FIXING MCDI: A Troubled Training Center Looks to the Future

The agency's clients, to a large degree, are troubled in many cases poor, undereducated, and not skilled enough to succeed in the job market. Some are homeless, and others face social issues from drugs to pregnancy.

For more than 30 years, the Mass. Career Development Institute (MCDI) has helped such residents of Springfield by educating and training them to be productive members of the workforce.

But now, the agency itself is troubled - and the decisions being made today by city leadership will have an impact on how effective MCDI can be in the next decade and beyond.

The sheer reach of the organization has never been in doubt. Since its inception in 1970, MCDI has helped more than 25,000 people obtain the skills they need to enter or reenter the workforce - and today, at a time when training needs can change rapidly, an agency of this type remains a crucial element in the local economy, according to Springfield Mayor Charles Ryan.

However, the mayor is also aware of how a number of setbacks have tarnished the reputation of this quasi-public agency, and he is actively developing a strategy for its future structure, leadership, and direction.

"It's very important, certainly, and we would like to see it restored to where it was years ago," Ryan said. "It has absolutely played a big role."

Trouble Brewing

That role came under the spotlight last spring when Gerald Phillips, then-MCDI executive director, was indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and federal program fraud, and was accused of directing MCDI money for personal benefit by billing the Springfield School Department for hours worked by "no-show" employees.

In addition, Phillips was charged with threatening a witness, an MCDI student who claimed to receive her noshow job in return for sexual favors to Phillips.

"The use of positions of responsibility and power for personal gain, as alleged in the indictment, is an unconscionable breach of the public trust," said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan at the time of the indictments. "Such conduct undermines confidence that their government institutions are being run honestly."

The case is still pending, and Phillips was transferred to a position in MCDI's Holyoke office, leaving Barry Metayer, the agency's longtime grant writer, in charge of the main office's daily operations.

"Our staff continues to do a great job. The day-to-day business we do has not been affected," Metayer said, adding that the primary impact of last year's scandals was psychological. "It has definitely affected the morale of the staff, but they continue to do their jobs."

Still, the current setup leaves much to be desired, he said, as MCDI has no official director, and his new responsibilities have kept Metayer from the grant-writing work that has become more crucial as federal and state funding have lessened over the past decade. The agency receives no direct city funding, and has been a victim, along with many other organizations across the Commonwealth, of recent cuts in state aid.

"Most grants are performance-based to some degree, based on job placements and enrollments," he said. For that reason, the most important aspect of running MCDI is making sure the programs it offers match up to the realities of the marketplace.

"I think we need to take a look at our programs and constantly upgrade them according to the needs of the local labor market," he continued. "We've had to change our programs and sometimes cut back, and in order to survive and grow over the next 30 years, we'll need to change as the times change, so we can provide real job opportunities for our graduates."

Those programs remain wide-ranging, however. A course in office systems technology, for instance, includes skill development in typing, business writing, business math, record-keeping, electronic communication, filing, word processing, and spreadsheets. The roster also includes courses in computer technology, certified nurse's aide training, and metal fabrication, among many others.

However, the greatest need for MCDI's constituency is adult basic education, including English as a second language and GED studies. And even those who have a high-school education often lack the "soft skills" necessary to hold down jobs including attendance, attitude, and communication with co-workers and customers - so MCDI provides training in that area as well. Meanwhile, the agency also runs an alternative high school and middle school, as well as operating a welfare-to-work endeavor.

In addition, MCDI satellite offices in Holyoke and Westfield provide many of the same training and education services the 105,000-square-foot headquarters in Springfield does. "It's a comprehensive menu of services all under one roof," Metayer said. "You don't have to go to three or four places to get all this."

Meeting Needs

The agency has struck up a partnership with Springfield Technical Community College for students at MCDI to earn college credits, but Metayer knows that most people in these training programs will not attend college. And that fact can create a sense of hopelessness in the community which the institute seeks to combat.

"In this population, many people have no other option," he said. "People who work with us get real opportunities for employment-, without us, I don't think the same opportunities would exist.

"The perception is that all the jobs that become available are high-tech," he added. "But the reality is, there are hundreds and hundreds of jobs that don't require college degrees. We can help people get into those jobs."

For some, the needs are even more dire.

The McKinney Program, funded with state and federal money, provides training, education, and transitional housing for homeless individuals and families.

In addition, MCDI partners with Human Resources Unlimited, Mental Health Associates, and the Marriott Corp. to provide basic education, life skills training, and culinary arts training to 18 homeless, mentally ill individuals at a time. MCDI also provides 15 meals per week for homeless people at the Worthington Street shelter in Springfield.

An arm of the Springfield School Department until 19%, MCDI retains its quasipublic status, and staffers are city employees. The agency has also cultivated relationships with the area's two one-stop career centers.

"They refer people to CareerPoint and FutureWorks," said William Ward, director of the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County. "The career centers are different from MCDI; they're more involved in the direct placement of individuals looking for jobs - getting job orders from companies and matching up job seekers with job orders.

"For people who come in looking for a job but may not have the skills, the career centers might refer them to MCDI," he continued, explaining the sometimes symbiotic relationship between the different organizations.

With those partnerships in play, it's easy to see why the region's leaders are interested in maintaining the health of both types of programs. The question for MCDI remains, how should the organization be structured in order to continue its mission most effectively? And that's the question that Ryan has before him - and is actively seeking to answer.

"They need to take a good, hard look at all the programs and where they fit in the marketplace today," Ward said. "They need to determine what MCDI's niche is and where it wants to compete for customers."

For his part, Ryan is tight-lipped on the direction of those discussions, although he said he will know more toward the end of April. "We're working hard to evaluate the whole thing, and we're meeting with many people, but at this point, we can't make any decisions yet," the mayor said. "But the analysis is going on right now."

Closer Look

It is rare for an agency such as MCDI to be so closely intertwined with a city's payroll, and that organizational structure is part of what Ryan is currently examining.

"The city has made a major commitment to this center," Ward said. "And it must always be re-asking, 'to what level should the city be involved in this?'"

Whatever decision Ryan and other city leaders come up with, they express a commitment to the health of an agency that trains and educates some 1,800 people per year. The recent Phillips scandal was a setback for sure, both in public perception and internal morale, but Metayer is confident that MCDI will emerge from the negative headlines with a more certain direction, leadership structure and fuiture.

"We have the space to expand as we determine what we should be doing to enhance economic development efforts," he said.

And through all the change the agency has been through, that's a mission that has not changed in 30 years.