Entrepreneurship program funded

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

MasterCard Worldwide has announced a $1 million grant to the New York City-based Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship for education programs geared toward middle and high school students in low-income communities nationwide.

The grant will support NFTE's core youth entrepreneurship program, which provides hands-on learning and classroom lessons on mathematics, analytical skills, and business management and planning. As part of the commitment, MasterCard employees will be invited to serve as volunteer educators and help create digital master classes that can be accessed by teachers around the world.

The grant also will support NFTE University, a comprehensive suite of technical assistant and professional development programs for teachers; the organization's Global Enterprising Educators of the Year Awards; and the sixth annual National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge — a day-long competition during which teens present their innovative business ideas — as well as eleven regional competitions and other research and evaluation initiatives.

"Our support of NFTE and its inspiring programs expands MasterCard's commitment to empower today's youth to realize successful futures through entrepreneurship and educational empowerment," said Patricia Devereux, head of corporate philanthropy and citizenship at MasterCard Worldwide. "NFTE teaches students the fundamentals of becoming financially independent by keeping them on a path to high school graduation and, in some cases, running their own businesses. We are delighted to help fuel their path to success."

“MasterCard Worldwide Reinforces Commitment to Future Entrepreneurs Through $1 Million Grant to NFTE.” MasterCard Worldwide Press Release 7/20/11.

Erie Gives Day!

Don't forget on Tuesday, August 2nd from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., you can make an online donation to as many of your favorite nonprofits as you want by logging on to www.ErieGives.org. Then, The Erie Community Foundation will enhance each of your gifts by providing a pro-rated match to each gift made to each nonprofit. The Foundation will divide a total of $75,000 among the participating nonprofits. The more a nonprofit raises the more of the pro-rated match of the $75,000 the nonprofit will receive.

“The goals of Erie Gives are to encourage philanthropy to a younger generation of donors, to increase online giving and utilization of social media, to provide added value to members of The Nonprofit Partnership and to help celebrate our 75th Anniversary,” said Mike Batchelor, president of The Erie Community Foundation.

Nonprofits must be members of the Nonprofit Partnership. The minimum gift is $25. No checks will be accepted.

Erie Gives Day is modeled after similar philanthropic days in Pittsburgh and Minnesota. The Erie Gives Day platform serves as a unique vehicle for nonprofits to showcase their work in the community. More than 200 local nonprofits are eligible because they are members of the Nonprofit Partnership.

Don't forget to log on and make a difference!

Partnerships for International Research and Education

Funding Opportunity Number: 11-564

*Organization Limit: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: - U.S. academic institutions with Ph.D.-granting programs that have awarded doctoral degrees in the 2009 or 2010 academic years in any area of research supported by NSF. Any institution not listed at http://www.nsf.gov/od/oise/pire-2012-eligible-insts.xls should contact PIRE Program staff regarding eligibility. Institutions that have not participated in past PIRE awards are especially encouraged to submit.

Agency Name

National Science Foundation

Description

Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) is an NSF-wide program that supports international activities across all NSF supported disciplines. The primary goal of PIRE is to support high quality projects in which advances in research and education could not occur without international collaboration. PIRE seeks to catalyze a higher level of international engagement in the U.S. science and engineering community. International partnerships are essential to addressing critical science and engineering problems. In the global context, U.S. researchers and educators must be able to operate effectively in teams with partners from different nations and cultural backgrounds. PIRE promotes excellence in science and engineering through international collaboration and facilitates development of a diverse, globally-engaged, U.S. science and engineering workforce. This PIRE competition will focus exclusively on the NSF-wide investment area of Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES). The SEES effort focuses on interdisciplinary topics that will advance sustainability science, engineering and education as an integrative approach to the challenges of adapting to environmental, social and cultural changes associated with growth and development of human populations, and attaining a sustainable energy future. Additional details are provided in the Summary of Program Requirements below.

Link to Full Announcement

NSF Publication 11-564

New Toolkits for Employer hiring programs

The Federal Bonding Program is a program offered by the U.S. Department of Labor that is intended to help hard-to-place job applicants get and keep a job. It does this by issuing Fidelity Bonds free of charge to employers who hire "at risk" applicants to insure against loss.

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a Federal tax credit incentive provided to private-sector businesses for hiring individuals from nine target groups.

A toolkit of resources for these two programs has been recently created for use by the workforce community and is available through Workforce3One.

Federal Bonding Program:

• An Introduction to the Federal Bonding Program and WOTC (PPT)
  
• Directory of State Bonding Coordinators (Word)
  
• Flow Chart to Determine Whether to Purchase Bonds (.PDF)
  
• Bonding Complete Brochure (.PDF)
  
• Federal Bonding Program Highlights (Word)
  
• Federal Bonding Program History (Word)
  
• Helpful Links (Word)
  

Federal Bonding Program Work Opportunity Tax Credit:

• WOTC Program Brochure (.PDF)
  
• WOTC Program Fact Sheet (.PDF)
  
• Helpful Links (Word)

OJT Toolkit:

What is OJT?

On-the-job training (OJT) is a training strategy that the workforce investment system can offer local employers and job seekers. This strategy is particularly important during the current economic environment. OJT puts unemployed workers back to work earning a wage while receiving training. Even better, employers can be reimbursed for the costs associated with training this new employee.

Why is OJT Important?

With many employers still reluctant to hire new staff and many skilled individuals facing extended unemployment, OJT is experiencing a resurgence. It can get job seekers back to work and train them to meet employer needs. This also allows people to continue to draw a paycheck while learning new skills. Both employees and employers can see the benefit from day one.

Target Audience?

The OJT Toolkit is developed for state workforce agencies and local OJT providers who are beginning or looking to strengthen their OJT. OJT providers include entities that directly administer OJT.

Purpose of the Toolkit

The OJT Toolkit provides you with customizable OJT templates and forms including outreach materials, contracts, and monitoring documents. Further, OJT Toolkit documents allow you to quickly and efficiently implement OJT in your area.

Erie Economic Institute Conference focuses on Brain Drain

[from ErieBlogs] Convinced that the Erie region is hemorrhaging young professionals? The results of a recent study might prove otherwise.

Dr. James Kurre, associate professor of economics at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, will release the findings of “Brain Gain and Brain Drain from Erie’s Local Colleges” at this year’s Economic Research Institute of Erie (E.R.I.E) Conference.

The conference, titled “Brain Gain and Brain Drain: The Importance of Higher Education and Erie’s Creative Class,” will be held Monday, July 25, beginning at 8 a.m. in the Samuel P. “Pat” Black III Conference Center, located on the first floor of the Jack Burke Research and Economic Development Center at Penn State Behrend.

This is the institute’s ninth conference dedicated to the economic health of the Erie region. It is open to the public and historically has drawn support from the region’s top government officials, senior level executives and others interested in Erie’s future. Parking will be available in the deck adjacent to Burke Center and in the Junker Center lot on campus.

Kurre, director of E.R.I.E. and conference organizer, conducted the study using 10 years of data (2000-2009) on 17,000 graduates of Penn State Behrend, Gannon University and Edinboro University—students’ hometowns, where they are now, and how those geographical choices relate to their educational and demographic characteristics. Results compare graduates’ majors, GPA, gender and race, offering a snapshot of which demographics are more likely to stay or leave.

Kurre will also present his current state of the Erie economy and an overview of higher education in the Erie area.

Featured speaker Dr. Jaison Abel, a senior economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, will discuss how higher education and human capital impact a region’s economic development.

This year’s keynote speaker is Steven Pedigo, director of research for Creative Class Group. His lunchtime presentation “Why Place Matters for Erie” is sponsored by Erie Vital Signs. Pedigo will discuss the concept of a creative class—the diverse mix of people and occupations in a particular area—and how that creative class impacts the local economy, with an emphasis on the importance of higher education.

Erie Vital Signs is a collaboration of the Erie Community Foundation, the Nonprofit Partnership, United Way of Erie County and the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership. Brain gain is one of eight key indicators that Erie Vital Signs plans to monitor in the next decade.

New to this year’s conference are voluntary, afternoon breakout sessions that will discuss Erie and Creative Class Group’s concept of the Four T’s—talent, technology, tolerance and territorial assets. These sessions will offer an opportunity to talk about Erie’s circumstances relative to brain gain, brain drain and higher education, and how the community can address them.

For more information or to register, call 814-898-7149 or visit ERIEdata.org. Those registering by Friday, July 15, can take advantage of early bird conference rates: $129 for a standard registration or $65 for nonprofit, government and economic development officials. After July 15, conference rates increase to $149 and $75, respectively. Attendees who buy two registrations will receive a third free.

Registration includes conference materials, the latest edition of the E.R.I.E. Guide to the Erie Economy, plus breakfast and lunch.

Clinton Global event focuses on creating jobs

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

Appearing on the first day of the Clinton Global Initiative America conference earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton announced three new programs designed to help spur economic growth in the United States.

Held at the Sheraton Chicago, the conference was the first Clinton Global Initiative meeting to focus exclusively on creating jobs and driving economic growth in the United States. To that end, Clinton announced during the opening plenary session that Visa will give $1 million to Kiva, the online giving platform, to support the launch of the Kiva City initiative, which is designed to help local civic leaders, community-based organizations, and financial institutions identify small businesses in need and provide them with up to $3.5 million in microloans. Detroit has been selected as the first Kiva City, with additional cities to be announced in the coming months.

In addition, Onshore Technology Services pledged to create a thousand jobs over five years in rural Missouri — including tornado-damaged Joplin, where thousands of jobs have been lost — while the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations pledged to encourage workers to contribute capital and skilled labor to large-scale investments in America's built environment. To that end, the AFL-CIO will support the efforts of a range of money managers, asset consultants, pension funds, developers, and federal, state, and local governments to finance the repair and construction of high-quality public infrastructure and will work with existing real estate-focused investment funds to invest up to $20 million of additional capital in energy-efficient retrofits.

"When these commitments are fully funded and implemented, 140,000 people will receive access to job training, one thousand information technology jobs will be created in rural America, and $3.5 million will be loaned to small businesses in the U.S.," said Clinton. "Initiatives like these prove that organizations and individuals around the country have the power to take action to spur economic growth."

“President Clinton Opens CGI America, the First Clinton Global Initiative Event Focused on Creating Jobs and Driving Economic Growth in the U.S.” Clinton Global Initiative Press Release 6/29/11.

Philanthropy growing the workforce

[from Philanthropy News Digest]

At a recent congressional briefing convened by the Council on Foundations, several business, foundation, and community leaders spoke to members of Congress about the connection between philanthropy and job creation.

Although private philanthropic support will never replace government investment as an engine of job creation, it represents a significant part of the national investment in workforce development. According to the Foundation Center, the nation's largest 1,300 foundations invested more than $300 million in workforce education in 2007, while data from the Philanthropic Collaborative show that in the same year foundation grants totaling $42.9 billion helped generate nearly $368 billion in direct economic benefits to communities.

During the briefing, Stephanie Powers, managing director of the Public-Philanthropic Partnership Initiative at the Council on Foundations, emphasized philanthropy's role in bringing business and government together to fully leverage their resources and help create sustainable economic growth. As an example of such partnerships, presenters at the briefing highlighted the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, a $30 million public-private philanthropic initiative that has leveraged more than $110 million to strengthen and expand workforce development practices across the country. The fund operates in thirty-one communities and has helped more than 18,000 job-seekers find employment or access job training since 2007.

"Employers will tell you today that they have two crucial needs to begin to compete again in the global markets: access to capital and talent," said Powers. "Without these, they cannot expand and strengthen. Employers need the support and partnerships from educational institutions, civic leaders, and public and nonprofit workforce development programs to provide much-needed support for adult job seekers and incumbent workers."

“Public-Philanthropic Partnerships Boost U.S. Economy.” Council on Foundations Press Release 6/29/11.