Research by Author & Topic

Publications by Demetra Smith Nightingale on Workforce Development, Training and Opportunity

The High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGJTI) was a national grant program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Employment and Training Administration (ETA). Between 2001 and 2007, more than 160 grants were awarded to establish industry-focused job training and related projects designed to meet the industry’s workforce challenges. This report is the third and final in a series from the national evaluation of the HGJTI conducted by the Urban Institute, the Institute for Policy Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and Capital Research Corporation. This report documents the national initiative, describes the structure and implementation of projects by selected grantees, and provides nonexperimental analysis of the early impacts of job training in selected HGJTI-funded programs. The analysis relies on a review of grant applications and quarterly reports; visits to nine selected grantee sites; data collected from grantee training programs; quarterly earnings data from state unemployment insurance wage records; and administrative data from state and local public workforce system agencies.

Senior Fellow Demetra Smith Nightingale answers five questions about workforce development policy—how it’s evolved, when it's most effective, and what policymakers can do to improve job training and education. The Obama administration has emphasized community colleges' key role in workforce development and the need to forge partnerships between community colleges and employers to better train future workers.

This is the first report from the evaluation of the Community-Based Job Training Grants (CBJTG) being conducted by the Urban Institute, with its partners Johns Hopkins University and Capital Research Corporation. The CBJTG program focuses on building the capacity of community colleges to provide training to workers for high-growth, high-demand industries. The evaluation began in July 2008 with the purpose of documenting the different models and projects that are operating with grant funds, examining and assessing the implementation of grant-funded projects, and identifying innovative features and promising strategies. This report is based on a review of proposals and reports from 211 grantees available through the end of 2008. The information provides a comprehensive picture of the grantee organizations and the activities planned for their CBJTG-funded projects.

Low-income youth and adults have less access to and lower rates of completion in higher education in the US than do others. What are states and local community college systems doing to deal with these problems? In this paper, we review a wide range of efforts by community colleges and the states, with funding from private foundation as well as the federal government, to improve enrollments and completion rates among disadvantaged students. We review the extent to which such efforts are "proven" (based on rigorous evaluation evidence) or "promising" (with impressive outcomes that require strong evaluation). We then consider policies by states and the federal government that can advance opportunities for the disadvantaged in this area.

Recent policies encourage the development of programs designed to improve the economic status of low-income nonresident fathers and the financial and emotional support provided to their children. This brief provides ten key lessons from several important early responsible fatherhood initiatives that were developed and implemented during the 1990s and early 2000s. Formal evaluations of these earlier fatherhood efforts have been completed making this an opportune time to step back and assess what has been learned and how to build on the early programs' successes and challenges.

The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative (HGTJI) is a major national effort to encourage the development of market-driven strategies to address critical workforce challenges as defined by business and industry. As part of the Urban Institute's evaluation of this program, this first report documents the lessons, experiences and sustainability of 20 of the earliest HGJTI grantees as told by the project administrators. The purpose of the report is to summarize the major implementation lessons emerging from the early grantees and document the extent to which projects continue after the end of the grant.

What directions should workforce policy in the U.S. take over the next few decades in light of major labor market developments that will likely occur—such as the retirements of baby boomers and continuing globalization? This new volume edited by Harry J. Holzer and Demetra Smith Nightingale presents fresh thoughts on the topic. This book offers policy discussions that are firmly grounded in strong research and that address the critical workforce issues of the coming years. Read more about this book

This study was conducted by The Urban Institute over a six-month period from mid-May to mid-November 2003 and was commissioned by the Virginia Workforce Council (VWC). This study provides the VWC with information to help them make important incumbent worker policy decisions over the next several years. This study analyzes the current and changing characteristics of Virginia's workforce, examines trends in workforce demand in future years, reviews policies, approaches, and strategies for integrating emerging and diverse groups into the workforce, and recommends public and private sector policies and strategies that might be appropriate for Virginia in the coming decades.

In Fort Worth, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and San Diego, faith-based organizations (FBOs) received between $36,000 and $3.6 million in contracts from local workforce development agencies in 2000. Most churches contacted provided only informal employment services, although one to three large churches in each city sponsored more formal services, but without public funding. About half the non-profit FBOs contacted (e.g., homeless shelters, transitional housing facilities or social service agencies) received public funding and many of these provided some employment-related services. Federal funding to FBOs for employment services was mainly from the U.S. Departments of Labor and Housing and Urban Development.

In today's program we focus on the problems facing low-wage workers in the Washington area. The effects of the attack of September 11th caused a significant downturn in the whole hospitality industry, led to the closing of Reagan National Airport temporarily, but even with its reopening on a restricted basis, the layoffs that affected low-wage workers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia are still having a significant adverse affect on the community as a whole, not to mention the effect it is having on those workers and families themselves. However, during the course of this hour, we'll talk about what's available for such workers, and the prospects for the future.