The Pioneer Project was designed to provide customized education and training for 150 TANF recipients and to place them in jobs at Pioneer Plastics Corporation, a manufacturing company in Androscoggin County. Pioneer Plastics develops, produces, and distributes pionite high pressure laminates and related products. One lesson that emerged clearly during both SOAR (Structured Opportunities for TANF Recipients) and JUMP (Jobs for Unemployed Maine Parents) was that the lives of families living in poverty are often complex and difficult. Frequently the principal impediments to employment come not from the program participant but from other family members whose problems obligate the program participant and necessitate his or her attention. Building on this lesson, Project Pioneer added to the collaborative a Family Intervention Specialist as a key element to help project participants solve family issues that threatened to hinder success in today's competitive job market.

Project Period

September 3O, 1994 through September 29, 1997

Project Summary

CEI's Project Pioneer was a three-year demonstration project, funded through the Department of Health and Human Services, Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals Grant Program. The purpose of the project was to assist 150 Androscoggin County residents living at or below Federal Poverty Guidelines in securing employment resulting from the business expansion of Pioneer Plastics Corporation. Key components of the project included provision of customized Employee Effectiveness training, customized adult education courses, nontraditional occupational training and skills training programs for project participants. Unique to this demonstration project was the inclusion of a Family Intervention Specialist/Project Coordinator, whose role was to identify family and personal barriers to employment, and to develop a plan with each participant to overcome these barriers, utilizing community resources. Lastly, the project included a component to explore feasibility and development of a multi-employer supported child care center and transportation services for project participants, employees of Pioneer Plastics Corporation and other large employers in the Lewiston/Auburn area.

Scope

The project provides customized education and training in preparation for employment opportunities created by Pioneer Plastics Corporation. The project served 111 TANF/low-income residents of Androscoggin County. Collaborative organizations included: Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Maine Department of Human Services, Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community, Lewiston Adult Education, Mountain Valley Training/Workforce Development Center, Lewiston and Auburn Housing Authorities, Androscoggin Head Start, Cities of Lewiston and Auburn General Assistance Programs, Maine Department of Labor Job Service, and Pioneer Plastics Corporation.

Project Results/Outcomes

The project provided pre-employment education, training and support services for 111 TANF/low-income participants. Eighty-four participants who completed education and training secured employment at Pioneer Plastics or other technical manufacturing firms with average entry-level wages of $7.46 per hour and health care coverage.

Major Barriers/Obstacles

Participants in this project seem to have had a higher incidence of substance abuse or have "significant others" who are substance abusers. Frequently this leads to participants being victims of domestic violence. Project participants also suffered from depression brought on by one or more of the following: substance abuse, domestic violence, children with special needs or the stress brought on by living in poverty. Participants also have the more typical barriers such as lack of child care, particularly for alternative shift work, and/or transportation.

Vignette of Pioneer Participant

Deb was a single mother of two children and TANF recipient for two years when she entered the project. She was a victim of domestic violence, had limited work experience, no transportation and low self-esteem. Deb graduated from project education/training activities, tailored to the specifications of Pioneer Plastics with an emphasis on TQM concepts and practices, and entered a job at the company with an entry-level wage of $7.60/hr. She quickly became economically self-sufficient, transferred to a non-traditional occupation in the press department and is currently earning $10.86 hr. Deb left the perpetrator of domestic violence and purchased her own home. She has also purchased an automobile.

Conclusions

First, the success of this project stems from the commitment of Pioneer Plastics and the level of effort they put forth to hire project graduates and integrate them into the company's labor force; and to the commitment of project partners to develop curriculum tailored to the specifications of Pioneer Plastics. This company experienced a lay-off of employees about three years ago which demonstrated how "risky" it is to design a project around the job creation projections of one company. However, in this case, the company recalled all laid-off employees and has since created new jobs and continues to hire project graduates and other low-income people. Second, the lay-off also highlighted how imperative it is to have a contingency job creation plan for project graduates and, most importantly, how imperative Department of Human Services support is to the success of the project.

Policy Lessons

1. Larger companies (Pioneer now has 800 employees) may not be interested in federally-funded wage subsidies; rather, they may be more interested in tax credits for hiring welfare recipients and/or improving their image within the community.
2. When education/training providers address specific training requirements of a company, they are in a position to replace a business' use of temp agencies to more adequately meet their labor needs.
3. Participant success is determined, in large measure, by the degree of comprehensive community and support services available to address the individual/family needs.

Evaluation

An outside evaluation of the project was conducted by the University of Maine's Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy.

Funding

$500,000 JOLII grant through the Department of Health and Human Services leveraged with $704,000 of CEI, state and other funds.