Communities At Work is a framework that accelerates Impact Staffing of talent in the Richmond region into Living Wage Careers using a three-step formula that includes career pathway profiles for specific employers and industry sectors, Ready-Willing-Able candidate assessments, and coaching and integrated support services for employers and candidates.

Keep reading to understand more about the solution offered by Communities At Work to address the opportunity we have to improve the level of economic prosperity throughout the region.

 

OPPORTUNITY RECAP

Overall, unemployment in the Richmond region (RVA) is low, although unemployment remains high in selected geographic areas.

At Communities At Work, we see an opportunity to enable thousands of RVA residents with barriers to employment to move into one of the 43,000 job openings that lead to living wage careers.

As described in a plan presented in report by GoVirginia, we have been challenged to consider how resources and investments can be leveraged to ensure that initiatives address important skill gaps and demonstrate how business can be a more effective partner in achieving measurable outcomes.

 

KEY PRINCIPLES GUIDING CAW

The vision of Communities At Work includes enabling thousands of matches between employers and empowered employees in the Richmond region by offering community-focused, employer-driven solutions that enable the attainment of living wage careers.

As we develop solutions to attain this vision, a few key principles guide our thoughts and actions.

  • We are committed to enabling a shift in workforce development from the placement of individual candidates into existing job openings to creating partnerships with entire industry sectors so that individual candidate placements support their long-term strategic staffing objectives.
  • We are committed to delivering a model that enables employers, governmental organizations, private foundations, and community-based organizations to realize the true collective impact of their individual efforts, so that the results are considered to be a success by all everyone who is involved.
  • We are committed to openness, honesty, and integrity to develop an open-source framework available for use by all stakeholders.

 

OUR SOLUTION: THE CAW FRAMEWORK

Communities At Work is a framework that accelerates Impact Staffing of talent in the Richmond area into Living Wage Careers using a three-step formula.

  1. Career pathway profiles for specific employers and industry sectors add value for employers and industry groups by helping them better define the career opportunities they have to offer potential employees.
  2. Ready-Willing-Able candidate assessments add value for employers and candidates by defining potential positive matches between candidates’ skills and potential career opportunities.
  3. Coaching and integrated support services add value for employers and candidates by helping candidates with barriers to employment adjust to their new jobs so they can maximize their value to the employers who are offering their new career opportunities.

 

CAW Readiness To Empowerment Framework

 

HOW THE CAW FRAMEWORK IS DIFFERENT

As shown in the diagram above, the CAW Readiness-To-Empowerment Framework includes the same intake, training, and placement elements of existing workforce development programs, but it differs in three key ways. In addition to the standard elements of traditional workforce development programs, the CAW Framework offers:

  • A primary focus on employer and industry sector readiness via the career pathway profiles describe earlier
  • A bias for intentional candidate intake pipelines based on a match (as defined by CAW’s Ready-Willing-Able candidate assessments) between a candidate’s skills and potential career opportunities
  • An emphasis on retention of placed candidates versus placement alone (quality over quantity)

 

WHAT IS IMPACT STAFFING?

We’ve used the term impact staffing a few times, so it seems like a good time to define it within the context of the Communities At Work framework.

An impact staffing initiative facilitates and supports a learning community of employers and workforce partners interested in innovating best practices in hiring, retention, and advancement of people facing barriers to employment.
HOW IT WORKS

Click here to learn more about how the CAW Framework actually works.