Comment on Combatting long-term unemployment with federal money

Jewish Vocational Services in San Francisco and Nova Workforce and Development in Sunnyvale are among the recipients of grants aimed at addressing what U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, in a statement, called long-term unemployment (out of work for 27 weeks or more) one of the most unfinished pieces left over from the recession. JVS received $6.3 million “to develop a training model built on in-demand technology skills, skills demonstrations, networking and deep employer engagement,” according to the White House, which announced the $170 million nationwide program last week. Nova will use its $5.3 million to augment its job training and counseling programs and work with local workforce investment boards and business partners, including the Bay Area Council and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group — “sharing best practices for the long-term unemployed, with an emphasis on tech training, especially information technology,” said Jeanette Langdell, employment training manager at Nova. Snay said the aim is to get her clients into “medium skill” tech jobs — for example, Salesforce CRM (customer relationship management) administration and development and front end Web and mobile app development. The federal grants are of the Obama administration’s Ready to Work Partnership, launched in January to combat the problem of long-term unemployment, which five years after the Great Recession affects 2.9 million Americans.