Vendor outreach and referral source network
Harry describes vendor preparation through FAQs, procurement events, and 77 pre-solicitation conferences. OCH established a referral source network of 81 organizations, including unions, Workforce One centers, HRA Business Link, and community-based organizations.
We also focused on preparing city vendors so that they had the information they needed to understand, comply with, and benefit from community hiring.
These efforts included publishing a vendor-specific FAQ document on our website, attending community and procurement events to conduct vendor outreach, and presenting during pre-solicitation conferences to provide guidance to vendors interested in responding to solicitations for procurements with goals.
To date, we have presented at 77 pre-solicitation conferences.
To help vendors fill their workforce needs and meet their community hiring goals, we established a network of referral sources, which are entities authorized by our office to connect vendors with qualified job seekers in search of opportunities.
We intentionally designed our referral source network to drive more employers and more jobs to the public workforce system.
Currently, our network includes 81 organizations, including labor unions, SPS's Workforce One Career Centers, HRA's Business Link, and dozens of community-based organizations that have contracts with agencies like DYCD for job placement services.
Referral sources conduct outreach to their communities.
Provide free job placement and recruitment services, determine job seekers are eligible as community hires, and help ensure that candidates meet a vendor's employment needs.