Adult Services
Job seekers and service seekers who are unable to obtain employment that leads to self-sufficiency through diligent job search activity may be able to access intensive services. Preference for intensive and training services is given to those in low income situations, public assistance recipients, displaced homemakers and dislocated workers.
Dislocated Worker Program
Have you been laid off from work? Are you about to be laid off from work?
Losing a job is one of the most stressful events you may experience in your professional career. Cochise County Workforce Development Dislocated Worker Program can ease the stress of unemployment and help laid-off workers prepare for job searches and successful return to work.
Individuals are eligible for dislocated worker assistance under WIA (Section 101 (9) and (10) if they:
- Have been laid off or have received a notice of termination or layoff from employment and are eligible for or have exhausted entitlement to unemployment compensation; or
- Have been terminated or laid off, or have received a notice of termination or layoff, from employment because of a permanent closure or a substantial layoff at a plant, facility, or enterprise; or
- Are employed at a facility where the employer has made a public announcement that such facility will close within 180 days; or
- Were self-employed but are unemployed as a result of general economic conditions in their community or because of natural disasters; or
- Are displaced homemakers, (individuals who have been providing unpaid services to family members in the home, and who have been dependent on the income of another family member but are no longer supported by that income; and are unemployed or underemployed and are experiencing difficulty in obtaining or upgrading employment.
Services provided to dislocated workers include:
- Individual career assessment and counseling.
- Training and retraining
- Job placement
- Support services
For more information on the Dislocated Worker Program, please contact:
- Case Manager: (520) 458-9309 (Sierra Vista, Benson)
- Case Manager: (520) 364-8906 (Douglas, Bisbee & Willcox)
H-1B Technical Skills Program
Cochise County Workforce Development (CCWD) structured and administers a 3 million dollar technical skills grant. It serves both employers and workers to improve Cochise County’s IT/High Tech skill levels. Here are the qualifying factors:
- Business: The great benefit for a business to partner with CCWD under the grant is to have their training dollars matched with 50%. Meaning if the employer pays $100 for IT/High Tech employee training then the grant will pay $100. In this partnership the business is required to consider increasing the employee’s wages, promoting the individual after training and skill obtainment and to accept resumes from CCWD’s pool of IT/High Tech job seekers.
- Individual: Must be unemployed with 3 to 5 years experience in IT or a high tech position seeking employment and wanting to improve their skill level. The agreement for training at no cost is the individual must actively seek gainful IT/High Tech employment, pass vendor certifications where applicable and once employed must provide employment documentation for up to 15 months.
- Incumbent Worker: Must be employed by an organization that is partnered with CCWD under the grant.
Here are other facts about CCWD’s H-1B grant:
- Grant Period: October 1, 2003 to June 30, 2007.
- Training: The training is only for advanced IT/High Tech and not entry level.
- Purpose/Outcomes: The purpose of H-1B grants, nationwide, is to improve the skill level of American workers diminishing the need for employers to seek employees from outside of our nation through H-1B Visas (hence the name). In the IT/High Tech industry the Department of Labor has determined outcomes to be vendor certifications (such as CCNA, MCSE, etc) and completed degrees (such as BSIT, MSIT, etc.). Other IT/High Tech training may be H-1B appropriate as well.
For a complete description of the H-1B Technical Skills Program, click here to download the full program outline:
H-1B Technical Skills Program document
Apprenticeship Programs
What is apprenticeship?
It’s a job! Apprenticeship is a training method that combines supervised, full time, structured on-the-job training with related classroom instruction. It’s sponsored by employers who have the ability to hire and train in a work environment.
What is an apprentice?
An apprentice is a worker who learns a craft through planned, supervised on-the-job training in conjunction with receiving planned, related technical instruction in a classroom setting.
How the apprenticeship programs operate?
Apprenticeship combines on-the-job training with related and supplemental instructions at school. Each program operates under a set of apprenticeship standards, selection procedures and classroom course guidelines. These standards are approved and registered with the
Arizona Department of Commerce Apprenticeship Office.
Title V
Cochise County Workforce Development and Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) are working together to serve older workers, age 55 and over, in locating unsubsidized employment in Cochise County. The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) program is authorized by the Older Americans Act (Title V) as amended by Public Law 106-501. SCSEP is administered by the Department of Labor and is available to States to assist eligible individuals age 55 and older to gain competitive job skills through temporary subsidized employment and training. The program also assists eligible individuals in directly locating and securing unsubsidized employment with not-for-profit groups and governmental entities such as school districts, state, county, city and federal agencies.
Eligible persons are Cochise County residents, 55 years or older, and whose income falls within federal low-income guidelines.
For further information about this program, please contact:
Title V Coordinator
Cochise County Workforce Development, Inc
1843 Paseo San Luis
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
Phone: (520) 458-9309
Monday through Friday 8:00 am – 3:00 p.m.
DES - Programs and Services for Veterans
A Department of Economic Security (DES) Veterans Representative will be on site at Cochise County Workforce Development, Inc from Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The mission of the Veterans Staff is to help veterans secure employment (and the rights and services associated with such) through existing programs. Services provided are to be consistent with the changing needs of employers and the eligible veteran population.
The primary objective of the Veterans Program is to develop and support programs that increase opportunities for veterans to obtain employment and job training in Arizona. Eligible veterans are entitled to receive priority services in job referrals and training by DES and CCWD staff, as well as other employment related services. As part of DES services, Unemployment Insurance will be provided to claimants with early intervention and immediate referrals to suitable job openings, including employment services customized to their job finding needs, such as job search workshops, job development, and screening for referrals to jobs, training or other support services. This will hasten the Unemployment Insurance claimant's re-entry into employment.
The DES Veterans Program fulfills the requirements of the Federal Wagner-Peyser Act of 1933 and Title 38, Chapters 41, 42 and 43 of the United States Code. Trained veteran program staff, including Disabled Veterans Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists and Local Veterans Employment Representatives (LVER), are available to assist you with your employment needs.
For more information, please contact:
Local Veterans Representative
Employment Administration
1843 Paseo San Luis
Sierra Vista, AZ 85635
Phone: (520) 458-9309
Veterans Workforce Investment Initiative
Made available by the Department of Labor, Veterans Employment and Training Service 2006 Veterans Workforce Investment Program Grant, the Southern Arizona Veterans Workforce Investment Program is a partnership between Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz County One-Stop Career Centers. The Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP) grant will expand and complement Local Veterans Employment services already being provided at the three One Stop Centers, with employer education and a comprehensive menu of demand-driven training options. Southern Arizona has a high concentration of veterans relative to the nation as a whole. The purpose of this program is to provide services that will assist reintegrating eligible veterans into meaningful employment within the labor force and to stimulate the development of effective service delivery systems that will address the complex employability challenges facing many eligible veterans. Eligible Veterans include those with service-connected disabilities, Veterans who have significant barriers to employment, those who served on active duty in the armed forces during a war or campaign and recently separated veterans within 48 months of discharge.The Department of Labor awarded VWIP grants to public agencies and private non-profit organizations that the Secretary determined to have an understanding of the unemployment problems of veterans, familiarity with the area to be served, linkages with the One-Stop Career Centers, and the capability to administer a program of workforce investment activities for such veterans effectively.
For information on VWIP Services contact
VWIP Administrator 520-458-9309
