The ACTEW Blog

Join ACTEW on Wednesday, April 2, as the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto hosts the release of a collaborative report analyzing the effects of 2004 changes to the HRSDC Call for Proposals process.

The report documents the costs of the funding change to organizations, government, and clients, and provides recommendations for improving the funding relationship between government and non-profit organizations. The sudden change threatened the existence of a number of employment and training organizations and interrupted service for many clients.

The report was developed by ACTEW in collaboration with the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, ONESTEP (Ontario Network of Employment and Skills Training Programs), OCASI (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants), OAYEC (Ontario Association of Youth Employment Centres) and TNC (Toronto Neighbourhood Centres), with funding support from the United Way of Greater Toronto Social Research Initiative.

The event will take place in Toronto. To attend, please contact Mary at 416-351-0095 x 251 or mmary@cspc.toronto.on.ca. For more information, contact Alissa Von Bargen, Community Social Planning Council of Toronto Communications Officer at 416-351-0095 x 214, or avonbargen@cspc.toronto.on.ca.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Meetings_and_Events, Resources_and_Research

ACTEW's Trish McNamara reports on the recent conference hosted by the Ontario Women's Directorate. Trish is Program Manager for Supporting Survivors/Supporting Employment, professional development workshops for employment practitioners that serve survivors of intimate partner abuse.

Here's an update on the Ontario Women's Directorate Provincial Conference, "Communities Working Together to End Violence Against Women" that I attended from February 25 to 27th in Kitchener.

First, I would like to say this was an excellent opportunity to network with many women’s organizations and spread the word about ACTEW and the many projects that we have on the go.

The Honourable Deb Matthews, Minister Responsible for Women's Issues opened the conference and had not planned on attending the entire conference but ended up staying. Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaelle Jean, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada was a keynote speaker as well on Tuesday with many inspiring words and stories. Her true commitment to helping end violence is notable. During our meal breaks there were many other excellent keynote speakers who shared their insights and stories.

I attended many of the poster displays and have some amazing resources to add to ACTEW's resource library, which I will bring with me to our March 14th meeting.

As well, I attended the following workshops:

• Abused Women Who Don’t Seek Help: Their Perceptions, Experiences and Needs
  
• Creating Rural Rainbow Connections – with Pride – in Renfrew County
  
• After “She Leaves”
  
• Meaningful Messaging for Family Violence Prevention: Lessons from working with ethno-linguistic and immigrant communities in Ontario
  Danger Assessment

There were anywhere from 800 to 1100 participants and I was able to connect directly with Farisha Dinshaw from COSTI and she advised me that they just completed a DVD for sponsored immigrant women on the myths of being deported. Their hope is to take away the fear of being deported so that the woman knows she can leave an abusive situation when needed. Farisha told me to check out their website because it should be released sometime in the summer.

I was able to connect with many delegates from health units, victim services, regional police, sexual assault centres and social services departments to name just a few of the sectors represented.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Meetings_and_Events

ACTEW contributed expertise to a Canadian delegation for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women currently underway in New York City. The topic of this year's meeting is the economic success and the security of women.

Eight delegates were hosted by FAFIA and funded by Status of Women Canada to attend. They will return to their agencies across Canada to engage in community development projects inspired by UNCSW events.

As ACTEW's representative, Paula Wansbrough participated in the pre-sessional training seminar for the delegates on Feb. 23, speaking about national employment and training service trends for women as well as describing Ontario's LMDA implementation and its impact on women.

Other presenters at this training were:

• Lynell Anderson on the state of child care policy in Canada
  
• Andrée Côte on public services, parental leave and EI, and pay equity
  
• Michelè Asselin on women's economic security in Quebec
  
• Rhonda Roffey on violence against women in the Ontario context
  
• Louise Riendeau on violence against women in the Quebec context
  
• Muriel Smith on gender budgeting at the local and provincial levels in Manitoba
  
• Jessica Notwell on sustainable livelihoods

The NGO Consultation Day took place on Feb. 24 in which NGOs were reminded of their important duty to monitor government implementation of UN treaty agreements. Women's groups and environmentalists have been the strongest NGO voices in UN work. Key presentation topics and discussions included: Gender budgeting, gender equality architecture within the UN, financing women's empowerment, and education on violence against women.

During the weekend, ACTEW also connected with representatives of Canada's Status of Women, sharing LMDA implementation information as well as highlights on our upcoming release on the ten components of successful programming for women.

For more on the UNCSW, visit the UN website at:
http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/52sess.htm
To learn about the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, visit:
http://www.ngocsw.org/en/main
Watch FAFIA's website for outcomes of this year's UNCSW:
http://www.fafia-afai.org/

Thank you to FAFIA for arranging the delegation and coordinating the highly informative training day.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, LMDA, Meetings_and_Events

In partnership with the Rural Women Making Change Research Alliance based at Guelph University, ACTEW has just released a new fact sheet on employment issues for women living in rural communities.


For all the beauty and tranquility of the countryside, there's a price to pay:

• Rural communities have much higher unemployment rates than urban areas. While nationally women have lower unemployment rates than men, rural women in Ontario are the exception.
  
  
• Transportation is a primary concern. Seventy-three percent of rural women work in a municipality other than the one in which they live, compared to 31% of urban women.
  
  
• Rural women earn less than those in urban centres, a pattern that is also true for men. The average income for a Northern Ontario worker is 16.3% lower than the provincial average.
  
  
• While rural women are more likely than their urban peers to be self-employed, only 20% earn an income of $20,000 or more, compared to 31% of self-employed urban women.
  
  
• Employment agencies serving rural communities report a lack of jobs paying above minimum wage and few training opportunities for clients, and are far less likely than their urban counter-parts to provide women-specific services or program supports like child care.
  
  
• Depopulation is a tremendous threat for some communities; in 2001, Elliot Lake in northern Ontario reported a 43% out-migration of young people.

In the coming entries we'll look at some of the specific issues for women trying to work and live in the lower population areas of our province. We'd like to thank Belinda Leach and Soibhan O'Leary at Rural Women Making Change, Maggie McDonald of WERC, Woodstock, and the staff of Women Today of Huron for their research and insight around this issue.

For more facts on rural women's employment, visit our fact sheet at:
http://www.actew.org/projects/pwpsite/snapshots/rural.html

For more on initiatives and research related to issues for rural women, visit Rural Women Making Change at http://www.rwmc.uoguelph.ca.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

ACTEW has just released a fact sheet focusing on Canadian Women’s labour patterns, based on an environmental scan ACTEW recently conducted for the Canadian Women’s Foundation.

Women's work patterns are not the same as men's. While men's employment patterns have changed little, women's are changing dramatically. Thirty years ago, the participation rate difference between the sexes was 31%; it is now 8%. Twice as many mothers of preschool children were working in 2006, compared with 1976. Young women are more likely to be university educated than their male peers and older women are working full-time in record numbers. Currently, women make up almost half of the labour force and account for close to three-quarters (70%) of the employment increases in Canada in 2007.

Most governments know that women are participating in increasing numbers, and experiencing low levels of unemployment. They point to this fact as evidence that women no longer require specific policy focus. However, how women access the labour market also differs significantly from men, and women are not experiencing increased income levels commensurate with increased participation.

Women are more likely to have breaks in their work histories, perform unpaid caregiving at the expense of paid employment, work part-time and be in low-paying occupations. Consequently, women have far less access to the benefits of EI, less access to training, and are paid on average 28 cents less per hour then men in work of equal value. Women still tend to be under-represented in “non-traditional occupations”, although some regions in Canada are seeing significant improvements in women’s participation, largely due to programs that support women entering into skilled trades.

Read and/or download ACTEW’s newest fact sheet Canadian Women’s Labour Patterns on ACTEW’s Putting Women in the Picture web site.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

On October 30 and 31, ACTEW had the pleasure of participating in the conference Putting Women in the Picture near Brantford¸ hosted by the Grand Erie Training and Adjustment Board (GETAB). The event brought nearly 60 service providers to discuss how women in the region could be served more effectively.

A panel discussion kicked off the event, highlighting the issues and barriers women in the region face, particularly newcomer women, women survivors of violence, women in the workforce and women’s self-esteem. Key points included:

• With no public transportation, and the high costs of owning and operating a vehicle, many women cannot physically access services or get to and from available jobs
• Parenting issues for women loom large—child care is hard to find in the region, and what is available is expensive and generally has inflexible hours.
• Young women often face discrimination in the workforce from employers who fear hiring them in case they get pregnant and interrupt productivity.
• Extremely marginalized women have no informal support networks and have no one to turn to if they need emergency child care.
• Newcomer women tend to be better educated than Canadian-born women, but have much lower earnings, on average. Immigrant women tend to work low-skill, low-pay jobs that are not related to the careers in which they are trained.
• Women affected by violence deal with other issues, and there appear to be increasing incidences of harassment in the workplace by a woman’s domestic partner. There have been three cases recently in the area of the woman losing her job because her abusive partner was harassing her at work.

The participants also heard an update on the development of Employment Ontario in a presentation by Sherree Mahood, MTCU’s Regional Director of the Western Region. We’ll give you a full report on this presentation in the next blog entry.

The remainder of the conference was facilitated by Facilitating Inclusion facilitators from St. Joseph Immigrant Women’s Centre (Hamilton) and led the participants through a planning process to move towards supporting the women of the region more fully.

We’d like to thank Betty Anne, Jill and Tracey for an excellent conference, and we look forward to working with key stakeholders to move towards the goals set out in the session.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, LMDA, Meetings_and_Events, MTCU_Updates

On Tuesday, October 2, we had the pleasure of participating in the conference Putting Women in the Picture, hosted by the Sarnia-Lambton Workforce Development Board (SLWDB). It was an exciting group of people concerned with how the women of Lambton County can be more fully supported towards economic security. Deanna opened up the day with a talk on the labour market challenges and opportunities facing women in Ontario, including stats and policy analysis, as well as an overview of the work MTCU is currently engaging in through building Employment Ontario.

The group of about 70 service providers then went into small group working sessions, determining priority issues and trends for Sarnia’s workforce, and developed action plans to addressing those issues. This will provide SLWDB with a concrete plan to take action within the community.

Our thanks go out to Vicki, Jasmine, Kris, and others on the organizing committee for hosting such a dynamic, informative and catalytic event. It looks like this may inspire some exciting initiatives in Lambton County.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Meetings_and_Events

Self-employment is one of the fastest growing areas of employment for women. One in ten Canadian women are entrepreneurs.

ACTEW’s newly released fact sheet on women and self-employment finds that while self-employment in general has been on the rise since the mid-1970s, the number of self-employed women has nearly tripled over the last 20 years, compared to a 60% increase for Canadian men.

Here are some general trends and quick facts on women’s self-employment:

• Rural women are more likely than urban women to be self-employed.
  
  
• Much of the growth in self-employment among women has been in traditional female dominated sectors such as child care and janitorial and cleaning work.
  
  
• Self-Employed women are often home-based and own account workers.
  
  
• About one-quarter of self-employed women work part-time.
  
  
• Self-employed women earn significantly less than self-employed men.
  
  
• The self-employed cannot access Employment Insurance (including maternity leave), and are much less likely to be able to access training programs.

Self-employment is an important employment option for women. When Canadian women were asked the main reasons they became self-employed, 85% stated that a desire for more challenging work was the most important factor in their decision. Women in rural areas, where employment is limited, are more likely than urban women to be self-employed. This form of work can sometimes offer a more flexible schedule, which is helpful for women who are looking for more life-work balance in their lives.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

"Provisioning is defined as the work of securing resources and providing the necessities of life for those whom one has relationships of responsibility." - Sandra Tam, WEDGE

Sandra Tam was the guest presenter for ACTEW's June members meeting. Sandra is a researcher at the University of Toronto and has worked in Ontario’s community-based employment and training sector.

As part of the Women on the Edge of the Global Economy (WEDGE) Research Team, Sandra studies young women's provisioning. Her presentation included examples and strategies from women in Toronto as well as in various communities in Canada.

Sandra's review of her research findings inspired an energetic discussion among ACTEW members on how women's unpaid and largely unrecognized obligations affect their access to employment and training services and to participate fully in the labour market.

In particular, child care was noted as a key aspect of provisioning for many clients, or potential clients. Members discussed how often services are inaccessible to women with children when agencies cannot offer care. Some funders seem not to realise the importance of child care as a program support; members were encouraged to utilize ACTEW's new child care fact sheet for statistics and facts upon which to ground funding requests.

Some of the negative effects of provisioning for those who are already employed are illuminated by a research previously covered in this blog. A study at McMaster University found that workers with home commitment get fewer opportunities for career advancement.

The discussion also linked provisioning to work on sustainable livelihoods. The sustainable livelihoods, which is a holistic model similar to provisioning, looks at a client's resources, talents and networks, rather than at her barriers, and leverages assets to support other areas in her life. Both models take into considation the whole person, rather than simply the employment segment.

For more on provisioning, review some of Sandra's publications:
> Slide Presentation from the ACTEW meeting: "Provisioning: Thinking Holistically About Women's Work"
> Research Summary: "Understanding Young Women's Provisioning"
> Information Sheet: "The WEDGE Provisioning Research"

For examples of the sustainable livelihoods model, check out these reports by Eko Nomos on the Canadian Women's Foundation web site:
> Women in Transition Out of Poverty: An asset-based approach to building sustainable livelihoods
> Women in Transition Out of Poverty: A guide to effective practice in promoting sustainable livelihoods through enterprise development

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Resources_and_Research

Diversity and employer involvement were key issues raised at the Skills Training and Employment Programs Summit.

Co-hosted by ACTEW and the Ottawa Women’s Training and Employment Network (OWTEN) on May 17, the Summit was attended by nearly 60 regional stakeholders from various levels of government, and employment and training organizations.

Attendees got an overview of Ottawa’s labour market initiatives, hearing presentations from:

• City of Ottawa’s Economic Development
  
• Ottawa Chamber of Commerce
  
• Service Canada
  
• Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services Programming
  
• Ontario Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration Programming
  
• Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities

Following this, stakeholders discussed strategies for enhancing Ottawa’s labour market development, focusing on two issues in particular:

1. How to meaningfully embrace equity and gender diversity, not only through service provision, but also through representation within the sectors and services that shape Ottawa’s economy; and
   
   
2. How to engage employers in labour market development strategies in order to pro-actively address pending skills shortages.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Meetings_and_Events

ACTEW has released the report Patching It Together: Employment and Training Opportunities for Women in Ontario Pre-Ontario-Canada Labour Market Development Agreement.

In December 2006, prior to the January implementation of the LMDA, ACTEW surveyed the employment and training sector on programs and services for women. The goal of this Pre-LMDA Survey was to get a picture of the sector before the LMDA.

In 2008, ACTEW will conduct a second survey. A comparison of the 2006 and 2008 survey results will point to ways the LMDA has changed the sector. While Ontario is the last province to sign an LMDA with Canada, ACTEW's research is the country's first effort to understand the effects of such an agreement on a vital and growing labour market: women.

Patching It Together reports that women-specific programming in particular, and community-based training in general, work well because agencies in Ontario are dedicated to delivering comprehensive, holistic services. However, agencies are serving diverse and multi-barriered clientele within the confines of fractured governmental policy and spotty funding. They patch together programs and funding in lieu of any comprehensive or integrated governmental framework.

Over the next few weeks, watch this blog for highlights from the survey analysis, in our series: The Pre-LMDA Picture.

Read the report

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Pre-LMDA, Resources_and_Research

The Women's Future Fund launched the BREAK THE GLASS video campaign (www.breaktheglass.ca) to rekindle debate about women's equality in Canada. Inspired in part by funding cuts to organizations working to improve women's opportunities in Canada, this campaign encourages Canadians to speak up for women's equality.

The Women's Future Fund is a coalition of national, charitable organizations tackling systemic barriers to women’s advancement. Its member groups (of which ACTEW is one) deliver programs to protect and promote the financial independence, legal rights, educational opportunities, safety, health and well-being of the next generation of women.

Women's inequality isn't just a women's issue. Most recently The Economist, in its April 21, 2007 issue, argues that both poor and rich countries lose out when women aren't strong force in the labour market. The article reports that affordable child care and fair taxation systems increase women's employment and that if American women's employment rates were raised to the same level as men's, America's GDP would be 9% higher. Women's employment also addresses labour market shortages being faced by an ageing society.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

ACTEW has re-launched a more robust fact sheet focusing on contingent workers. Compiling research from multiple sources, we’ve found research that documents the rise of contingent work in Canada. Research demonstrates that contingent workers are paid less, less protected by employment and labour laws and policies, and have less access to work or government benefits. Some key highlights include:

• Contingent employment increased dramatically in the early 1990s.  Currently almost one-third of Canadian workers are employed contingently with higher rates in some areas, like Toronto.
• Women working part-time made up 27% of the total Canadian workforce in 2004. In comparison, part-time male employees made up 11% of the workforce.
• women of colour are the least likely to be employed all year and have the fewest weeks of employment per year.

The fact sheet offers research on different kinds of contingent work.  Read the fact sheet online or download a pdf version.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Resources_and_Research

I presented on ACTEW’s Putting Women in the Picture project at the Jobs and Justice conference. Here are two other initiatives that I found both inspiring and informative:

Well-being through Inclusion Socially and Economically (WISE)
http://www.wise-bc.org/index.html

Daphne Moldowin and Chrystal Ocean gave a presentation entitled Jobs versus Mutual Aid: Taking Back the Meaning of ‘Work’ in Community. WISE is led by women living in poverty. It works to address

• the causal link between policy and poverty,
• educate people about the effects of poverty on the health and wellbeing of citizens and their communities,
• and support one another in introducing and implementing inexpensive, creative solutions at the local level.

WISE has published a very powerful book called Policies of Exclusion, Poverty & Health: Stories from the front (WISE 2005) in which 21 women tell their stories of poverty, which then lead to policy recommendations. I strongly encourage you to order a copy for yourself at http://www.wise-bc.org/CVProject/book.html.

The women of WISE have also developed workshops, both for women affected by poverty and for service providers. If you are in or near Toronto and are a service provider, catch their upcoming workshop "Honouring the Margins: Their Knowledge, praxis and realities," at the Community-Campus Partnerships for Health 10th annual conference Mobilizing Partnerships for Social Change (April 11-14, 2007).

Redefining Welfare to Work in British Columbia
This research project, presented by Shauna Butterwick (University of British Columbia) and Whitney Borowko (Simon Fraser University) examines training and employment programs for long-term welfare recipients in British Columbia. The researchers critique existing job training and employment programs in BC and conclude that they are based on a “quickest route to a job” philosophy and are punitive and unsuccessful in the long-term. Looking at other models across Canada, they find Quebec programs offering the most promising practices.

The researchers recommended a new model based on the following principles, adapted from Nancy Fraser’s feminist social justice approach:

• Anti-poverty
• Anti-exploitation
• Income equality
• Leisure time equality
• Equality of respect
• Anti-marginalization
• Anti-androcentrism/Europeanism

There is not much written information released on this project, as the work is still in its research phase. As I hear of information becoming available, I’ll post it to this blog.

Jobs and Justice: Strategies and Solutions for Economic Security was hosted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) and held in Vancouver March 29 to 31, 2007. Some of the plenary talks were videotaped and can viewed online.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Meetings_and_Events, Resources_and_Research

Our newest fact sheet on women's employment shows that poverty among newer immigrants is increasing, even while their education is increasing. Some statistics include:

• 18% of immigrant women have a university degree, in comparison with 14% of Canadian-born women.
  
  
• In 2001, immigrant women had an unemployment rate of 8.1%, compared 7% with Canadian-born women, and 6.8% for immigrant men.
  
  
• Newer immigrants of both sexes are facing greater difficulties getting work and securing stable, well-paying positions than previous generations of immigrants and unemployment rates among ethno-racial groups vary dramatically, from as high as 35% to as low as 2.5%.
  
  
• Recent immigrant women earn significantly less than other women and men, averaging just $16,700 – well below the poverty line.

View or download the fact sheet on ACTEW's Putting Women in the Picture web site:
http://www.actew.org/projects/pwpsite/snapshots/immigrant.html.
We welcome any leads on further research related to immigrant women's employment issues.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

ACTEW’s Deanna Yerichuk attended the most recent LMDA Transition Service Delivery Advisory Group (SDAG) meeting on February 16, 2007. We have the following information to share with you:

Now that the transfer is complete, the LMDA transition team continues focus on business continuity (“business as usual”) and is starting to turn long-term attention to policy and program integration and alignment.

That being said, MTCU still says they are continuing with a slow planning approach, and intend to engage key stakeholders and local planning processes to ensure systems meet the needs of communities. They intend to make “Customer Focus” the priority through focusing on the infrastructure build as well as program design and service delivery.

Here are copies of the PowerPoint presentations provided at the meeting:

• Employment Ontario ...The Challenge Ahead
• Rapid Re-Employment and Training Service presentation
  

Also, we understand that MTCU will soon be launching an “Employment Ontario Partnership Gateway”. We’ll let you know as soon as this site is live.

The meeting also established that there is an important and ongoing role for community service providers through the SDAG, and MTCU appears committed not only to working with community reps in the existing committee structure, but examining ways that community knowledge and expertise can be more effectively leveraged in their planning and implementation processes. This may include tapping into community networks to collect and disseminate information for planning purposes.

The terms of reference for the group will be redrafted and ACTEW looks forward to bringing input from Ontario’s women’s training community to the table in policy and program development.

Finally, the LMDA transition team is actively seeking input on the challenges, opportunities and priorities that the community-based training sector sees over the next year. If you have feedback you’d like to get into MTCU’s hands, please contact Deanna at deanna@actew.org, and we’ll bring forward all concerns, issues and priorities.

Want to find out what happened at the December 2006 SDAG meeting?

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, MTCU_Updates

Seventy-seven organizations responded to ACTEW’s Pre-LMDA Survey. Slightly more than one third are organizations serving women predominantly.

The Pre-LMDA Survey asked what employment and training opportunities are available in Ontario for women before the implementation of the LMDA. The survey was open the month of December 2006 to all organizations providing employment and training services.

We are now analyzing the data and will release a detailed report, but we are already seeing a few trends that I can unofficially share with you:

• The majority (69%) of all respondents say there is a high demand for their services for women in their community. This is especially true of organizations serving mainly women clients: 84% report a high demand while only 4% do not.


• There is an even split between those reporting adequate government funding for programs and services and those who do not. However, agencies serving women predominantly are more likely to report adequate funding and are also are more likely to report that diverse employment services are available for women in their communities.


• Two thirds of respondents say that there is good collaboration and cross-referring in their communities, with only 14% disagreeing. Women-focussed organizations were slightly more likely than other organization to report positive relationships with other services in their communities.

We’ve also drawn the names of the two organizations that won $50 gift certificates from Chapters for their organization’s resource library. The winners are:

Scarborough Women’s Centre (Scarborough)
Working Skills Centre (Toronto)

Thank you to everyone for taking time and care to fill out the survey. Your participation makes this research stronger and we look forward to sharing the research with agencies, government, and the public.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Issues_and_Trends, Resources_and_Research

ACTEW’s Jen Liptrot attended the most recent Service Delivery Advisory Group (SDAG) meeting on December 15, 2006. The following items were reported:

Through late November and early December MTCU held several regional consultation sessions with stakeholders to walk through “the plan for the plan” with respect to local labour market planning in a post-LMDA Ontario.

Considerable work has also been taking place behind the scenes to support MTCU’s reorganization of their Labour Market and Training Division in anticipation of the LMDA.

One major change is a move towards a “functional model” in their organizational design. According to MTCU, this new model will provide better information channels, clear pathways and easier navigation among the full range of training and employment services. Read the short MTCU presentation on this new functional model here:
http://www.actew.org/projects/pwpsite/functionalmodel.pdf

If you’re interested, you can also see the new management org chart at
http://www.actew.org/projects/pwpsite/LMTD_MGMT_DEC21.pdf


All this planning seems to be looking good and MTCU is hoping for a reasonably smooth transition.

The most important piece of information to pass along to agencies is that the Employment Ontario web site should be updated as January 2007 to include descriptions and info on all the federally-funded programs that are being devolved. Agencies can check this web site for updates on LMDA transition.

Agencies should also be receiving letters from MTCU and/or Service Canada about the changes. Information will also be provided to support branding and referrals.

Once again, business continuity is being emphasized, which means that MTCU and Service Canada are striving for little noticable change come January 1.

We’d be interested in hearing from you over the next few weeks—did your agency experience any changes? If so, what were they? We’ll take the information back to the next SDAG meeting.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, MTCU_Updates

ACTEW’s baseline survey is open until December 31, 2006, and I’m pleased to report that we already have over 70 surveys submitted.

I’ve heard through the grapevine that the survey is taking longer than 20 minutes to complete. Sorry for our underestimation and thanks for your patience to see it through.

Did you know that you can come back to your survey where you left off? If you can’t complete your survey in one sitting, be sure to drop back again. Simply click on the survey link and you will be taken to the page where you left off, as long as you return to the survey on the same computer where you began.

We’re collected some fantastic success stories through the survey and are looking forward to sharing them through spotlights on the Putting Women in the Picture web site and our new policy e-bulletin, In Focus.

If you are a direct service agency, please take some time to fill out the survey.

Want more information about why we’re doing the survey?

Download the survey - fax your completed copy to (416) 599-2043.

We’re excited to get you the analysis in January.

Labels: ACTEW_Activities

I attended the Developing Skills through Partnerships Symposium, put on by the Ontario Network of Employment Skills Training Projects (ONESTEP) on Friday, November 24.

The Symposium brought stakeholders together in Toronto from various sectors, including trades, non-profit and public training sectors, and provincial and federal government representatives to discussing how we can best “build Ontario’s Workforce for the 21st Century through a Client-Centred Training and Employment System.”

Honorable Chris Bentley, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities, opened the conference with a rousing speech, noting that only 30% of people in Ontario qualify for EI and therefore only 30% can access programs funded through EI.

He called for the federal government to honour the LMPA so that Ontario can better serve people who do not qualify for EI. Notably and quotably, Minister Bentley said this:

Ontario will never reach its potential until everyone in Ontario reaches their potential.

…to which ACTEW says “here here!”

Also worth mentioning, the conference featured presentations from the governments of Alberta and Quebec, provinces that have had LMDAs in place for close to ten years now.

In particular, I was impressed with the fact that the Quebec model has advisory committees for equity groups, and yes, actually has a women’s advisory committee. This is the first province that I’ve heard of that recognizes women’s specific employment and training issues through a formal group.

Does anyone know of other provinces that has a similar mechanism for women or other equity groups?

You might want to check out the web site www.skillsthroughpartnerships.ca, which will post the presentations given at the Symposium.

Deanna

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Meetings_and_Events, MTCU_Updates

We've been very busy preparing three important new aspects of the Putting Women in the Picture project.

1. Check out our new project web site. This will house all sorts of resources, event listings and tips for getting involved with LMDA-related changes in your community.


2. Subscribe to In Focus, our monthly policy e-bulletin. In Focus explores policies' impact different employment and training issues for women. Our premiere issue, available in December, looks at contingent work.


3. Do you work at a community-based employment and training agency? ACTEW wants to assess the effects of LMDA policy changes on job-seeking and training for women in Ontario. We've developed a Pre-LMDA Survey to document services and programs for women as they are before the implementation of the LMDA. In 2008, we'll survey the sector again to get a sense of LMDA's effects.
   
   If you work at a community-based employment and training agency, contact us to find out how to get counted: policy@actew.org. And if you complete a survey, your agency could win a $50 gift certificate for Chapters!

Labels: ACTEW_Activities

I just got back from presenting at a great conference at the University of Alberta on the weekend. The Work and Learning Network launched False Promises: Precarious Work in the New Economy and I had a chance not only to talk about ACTEW’s work on Putting Women in the Picture, but also to hear about Alberta’s Workforce Development initiative, and the issues and challenges that have resulted.

Through these conversations, I quickly realized that Ontario has a unique opportunity that may well be paving the way for the rest of Canada. What’s different about Ontario’s Labour Force Development is that training and employment organizations are being invited to the table through the LMDA Service Delivery Advisory Group (SDAG).

This group consults with the government on implementing training systems under the LMDA/LMPA. I don’t mean to suggest that we’re key players or are steering the implementation process, but listening to how community groups have been shut out of Alberta’s consultation process made me realize that there’s a big shift here in Ontario where, at the very least, community organizations are being recognized for their experience and expertise.

Oh yes, and the ACTEW presentation went well. We’ll post the presentation notes online as soon as they are available.

Deanna

Labels: ACTEW_Activities

I'm thrilled to give you the first scoop: ACTEW is partnering with the Education and Employment Centre in Brockville to hold a Women's Summit on November 29 and 30, 2006.

ACTEW will be talking to local employment and training agencies and women's service providers about the LMDA and LMPA and women's long-term sustainable employment. We're also bringing representatives from Service Canada and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) to explain the implementation of these new agreements.

What I'm personally really excited about is that the Women's Summit will be for job-seekers as well as service providers. ACTEW will hear from women directly about their successes and challenges in finding meaningful work. We will share what we hear with policy-makers who looking to create effective training and employment programs.

If you live in or near the Brockville area, please join us! We'll post information here as it becomes available.

If you live elsewhere in the province and are interested in convening a meeting or event for your region and would like to discuss the LMDA and LMPA, let me know.

Hope to see you in November,
Deanna

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, Meetings_and_Events

ACTEW is focusing on two recently signed provincial/federal agreements:

• the Canada-Ontario Labour Market Development Agreement (LMDA), and
  
  
• the Canada-Ontario Labour Market Partnership Agreement (LMPA).

These agreements move the responsibility for most employment and training services from the federal government into the hands of the provincial government. Future blog entries will look at each agreement in greater detail.

These policies are going to significantly affect employment services and training in Ontario.

We think this change is an opportunity. As a provincial network, we can be pro-active. Together, we can put these policies to work for working women, and for all Ontarians.

So visit this blog...

• for the latest developments of the LMDA and LMPA implementation
  
  
• for opportunities to participate in policy dialogue, both online and in-person
  
  
• to participate in ACTEW’s research on the impacts of policy on training and employment service providers and their clients
  
  
• to get inspired by profiles of innovative community work that supports and encourages women’s economic self-sufficiency
  
  
• for comprehensive facts about women and employment, including newcomer women, sole-support parents, women with disabilities, and more
  
  
• to find resources and research about women’s employment and training needs

We look forward to strengthening our network with you!

Deanna

Labels: ACTEW_Activities, LMDA

...A Commitment to Training and Employment for Women. We're a provincial non-profit network of supporters, trainers, agencies, and organizations delivering employment and training services to women.

For information about our history and other projects, visit our web site. Subscribe to our e-bulletin for monthly updates on employment and training for women. A monthly policy e-bulletin is in the works.

This blog, and its associated web site, are tools of ACTEW's Putting Women in the Picture project. The goal of this project is to ensure that policy changes lead to positive changes for women's employment and training.

Deanna

Labels: ACTEW_Activities

This is the place to learn about the impacts of provincial and federal government policies on women’s training and employment in Ontario.

We'll monitor and analyze government policy developments. We'll gather feedback from workers, managers, and clients at community-based employment and training centres across the province. We'll also keep tabs on leading research.

Our ultimate goal is to support and improve Ontario women’s economic self-sufficiency. We want to make sure employment and training policy decisions made in this province are helping women contribute meaningfully to their families, their local economies, and their country.

Participate in this policy dialogue. Please post comments and engage in the discussion. Let us know where you disagree, where you have more information, where you’d like us to focus our efforts next. And be sure to come back soon!

Deanna Yerichuk
Project Manager, ACTEW

Labels: ACTEW_Activities