The City of Madison Department of Civil Rights held a press conference at the Dane County Job Center on Sept. 18 to announce the launching of the new Referrals and Interviews for Sustainable Employment (RaISE) program.
“We’re really excited about this program and the opportunities that it presents for individuals in the community looking for employment and for greater employment,” Norm Davis, director of the City of Madison’s Department of Civil Rights, told the people who gathered for the press conference.
RaISE is a relaunch of a program that was formally known as the Job Skills Bank. “What’s new about the RaISE program is that we are now inviting community-based organizations to assist us in finding job for individuals in the community,” Davis said. “The RaISE program provides job opportunities for individuals who are seeking to work with our contractors, our vendors – those entities that the city of Madison contracts with.
“The community-based organizations provide an invaluable link to individuals in the workforce that are seeking employment opportunities,” he added.
Any company that receives more than $25,000 annually from the City of Madison and is required to file an Affirmative Action Plan, agrees to submit all job postings for jobs in Dane County to the Department of Civil Rights, according to a City of Madison press release. These employers also agree to interview any qualified applicant referred by the Department of Civil Rights or designated organizations.
“Through the RaISE program, we’re able to take the accountability measures that the City of Madison uses and transform them into expanded opportunities for the community,” Davis said. “Our community-based organizations, many of which already work with the City of Madison to help develop a diverse workforce, are now becoming our partners in finding job opportunities among our contractors.
“This is what many of our partners have identified as a missing link,” he added. “So much of our time is spent developing workforce to make sure individuals have the skills that are needed, but getting the interview has been a challenge for many members of the community,” he added. ‘The RaISE program guarantees interviews for individuals that meet the minimal qualifications for contractors for jobs in Dane County.”
Bill Clingan, from WRTP/Big Step in Madison, says that he works with a range of contractors and trade unions in construction to find a workforce to connect with the contractors.
“This is an industry that is desperately in need of folks and these are careers,” he told the crowd. “These are middle-class jobs that can range from $20 up to $55-60 an hour. These are great opportunities for Madisonians.
“One of the things that we have realized is that greater Madison is much more diverse than 23 years ago and we also recognize that our contractors need people; they want people,” Clingan added. “So, we’re just proud to be associated with Norm [Davis] and the City of Madison in this effort. We think it’s not just the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do from a workforce perspective.”
Ed Lee, from the Urban League of Greater Madison, added a voice of support and thanks to the City of Madison and the Department of Civil Rights.
“We think that this will be a great additional resource to the work we do at the Urban League. Our signature initiative at the Urban League right now is a commitment to train, place, coach, and support 1,500 low-income individuals into new or better sustainable jobs by 2020,” he said. “To accomplish that goal, we know that we need strong partners. I think this is one example of that.”
Davis pointed out that there is a need for the RaISE program in Madison and Dane County. While the unemployment rates for white people is at 3.8 percent, the black unemployment rate is at 10.1 percent, for American Indians, it is 15.4 percent, and for Latinos, it’s 7.6 percent.
“We’re excited to really connect the dots for the community and to help our employers do a good job in diversifying their workforce and to help those individuals who are experiencing greater rates of unemployment find sustainable employment in Dane County,” he said.
Davis added that any organization that would like to be a referral agency and would like to be able to provide guaranteed interviews by referral, can contact the Department of Civil Rights.
Organizations interested in partnering with the RaISE program can contact the Department of Civil Rights at (608) 266-4910 or by emailing [email protected]
