Some Dallas residents will receive visits from canvassers next month, as Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas teams up with another local nonprofit to help bolster enrollment in the agency’s free career training and employment services.
Groundwork Outreach, formerly known as Groundwork DFW, is creating a canvassing and survey campaign in partnership with Workforce Solutions to accomplish this task.
Leaders from the two nonprofits recently told The Dallas Morning News that Groundwork’s canvassers will visit four North Texas neighborhoods, carrying tablets and armed with a mission to connect residents with job training and employment services they might not know exist.
Groundwork plans to conduct the door-to-door campaign in Pleasant Grove, Irving, Grand Prairie and the Dallas International District, said Marie Appel, Groundwork’s CEO and founder. Those areas are adjacent to workforce centers, but Appel said workforce services remain largely undiscovered in parts of those neighborhoods.
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“We are that last mile that goes in and really figures out what’s going on there and then tries to solve the problem,” Appel said.
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“These are folks that are not in some cases employed,” she said, “and we are able to reach that population that most needs a little extra help, and a little extra trust and a little extra human-to-human connection.”
Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas relies on a mix of private and government funding to give residents access to free skills training, career counseling and job fairs, such as the one on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Gilley’s in downtown Dallas.
The agency also uses funds to support residents seeking child care and transportation, adult education, disability services, veteran resources and even work-related clothing and tools.
Residents check out the Carter BloodCare booth during the seventh annual “You’re Hired Job Fair” hosted by Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins in partnership with Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas at Gilley’s Dallas on Sept. 5, 2024.
Juan Figueroa / Staff Photographer
That matters, because North Texas is projected to see explosive growth in both population and in-demand, high-wage jobs. However, workforce development advocates are worried that residents will be left behind in the economic growth if more isn’t done to ensure residents are ready for future jobs.
Groundwork is planning to survey residents to identify and bust the barriers preventing more Dallasites from participating in the agency’s services, said Demetria Robinson, executive vice president of Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas.
“We don’t spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising,” Robinson said. “But boots on the ground is not something that we really spend money on … so word of mouth is probably our best friend.”
This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.