WPSI Program Overview White Paper

West Philadelphia Skills Initiative Program Overview White Paper WINTER 2021

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What is the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative?

The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative (WPSI) is a workforce development organization that has been successfully connecting Philadelphians to career-track jobs within anchor institutions for over a decade.

decade, WPSI has refined its approach using rigorous data analysis, extensive feedback from alumni and employer partners, and the latest research in human resource development. This continual improvement has driven consistently impressive outcomes:

WPSI’s programs provide major Philadelphia employers with high-quality candidates, while working to address the issue of unemployment in high-poverty zip codes. Over the last

• 97% of program graduates placed into jobs • 82% one-year retention at job placements • $15.49 average hourly wage for graduates

Our Programs WPSI operates three major programs: Signature Professional Development Program: A program that connects major Philadelphia employers to top Philadelphia talent.

WPSI provides training and interview preparation to ensure recruited participants succeed in the interview and on the job.

Program incorporates external certifications or credentials, such as a Commercial Driver License (CDL) or CPR certification. #workwithWPSI: A program to engage WPSI alumni in growing their careers by placing them in new opportunities with a wide network of employers. This program is focused on rapid attachment.

Certified Skills Program: In addition to all of the elements of the Signature Professional Development Program, the Certified Skills 1

Our Participants WPSI participants bring a wide variety of professional, academic, and lived experiences to the program. Our participants can be as young as eighteen, while others chose to join our program in their late sixties. We have served participants with GEDs and master’s degrees. A cohort can be made up of of recent high school graduates in the early stages of their careers, mothers returning to the workforce, and people seeking a career change, all training for the same position. The requirements to apply to WPSI’s program vary based on the target employer.

However, applicants have to meet require a few general criteria: they must be unemployed, live in Philadelphia (or West Philadelphia for certain programs), and have a high school diploma.

WPSI Applicant Demographics 31% male 69% female <1% nonbinary 93% Black or African American 7% other race or ethnicity 32 average age median number of months of 37 prior work experience 27% have post-secondary experience (trade school, college, or certifications, regardless of completion)

WPSI’s employer partners span a range of industries, including medicine, transportation, security, and landscaping. Over the course of its history WPSI has served the following organizations: • Allied Universal • American Medical Response, Inc. • Benefits Data Trust • Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia • CVS • Drexel University College of Medicine • Green City Works • Keystone Quality Transport • Penn Medicine

• • • • • • • 2

Philadelphia Fire Department Philadelphia Works, Inc. Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation City of Philadelphia - Rebuild Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) Temple University University of Pennsylvania

A Brief History WPSI was founded in 2009, when its parent organization, University City District (UCD), was presented with a unique opportunity to take over the workforce development arm of the West Philadelphia Partnership. The West Philadelphia Partnership, managed by University of Pennsylvania’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships, focused its workforce efforts on connecting teens to positions in academic medical centers. After two years of strategic planning, fundraising, and hiring a director, UCD transformed the West Philadelphia Partnership into the West Philadelphia Skills Initiative, shifting the focus to professional development for adults. UCD provided the fledgling organization with infrastructure, a well-developed network of funders and employer partners, and a strong community reputation.

to understand barriers and career goals. As WPSI demonstrated its ability to successfully connect residents to jobs and create value for employers by reducing turnover, the list of employer partners grew to include city-wide employers. With the support of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, WPSI has been able to connect with partners in other neighborhoods, such as Temple University in North Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC) in South Philadelphia, as a way of expanding opportunities available to unemployed residents.

After nearly ten years of continual program improvement in response to ever-evolving employer needs, participant experience, alumni feedback, and staff research, WPSI’s services have expanded beyond a direct service professional development program.

With thanks due to our generous funders, WPSI now offers additional services with the same relationship-centered, data-driven, solutions-oriented approach.

WPSI’s initial work bridged the gap between major local institutions and long-time neighborhood residents by working closely with employer partners to understand their talent challenges and aspirations, and West Philadelphia residents 3

Why WPSI Works 1. Employer Engagement: WPSI’s team spends 3-6 months interviewing and observing current employees in the target position to understand what skills are necessary to succeed on the job.

2. Customized Solutions: Every aspect of WPSI’s programming is adaptable to meet the needs of employers and participants. WPSI uses the information gained during employer engagement to create a recruitment and interview process for the program that identifies qualified candidates for the target job. WPSI’s curriculum development team creates a curriculum to provide a professional development training program that makes executive-level training relevant for entry-level workers.

The curriculum also maximizes participants’ chance of success during employer interviews and on the job.

3. Interviewing and Onboarding Support: WPSI guides participants through the application and interview processes with the target employer. This support does not end once the participant receives a job; WPSI staff continue to support participants until their first day on the job, which helps reduce attrition that happens due to failure to complete background checks, assessments and other onboarding requirements.

4. Commitment to Results and Continual Improvement: WPSI has been tracking data closely since its first year of operation. All major programmatic decisions are data-informed and incorporate the latest research in business management, organizational dynamics, and adult education.

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WPSI's Signature Professional Development Program WPSI’s Signature Professional Development Program is the organization’s core program offering. Understanding the Signature Professional Development Program is foundational to understanding WPSI’s approach to workforce development. This program has five core elements: employer engagement, participant recruitment, curriculum, alumni engagement, and data collection and analysis. During the first part of the program, WPSI’s team engages local employers to identify jobs that need to be filled with qualified candidates. WPSI staff perform in-depth research to understand the role and the employer. This information is then

used to create the second portion of the program: participant recruitment, training, interview prep, and job onboarding. WPSI staff members recruit candidates who are likely to be successful, create a curriculum that further prepares them for success in the interview and on the job, and support graduates who receive a job offer through all steps of job onboarding. The last parts of the program take place post-graduation. WPSI’s alumni program provides lifetime support for all program graduates. In order to ensure continued success, WPSI also tracks participant outcome data and uses it to make improvements to all aspects of the program.

The following sections explore each of the Signature Professional Development Program elements in more detail: 1. Employer Engagement: Identify, recruit, and onboard employer partners.

2. Participant Recruitment: Attract and select qualified applicants based on information collected during employer engagement.

3. Curriculum, Interviewing, and Job Onboarding: Train program participants to excel at the target job and support them through the process of interviewing with the employer partner and onboarding at their new job.

4. Alumni Engagement: Maintain relationship with alumni in order to support their careers and receive critical feedback to improve program operations.

5. Data Collection and Analysis: Collect and organize data in order to track results, inform decision-making, and improve program operations.

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Employer Engagement WPSI has consistently impressed the organization’s funders and employer partners by exceeding expectations. Funders want to see increased wages, career growth, and job retention among alumni, because those metrics demonstrate improved livelihood. Employer partners want to see reduced turnover and professional growth, because increased employee retention reduces costs of hiring and rehiring.

These goals cannot be met through training alone. While WPSI takes pride in its curriculum, an excellent workforce training program will not motivate a participant to stay in a low-paying job, where they are mistreated. For this reason, WPSI closely screens its employer partners and target jobs. Once a partnership has been identified, WPSI staff then embed themselves within the employer partner’s organization in order to perform an in-depth analysis of the target role.

Such a thorough approach is one of the drivers of WPSI’s success.

potential job, so for example a lower starting wage could be acceptable if there is a clear path to wage growth, such as union membership.

In addition to evaluating a job, the employer partner must meet certain criteria as well. The organization must be large enough to accommodate a cohort of ten to twenty participants and to provide a career ladder that offers meaningful promotion opportunities. Because WPSI has much stronger recruitments with employers who have name recognition within the community, WPSI primarily focuses on “anchor” institutions – well-known, visible institutions that are pillars of the local community.

Engaging New Employers WPSI staff do not have a formal marketing program for new employer partners. Instead, the “sales” portion and the needs assessment are part of one continuing conversation. Although collecting information is a critical part of the process, the most important work of employer engagement is relationship-building. Identifying a staff person who will champion the program within the employer partner and then ensuring buy-in at all levels of the organization is critical for future success. It is not always possible to produce excellent results the first time. In addition to building relationships, WPSI’s employer engagement team performs a needs assessment to understand the pathway from application to job onboarding and to learn

Finding a good job with a good employer WPSI’s process typically starts with identifying a target job. WPSI’s definition of a good job is one that offers a living wage ($15/ hour or more), a possibility to work full-time hours, a career track beyond the starting position, a healthy and supportive work environment, and accessible location. WPSI considers a participant’s entire job trajectory when looking for a 6

what a successful candidate for the role looks like. WPSI interviews employer partner staff at all levels of the organization to understand the experience of frontline workers, management expectations, and human resource requirements. In addition to direct interview questions, WPSI staff also observe employees at their jobs to understand the unwritten rules and expectations of every workplace culture. Once WPSI collects all of the critical information to create a new program for the employer partner, staff begin the process of recruiting participants into the program.

Kim Delaney worked together with CHOP’s Office of Community Engagement and UCD’s Sheila Ireland to identify the Patient Sitter position as a pilot for WPSI. The Patient Sitter position was in demand by the hospital but had high turnover because it was a per diem position without benefits. The position did, however, offer promotions to Patient Sitters who held the position for a year, making it a great stepping-stone to careers within CHOP.

WPSI’s work with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia demonstrates how WPSI builds a relationship with employers over time.

In 2013, CHOP hosted two cohorts for WPSI. At the beginning many graduates would drop out, frustrated by the onerous amount of paperwork required by the CHOP onboarding process.

However, by incorporating some of the onboarding paperwork into the curriculum and inviting CHOP staff to complete the onboarding in WPSI’s offices, WPSI dramatically increased the placement rate.

Early Connections

Results Drive Partnership

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) was one of WPSI’s earliest partners. Madeline Bell, currently President and CEO of CHOP, served as a University City District board member when WPSI was launching. As someone who started her career as a nurse and rose through the ranks of CHOP’s administration, Madeline Bell understood the value of a job with a career pathway, and she was impressed with WPSI’s early results.

Bell connected WPSI’s Director, Sheila Ireland to Kim Delaney, CHOP’s Director of Enterprise Talent Acquisition within Human Resources.

Over time, WPSI impressed CHOP staff with the performance and retention rates of program graduates. Ninety-two percent of WPSI Patient Sitters stay for at least six months, the point at which WPSI Patient Sitters are eligible for promotion, and ninety percent stay for at least twelve. This is a tremendous improvement over the traditional high turnover seen in the position. CHOP has remained a committed partner for eight years, growing their participation from two to four annual cohorts over that time. The average cohort size grew from an initial cohort of 10 to 20 in more recent cohorts.

Case Study: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

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Participant Recruitment An effective implementation of WPSI’s Signature Professional Development Program requires a careful balancing of the need to find individuals who can thrive in positions created by employer partners with the aim to place as many unemployed Philadelphians into jobs as possible. WPSI’s recruitment standards must accurately identify applicants who can succeed in a position. At the same time, having overly strict requirements would create additional barriers to a population already facing

extensive barriers to employment. Finally, WPSI is a person-centered and relationship-centered program. This means that whether WPSI staff are working with our partners or applicants, we seek to build strong, authentic relationships and approach individuals with a trauma-informed perspective. These three themes - employer-approved standards, lowering barriers to entry, and creating a relationship-centered process - are woven throughout each step of the recruiting and onboarding process.

Professional Development Curriculum Curriculum Philosophy

Because of WPSI’s focus on practical results, the curriculum is a product of ten years of continual improvement in response to employer needs, participant experience, alumni feedback, and staff research and expertise. The curriculum continues to evolve to improve program results by incorporating the latest research in business management, organizational dynamics, and adult education. It is adaptable to new situations and should continue to evolve to meet the needs of new employers, organizations, and participants. Because of this commitment to experimentation, the curriculum does not draw on a single framework, but incorporates a variety of best practices.

The Signature Professional Development Model’s curriculum is built around the idea that professional success has four main factors: technical skills, interpersonal skills, the development of a growth mindset, and the ability to understand and succeed within a workplace culture.

Technical Skills WPSI’s programs were formed with the assumption that many West Philadelphia residents have the experience and technical skills necessary for work with anchor institutions, and this assumption 8

has largely been proven true over ten years of operation. WPSI’s Certified Skills Program program does provide additional technical training to help participants meet certain requirements (for example, acquiring a CDL, because it is very expensive), but all participants join WPSI having met most of the technical requirements to qualify for a position. Both the Signature Professional Development Program and Certified Skills Program will also occasionally incorporate technical training to provide new hires a head start on employer-required training, as a way of creating value for employer partners. Lastly, WPSI heavily emphasizes resume-writing and interviewing skills in order to ensure that participants have the tools necessary to grow their careers.

unable to succeed in specific areas. WPSI works alongside participants in the classroom and in one-on-one coaching sessions to examine those experiences and reframe them. Instead of limits, these experiences become milestones that can be examined for lessons learned. The courses on Developing a Growth Mindset include Mindfulness, Problem-Solving, and Intro to Coaching, which explore themes of self-efficacy, personal power, and control over decisions and feelings.

Understanding a Workplace Culture Each workplace develops a set of unwritten norms that greatly affect perceptions of effectiveness. A car dealership may value exuberance, while a law office may view a reserved attitude as a sign of responsibility. Although these perceptions may not be an accurate reflection of an individual’s performance, they affect one’s ability to get recognized and be promoted. Understanding a workplace culture not only helps with an employee’s professional performance, but it also helps them feel a sense of belonging. This, in turn, can lead to increased employee retention.

Interpersonal Skills WPSI accepts individuals with a wide range of experiences and backgrounds, so while participants bring extensive interpersonal skills into the classroom, WPSI instructors find it helpful to cover topics such as conflict resolution, goal setting, and networking. These conversations provide a shared foundation for all participants and remind them of the power of their experiences. The curriculum explores key themes such as building useful networks, expanding one’s social capital, and viewing feedback as a useful tool. Examples of courses focusing on Interpersonal Skills include Emotional Intelligence, Feedback and Active Listening, and Networking.

WPSI’s curriculum also addresses the reality that while some professionalism norms reflect the function of a workplace, others reflect biases tied to race, gender, and socioeconomic standing. WPSI has been positioning itself to address these issues on a systemic level. However, systemic change is slow, and WPSI aims to equip its participants to succeed in the workplace as soon as they graduate. To explore and prepare participants to succeed despite inequities inherent in professionalism standards, WPSI offers a dedicated workshop on race and social identity.

Developing a Growth Mindset It is common for entry level workers to feel overwhelmed in a large institution and this feeling can be exacerbated if they are joining an organization after a period of unemployment. WPSI works with participants to help them identify internal sources of agency and increase their confidence to solve problems and advocate for themselves in their new positions. Previous professional and personal experiences can leave participants feeling as if they have a fixed level of ability or are inherently

Courses in this category explore both the target employer’s culture, as well as the broader context of social and structural inequality. Examples of courses focusing on Understanding a Workplace Culture include Diversity and Social Identity in Organizations and What Employers Want.

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Finding Agency in the Workplace

Social Discipline Window

WPSI’s goal is to prepare its graduates to be engaged in the workplace and to view each day and challenge as an opportunity for growth and personal development. If an entry level worker knows that they have valuable skills to contribute, understands the norms of the organization, and can communicate effectively, they will be more likely to take the initiative to solve problems and advocate for themselves with management. They are also less likely to feel trapped in an unhappy or unproductive role, knowing that they can create new choices for themselves.

The Social Discipline Window is a model that describes four different leadership or instructional styles, based on how much structure (discipline) and support are offered. The graphic provides an overview of each style. An approach that is low in control and support leaves individuals entirely to their own devices and is considered neglectful. A leadership style that is high in boundary-setting but does not provide encouragement and nurture is punitive; the “bootstrapping” approach falls into that category. The opposite of a punitive style is a permissive or patronizing style that provides nurture without setting limits or boundaries and fails to provide accountability. An approach that provides individuals with necessary resources while keeping them accountable is considered a restorative leadership approach.

STRUCTURE • LIMITS

HIGH

Creating a Culture of Support and Accountability WSPI’s philosophy is that the participants who are invited into the program are whole, resourceful individuals who have the capacity to succeed but have lacked access to information, professionals, and jobs. WPSI staff believe that participants have the potential to set and accomplish far-reaching goals. At the same time, the program draws from a population with high instances of trauma, so WPSI incorporates trauma-informed practices into many aspects of the program to ensure that participants are adequately supported on their journey. A good way to understand WPSI’s balance of support and accountability is by looking at the Restorative leadership style as defined by the Social Discipline Window.

LOW

To = punitive

With = restorative

power struggles confrontation win lose authoritarian stigmatising

problem solving respectful collaborative responsibility

Not = neglectful

For = permissive

indifferent passive given up lazy

protective rescuing undemanding excusing

FAIR • SUPPORT • CARING

HIGH

WPSI adapted this model to describe the ideal approach to leading classes. Because WPSI instructors believe their participants are capable and resourceful individuals, they aim to work with participants. WPSI instructors uphold programmatic standards and keep participants accountable. At the same time, staff create a safe, empathetic space in the classroom so that participants are free to explore their personal experiences and beliefs and have productive, open conversations with the group. WPSI also offers support through partner linkages to therapy, housing, and other social resources.

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Alumni Engagement Program After participants graduate from the program and start their new jobs, WPSI maintains a relationship with them via the Alumni Engagement program. WPSI’s Alumni Engagement program was developed in response to several considerations. First, a continuing relationship with alumni is a natural extension of WPSI’s goal of increasing participants’ social capital. The open-door policy allows alumni who are looking for added professional support to use WPSI as a continuous resource and to network with fellow alumni.

Alumni engagement also stems from WPSI’s belief in the value that participants and former participants bring to their employers. Alumni are the experts of their experience, so the quality of WPSI’s programming and job placements benefits from alumni feedback.

groups to identify a corresponding set of alumni needs. The following programmatic elements were developed to address both sets of needs.

•

•

•

•

WPSI’s process for creating an alumni program was guided by the following four questions: • • • •

What do we believe?

What do we and our alumni need?

What has been working?

How do we close any remaining gaps?

Surveys: Surveys supply information about program outcomes and give alumni the opportunity to provide feedback about the quality of all aspects of WPSI programming.

Alumni Ambassadors: Alumni Ambassadors are alumni who are trained and compensated to represent WPSI at events, to funders, and among their friends and neighbors.

Alumni Newsletter: The Alumni Newsletter contains information about valuable resources, new job opportunities, and upcoming events for alumni.

Alumni Event Series: The Alumni Event Series provides alumni with the opportunity to network, continue their education, and reconnect with staff.

WPSI’s Alumni Engagement Program is the newest aspect of the organization, but it has already proven to be a critical source of support, as staff were able to share job openings, community resources, and other crucial information with alumni to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WPSI worked with staff, funders, and an external evaluator to define organizational needs.

WPSI staff surveyed alumni and hosted focus 11

Data Collection and Analysis Tracking, managing, and using data to inform program operations is central to WPSI’s evolution. Accurate and robust data enables staff to identify effective and ineffective elements of the program, demonstrates programmatic impact, and ensures that programs are maintaining quality standards over time. Real-time data also allows staff to have the information they need to monitor progress against goals, communicate with program applicants, and track program logistics like attendance. All data is housed in a Salesforce data model that allows for easy entry and retrieval.

participation, and alumni all connect to specific datasets in Salesforce. The dataset allows staff to look longitudinally across different cohor ts to compare outcomes. Besides answering big questions, data also informs WPSI’s daily operations. WPSI’s Salesforce dashboard tracks each recruitment, including the number of applications submitted each day, the state of application reviews, which applicants should be invited to interviews, who has submitted paperwork, and who is in the pipeline to be selected to a program. WPSI uses external sources of data, such as Burning Glass Technologies, and generates additional data by regularly surveying program alumni.

The activities that happen with employer engagement, recruitment, selection, program

Conclusion The West Philadelphia Skills Initiative’s Signature Professional Development Program is not a standardized workforce development program, but rather a set of processes that allow WPSI to customize programs for different employers, industries, and neighborhoods. Meanwhile, WPSI’s robust data infrastructure gives staff the ability to track the effectiveness of each program in real-time, to ensure that all new programs adhere to WPSI’s strict performance standards.

This approach is the reason that WPSI has effectively served employer partners in a wide variety of industries, ranging from patient sitters in a children’s hospital to bus operators for Philadelphia’s transportation authority. The ability to customize programs has also enabled WPSI to replicate different aspects of its Signature Professional Development Program in culturally distinct neighborhoods across Philadelphia.

WPSI staff is confident that our vetted approach to creating effective customized professional development programs can also be used to connect people to good jobs in different cities across North America.

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Connect with Us! Relationships are fundamental to WPSI’s success. WPSI collaborates closely with participants, employer partners and peer nonprofits to create effective programs. With support from JPMorgan Chase Foundation, WPSI is also building national partnerships with peer nonprofits to replicate its program. National partners can receive a replication toolkit, in-person visits, and support from WPSI subject matter experts to ensure a successful transfer of knowledge and program implementation. WPSI has successfully replicated components of its approach in North Philadelphia, South Philadelphia, and Memphis, TN. We invite you to connect with us to have a conversation about ways that our work can support your organization’s goals. To start a conversation, please reach out to WPSI’s Project Manager, Mariya Khandros at mariya@universitycity.org.

West Philadelphia Skills Initiative First District Plaza, Suite 206 3801 Market Street Philadelphia, PA 19104

philadelphiaskills.org westphiladelphiaskills @westphilaskills @westphilaskills 13