3.2 Meeting in Clarenville

Once all of the selections were made, there was a meeting held in Clarenville where representatives of all of the Sponsoring agencies and the CLNs got together to meet and review processes, to understand the concept and to forge relationships among themselves. Some participants felt this was a very useful multi–day session (it was sponsored by the Office of Learning Technologies) and others felt it should have been more practical and focused. The meeting itself was not a part of this evaluation.

3.3 Employment Partner Selection

Each sponsoring agent then undertook the process of selection an Employment Partner. In some cases, it had been done, or almost done, as part of the Site Selection process, and in others (such as Baie Verte) the intended employment partner changed their minds and withdrew and another selection process had to start.

While there were guidelines for selection of the employment partner in the links provided to the project sponsors in each of the sites, many of the recommendations arising from the Pilot are about strengthening them and making them more specific. While most of the employment partners selected were very strong, others were not and it is anticipated this might have been avoided with more stringent employment partner criteria.

The role of RNDA in employment partner selection, once the project sponsor was in place, was purely in an advisory capacity. The final selection of employment partner was the choice of the project sponsor.

3.4 Role of the College of the North Atlantic

The College of the North Atlantic (CNA) is a major partner in Bridging the Gap. They play pivotal roles not only in the training of participants, but also in the skill set design, curriculum development, and the participant testing and screening.

The College provides supports on many fronts: provision of resource materials, training space, are active members of all of the CLNs, Human Resource Management and Recruitment and advisory supports, based on their 40 years of experience as the public college of Newfoundland and Labrador. Community Economic Development is a part of their mandate and Bridging the Gap intersects this mandate with corporate and individualized training.

The Student Services Counselors of the campuses working with Bridging the Gap assisted in the selection of appropriate tests for screening participants, administered those tests and interpreted their results. While many people involved in the project felt the process was too rigorous and verged on intimidating, the Counselors were working with the model they were given, and they carried out their work professionally.