“Downtown’s Colors Restaurant goes local with food, worker training,” Model D

Startup News

Downtown’s Colors Restaurant goes local with food, worker training

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan plans to open Colors Restaurant, an establishment focused on sustainable, local food and workforce development, in downtown Detroit by October.

Colors Restaurant will open with a staff of about a dozen people at 311 E Grand River Ave in the Harmonie Park area of downtown. It will serve modern, American cuisine made mostly from local food. It will also have local beers on tap along with home-brewed pop. The restaurant will serve as a training ground for people interested in a career in the food-service industry.

“Our goal is to be hyper local,” says Phil Jones, general manager of Colors Restaurant. “That’s the first step. We’re hoping this will help people transform their lives.”

The Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, an affiliate of the national group Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, is launching Colors Restaurant in partnership with Michigan Works!. The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund has also invested a $30,000 grant into the restaurant. The long-term goal is to provide workforce training opportunities to displaced workers in Metro Detroit.

Colors Restaurant will also strive to be a locally sourced restaurant, meaning it receives a majority of its consumables from local farms and businesses. That will include Michigan-grown produce and locally brewed beers. The restaurant will also partner with Midtown-based Motor City Brewery Works to manufacture its own pop.

“The ultimate goal is to have 80 percent of our food locally sourced,” Jones says. “Our produce is going to be local. Our meats will be local.”

Source: Phil Jones, general manager of Colors Restaurant

Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

http://www.modeldmedia.com/startupnews/colorsrestaurantdetroit092011.aspx?utm_source=VerticalResponse&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=Downtown%27s+Colors+Restaurant+goes+local+with+food%2c+worker+training&

X110920 Model D – ROC Michigan

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“Detroit lacking services for job skills, study finds,” Detroit Free Press

X110508 Freep – Basic Skills Crisis

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“Many metro Detroiters lacking skills for employment,” WXYZ-TV Channel 7

Group is working with Detroiters to help them get training and hired!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeVWJuSPggI

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“Study reveals many metro Detroiters lack basic skills for employment,” Detroiter.com

Workforce Fund Helps Train Detroiters for Green Jobs

Contact:
Rebekah Johnson
Franco Public Relations Group
(313) 567-5016
[email protected]

Detroit Regional Workforce Fund Partners with Local Nonprofit to Help Create Green Economy Jobs for Detroiters

DETROIT, (Mar. 21, 2011) – The Detroit and Southeast Michigan Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions (Detroit Regional Workforce Fund) today announced that it has invested more than $600,000 in a partnership with Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice to help develop career pathways to jobs with family sustaining wages in emerging green industries.

As a direct result of the partnership investment, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ) will train 105 unemployed and disadvantaged individuals residing in Detroit in the skills needed to perform hazardous waste remediation.

“In addition to helping DWEJ create pathways to jobs in the growing green economy sector, this investment will also help us build new, sustainable partnerships among employers, organized labor and workforce development service providers in green jobs,” said Karen Tyler Ruiz, director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.

Funding for the partnership was provided to the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions as a part of a U.S. Department of Labor national ‘Pathways Out of Poverty’ grant.

“We are proud to be partnering with the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund to provide Green Job training opportunities to under-served and underprivileged communities in Detroit,” said Domiana Carter, DWEJ program manager. “Our Green Jobs training initiative is a challenging program designed to enhance career opportunities in the growing Environmental Remediation and Green Technologies industries. We look forward to not only continuing, but growing our relationship with the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.”

Detroit residents interested in learning more about this exciting career path that cleans up the environment and creates safer, healthier communities please contact Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice by visiting their website, www.dwej.org.

The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund is a regional public/private collaborative that  romotes regional economic growth through the development of a skilled workforce. It supports partnerships among employers and workforce development partners, effects change in the region’s strategic workforce vision and aligns public and private resources in new ways around workforce development. Ten national and local, public and private  unders have committed $3.5 million to the three-year collaborative.

Connect with us on Twitter at @DetroitWorkFund.

X110321 Detroiter com – DWEJ Training

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“Help! Green Jobs for Detroit,” Michigan Chronicle

X110323 MI Chronicle – Green Jobs for Detroit

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“Workforce Fund Helps Train Detroiters for Green Jobs,” Detroiter.com

Workforce Fund Helps Train Detroiters for Green Jobs

Contact:
Rebekah Johnson
Franco Public Relations Group
(313) 567-5016
[email protected]

Detroit Regional Workforce Fund Partners with Local Nonprofit to Help Create Green Economy Jobs for Detroiters

DETROIT, (Mar. 21, 2011) – The Detroit and Southeast Michigan Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions (Detroit Regional Workforce Fund) today announced that it has invested more than $600,000 in a partnership with Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice to help develop career pathways to jobs with family sustaining wages in emerging green industries.

As a direct result of the partnership investment, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice (DWEJ) will train 105 unemployed and disadvantaged individuals residing in Detroit in the skills needed to perform hazardous waste remediation.

“In addition to helping DWEJ create pathways to jobs in the growing green economy sector, this investment will also help us build new, sustainable partnerships among employers, organized labor and workforce development service providers in green jobs,” said Karen Tyler Ruiz, director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.

Funding for the partnership was provided to the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions as a part of a U.S. Department of Labor national ‘Pathways Out of Poverty’ grant.

“We are proud to be partnering with the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund to provide Green Job training opportunities to under-served and underprivileged communities in Detroit,” said Domiana Carter, DWEJ program manager. “Our Green Jobs training initiative is a challenging program designed to enhance career opportunities in the growing Environmental Remediation and Green Technologies industries. We look forward to not only continuing, but growing our relationship with the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.”
Detroit residents interested in learning more about this exciting career path that cleans up the environment and creates safer, healthier communities please contact Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice by visiting their website, www.dwej.org.

The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund is a regional public/private collaborative that promotes regional economic growth through the development of a skilled workforce. It supports partnerships among employers and workforce development partners, effects change in the region’s strategic workforce vision and aligns public and private resources in new ways around workforce development. Ten national and local, public and private funders have committed $3.5 million to the three-year collaborative.

Connect with us on Twitter at @DetroitWorkFund.

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“Workforce Fund will help train 105 Detroiters for green jobs,” MLive.com

Detroiters
Working for
Environmental
Workforce Fund will help train 105 Detroiters for green jobs

Published: Monday, March 21, 2011, 3:04 PM
Updated: Monday, March 21, 2011, 3:05 PM
By Jackie Headapohl

The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, which is dedicated to training low-skilled metro Detroiters for the jobs of the future, announced today a partnership investment of more than $600,000 with Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, a nonprofit that works to address environmental contamination issues faced by low-income individuals.

As a direct result of the partnership investment, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice will begin training 105 unemployed and disadvantaged Detroit residents in the skills needed to perform hazardous waste remediation.

The partnership looks to connect low-skilled and low-income Detroiters with the training
needed to earn family-sustaining wages in growing green industries — a key aspect of
helping disadvantaged city residents overcome poverty while meeting needs of businesses in growing industries.

“In addition to helping DWEJ create pathways to jobs in the growing green economy sector, this investment will also help us build new, sustainable partnerships among employers, organized labor and workforce development service providers in green jobs,” said Karen Tyler Ruiz, director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.

Funding for the partnership was provided from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions as a part of a U.S. Department of Labor national ‘Pathways Out of Poverty’ grant.

“We are proud to be partnering with the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund to provide Green Job training opportunities to under-served and underprivileged communities in Detroit,” said Domiana Carter, DWEJ program manager. “Our Green Jobs training initiative is a challenging program designed to enhance career opportunities in the growing Environmental Remediation and Green Technologies industries. We look forward to not only continuing, but growing our relationship with the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.”

Detroit residents can apply for the training at the Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice website.

© 2011 MLive.com. All rights reserved.

X110321 MLive com – DWEJ Training

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“Detroit Workforce Fund to upgrade low-skill workers,” ModelD

Startup News
Detroit Workforce Fund to upgrade low-skill workers
Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund plans to begin turning one of Metro Detroit’s biggest liabilities, the low-skill section of its workforce, into a valuable asset. The new initiative, funded by a $3.5 million grant primarily from a handful of local foundations like the United Way for Southeast Michigan, will focus on helping people with few or obsolete job skills move up the economic ladder. The fund will connect these people with local educational options, such as community colleges, and jobs.

“We’re talking low-skilled folks,” says Karen Tyler-Ruiz, director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund, which will employ three people in downtown Detroit. “These are the folks who didn’t graduate high school or have a GED.” She adds that people who need retraining into industries relevant to the 21st Century will also be targeted.

Tyler-Ruiz points toward local illiteracy rates as a prime indicator of the people the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund is after. The 47 percent of the city of Detroit’s population that can’t read is often quoted, but Tyler-Ruiz counters that double-digit illiteracy rates in the suburbs, such as the 17 percent illiteracy rate in Warren, are also part of the problem.

The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund expects to reach 200,000 people in the city and another 200,000 in the suburbs. Mainly the fund will point these people toward remedial education that incorporates job skills for the new economy, such as sustainability industries.

“We can collectively do more as a region,” says Tyler-Ruiz. “If we want to be a world-class state we need to address this as a region.”

http://www.modeldmedia.com/startupnews/detroitregionalworkforcefund012511.aspx

X110125 Model D – Detroit Workforce Fund Launch

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“New regional initiative launched to close the skills gap and get people to work,” MLive.com

New regional initiative launched to close the skills gap and get people to work

Published: Friday, January 21, 2011, 8:08 AM
By Jackie Headapohl

A new initiative has been launched to address the growing gap between the skills workers in Michigan currently have and those they will need to fill the thousands of middle-skill
jobs that will be coming as the economy improves.

It’s called the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund (DRWF), an independent nonprofit regional public/private collaborative designed to support work force partnership between employers, community colleges and other work force development agencies.

The organization’s goal is to connect low-skilled, low-income workers to career pathways that lead to middle-skill jobs that require some post-secondary training beyond high school and pay family-sustaining wages.

“Over the next few months, displaced workers will be able to connect to more training opportunities through the program,” said Karen Tyler-Ruiz, executive director of the Detroit Regional Workforce Fund.

One such opportunity under way is a $640,000 training grant to Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, which is working with several employers doing environmental cleanup work to train 105 individuals in skills needed to perform hazardous waste remediation.

Other initial investments include a $300,000 grant for a partnership between a nonprofit training organization and green manufacturing employers to produce entry-level green manufacturing workers as well as a $97,000 grant for a partnership between five health care systems and three community colleges to develop a career ladder for current entry-level workers to increase their skills and move into higher-wage jobs.

“Our goal is not just to get someone into a job, but also to help them develop the skills they need to move up in their careers,” Tyler-Ruiz said. “We’re in it for the long haul, helping people make connections that last and result in continued career growth.”

The DRWF’s current partnership focus is on creating career pathways in the health and green economy sectors – both of which have been projected to be growth sectors in the recovering economy.

The DRWF doesn’t work directly with the public, but will promote each new partnership on its website as well as use other channels to get the word out to area residents who want to participate in training opportunities.
http://www.mlive.com/jobs/index.ssf/2011/01/new_initiative_launched_to_close_the_ski.html

X110121 MLive.com – Detroit Fund Launch

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“New program launched to help retrain metro Detroit midcareer workers,” Crain’s Detroit Business

Program launched to help retrain metro Detroit midcareer workers

By Sherri Welch
January 19, 2011

Ten public and private groups have committed $3.5 million over the next three years in an effort to train Southeast Michigan workers for emerging jobs, with an emphasis on the health and sustainability sectors.

The funders, led by the Miami-based John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, have launched a collaborative known as the Detroit and Southeast Michigan Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions. The group is meant to bridge what is now a fragmented workforce development system.

Other funders involved in the project are the Kresge Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the New York-based Ford Foundation, the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth and United Way for Southeastern Michigan, which is administering the fund.

“The need for skilled workers and job advancement opportunities has outstripped the capacity of Southeast Michigan’s existing public workforce system,” the chairwoman of the fund’s steering committee, Wendy Jackson, a senior program officer at Kresge.

The collaborative aims to bring groups together in new ways to equip the region’s  middle-skill workforce for jobs in growing industries and to align public and private
resources creatively, , Jackson said in a press release.

The Detroit Regional Workforce Fund plans to convene employers from the same targeted industries to identify common talent needs and organizations, such as community colleges and training providers, that can develop and carry out sector- based workforce training.

It plans to invest in long-term, industry-led workforce partnerships between employers and educational providers. The partnerships seek to improve the local workforce development system and create effective training programs.

The fund has approved three initial grants:

  • A $640,000 training grant to Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice to train 105 individuals in skills needed to perform hazardous-waste cleanup, through
    projects with employers doing environmental cleanup work.
  • A $100,000 investment in the emerging green sector of residential energy retrofits and efficiency.
  • A $97,000 planning grant to a partnership between five health care systems and three community colleges to design a career ladder for current entry-level workers
    to increase their skills and move into higher-wage, higher-demand allied health
    positions such as respiratory therapist and physical therapy assistant.

Participating in the initiative are the Detroit Medical Center, Oakwood
Heathcare Inc., Henry Ford Health System, William Beaumont Hospitals,
St. John Providence Health System and Macomb, Oakland and Henry Ford
community colleges.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20110119/FREE/110119819/program-launched-tohelp-retrain-metro-detroit-midcareer-workers

X110119 Crains – Program Launch

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