Streamline Training & Documentation: The Economic Opportunity Initiative in Portland, Oregon

Thursday, August 09, 2007

The Economic Opportunity Initiative in Portland, Oregon

Since September 2004, Portland, Oregon, has been pursuing an approach to reducing poverty that takes advantage of learning gained by other communities in the US.

Portland uses its annual community development block grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, along with other federal, regional, and local funds, to support projects (pdf) run by a variety of organizations that have shown success in reducing poverty.

Previously, Portland anti-poverty strategy was based on trickle-down thinking. However, revitalization and gentrification of city neighborhoods did not lead to a fall in the city's poverty rate. So now the Economic Opportunity Initiative, run by Portland's Bureau of Housing and Community Development (BHCD), seeks to raise poor people's incomes through three programs:

Workforce development for adults
Workforce development consists of short-term intensive training, job placement, and services to promote long-term retention in career track jobs.

Workforce development for youths (clients aged 18 to 25)

Micro-enterprise (entrepreneurship) projects
Services include business planning and assessment, coaching, business education, technical assistance, planning life skills, and timely access to capital.

All of the programs are based on best practices (pdf) gleaned from researching other localities' anti-poverty efforts.¹ The best practices in question include:

Designing projects for groups of people who have something in common. A report in the Summer issue of Bridges, published by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, cites the example of "a project for immigrant Eastern European metal workers [that] builds on their technical experience and trains them to use American equipment."

Providing comprehensive support services. These include transportation, ESL, child care, help with housing, financial education, coaching concerning problem work behaviors, legal aid, health care, market research, matched savings accounts ($3 for every $1 contributed by the client), low-interest business loans, extended Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, credit repair, and clearing up of minor legal issues that are barriers to work, such as suspended driver's licenses, unpaid fines, back child support, and old minor offences that can be expunged.

Providing intensive support from such facilitators and coaches as case managers and workplace mentors.
Establishing a realistic timeframe. Instead of hoping for a quick fix, BHCD works with its clients over a three-year period, with a goal of increasing clients' income and assets by at least 25% during that time.

Involving employers early in project and curriculum design, using workplace-based training approaches as far as possible, and obtaining employer commitment to hire graduates of workforce projects.

BHCD reports (pdf) that the average annualized income gain of individual participants at six months after job placement is $15,059. This is well above the cost of the program, which averages $5,500 per participant in the first year, and $1,000 in each of the second and third years. Also, among clients placed in jobs through participation in Economic Opportunity Initiative programs, four times as many have employer-paid health insurance as among a comparable group who have not received such job placement assistance.

For businesses assisted by the Economic Opportunity Initiative, the results are also encouraging. As of the end of 2006, revenues of existing business have increased an average of 267% over two years of participation (September 2004 – December 2006). Revenues of start-up businesses after two years are 30% higher than the national average for comparable businesses after three years.

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¹ Previous posts concerning state and local efforts to raise incomes of low-income individuals are here, here, and here.

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Labels: Employee development, Hiring and getting hired

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