[MCAEnews] (no subject)

[The MCAE Advocate]

Dear MCAE member,

There will be an important Governor candidates forum on June 29, 2006
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Roxbury Community College's Media Arts Center, 1234 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02120. All six candidates will be attending. They will each have three previously prepared questions that they will be responding to, and one of those questions is asking them to explain their position on ABE and support an $8 million increase in the ABE line item. 

Read below for further information and details from Loh-Sze Leung, SkillWorks Director.

Kenny Tamarkin
Executive Director
MCAE

Dear Colleague,

Since we invited you to attend "Building a 21st Century Workforce," we have confirmed the participation of all six declared candidates for governor: Kerry Healey, Chris Gabrieli, Christy Mihos, Deval Patrick, Tom Reilly, and Grace Ross. This is the only gubernatorial event so far focused solely on the concerns of business and workers in the Commonwealth.

The forum and its sponsor have already received national attention via an editorial in the NEW YORK TIMES:

"What SkillWorks is attempting to do is merge investment commitments from foundations and the government (Mayor Thomas Menino is solidly onboard) with a willingness of business leaders to actually provide meaningful employment and promotion opportunities to the kind of men and women whose talents have long been overlooked, and thus wasted."

Read the full article here:
http://www.jff-projects.org/media/060506_NYT_SkillWorks.pdf

We hope this kind of coverage of SkillWorks and the incredible work you all are doing for workers in Boston will inspire the gubernatorial candidates to make a commitment to expanding funding and resources for similar types of programs across Massachusetts. We hope they will do this at the forum and we hope you will be in the audience to hear it!

Date: June 29, 2006
Time: 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Place: Roxbury Community College's Media Arts Center
Address: 1234 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02120

Remember, you can save a seat by registering online at
http://www.skill-works.org/forum.html

Many thanks,


Loh-Sze Leung
SkillWorks Director

SkillWorks | c/o The Boston Foundation 75 Arlington Street,
10th Floor Boston, MA 02116 | Phone: 617-338-4377 |
Fax: 617-338-1606 | lohsze.leung at tbf.org |
www.skill-works.org


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The Building a 21st Century Workforce forum for the candidates for MA governor is sponsored by SkillWorks: Partners for a Productive Workforce in partnership with its public policy advocacy grantee, the Workforce Solutions Group.

SkillWorks, the largest public/private investment in workforce development in Boston's history, is an ambitious effort on the part of philanthropy, government, community organizations, unions, and employers to create a workforce development system that helps low to moderate income residents move to family-sustaining jobs and helps employers find and retain skilled employees.

The Workforce Solutions Group (WSG) is a coalition led by The Women's Union, the Massachusetts Workforce Board Association, the Massachusetts Communities Action Network and the Massachusetts AFL-CIO that advocates for an effective workforce development system that increases workers' skills, advances families to self-sufficiency and promotes job creation and economic growth.
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