evidence, is through the institutional Manpower program and encourage your consideration. Ancillary services provided by the participating agencies have in Ohio been dovetailed into the Skill Center concept and have provided for the smooth operation necessary to attain these goals. Therefore the Ohio Skill Center Directors, speaking in behalf of the men and women they serve and hope to serve in the future, respectfully request your indulgence and consideration of Skill Centers as a viable instrument of institutional Manpower training. If these Skill Centers and programs are to continue, expand, and grow in number, there are certain changes, recommendations, and safeguards that should be written into new legislation. The following suggestions will make it possible to not only continue but improve these programs: 1. In order to attain the best results, not only for institutional Manpower but for vocational education and other educational programs, it is recommended that a Department of Education and Manpower be established with the Department having cabinet level status with its secretary appointed by the President. 2. If this is not possible at present, it is recommended that educational funding, operational responsibility, and evaluation be assigned to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Office of Education. This will avoid many of the problems of delayed funding, confusion, etc. that have developed in institutional training in the past. The present institutional manpower delivery system, in which the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare contracts with State Departments of Education which in turn, delegate responsibility to local public school Boards of 3. 4. 5. Education, should be continued. Educational programs operated under Manpower to date have been most successful when administered through established educational channels. It should be Until the Man noted that institutional manpower, although one form of vocational education, is not a duplication of present vocational education programs. power Development and Training Act made it possible for public education to provide training at government expense with trainees receiving allowances (in the form of a stipend) while in training, the school dropout or the high school graduate without funds had no opportunity for securing skill training for employment. Many youth and adults were relegated to a lifetime of dependency on society because of their inability to acquire saleable skills. Institutional manpower must be funded one or more years in advance so that Skill Centers can better plan their programs. The present system of annual funding, in most cases after the fact, creates severe problems in the operation of Centers and in many cases causes waste that could be eliminated if long-range plans were available. Skill Center personnel must become much more involved on the local level in selecting training areas, in the selection of trainees, and in job placement of trainees at the conclusion of their training program. Greater emphasis must be placed upon positive action plans for individuals The individual trainee and his growth and development must become paramount in the planning and execution of programs with long-range goals becoming a vital part of such planning rather than the emphasis being only upon immediate job placement. Although it is realized that individuals attend the Center to prepare themselves for employment, more emphasis should be upon the individual and his development than upon statistics which can be quite misleading. 6. Existing Skill Centers and additional ones planned for urban areas should receive priority in funding, with adequate provisions for operation and expansion. 7. Although training should continue to be available for hard-core disadvantaged and returning veterans, this training should be expanded so that it will be 8. 9. 10. available to all unemployed or underemployed youth and adults. It will be necessary to continue to plan to upgrade employees in entry level jobs in order to provide entry openings for those graduating from training programs. Skill Centers can be greatly improved by providing additional supportive ser- (a) Physical examination for all trainees that enter manpower (b) Minor medical and dental attention while in training. (c) Accident and health insurance while in training. (d) Child care through the Center for women with small children. It is recommended that the President appoint a Federal Manpower Committee The cost of a trainee attending a Skill Center or institutional program may seem quite large because it includes not only the educational cost, but also the training allowance necessary to sustain the individual while in training. It is recommended that Welfare payments or other forms of public assistance be continued 11. while a trainee attends a Center. An additional monetary incentive should be provided for such attendance and job preparation. This would reduce the per capita cost now attributed to manpower and make it possible to train thousands of additional men and women. Although the desire to decentralize operational authority and funding exists, it is imperative for legislation to continue to provide categorical aid to Skill Centers and institutional training. It is realized that revenue sharing through governors and mayors of large cities is being considered, but it is our sincere belief that unless funds provided through these channels are clearly marked for the training of the unemployed and the underemployed through the existing Skill Centers and institutional programs, this priority may be so low in the list of priorities of mayors and governors that institutional training may be eliminated. 12. As stated previously, Manpower Development and Training is a form of vocational education not previously available to the unemployed and underemployed. It is recommended that this relatively new form of vocational education become a permanent integral part of adult vocational education. Dr. Garth Mangum, Co-director of the Center for Manpower Policy Studies, George Washington University, states that institutional manpower training provides a return of from four to five times the federal investment in it. The financial return on the taxpayers' dollars is important, but of more vital importance is a person's improved self-image. Without it, many individuals who feel they are nothing will fail even though they acquire job skills. Those who attain personal growth while developing a job skill find they are capable of reaching much higher goals than they had thought possible. Although there is no single bill in either the House or Senate that includes all of the above recommendations there are several pieces of legislation that, with ammendments based upon these recommendations, could provide a better delivery system for preparing the unemployed and underemployed for jobs through improved Skill Centers and institutional training. We recommend that consideration be given Realizing that any legislation requires compromise, it is important that it be noted that although total manpower funding has not been decreasing, money available for Skill Center operations and institutional training has been reduced over a period of years because of designation of funds for many other manpower programs. If Congress desires that Skill Centers grow in size and increase in number, it is essential that they place limitations on the funds that can be removed from institutional manpower and converted to other programs. As successful as manpower institutional training and the Skill Centers have been, we would predict that if suggestions contained in this material could be implemented, success will be immeasurably enhanced. Our plea is not for the benefit of manpower administrators, faculty, the public schools--but for the thousands--yes hundreds of thousands of disadvantaged, returning veterans, or just unemployed individuals who live almost without hope. These citizens constitute a large portion of the underdeveloped human resources of our great nation. If we are permitted to improve and expand Skill Centers and institutional programs, we assure you that we will continue to help people help themselves so they can more fully realize their potential in our society. |