for the Study of Human Resources
RMC’s Director and Research Scientist Dr. Heath Prince recently wrote an op-ed in the Austin American-Statesmen titled “Worker exploitation in Texas’ throwaway culture” published December 13, 2020. The piece touches on the exploitation of the construction workers, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. You can read the article here.
The pandemic has revealed the importance of child care for a strong economy, especially for working mothers. Yet the majority of those employed in the industry don’t earn a living wage, forcing them to depend on public income support. Those who love the profession and realize its importance have to make hard economic decisions just to stay afloat.
*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.
To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.
Amid COVID-19 job losses, the demand for medical professionals in certain sectors remains high, and one local training program is lifting people out of lower-wage jobs and into these vital nursing positions. Austin PBS’s Decibel spoke with Capital IDEA about how they’re working to help meet the nursing demand with training.
*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.
To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.
The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program recently launched the Job Quality Tools Library, a platform to support leaders to strengthen job quality in their own organizations, in the businesses they partner with, and across labor markets. The library offers tools, resources, and guidance to help a variety of organizations – including workforce development, worker advocacy, policy, investing and lending, economic development, and employers – engage in practical action to improve jobs.
In the library, you will find tools to support workers and businesses during and after the current crisis, including a special section of resources focused on urgent responses to COVID-19. You will also find our contribution “Partnering for Equity: How Sector Partnerships are Tackling Workforce Disparities” in the Equity and Inclusion tool featured in Section 4: Strengthening Practices to Improve Job Quality. As we come together to focus on relief in the short-term and building a more inclusive economy in the long-term, tools and approaches to foster high-quality, economy-boosting jobs are more critical than ever.
You can learn more and visit the library here.
| Principal Investigator: | Christopher T. King, PhD |
| Sponsor: | Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation |
| Project Duration: | December 2019 – December 2021 |
| Description: | The Ray Marshall Center will evaluate the variation in program characteristics – including program components, implementation features, local context, and participant traits – to explore which characteristics are associated with Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program participant’s healthcare profession career pathway outcomes. This research will address the following questions:
Similar to the previous research on the impact of HPOG program characteristics on educational achievement (Peck et al., 2018 and Walton et al., 2019), this research expects to identify supports such as childcare and transportation assistance, tuition, and other financial assistance, as well as employment supports and emergency assistance associated with CNA participant achievements along a career pathway. Practitioners, policymakers, funders, and researchers may be interested in which combination of program components, implementation strategies, participant characteristics, and local context may impact a CNA participant to pursue the next step along a healthcare profession career pathway. Insights from this research can inform future program design and implementation within the broader field of entry level healthcare provider workforce development. |
| Reports Available: |
“Years ago, if you would have asked me about cyber security…to me it seemed like it was very Hollywood and just of reach.” Learn how Christion became a cyber security analyst in the latest episode from @AustinPBS’s American Graduate: Getting To Work initiative.
https://www.facebook.com/AustinPBS/videos/2594553804136577/
*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.
To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.
After building concrete blocks for 13 years, Alex decided he needed something for the long haul. That’s when he decided to get into nursing. Watch his story from Austin PBS’s American Graduate: Getting to Work initiative.
https://www.facebook.com/AustinPBS/videos/492230768396688/
*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.
To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.
While at Del Valle High School, Yaneth Osorio trained to become a Certified Patient Care Technician (CPCT). Learn more about CPCT and the next steps in Yaneth’s journey in the latest video from KLRU-TV’s American Graduate: Getting to Work initiative.
https://www.facebook.com/AustinPBS/videos/559435204864085/
*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.
To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.
RMC Senior Research Scientist Dr. Chris King was the keynote speaker at CareerAdvance®‘s 2019 graduation ceremony held at the Tulsa Technology Center on September 9th. Chris was an instrumental member of the team that designed CareerAdvance®, a sectoral, career pathway workforce strategy for the parents of children served by Tulsa’s early childhood education programs in 2009 and is part of the team conducting the evaluation of the program for CAP Tulsa via funding from the US Depart of Health and Human Services. Janae Bradford, Assistant Director of Family Advancement for CAP Tulsa, emceed the event.
This year, 108 graduates walked the stage to be awarded certifications in 12 different career tracks. Certifications included seven Development Associates (CDA), seventeen Nursing Assistants (CNA), twelve Medication Aides (CMA), two Advance Mediation Aids (Advanced CMA), three Advanced Unlicensed Assistants, five Central Services Technicians (CST), ten Electrocardiogram Monitor Technicians (EKG Technician), twenty Phlebotomy graduates, twenty Medical Assistants, three Surgical Technologists, seven Medical Coders, and two Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN).
Since 2008, the Ray Marshall Center has had an ongoing partnership with CAP Tulsa and Northwestern University (as well as partners at NYU and Columbia) to evaluate CareerAdvance®. You can view the details of the partnership here.
Photos courtesy of Madison Strategies Group.
2315 Red River St., Stop R1300
Sid Richardson Hall, Unit 3
Austin, Texas 78712-1536
Phone: (512) 471-7891
Email: rmcinfo@raymarshallcenter.org
