LeRoy Forslund, NWWIB Chair, & Mari Kay-Nabozny, NWWIB CEO

Governor Scott Walker has signed off on the Wisconsin Fast Forward program, aimed at filling Wisconsin's "skills gap." The $15 million two-year project will upgrade computer systems at job service offices and provide grants to train new and current employees. The training grants will be administered by the state Department of Workforce Development. When it comes to job creation and retention, Governor Walker said that Wisconsin's Fast Forward legislation is even more important than the mining legislation signed earlier this month. The Fast Forward legislation sped through the legislature with bipartisan support in a matter of weeks.

As board members of the Wisconsin Workforce Development Association (WWDA), which represent Wisconsin's 11 regional Workforce Development Boards, we welcome investment of state funding into workforce development. For years, the workforce boards, like the Northwest Workforce Investment Board, Inc. (NWWIB) have been on the front lines in our local communities, helping employers find skilled, qualified employees and job seekers get the training they need to find jobs. The NWWIB is made up of local business people, elected officials, educators, labor professionals, and community leaders. In fact, the majority of each workforce board must be comprised of local employers. This on-the-ground, grassroots membership makes workforce boards among the most nimble and responsive organizations to the needs of local employers and job seekers in the state. At the heart of the NWWIB's priorities is a commitment to collaboration, efficiency and accountability. Collaborative partners are essential to accomplishing our mission of helping job seekers enter, remain, and advance in the workforce while strengthening the region's business climate and supporting economic development priorities.

A major challenge our workforce faces is ensuring that workers that are already employed can access training throughout their careers that will keep them, and their employers, competitive. Workforce boards currently administer millions of dollars in federal job funding for employers and job seekers. However, federal rules limit our ability to provide training to workers if their income is above a certain level. Workforce boards currently have the expertise and capacity to train thousands of workers in promising small businesses that would like to upgrade their workers' skills, but need a little extra help to do so. Providing workforce boards with state funding will allow us to work with these employees to build their skills and ability for advancement in the workplace. This, in turn, allows employers to expand their businesses and, therefore, Wisconsin's economy.

The regional Workforce Development Boards are perfectly positioned to implement the Governor's new initiatives in a manner that will address the Governor's state-wide priorities while assuring attention to local and regional conditions. Workforce Development Boards were created through federal legislation specifically to identify area employment needs, develop plans to address those needs and oversee the acquisition and deployment of resources to address those needs. It would only be prudent to fully utilize these organizations to implement these new initiatives.