o n - c o m m u n i c a t i o n foundation for the city of Kawasaki. In addition to creating new employment opportunities, effective use of this system enables individuals and organizations to interact more effectively among themselves, with others in Japan, and throughout the world. This information system is integrated into the urban fabric to encompass work, home, leisure activities, shopping, etc. For instance, Intelligent Plazas envision using buildings and spaces as decentralized cores of a city-wide education network. Each plaza is developed around one theme,
ranging from urban ecology and electronics, to arts and culture. Activities will include formal education, as well as informal learning exchanges, festivals and ceremonies. CAN will enable plazas to be networked for on-line interaction with other plazas through multi-media transmission of information. The creation of Kawasaki Institute of Technology is the central strategy to realizing the image of the campus city. It will operate through decentralized units in public and private research c e n t r e s , public facilities, homes, schools and offices. CAN will link these learning facilities together to create an open university which provides p r o g r a m m e s in life-long education, business ventures, postg r a d u a t e e d u c a t i o n , and faculty education.
Implementation In 1987 the International Concept Design Competition for an Advanced Information City was held to solicit proposals for an advanced information city. In 1988-1989, Kawasaki organized a series of town meetings in which 'citizen forums', or voluntary planning teams, were established to begin implementing the plan. It will be finalized in 1991.
Yoshinobu Kumata Tokyo Coordinator
Training, Inc: a 'total person approach to job training One of the most striking contradictions in the major cities of the world is the mismatch between the types of jobs available and the skills of the labour force. With the manufacturing industry being replaced by an everexpanding service sector, many of the unemployed do not have the clerical or interpersonal skills necessary for the new jobs available. To address this problem, Training, Inc was established in 1975 as a unique, 14-week intensive training pro-
gramme in office skills for welfare, low-income, and displaced workers. Its goal is to train them for careers not just for clerical positions. Training, Inc has grown into a nationally acclaimed programme which graduates approximately 1000 women and men each year from seven locations. Similar programmes are due to open in Guatemala and Australia in 1990. Graduates enter the job market with a comprehensive set of office skills and a strong desire to succeed in a whole
75
Innovation profiles new 'culture': the business world. One graduate shares the following story: I was a single parent living from welfare check to welfare check and surrounded by people with no ambition. When I enrolled in Training, Inc . . . I was like a sponge. soaking up everything my instructors taught me: Accounting, typing, data entry, word processing, personal presentation, effective communications - all the things the want ads ask for when they're trying to fill a clerical position. Training, Inc Newark opened in 1986 as a programme offered by Essex County College in cooperation with the Institute of Cultural Affairs. It has the highest rates of graduate placement and job retention of any such programme, with at least 92% of those enrolled completing the course (compared to a 50% drop-out rate in many job training programmes), 85% of the graduates placed in unsubsidized jobs, and 90% still working and receiving promotions and raises one year after training. Five key components that set the Training, Inc Program apart from standard job training courses are: 1. an approach known as 'imaginal education' focusing on changing negative self perceptions into positive ones; 2, a simulation of the office environment throughout the entire programme, beginning with its own downtown office, and including simulated work packets and office hours; 3. a framework of cooperative sponsorship by the private and public sectors and c o m m u n i t y - b a s e d organizations; 4. a broad range of support activities - including field trips to various businesses, seminars on financial planning, time management and goal setting, business panels, grooming and wardrobe presentations and practice interviews; 5. an integrated job placement process that develops the trainee's job seeking skills. The culminating event of the 14 weeks is the Training, Inc graduation. Potential business employers throughout the community participate in the graduation event (a business luncheon). For many graduates it is their first chance
76
to talk with company presidents, managers, and personnel directors who are there to welcome them to the business world. In this setting each trainee's special qualities are enumerated publicly as they receive their Certificate of completion. As one corporation president put it:
can truthfully say that I have never participated in anything more moving in my entire life. To see these people who a short 14 weeks ago didn't have any idea that the}, would be standing there with job skills, with a job. with the respect of their peers, and with their own self respect, walk to the podium to accept their diploma. It was truly a moving experience.'
I recently had the honor of attending one of Training, Inc.'s graduation exercises. 1
Carol Waiters Training, Inc National Association
Innovations for the poor in New York City The high costs of housing and the mismatch between employable skills and available jobs create a vicious cycle of unemployment, homelessness and hunger in New York City. At the same time, increases in both household and non-degradable wastes, combined with the shortage of landfill sites, threaten the city's environment. Several recent public, private and voluntary sector innovations are helping to cure and prevent these problems for the poor in New York City. In the public sector the Homeless Prevention Program, initiated by the City of New York Human Resources Administration, has been created to minimize growth in the number of homeless families. C o m p u t e r i z e d searches identify families who show signs of probable homelessness and
reach out to them. A service package has been designed to meet the full range of common needs for job training, location of affordable housing and individual and family counseling. Linkages with other agencies insure comprehensive services• In a private and public sector collaboration, the Academy of Finance relates to New York's rapid growth in the financial service sector over the past 15 years, which has created more job opportunities than there are qualified people to fill them. It trains high school students in business, maths and office skills necessary to aquire jobs in these positions. American Express, in a joint venture with the Board of Education, created the Academy of Finance in 1982 which had its first class of 35 students at one high school.
Figure 1. Collecting surplus food from major hotels and restaurants.
CITIES February 1990
Advanced information technologies for urban revitalization: the campus city Kawasaki plan Kawasaki is a city in transition. Economically advanced technologies are transforming a heavy industry-based city to one which manufactures, sells and provides services for such communication and information-related goods as telecommunication systems, computers and softwares. Socially, l o c a l r e s i d e n t s are u n d e r g o i n g tremendous changes due to increased wealth and standards of living. Politically, there is a growing awareness for more meaningful participation in city processes by the citizens. In response to these changes, the Kawasaki City Plan was developed to rebuild Kawasaki as an advanced information city using high technology as a tool for revitalization. It aims to develop communication and information resources as the means of transition from a 20th century, industrialized, productintensive city to a high technology, knowledge-based, humanistic city of the 21st century.
The 'campus city' The plan is organized around the image of the 'campus city', or university, in order to advance the concept of urban revitalization in ways which the citizen can understand. It conceives of Kawasaki as a coordinated series of educational and learning opportunities dispersed throughout the city which can contribute to a more wellinformed society as well as to the beautification of the environment. As such, it seeks to create a total living environment through the use of new communication technologies and information networks. It is based on the university concept because the positive attributes commonly associated with universities are values which Kawasaki wishes to promote. These include: an environment to foster learning, growth, and shared values and goals; a place which can satisfy the intellectual needs of the citizens throughout their lives; and a community which encourages involvement in
CITIES February 1990
public activities. Thus, the university image is seen as a powerful and unifying catalyst for building the city identity as well as a strategy for organizing development efforts.
The scenario Campus Area Network (CAN) is envisioned as the basic infrastructure needed to develop Kawasaki as an advanced information city. It is an information network system which uses audio, visual, and digital data transmission technologies to provide a new i n f o r m a t i o n - c o m m u n i c a t i o n foundation for the city of Kawasaki. In addition to creating new employment opportunities, effective use of this system enables individuals and organizations to interact more effectively among themselves, with others in Japan, and throughout the world. This information system is integrated into the urban fabric to encompass work, home, leisure activities, shopping, etc. For instance, Intelligent Plazas envision using buildings and spaces as decentralized cores of a city-wide education network. Each plaza is developed around one theme,
ranging from urban ecology and electronics, to arts and culture. Activities will include formal education, as well as informal learning exchanges, festivals and ceremonies. CAN will enable plazas to be networked for on-line interaction with other plazas through multi-media transmission of information. The creation of Kawasaki Institute of Technology is the central strategy to realizing the image of the campus city. It will operate through decentralized units in public and private research c e n t r e s , public facilities, homes, schools and offices. CAN will link these learning facilities together to create an open university which provides p r o g r a m m e s in life-long education, business ventures, postg r a d u a t e e d u c a t i o n , and faculty education.
Implementation In 1987 the International Concept Design Competition for an Advanced Information City was held to solicit proposals for an advanced information city. In 1988-1989, Kawasaki organized a series of town meetings in which 'citizen forums', or voluntary planning teams, were established to begin implementing the plan. It will be finalized in 1991.
Yoshinobu Kumata Tokyo Coordinator
Training, Inc: a 'total person approach to job training One of the most striking contradictions in the major cities of the world is the mismatch between the types of jobs available and the skills of the labour force. With the manufacturing industry being replaced by an everexpanding service sector, many of the unemployed do not have the clerical or interpersonal skills necessary for the new jobs available. To address this problem, Training, Inc was established in 1975 as a unique, 14-week intensive training pro-
gramme in office skills for welfare, low-income, and displaced workers. Its goal is to train them for careers not just for clerical positions. Training, Inc has grown into a nationally acclaimed programme which graduates approximately 1000 women and men each year from seven locations. Similar programmes are due to open in Guatemala and Australia in 1990. Graduates enter the job market with a comprehensive set of office skills and a strong desire to succeed in a whole
75
Innovation profiles new 'culture': the business world. One graduate shares the following story: I was a single parent living from welfare check to welfare check and surrounded by people with no ambition. When I enrolled in Training, Inc . . . I was like a sponge. soaking up everything my instructors taught me: Accounting, typing, data entry, word processing, personal presentation, effective communications - all the things the want ads ask for when they're trying to fill a clerical position. Training, Inc Newark opened in 1986 as a programme offered by Essex County College in cooperation with the Institute of Cultural Affairs. It has the highest rates of graduate placement and job retention of any such programme, with at least 92% of those enrolled completing the course (compared to a 50% drop-out rate in many job training programmes), 85% of the graduates placed in unsubsidized jobs, and 90% still working and receiving promotions and raises one year after training. Five key components that set the Training, Inc Program apart from standard job training courses are: 1. an approach known as 'imaginal education' focusing on changing negative self perceptions into positive ones; 2, a simulation of the office environment throughout the entire programme, beginning with its own downtown office, and including simulated work packets and office hours; 3. a framework of cooperative sponsorship by the private and public sectors and c o m m u n i t y - b a s e d organizations; 4. a broad range of support activities - including field trips to various businesses, seminars on financial planning, time management and goal setting, business panels, grooming and wardrobe presentations and practice interviews; 5. an integrated job placement process that develops the trainee's job seeking skills. The culminating event of the 14 weeks is the Training, Inc graduation. Potential business employers throughout the community participate in the graduation event (a business luncheon). For many graduates it is their first chance
76
to talk with company presidents, managers, and personnel directors who are there to welcome them to the business world. In this setting each trainee's special qualities are enumerated publicly as they receive their Certificate of completion. As one corporation president put it:
can truthfully say that I have never participated in anything more moving in my entire life. To see these people who a short 14 weeks ago didn't have any idea that the}, would be standing there with job skills, with a job. with the respect of their peers, and with their own self respect, walk to the podium to accept their diploma. It was truly a moving experience.'
I recently had the honor of attending one of Training, Inc.'s graduation exercises. 1
Carol Waiters Training, Inc National Association
Innovations for the poor in New York City The high costs of housing and the mismatch between employable skills and available jobs create a vicious cycle of unemployment, homelessness and hunger in New York City. At the same time, increases in both household and non-degradable wastes, combined with the shortage of landfill sites, threaten the city's environment. Several recent public, private and voluntary sector innovations are helping to cure and prevent these problems for the poor in New York City. In the public sector the Homeless Prevention Program, initiated by the City of New York Human Resources Administration, has been created to minimize growth in the number of homeless families. C o m p u t e r i z e d searches identify families who show signs of probable homelessness and
reach out to them. A service package has been designed to meet the full range of common needs for job training, location of affordable housing and individual and family counseling. Linkages with other agencies insure comprehensive services• In a private and public sector collaboration, the Academy of Finance relates to New York's rapid growth in the financial service sector over the past 15 years, which has created more job opportunities than there are qualified people to fill them. It trains high school students in business, maths and office skills necessary to aquire jobs in these positions. American Express, in a joint venture with the Board of Education, created the Academy of Finance in 1982 which had its first class of 35 students at one high school.
Figure 1. Collecting surplus food from major hotels and restaurants.
CITIES February 1990