LiLA Programs
“LiLAs fit so well with our goals. The LiLA program is a great benefit that we are able to offer our employees. When our employees better themselves, the entire City benefits.”
Mayor Richard Hickman, City of Angola
First LiLA Pilot in Chicago, Northeast Indiana and San Francisco
From 2001 to 2007, CAEL conducted a Lifelong Learning Account (LiLA) pilot in Chicago, Northeast Indiana, and San Francisco that served more than 350 participants in four industries. The industries were: the restaurant and food industry, manufacturing, the public sector, and healthcare. The LiLA pilot program consisted of the following components:
- Employers agreed to provide LiLAs to employees and to match employee contributions up to an established cap. In this demonstration, the cap was $500 per year for two years.
- Employee participants were required to contribute a minimum of only $120 per year for two years to encourage participation by frontline workers.
- Employees mapped out a learning plan with an education and career advisor.
- Third parties matched the combined employer and employee amounts.
- Once a participant had enough funds to begin classes, the employee submitted an application for payment from his or her CAEL-administered account.
State of Maine LiLA Program
The Maine Department of Labor in partnership with the Finance Authority of Maine and others established the Maine LiLA Program. It promotes employer-matched individual college savings accounts to finance lifelong learning so that Maine workers can upgrade their skills and education while meeting the demands of businesses for a skilled workforce. The Maine LiLA Program also provides employees with free advising services to assist in education and career planning through the Maine Career Centers and Maine Centers for Women Work and Community.
Read about the Maine LiLA Program
Illinois LiLA Healthcare Pilot Program
As part of its state policy efforts to promote Lifelong Learning Accounts (LiLAs), the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning worked with policymakers in Illinois to implement a LiLA Healthcare Pilot Program. LiLA champions in the state legislature – Senator Don Harmon (D-39) and Representative Harry Osterman (D-14) – sponsored legislation establishing a state-based LiLA pilot in the healthcare sector. Unanimously passed in the Illinois Senate and favorably received in the Illinois House, the signed legislation also provides a state match of 50% of aggregate LiLA contributions, up to $500 per participant per year for two years.
Three employers are participating in the Illinois Healthcare demonstration. Gibson Area Hospital, a critical-access community hospital in central Illinois, is sponsoring 11 LiLA participants. Access Community Health Network, Chicagoland's largest, private community health center organization, is sponsoring 25 participants. Sinai Health Systems, serving Chicago’s neediest communities, is sponsoring 30 participants.
Participants began payroll deductions in February 2008, and are saving and using their funds on a wide variety of educational activities, including nursing degrees, medical coding, human resources and supervision classes, and thesis research.
San Francisco Area LiLA Program Targeting Older Workers
Over the next twenty years, older individuals will be the fastest-growing age group in San Francisco: there will be a 90% increase in those aged 55 to 64, and a 63% increase in those 65 and older. If all of these individuals were to leave the workforce right at retirement age, it would be a major shock to the local economy. However, research by the Metlife Foundation and Civic Ventures has found that more than half of older workers plan to work into their retirement years. Many of these workers have great skills and experience, yet they may not wish to—nor may they be able to—do the same kind of work they did during their youth or middle-aged years. They may need to return to school or receive short-term training to gain new skills or credentials—either to help them stay current to meet the needs of a changing economy, or to help them do something new in an “encore career.”
The San Francisco LiLA program is a pilot project run by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning, in collaboration with San Francisco-based Jewish Vocational Service (JVS), as part of CAEL’s state to state policy initiative to promote lifelong learning accounts and workforce development. Funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies, a special focus of this pilot is to serve the needs of lower-income and minority workers age 55 and older. LiLAs help to remove the barriers to attaining a higher education for mature workers in the Bay Area by promoting a matched savings plan that allows participants to save for the education they need for a promotion, new career, or to remain active in the workforce during traditional retirement years. In addition to the savings benefits of the LiLA program, participants are provided with free career and education advising to develop an individual learning plan and chart the career path that is best for them.
Four Bay Area employers, in the healthcare and public sector, have signed up to work with the LiLA program: Telecare Corporation, a private provider of adult mental health services, has sponsored 10 participants in the program; OnLok, Inc., a nonprofit focused on senior issues and housing, has sponsored 25 accounts; the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center has offered 50 slots for the program; and, representing the public sector, the City College of San Francisco has committed to 65 LiLA accounts. Of the 150 total program participants, 24% are workers over 55 years of age and 50% are over 45. Additionally, 68% of participants are low or very-low income, and 89% of the 55+ workers are lower-income and/or minority. The program is supported by an advisory committee composed of an impressive array of experts in the field of aging as well as local luminaries from labor, government and business interests. Committee members include individuals from the National Council on Aging, AFSCME Local 3299, AARP, Civic Ventures, the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and more.
All of the LiLA accounts allotted for the pilot project have been filled at this time, and the demonstration has been underway since the spring of 2007. The majority of participants have completed individual learning plans with their career advisors and all participants are saving towards their education.
Kansas City’s bi-state LiLA program
In Kansas City, LiLAs are being provided through the My LiLA Now program. The pilot project is supporting approximately two years of savings, match, and education activities. My LiLA Now is one of several initiatives funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Missouri Workforce Division, and Kansas Department of Commerce. It is one of several initiatives under OneKC WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development).
“LiLAs can help us keep good employees by offering them the opportunity to pursue education and training they need to maintain job security and career advancement. LiLAs are a win-win for our company and our employees.”
Jan Boggs, Vice President, Lime City Manufacturing
“LiLAs encourage me to attend college without having to stress about financial problems. It gives me a piece of mind to know that the LiLA program is behind me every step of the way.”
Roberto Fernandez, LiLA Participant, St. Luke’s Health System