An update from Earl Buford, CEO March 30, 2020

On Friday, President Trump signed into law a more than $2 trillion stimulus bill with a wide-ranging impact on businesses and workers. Specifically, the action will put cash in the hands of taxpayers, expand access to unemployment compensation, and provide relief to businesses. At the same time, Gov. Tom Wolf signed a number of bills in response to COVID-19 regarding UC, education, and the primary. (P4W Policy Update)

We understand these are trying times for our businesses, our workers, and our partners, and we continue to drive critical workforce decision-making.

• Representatives from Labor & Industry, Partner4Work (P4W) and other workforce boards continue to strategize ways to mobilize the public workforce system to efficiently serve businesses and workers impacted by the crisis. Discussion points include creating online hubs and leveraging $100 million in national emergency funds from the US Department of Labor to mitigate loss as communities continue to navigate these challenging days.
• The P4W Board of Directors will meet this week to discuss a strategic response to local businesses with immediate hiring needs.
• We further understand that the work of our partners is more important than ever in ensuring the community comes through these challenging days. We are convening our partners for the foreseeable future to provide critical updates, answer questions, and develop training resources. We are assessing the efforts of our training providers and the region's workers and job seekers to identify gaps and potentially strategize solutions.
• We have built an online resource guide with critical information regarding unemployment, layoff aversion, food security and income assistance, and immediate hiring opportunities. The guide can be found here https://www.partner4work.org/news/covid-19-resources/, and we encourage you to share this guide broadly. Please let us know of additional resources.
• This health emergency will continue to impact vulnerable populations and could result in a reduction in traditional summer job opportunities for young adults. Please continue to encourage young adults to apply for the summer youth employment program, Learn & Earn. As of today, P4W has received more than 100 eligible applications. Please help us widen the net by encouraging applications at www.jobs4summer.org.

Please be well.

Earl Buford, CEO
Partner4Work