Walking the talk: Cascade Engineering exec testifies before Congress on Welfare to Career program

Being one of  the largest certified B Corps in the world provides Cascade Engineering a certain degree of clout. As does being a nationally recognized proponent of sustainable business practices and a pioneer in innovative human resource policies, such as  their Welfare to Career program.

So, when Congress was looking for leaders and companies from the private sector to share their opinions on opportunities to reform the nation’s welfare system to better meet the needs of job seekers and job creators, as well as grow the economy, Cascade Engineering was an obvious choice.

Kenyatta Brame, Executive Vice President for Cascade Engineering, testified before the U.S. House Ways and Means subcommittee on Human Resources on March 1 at a hearing entitled “Getting Incentives Right: Connecting Low-Income Individuals with Jobs.”

Keith Maki, Director of Corporate Marketing at Cascade Engineering, says the selection of Brame to participate was the direct result of the success of their Welfare to Career program.
 
"They were looking to get input on how to reduce the need for welfare and researching the issues they ran across our.program,” Maki says.

Cascade Engineering was the first business in the state of Michigan to have a Department of Human Services caseworker on site. The caseworker gave Welfare to Career employees immediate access to discuss day care, transportation and safe housing and was also able to direct any employee problems related to attendance, tardiness, and performance to the caseworker for resolution.

CE's Welfare to Career program, which started in the late 1990s, is now a model that has been expanded to become The SOURCE, which is comprised of 15 local businesses, including Cascade Engineering. According to CE,  last year, The SOURCE served almost 400 Welfare to Career employees and has a 97 percent monthly retention rate. This rate is more than double that of all other DHS cases nationally.

Brame says this program is a great example of the importance of building a public/private coalition when tackling complex problems like generational poverty. "What we are seeing is that no one can do it themselves. It takes a partnership between non-profits, state government and the private sector."

Besides the direct impact of opening up an "untapped pool" of opportunities for individuals, Brame says programs with a social mission, like the Welfare to Career,  are a critical part of CE's recruitment process.  "As we recruit millennials  they are asking us what we are doing to provide service to the community."

For more information, visit www.cascadeng.com
 
Writer: John Rumery, Innovation and Jobs News Editor