Educational Tours
Enhance your Workforce Innovations Conference experience by joining us on one or more of our exciting local off-site tour opportunities. This year we are offering five tours. There is no additional cost beyond your regular registration fee. These tours are sure to be popular, and spaces are filled on a first come, first served basis.
To sign up for these tours:
- Pre-register now by calling our Conference Call Center at 866-524-7458
- Sign up as soon as you arrive on site at the Conference Information Booth for any remaining tour slots available. The Conference Information Booth will be open from Monday afternoon, July 14, through Thursday afternoon, July 17.
Be sure to bring a photo ID for each of the tours. The tours will leave promptly at the start times indicated below and will arrive back at the Convention Center at the end time indicated for each tour (or slightly before this time). All tours will leave from the Convention Center, outside of Hall E on Convention Center Boulevard. A snack will be provided on the bus or on-site for each tour.
| Click on the links below to learn more about each tour | |
| Educational Tours | |
| Advancing the Energy Sector's 21st Century Workforce (Pre-conference) | Tuesday Morning, July 15 |
| Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's New Orleans Operations (Pre-conference) | Tuesday Morning, July 15 |
| Café Reconcile | Wednesday Lunch Time, July 16 |
| Transforming New Orleans' One-Stop Career Centers | Wednesday Afternoon, July 16 |
| Tulane Accelerated Nursing Program | Thursday Morning, July 17 |
Advancing the Energy Sector's 21st Century Workforce
Gain a first-hand look at a thriving and successful petrochemical industry partnership among workforce, industry and education.
Tuesday, July 15
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Snack on bus; coffee on site
This session will be held on the Nunez Community College campus located in St. Bernard's Parish, an area severely impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - most of the Parish was under 12 to 18 feet of water and many homes were simply swept off their foundations. You will hear from a panel of Nunez College faculty, industry advisory board members and trainees about the forging of this strong workforce/industry/education partnership around the petrochemical industry's current and future workforce needs. Plus, you will have the opportunity to learn how the college is recovering from its immense storm damage as well as to drive through the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans and Chalmette to see first-hand the area's ongoing recovery efforts.
Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's New Orleans Operations
Tuesday, July 15
8:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Coffee and snack on site
In addition to Photo ID, non-U.S. citizens must also show a valid passport.
What does it take to build a ship - and a vibrant workforce development environment? The New Orleans Operations of the Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding sector is the largest manufacturing employer in the state of Louisiana with approximately 5,500 employees. The company is significantly involved in the support of workforce development and training programs and initiatives, both local and statewide, and provides extensive training programs internally as well. The New Orleans shipyard was the first manufacturing facility in Louisiana to have a formal DOL-approved Apprenticeship Program.
Northrop Grumman and its employees are also actively involved in the community and support several educational outreach initiatives as well as several local charitable and non-profit endeavors. The company's 268-acre shipyard sits on the banks of the Mississippi River in Avondale, LA., about nine miles upriver from downtown New Orleans. The shipyard is primarily involved in the construction of the San Antonio (LPD 17) Class of amphibious transport dock ships for the U.S. Navy, but also contributes to the construction of other ship classes across the sector.
Your visit will be hosted by N.J. (Woody) Ogé, Jr., Site Director, Avondale Operations, and Chairman of Governor Jindal's Workforce Transition Committee, and will include a bus tour of this extensive shipyard, interaction with company executives, and the opportunity to hear first-hand how the company has made its workforce, charitable, and educational relationships a successful reality.
Café Reconcile
Wednesday, July 16
12:15 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Lunch on site
Enjoy New Orleans cuisine while celebrating the success of local youth! Café Reconcile, the setting for the St. Regis Hospitality Program, employs local residents, trains at-risk youth from the Greater New Orleans area, and has become a venue for local civic, business, and community leaders to collaborate and communicate with each other. Located in the heart of the Central City, an economically-challenged neighborhood, Café Reconcile is an integral part of this community's revitalization and recovery. People come together at the restaurant's table from all walks of life, building the neighborhood's image and moving Central City toward change.
Since its inception in 2000 as part of Reconcile New Orleans, Inc., a non-profit organization, the St. Regis Hospitality Program has successfully graduated over 350 at-risk youth between the ages of 16 and 25. This program not only provides culinary arts and customer service on-the-job training in the working restaurant, it also teaches critical life skills and links participants to needed social service referrals and job placement. Classes about healthy, mature, adult living include conversations around financial management, drug and alcohol education, and healthy relationship building techniques, fostering self-esteem and self-worth is a goal of the program.
Take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn about an inspirational program while enjoying the restaurant's wonderful Creole fare (lunch included for tour attendees; just wear your conference badge). Southern Living Magazine in its October 2007 issue said about Café Reconcile, "This New Orleans eatery does more than satisfy an appetite. It feeds a worthy cause."
Transforming New Orleans' One-Stop Career Centers
Wednesday, July 16
1:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Dessert Snack on bus
Visit a New Orleans' One-Stop Career Center "under transformation" to see and hear how the Center coped following Hurricane Katrina and, as a result of the necessity to rebuild, decided to "leapfrog" its transformation process by designing a new facility focused on the integration of WIA, Wagner-Peyser, UI and related services.
For job seekers the center makes available a Career Resource Room and job training, continuing education, financial aid information, resume writing and job search workshops, and placement services. Through its One-Stop Business Center - which is led and supported through a coordinated initiative of the four area One-Stop Career Centers - employers can obtain assistance with state and local licensing requirements and tax credits, as well as have the opportunity to post job openings, search applicant resumes, and receive customized labor market information. In cases of high-demand, high-growth industries, the One-Stop Business Center can help companies access customized training services for new employees. In response to the special needs of young people, the center offers techniques for finding a job, internship or summer job placement, GED exam preparation, tutoring and mentoring.
The center, along with the centers operated by all of the Workforce Investment Boards in the New Orleans area, is an active participant in the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's "Driving Transformation" effort to develop innovative solutions that connect workforce and economic development with employers, educators and job seekers and ensure a dynamic pipeline of talent to fuel regional economies.
Accelerated Nursing Program at Tulane Medical Center
Thursday, July 17
7:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.
Coffee and snack on site
Learn from those who have made investing in training for high-growth occupations a priority and have produced successful RNs in just 10 months! Hear how the Tulane Medical Center, Our Lady of the Lake College, and the Workforce Investment Board have come together to address the critical nursing shortage in the New Orleans area, made all the more serious by the impact of Hurricane Katrina. Created to provide an avenue into the nursing profession for students with non-nursing undergraduate degrees, the Accelerated Nursing Program has provided training and supportive services to its students in return for the students' commitment to employment following training.
This highly acclaimed program, endorsed by the LA State Board of Nursing, has successfully graduated a significant number of nurses over the past four to five years, the vast majority of whom have passed the State nursing board exams.
During your visit on the campus of the Tulane Medical Center, a Hospital Corporation of America facility that reopened with limited service post Katrina and now operates with full services, you will learn about:
- The Accelerated Nursing Program's historical relationship with the Workforce Investment Board
- How the Program evolved, the challenges involved, and the specifics of its successes
- And how YOU can make such a program work in your area!
This tour will include a panel discussion with recent graduates from the Accelerated Nursing Program, the Vice President of Human Resources of Tulane Medical Center, the Associate Vice President of Organizational Development of Tulane Medical Center, and the Director of the Accelerated Nursing Programs at Our Lady of the Lake College. Following the discussion, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the Accelerated Nursing Program's classroom facilities.
