Green Career Training for Women

My name is Pamela Pigford, I am a 56-year-old African-American lesbian and my dream is to become an Electrician.

After working as a telecommunications technician for 20 years in LA, I moved back to my hometown of Denver knowing that these skills would soon be obsolete. With the goal of getting into the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 68, Denver Joint Electrical Apprentice and Training Committee Program, I applied, tested and interviewed with Local 68 to become an electrician in June 2010. I scored very successfully and have been on a waiting list for the Apprentice Training Program since.

While waiting for acceptance into the apprenticeship, I discovered that there is free career training available in green jobs through a grant with FRESC Good Jobs Strong Communities. Last summer, I successfully completed two courses, became a Certified Energy Auditor, and obtained my BPI certification.

Since I chose to quit my job in California to pursue career training, I have not been eligible for Unemployment Insurance (UI) in Colorado, and have been living off credit cards and family support. Had I been able to receive any UI benefits, I would not be as deep in debt as I am now.

Being underemployed has dramatically impacted my lifestyle and my ability to reach economic security in any real way. Last year I explored Denver, trying to learn my way around the city and took advantage of Free Day events. Now I only leave to house to job search, interview, drug test and work at temporary jobs. I continue to use free job search resources like the Workforce Center and the Public Library, and I am anxious to find something steady to support myself. My only hope is that once given the opportunity, I will prove my determination to become a valuable employee to a truly inclusive and equal opportunity organization, and succeed in my goal of becoming an Electrician or Technician in a Green Career.

Unemployment Rate Hits Middle Class Hard

By: Susan B

In July 2010, I lost my job with the Denver Public School District due to budget cuts and restructuring in the district, but I was fortunate to apply and receive unemployment benefits without issues. In October 2010, I accepted a temporary part-time position with a home delivery service. My real problems began once my job with the home delivery service ended in December 2010.

In January when the Colorado unemployment rate hit a then all time high of 9.1%, currently it’s at 9.3%, my claim got lost in the CO Dpt. of Labor and Employment. I later found out that this issue is not uncommon when there are 4,400 new UI claims made every week. Even after speaking with a UI representative at my local workforce center multiple times, it has now been over two months and I have had $0 income since February. I’m a single woman with no other income and have already used my entire savings to maintain my credit only to end up facing financial disaster.

Without UI payments I am now facing the hard reality that I will have to start defaulting on my credit card. I won’t be able to make my modest mortgage payment in a neighborhood already hit hard by mortgage defaults making my house dangerously close to being worth less than the mortgage anyway. I have payments remaining on my car and I’m not sure how I will manage to make ends meet.

It seems to me that people are being forced into financial crises regardless of how responsible they have strived to be in the past, and this makes me extremely concerned about the future for the people in Colorado. At a time when the middle class is shrinking and the unemployment rate is not projected to improve much over the next few years, the discussion of national and state budget debates should be focused on policy that will help strengthen the middle class, create good jobs, and reinvest in our social infrastructures so that we can once again be competitive in a worldwide economy.

Economic Recovery Forum Tour

As the end of the year winds down, so does 9to5 Colorado’s Economic Recovery Forum Tour. 9to5 Colorado and community partners, such as Colorado Progressive Coalition (CPC), FRESC and Colorado Springs Branch NAACP, have taken the Economic Recovery Forums to cities across the state to showcase the positive impacts of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) on a local level. These forums brought together just a small fraction of the thousands of people, small businesses, and local government who have benefited from the over $7 million in Recovery Act funds in many different ways.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was one of the first pieces of major legislation that was signed in action by President Obama within his first 30 days in office right here in Denver, Colorado in 2009. This landmark policy brought $800 billion to the states to help protect our most vulnerable communities and help pave the road to recovery for millions of families hit the hardest by the worst economic recession in the U.S. since the Great Depression. ARRA helped stimulate the economy, helped save and create jobs, prevented more devastating state budget cuts, and protected important safety net programs that are helping families stay afloat. In Colorado alone, stimulus money put more than 46,000 Coloradans to work over the last year.

“We have been so excited about having the pleasure of highlighting some of the most constructive investments from the Recovery Act in our own Colorado communities. We are bringing to the table people who can attest to the positive impacts of the Recovery Act, such as local workforce development centers, the Governor’s Energy Office, and the Small Business Administration and providing information on how to access these resources and programs, in addition to sharing how 9to5 Colorado specifically was able to help draw down more Recovery Act dollars to Colorado by modernizing the state Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits system” explains Maggie Gomez, 9to5 Colorado ARRA organizer. Last year, 9to5 Colorado was able to bring nearly $130 million in federal Recovery Act funds to Colorado by expanding the state UI programs to increase eligibility to more women and very low wage workers, extend benefits for unemployed people in certified training programs, and extend benefits for the long tern unemployed. This is utterly critical to our Colorado economy when, according to Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody’s Economy.com, every $1.00 of unemployment insurance generates $1.64 in local benefit, and we are currently experiencing a state unemployment rate hovering near 8.5 percent.

The Economic Recover Forum Tour, coordinated by Maggie Gomez, took place in Denver, Aurora, Greeley, Fort Collins, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo. Nearly 200 people attended these forums.

Watch Linda Meric on Channel 7 Denver!

Watch Linda discuss important changes in the state unemployment insurance laws:

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/video/19940495/index.html

Governor Signs Unemployment Insurance Modernization

Opens Doors for $127.5 Million More in Federal Dollars

Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. signed into law bill SB 09-247, making modest changes in Colorado’s unemployment insurance law, and adopting new standards included in the Federal Stimulus Package that automatically qualify the state for more than $127.5 million in new federal incentive dollars. The new policy and the money are expected to bring much needed relief to the more than 2 million Coloradans currently unemployed.

“Especially in these challenging economic times, the unemployment safety net should be available to all Colorado workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own,” said Linda Meric, Executive Director of 9to5, National Association of Working Women, and one of the leading advocates of the bill. “UI is an important foreclosure and bankruptcy avoidance tool, a tool to avoid pushing more Colorado families onto the welfare rolls, and an economic stimulus strategy to help families and our local economies as workers try to maintain some basic economic security while temporarily out of work. SB-247 will provide access to the unemploy-ment safety net for women and very low-wage workers who have previously been left out.”

Dawn Duvall, a Colorado mother of two who has been out of work since she was laid off on December 5th noted, “This bill will provide much needed extensions of benefits for people like me who are desperately seeking work and are finding the process much harder than it has ever been before.”

The bill makes the following changes in current law:

1. Allows for an Alternative Base Period (ABP) to assess eligibility for UI benefits.

Explanation: When workers lose jobs through no fault of their own and file unemploy-ment claims, all states use a base period, or “look-back” period, to determine eligibility and benefits. The ABP provides an option for some unemployed Coloradans, mostly very low-wage workers and recent entrants to the workforce, to shift the look back period to include more of their recent earnings when determining UI eligibility.

2. Allows UI for spouses of transferred/relocated employees.

Explanation: Under current law, Colorado workers who quit a job to follow a spouse in the military who is relocated are already eligible for unemployment benefits. SB 09-247 expands this provision to include any worker whose spouse is transferred or finds employment in a location where commuting is unreasonable, as required by the Federal guidelines to draw down the stimulus money.

3. Provides Additional UI Benefits for Workers in Retraining for Green Jobs, High Demand Occupations or More Stable Employment.
   

Explanation: SB 09-247 temporarily allows unemployed workers who are involved in approved training programs to receive an additional 50% of their regular weekly benefit amount for a period of up to 20 weeks.

SB 09-247 also includes language required to draw down federal funds to provide UI benefit extensions for unemployed Colorado workers who have exhausted their initial award of benefits and have still been unable to find work. These federal funds are in addition to the $127.5 million in stimulus money.

Learn about the new unemployment law that 9to5 Colorado helped pass! Learn how to advocate for yourself and others – how to file a successful unemployment claim, how to win an unemployment appeal.

Handling An Unemployment Insurance Case

Monday, June 29, 2009

8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

At Mile High United Way

2505 18^th Street, Denver

Free parking

For more information or to receive a registration form and agenda, please email Bridget@9to5.org.