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How to uplevel your LWDB Plan
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) signed into law in 2014 is the federal government’s primary legal vehicle for coordinating with state and local governments to help job seekers develop new skills and engage in lasting, quality employment. WIOA enables state and local workforce development boards to assist workers who may have trouble connecting with the right opportunity for them, including those who may have criminal records, disabilities or are coming out of military service, and might need assistance finding the right opportunities for their respective situations.
WIOA is administered by the Federal Department of Labor, who issues guidelines for states to develop 4-year plans consistent with the goals of the act. DOL also provides Guidelines for local and regional boards in the form of a Q&A, with more guidance coming from the relevant state government, so that each local board can develop their own Local Workforce Development Board Plan.
Local Workforce development plan boards are approved by their respective states, which have 90 days to approve or deny submitted plans.
As of this writing, in Summer of 2024, The Senate is working towards a renewal of WIOA. The Department of Labor has published Requirements for WIOA Unified and Combined State Plans for PYs 2024-2027. While some Local Workforce Development Boards have suspended development of their 2024-2027 plans, they will need to get back up to speed soon. In order to work as efficiently as possible, now is a good time to review Best Practices for organizing, writing and delivering a new plan.
Understand the Requirements
Your local plan should be consistent with the state’s workforce development plan and guidelines supplied by your state. Local Boards should ensure as well that a plan aligns with WIOA requirements as outlined in Q&A’s supplied by DOL. Coordinate with and understand the current status of core programs and partners, and ensure that the assessment of local workforce needs is current and accounts for possible recent changes.
Engage Stakeholders
Working with parties interested in local workforce development will help ensure support for the plan when completed. These can include:
· Local Officials—many campaign promises center on good jobs. Local officials will be motivated to ensure that funds for workforce development go towards programs that they are backing to the extent possible.Officials who are involved with economic development, making pitches to businesses on the benefits of moving to their area, need to know that promises regarding trained and available workers will be supported by local workforce development.
· Employers—businesses have been forced to be more agile. Their requirements for employee skills have changed also. The plan should evidence awareness regarding these developments and make allowances for those needs.
· Educational institutions—Middle schools and community colleges have their own sources of funding for training job seekers for the skills they need now, as well as current job holders who need reskilling.
· Community Organizations—local groups who address the needs of the homeless, disabled and socially disadvantaged know that steady, gainful employment is a pillar in the solution for many less fortunate.
Conduct a Needs Assessment
A local workforce needs assessment answers three questions;What kinds of quality jobs are going unfilled in our region, who is available to fill those jobs, and how can needs be matched with workers? To answer this,a workforce needs assessment has two components:
· Labor Market Analysis: Identify current and future workforce needs in the region. Looking to the future, what economic,social or physical conditions exist that could affect, positively or negatively, the needs of area employers for workers?
· Skills Gap Analysis: Determine the skills employers need versus the skills available in the local workforce. For this analysis to be effective, there are sub-questions that need to be answered:
o Is it possible, given the funds available, to train prospective employees in a set of skills that will make them effective in this occupation?
o Do prospective employees reside in reasonable proximity to the workplace (if not remote work) such that they can economically make the commute? Do they have cost-effective transportation available?
o If the work is remote, do prospective employees have enough space where they live to perform the work, and can they be provisioned with suitable equipment that enables them to complete work?
A good analysis actually pairs employment with individuals whose circumstances make the work an achievable economic opportunity for them.
Set Goals and Objectives
The plan must include a mix of shorter term objectives and longer term strategy for workforce enhancement. Objectives are discrete, such as working with an educational partner to open a new training facility in 24months. Strategy can be increasing the size of the inside sales workforce by offering training specific to a software stack, discounts on the software, job search coaching and job fairs targeted to inside sales. Measuring progress fora strategy can be elusive and is often at least partially qualitative.
Develop Strategies and Actions
The plan should include equal time intervals (such as quarterly) for a strategy review, with the goal being either to alter strategy or depart from it temporarily to deal with a potential threat or take advantage of an opportunity in the near term. These meetings might also be used to review the status of projects with respect to present objectives, developing action plans to complete, or delay due to circumstances, or perhaps set aside if it is determined that the project is duplicate effort to another activity.
Implementation Plan
Implementation plans are most effective when they have defined performance period, that is a beginning and end date. Project planning software can be very useful for this stage, as it usually allows for a master time schedule with many sub-schedules. Each activity can be described in terms of time frame, objectives, methods for implementation, and resources/personnel.
Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
Depending on the dynamics of the project, it may be necessary to evaluate progress and make adjustments every week, and under some circumstances every day. The plan should recognize these variations and make.Progress reports can be integrated into an overall evaluation of the goals for the objective, and then further into a contribution to the strategy, to be reviewed at the strategy review. Establishing flexible time frames for projects and then identifying responsibility for rolling up reports should be established in the plan.
Documentation and Submission
Documentation should follow DOL recommendations generally and state documentation scrupulously. The state is responsible for review and approval in 90 days, so it is important to make Local Workforce Development Plans accessible for the State.
When developing and submitting Local Workforce Development Board plans, it is important for each Board to remember that the plan is intended to be a useful working document that will help them keep theiractivities on track, effective and within budget.
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