Available at One-Stop Career Centers and community-based sites throughout the state, the Workforce Learning Link is a holistic initiative created in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development (LWD) and NJN Public Television to provide adult learners instruction in reading, writing, and math; communication; financial literacy; job search; and employability and life skills.

The Workforce Learning Link is designed to deliver workforce training programs and services directly to welfare registrants, dislocated workers and other job seekers identified by the LWD, the New Jersey Department of Corrections and other agencies. Using digital television technology, streaming video, computer software, the Internet and print materials, NJN provides interactive training services that allow participants to address individual employment-related issues at their own pace.

The core components of the Workforce Learning Link are:

Services for the Hearing and Sight-Impaired
Individuals who are blind and visually-impaired are now served by the installment of a larger computer monitor and two specialized software products - JAWS and ZoomText - at all Workforce Learning Link sites. JAWS (Job Access With Speech) allows students to hear what is on the computer screen. JAWS scans the screen and uses a voice synthesizer to read it aloud. ZoomText provides variable screen magnification and text-to-speech for vision-impaired computer users.

To assist hearing-impaired students, NJN is excited to provide open-captioned versions on all video programs available on Workforce Learning Link computers. Captioning is an assistive technology that makes television and video programs accessible for persons with hearing disabilities. Through captioning, the audio portion of programming is displayed as text superimposed over the video. Programs that are available at the Workforce Learning Link sites with open-captioning are: JOBCAST, Workplace Essential Skills, GED Connection, Women in the Workforce, Ex-Offenders Successfully Re-entering Society, High Tech in NJ, Jobs in Atlantic City, and New Jersey Works in Brief.

Equipped for the Future
The Workforce Learning Link content incorporates the Equipped for the Future (EFF) Content Standards. The State (New Jersey) Council for Adult Literacy Education Services (SCALES), a bipartisan body created within the State Employment Training Commission (SETC), voted unanimously to adopt Equipped for the Future (EFF) Content Standards as the framework for adult literacy services in New Jersey. The 16 EFF standards define the knowledge and skills adults need in order to successfully carry out their roles as parents, citizens, and workers in the 21st Century. These skills include strong reading, writing, and math skills, good communication, ability to work well with others, problem-solving, and keeping up with change. To learn more about the EFF standards, click here. To obtain free copies of "Equipped for the Future Content Standards - What Adults Need to Know and Be Able to Do in the 21st Century," click here for online ordering or call toll free (877) 433-7827. If 877 is not yet available in your area, call 1-800-LEARN (TTY/TDD call 1-800-477-0833). Copies may now be downloaded off the Internet here.

Where to find a Workforce Learning Link program
The Workforce Learning Link program is currently available at One-Stop Career Centers in all twenty-one counties; the Newark Housing Authority; a Department of Corrections' assessment and training center in Camden; three state correctional instiutions; the Urban League in Jersey City; a community college in Sewell; and community-based organizations in Newark, Paterson, and Hammonton. The LWD and NJN continue to identify other community-based sites throughout the state to provide workforce services and programs in the future.

Click here for a list of Workforce Learning Link sites, as well as sites providing literacy programs other than the Workforce Learning Link Program.