A top performing workforce development program is Cincinnati Works. Considering there are hundreds and hundreds of non-profit programs helping the jobless find jobs, why am I highlighting this program? What originally turned me on to this program was a workforce development program that Barbara Elliot started called The Working Connection. I admit that only working in the non-profit sector for a year does not make me an expert, in spite of the fact that my job is to find the highest performing programs serving the poor and needy, but Barbara Elliot has been identifying the very best programs for years, and seems to have an uncanny eye for finding the very best. When I noticed that she modeled her program The Working Connection after Cincinnati Works, that was all the endorsement I needed.

Cincinnati Works trains 400-600 people each year and has achieved an unprecedented 84% retention rate through their retention, support and advancement programs. The American Institute for Full Employment has selected the Cincinnati Works model as a Best Practices model program and The Harvard Business Review featured the model in its December 2006 issue. I realize a claim of “unprecedented” is hard to prove, but based on the professionalism of the program and the reviewers I’m willing to accept the fact that nobody does retention better than Cincinnati Works - and for that reason alone they deserve to be the highlighted high performing organization of he week.