The Learn at Work Program is designed to promote public-private partnerships across industries throughout the Commonwealth that specifically focus on workplace Basic Skills and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and to allow for greater flexibility to meet the needs of workers and businesses. Designers particularly wanted to bring new businesses, unions and ESOL providers to the table.
The target population for this initiative includes employed workers 16 and older who are not currently enrolled in high school, and:
- have not earned a high school credential, or
- lack the academic skill level of a high school graduate (as determined by TABE/MAPT scores), or
- have English language skills that limit their ability to advance (as determined by BEST Plus/REEP scores), or
- lack the literacy / numeracy skills necessary to begin college-level work
Eligible applicants for Learn at Work funding included:
- Employers (public, for- and non-profit)
- Non-profit educational institutions
- Vocational technical high schools
- Community-based organizations
- Higher education institutions
- Labor / labor-management organizations
- Local educational agencies
To be eligible to receive funding, applicants had to include at least one employer and one provider of adult basic education services acting in partnership. Eleven partnerships were ultimately funded. The following lead agencies received awards:
- Asian American Civic Association - $221,398
- Cambridge Community Learning Center - $191,303
- Jewish Vocational Service - $225,000
- La Alianza Hispana - $140,306
- Quincy Asian Resources, Inc. - $185,765
- Russian Community Center of MA - $225,000
- UMass/Amherst Labor Management Workplace Education - $225,000
- UMass/Dartmouth Workplace Education Program - $170,355
- UMass Memorial Health Care - $155,617
- Worker Education Program, Inc. - $157,788
- 1199 SEIU Training and Upgrading Fund - $102,376
The Learn at Work Program is funded by Commonwealth Corporation and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Adult and Community Learning Services division.
