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  • III. Operational Planning Elements
    The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that support the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II.(c) above. Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs. This section must include—
    • a. State Strategy Implementation
      The Unified or Combined State Plan must include—
      • 2. Implementation of State Strategy
        Describe how the lead State agency with responsibility for the administration of each core program or a Combined Plan partner program included in this plan will implement the State’s Strategies identified in Section II(c). above. This must include a description of—

III. a. 2. I. Coordinating with Economic Development Strategies.

Describe how the activities identified in (A) will be coordinated with economic development entities, strategies and activities in the State.

Current Narrative:

(I) Coordinating with Economic Development Strategies

Describe how the activities identified in (A) will be coordinated with economic development entities, strategies, and activities in the State.

The Idaho Workforce Development Council includes the Director of the Department of Commerce and many council members serve on regional economic development boards. In particular, the economic development agency East-Central Idaho Planning and Development Association, also known as The Development Company, is an integral partner with the Workforce Development Council as it officially represents the eastern Idaho local area.

  • Strategy: Target key industries using a sector strategy

When the sector strategies initiative was launched, economic development staff from the Department of Commerce joined with Department of Labor staff to jointly identify the target sectors in the state. The Department of Commerce focuses on the exact same sectors as the Department of Labor, with the addition of the Tourism industry.

Idaho Department of Labor Business Solutions staff, along with the college’s Workforce Training Centers, work hand-in-hand with Department of Commerce Business Attraction and Retention Specialists in identifying resources for promoting the targeted industry sectors in Idaho.

The aforementioned Workforce Development Training Fund has been revamped to connect employers, education, and economic development. Grants are available in three categories:

  • Direct grants to employers - these grants help Idaho employers (along with companies starting or expanding in Idaho) to train new and incumbent employees to meet specific economic opportunities and industrial expansion efforts. These can grants serve as a beneficial layoff aversion tool.
  • Industry sector grants - these sector-partnership based grants are designed to increase the talent pipeline for in-demand occupations. A minimum of three employers and an educational or training entity may apply for grant funds for specific occupational training. The employers must contribute a minimum match component for a percentage of the grant funds.
  • Micro grants - targeted to rural communities, these grants provide significant flexibility for educational institutions, community-based organizations, economic development organizations, local government entities and/or employers to increase employment and wages of the community’s workforce.
  • Strategy: Support a comprehensive education system for all students K-Career that includes rigorous school-based learning and relevant work-based learning.

The Workforce Development Training Fund sector partnership grants have been used to increase the qualified labor force for a variety of occupations in targeted industry sectors. Many of the funds have directly fortified the post-secondary education opportunities in the state. Some examples include: doubling the capacity of the computer science program at Boise State University, providing state of the art medical equipment to Idaho State University, and training incumbent workers with more technical skills to receive a license in log scaling and badges in programmable logic control.

The Idaho Department of Commerce is also an integral partner in Idaho’s Work-Based Learning Policy Academy initiative. The department recently reorganized their internal structure to more fully support a statewide business retention and expansion initiative. As representatives visit with employers, they will be able to connect those employers expressing challenges with finding skilled workers to the local, regional and statewide teams that are working to scale apprenticeships, internships and other high-quality work-based learning programs. In addition, the Department of Commerce facilitates training opportunities for local economic development professionals and can leverage that network to identify employers interested in work-based learning.

  • Strategy: Serving rural communities

Again, the Workforce Development Training Fund has been used to distribute “micro grants” to local areas in need of workforce development assistance. The grants were created with rural communities in mind. The purpose of the grants is to help ease the workforce shortages in rural areas. Retention and expansion specialists from the Department of Commerce, along with their network of local economic development professionals, play an important role in educating rural community partners, and businesses, of the availability of micro grants and help convene the parties to pursue the grants.