WIOA State Plan Common Elements

IV. COORDINATION WITH STATE PLAN PROGRAMS
Benchmarks of Success

The Benchmarks of Success for Maryland’s Workforce System will be a framework used by Maryland workforce development system partners to build system effectiveness, support transparency about progress, and help State and local WIOA partners align resources and strategies with its intentions.
MD Labor (including TAA), DHCD, DHS, DORS, and all other programs engaged in Maryland’s Combined Plan work together to implement the Benchmarks of Success. The Benchmarks reflecta shared and coordinated vision of excellence among the State’s workforce system partners and provide a strategic tool for continuous improvement. As Maryland seeks to strengthen and enhance its workforce system through implementation of WIOA, success requires a commitment to innovation, collaboration, and readiness to take a true systems approach.

Joint planning and coordination occurs between all partners. Specifically, strategies to integrate the TAA include issuing a new policy in 2019 (PI 2019-11 Trade Adjustment Assistance) to ensure better coordination between TAA and UI, encouraging the co-enrollment of TAA participants in Title I programming, extensive co-planning between the TAA and Rapid Response/Business Services staff, and representation on the WIOA Alignment Group via MD Labor’s Director of Workforce Development.

In order to guide the WIOA partners in this work, the Benchmarks set forth a clear vision, goals, and measurable achievements that will help gauge success, as the WIOA partners work to lay the foundation of this new system. Strategic goals and corresponding benchmarks are focused around a central vision of increasing the earning capacity of Marylanders by maximizing their access to employment, skills and credentialing, life management skills, and supportive services.

In implementing the Benchmarks, Maryland has re-purposed its WIOA workgroups, which will feed back into each other for continuous collaboration and improvement of services, data, and vision. The committees below form the infrastructure for achieving the vision:

1. Executive Steering Committee- including the executive leadership from the core WIOA partner agencies, responsible for providing strategic oversight and direction to the Benchmarks initiative, and governing the WIOA Alignment Group;
2. WIOA Alignment Workgroup- responsible for ensuring the strategic vision of the Executive Steering Committee is realized by providing operational guidance to the other Benchmark committees;
3. Data and Dashboard- responsible for developing a consistent, sustainable system all workforce partners can use to measure, analyze, display, and apply Benchmarks data to continuously improve the quality and effectiveness of services;
4. Professional Development and Technical Assistance- responsible for producing, disseminating, and facilitating professional development and technical assistance programming that supports Maryland’s WIOA partners in what the Benchmarks are and how they can be used to drive continuous improvement; additionally, this committee will conduct a stakeholder analysis;
5. Policy- responsible for identifying opportunities to support the implementation of the Benchmarks via policy change; and
6. Communications- responsible for developing a plan that identifies stakeholders, effective communication methods, and maps out the implementation of the Benchmarks. This committee facilitates and maintains the internal communication between the committees as well as external communication about the Benchmarks.

Maryland’s WIOA Alignment Group

The WIOA Alignment Group meets monthly and is the main coordinating body under Maryland’s Combined State Plan. The Alignment Group includes leadership from the key programs represented in the Maryland State Plan. At a minimum, the Alignment Group will be comprised of the following: 

• At least one representative of the GWDB;
• At least one representative from the Maryland DLLR’s DWDAL, including TAA;
• At least one representative from the Maryland DLLR’s DUI;
• At least one representative from the Maryland DHS’ FIA;
• At least one representative from the MSDE’s DORS;
• At least two Local Workforce Development Board representatives;
• At least one local representative from the DORS;
• At least one local representative of a WIOA Title II adult education service provider;
• At least one representative from a Local Department of Social Services (LDSS); and
• At least one representative from the DHCD.