WORKER EQUITY INITIATIVE RESOURCES
The US workforce development system is composed of multiple programs designed to meet the employment and skill needs of American jobseekers and employers. The workforce development system changes following US economy and employment trends. These resources provide detailed descriptions of the progression of the workforce development system since the 1960s. The page also details the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and the implementation in California.
History and Overview of Workforce Development
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Workforce Development Policy
Workforce Development Policy in Other States
Key Organizations
History and Overview of Workforce Development
- Developing America's Workforce: Timeline of Federal Workforce Development Legislation from 1962-present. Also shows trends of employment and training programs funding from 1963-2019 and the United States unemployment rate from 1960-2011.
- Workforce Development in the United States: An Overview: Provides overview of workforce development policies in the United States.
- Workforce 101: Infrastructure of the Public Workforce System: Slide deck that provides an overview of federal programs that support the infrastructure of the public workforce system, organizational roles and funding streams of US Department of Labor and US Department of Education systems, the role of community-based organizations, integration policies, structures and programs, and other federally-funded programs that are partners to the DOL system.
- Workforce Board Overview: Document gives workforce advocates and community organizations an overview of the workforce development system, with a primary focus on local workforce development boards (“local boards''). The purpose of this document is to help workforce advocates and community organizations understand their local board’s role in the workforce development system, know their rights and opportunities to engage with the local board, and help strengthen efforts to support the economic and social inclusion of immigrants and refugees in their communities.
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
- A Refresher on WIOA - America's Primary Workforce Program: Background on Workforce policy before WIOA, how advocates shaped WIOA, challenges of WIOA implementation, and the future of WIOA implementation.
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act in California: Video presentation outlines Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act implementation in California.
- Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Describes Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Outlines who is served, key provisions, core programs, state strategies, and implications for labor.
- California Nonprofits and the Public Workforce System: How CBOs Can Make their Voices Heard in the WIOA Planning Process: Outlines WIOA Local Planning and describes how CBOs can engage in the planning process to ensure that the local workforce system serves all community members effectively, especially those that have barriers to employment. Describes the role Workforce Development Boards have in the planning process.
Workforce Development Policy
- Funding Resilience: This brief details the current landscape for businesses’ in-house upskilling policies and explains the major bottlenecks and barriers preventing widespread replication of effective practices. Provides recommendations for how policymakers can take action to change the trajectory and equip more businesses to implement upskilling programs that respond to current and emerging labor market demands, including the need for rapid re-hiring and re-skilling as previously unemployed workers return to the labor market.
- Making the Right Investments: Ensuring Workforce Development Programs Work for All Californians: This policy brief illustrates the paradox between immigrant contributions to our workforce and the structural barriers that shut out thousands of Californians from workforce development opportunities and contribute to increasing inequality. The brief aims to punctuate the importance of investing in workforce development for all Californians, regardless of immigration status, and calls for policies that ensure workforce development works to support upward economic mobility for every Californian.
- Skills Blog: The Skills Blog is your portal to analysis on current workforce policy proposals, recaps of events from across our networks, and insight on the latest reports and publications from NSC’s team of experts.
- The Roadmap for Racial Equity: This report builds the case for creating a racially inclusive workforce and recommends both state and federal workforce development policies that advance racial equity. It recognizes that the challenges faced by people of color with deep generational roots in the United States and the challenges faced by immigrants sometimes differ; however, the policy agenda included here aims to address inequities for people of color from both immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds.
Workforce Development Policy in Other States
- Building a Skilled Workforce for a Stronger Southern Economy: This report discusses specific policies that states could adopt to develop skilled workforces and fully realize the economic potential of local businesses and workers. Examples of current policies from southern states are also included, proving that these policy changes may be implemented in the region’s context.
Key Organizations
- Aspen Institute: The Aspen Institute has earned a reputation for gathering diverse, nonpartisan thought leaders, creatives, scholars, and members of the public to address some of the world’s most complex problems. But the goal of these convenings is to have an impact beyond the conference room. They are designed to provoke, further, and improve actions taken in the real world.
- California Competes: California Competes: Higher Education for a Strong Economy aims to solve the state’s thorny social and economic problems by conducting rigorous higher education and workforce policy research. Through their research, they guide decision makers in developing and implementing policies that bolster equity so every Californian can engage, contribute, and succeed.
- JFF: JFF is a national nonprofit that drives change in the American workforce and education systems to achieve economic advancement for all.
- Joint Center: The Joint Center’s future of work program is focused on identifying the challenges and opportunities of the changing nature of work for Black communities. Automation, the "gig economy," and globalization are changing the nature of work, and can either deepen or eliminate racial disparities in the future based on today's policy decisions. Their work concentrates on creating solutions to help workers in Black communities as the economy changes.
- National Skills Coalition: NSC is a national organization fighting for inclusive, high-quality skills training so that people have access to a better life, and local businesses see sustained growth. They engage in analysis and technical assistance, organizing, advocacy, and communications to improve state and federal skills policies.
- Skills for CA: Skills for CA is a statewide network of organizations advancing workforce development policies that remove systemic barriers and promote an inclusive economy for all Californians.
- SNAP for Skills: SNAP to Skills is a project of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service that offers States the technical assistance, tools and resources they need to build more effective and job-driven SNAP Employment and Training programs. SNAP E&T is a federally-funded, State-administered program that provides SNAP participants with the skills and education they need to find a good-paying job that leads to self-sufficiency.
- PolicyLink: PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by Lifting Up What Works. PolicyLink, working with an array of stakeholders, has been instrumental in building a potent broad-based movement for equity and engaging hundreds of partners in cities, suburbs, rural communities, and tribal lands across America.
Proudly powered by Weebly