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Recent Publications
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National Skills Coalition released a new report, Building Pathways to Employment in America's Cities through Integrated Workforce and Community Development, which explores ways that federal policy can better support efforts to integrate physical and human capital investments in America's cities.
Senior policy fellow Dr. Keith W. Bird has called for the establishment of a new postsecondary training system that would award industry-accepted, skill-focused credentials to community college students and other training participants. In an interview with TrainingIndustry.com, Dr. Bird argued that such a system would be more closely aligned with the needs of industry and the labor market than traditional community college associate degree programs.
This thoughtful article looks to Janesville, WI as an example of what happens when the "big plant" leaves a community. The analysis of what happened to people who entered the retraining efforts versus those who did not was done in collaboration with Laura Dresser at the Center on Wisconsin Strategies and Kevin Hollenbeck at the Upjohn Institute. This story clearly reinforces just how much pain and suffering there is when millions of people don't have jobs.
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Where We've Been
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In early October, we participated in a Trans-Atlantic Technology and Training Alliance symposium which addressed questions facing community and technical colleges in the U.S. and Europe in providing the skills needed for manufacturing to re-invent itself. President & CEO Jeannine M. La Prad discussed manufacturing innovation and the power of partnerships. Senior policy fellow Dr. Keith Bird also moderated a panel. Additional presentations are available.
On September 25th, CSW joined the National Skills Coalition (NSC) and the National Governor's Association (NGA) for an audio update to discuss the role of state sector strategies with experts from the field who have championed these efforts. The direction of the conversation was driven by the forthcoming paper, State Sector Strategies Coming of Age: Implications for State Workforce Policy Makers, co-authored by NSC, NGA and CSW.
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Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training Program Implementation Resources Available
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Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College Career Training (TAACCCT) grants represent a great opportunity for our nation's institutions of higher education to transform their approaches to helping adults succeed in acquiring the skills, degrees, and credentials needed to obtain good jobs and meet the needs of employers.
CSW recently partnered with state leaders and colleges in their TAACCCT grant application efforts, and we gained a great appreciation for the work that lies ahead for these states and colleges.
We have substantial experience providing implementation support to United States Department of Labor (USDOL) grantees and helping to improve many projects and partnerships that worked on the integration of USDOL and United States Department of Education programs. Based on this, we're sharing a set of online resources compiled from what we've learned that may help college consortia succeed.
We're also available to support your TAACCCT implementation efforts and evaluation needs. Contact Leise Rosman at lrosman@skilledwork.org or 734-769-2900 x252 with inquiries.
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National Technical Assistance Strategy for DOL Grantees Charged with Training Workers to Secure Jobs
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During 2009, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded 244 grants totaling $750 million through five solicitations, collectively aimed at preparing workers for careers in renewable energy, energy efficiency, healthcare, and other emerging industries. The grantees selected were diverse and included workforce boards, community colleges, community-based organizations, employer organizations, labor unions, state agencies, and others. The various strategies undertaken by the grantees to design and deliver their training programs in a range of industries were equally diverse.
Known to the grantees as the TA Partnership, the team is led by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, and includes as partners Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and Collaborative Economics, Inc. The question facing the technical assistance (TA) team engaged by USDOL was how to design an effective support strategy for more than 200 grantees. Given that technical assistance was starting well into the grant period (the TA Partnership was engaged about a year after the 2-3 year grants had begun), and that the grantees were different in both size and strategy, the TA Partnership developed and has operated from an explicit strategy intended to help grantees more effectively and efficiently meet their goals and outcomes. Key parts of the strategy include:
- Focusing on Critical Success Factors across all grantee types. The TA Partnership concluded that a way to provide strategic, contextual assistance to a large set of varied grantees was to focus them on a set of "Critical Success Factors." The 7 factors chosen were: data driven decision making; employer engagement; partnership building; leveraging resource; participant support; policy alignment; and sustainable systems change. These factors form the Critical Success Factors Framework, a self-assessment tool made available for grantees to use in tracking their development in each factor. The Critical Success Factors comprise the basis of all TA work, from site-specific support, to group engagements, to tools for grantees to use on their own. An additional benefit of these factors is that they were effective for guiding all 5 types of grantee. The TA Partnership believes that succeeding on these factors sets the stage for sustainable systems change and better outcomes.
- Coupling technical assistance with substantial promising practices information. From the start, the TA Partnership team has documented and disseminated promising practices from the grantee pool to complement technical assistance. The promising practices are deliberately organized by the Critical Success Factors. The promising practices form a robust set of online information and publications, including grantee case studies and papers about key issues grantees are facing.
- Targeting customized technical assistance to grantees with the greatest needs. With over 200 grantees, the TA Partnership collaborated with USDOL to create a prioritization process for targeted technical assistance every quarter. Targeted grantees receive one-on-one focused technical assistance in addition to support provided to all grantees. Priorities are revisited each quarter.
- Providing multiple options for group technical assistance and learning. Early on, The TA Partnership asked the grantees to do a self-assessment of their initiative and the subjects/types of technical assistance they would find most valuable. The TA Partnership used that feedback to shape an ongoing mix of institutes, webinars, regular conference calls among each grantee set, regional meetings, and peer-to-peer connections among grantees to support their learning and decision-making. At every convening, the TA Partnership collaborated with relevant USDOL staff to address grant management issues, whether contract modifications, MIS issues, legal requirements, or other sticking points.
Grantees found the TA Partnership's strategy to be effective at identifying their needs, providing just-in-time support, and making peer connections that help grantees learn from each other to keep their performance on track. If you'd like to learn more about our approach and the tools we're using for providing TA, contact Taryn MacFarlane at tmacfarlane@skilledwork.org.
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About CSW
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Corporation for a Skilled Workforce is a national nonprofit that partners with government, business, and community leaders to develop good jobs and the skilled workers to fill them. For more than 20 years, we have been an effective catalyst for change by articulating opportunities and models for innovation in work and learning and provoking transformative change in policy and practice.
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