Located in:
- II. Strategic Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a Strategic Planning Elements section that analyzes the State’s current economic environment and identifies the State’s overall vision for its workforce development system. The required elements in this section allow the State to develop data-driven goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce and to identify successful strategies for aligning workforce development programs to support economic growth. Unless otherwise noted, all Strategic Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs.
II. b. State Strategic Vision and Goals
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include the State’s strategic vision and goals for developing its workforce and meeting employer needs in order to support economic growth and economic self-sufficiency. This must include—
1. Vision
Describe the State’s strategic vision for its workforce development system.
2. Goals
Describe the goals for achieving this vision based on the analysis in (a) above of the State’s economic conditions, workforce, and workforce development activities. This must include—
(A) Goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce, including preparing youth and individuals with barriers to employment8 and other populations.9
(B) Goals for meeting the skilled workforce needs of employers.
[8] Individuals with barriers to employment include displaced homemakers; low-income individuals; Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians; individuals with disabilities, including youth who are individuals with disabilities; older individuals; ex-offenders; homeless individuals, or homeless children and youths; youth who are in or have aged out of the foster care system; individuals who are English language learners, individuals who have low levels of literacy, and individuals facing substantial cultural barriers; eligible migrant and seasonal farmworkers (as defined at section 167(i) of WIOA and Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 35-14); individuals within 2 years of exhausting lifetime eligibility under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program; single parents (including single pregnant women); and long-term unemployed individuals.[9] Veterans, unemployed workers, and youth and any other populations identified by the State.
3. Performance Goals
Using the tables provided within each Core Program section, include the State's expected levels of performance relating to the performance accountability measures based on primary indicators of performance described in section 116(b)(2)(A) of WIOA. (This Strategic Planning element only applies to core programs.)
4. Assessment
Describe how the State will assess the overall effectiveness of the workforce development system in the State in relation to the strategic vision and goals stated above in sections (b)(1), (2), and (3) and how it will use the results of this assessment and other feedback to make continuous or quality improvements.
Current Narrative:
Vision
Vermont’s employment demands will be met through a statewide, coordinated, and integrated system of workforce education, training, and development where all Vermonters can connect to robust career pathways, advance along career ladders, and new Vermonters can quickly secure employment with a Vermont employer.
Goals
Goal 1: Connect Vermonters to the education, training, and supportive services needed to enter and advance along a career pathway that leads to greater financial independence.
Goal 2: Increase the number of women, veterans, minorities, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented people employed in the skilled trades, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, advanced manufacturing, and other priority industry sectors in Vermont.
Goal 3: Increase the number of Vermonters with barriers to employment who complete high school, earn a post-secondary credential - including an industry-recognized certificate, registered apprenticeship, or post-secondary degree program - and become employed in occupations that align with the needs of Vermont’s employers.
Goal 4: Improve Vermont’s workforce development system by continuously aligning, adapting, and integrating workforce education and training programs and career and supportive services to meet the needs of all customers.
Goal 5: Expand Vermont’s labor force by helping more Vermonters enter the labor market and assisting out-of-state workers in securing employment with Vermont employers and relocating to Vermont.
Performance Goals
See Appendix I
Assessment
The State will assess the overall effectiveness of the workforce development system in the following ways:
- The six common performance measures reported by the core partners will indicate how many jobseekers and employers are being served, how well they are being served (short and long-term employment, wages, credential attainment, skill gain, repeat services, etc.), and whether our performance is aligned with our goals this program year and over time,
- The common data elements collected on program participants and services will indicate whether target populations are experiencing positive impacts as expected,
- The state’s unemployment and labor market participation rates will indicate if employers’ needs are being met,
- The WIOA narrative report and VDOL’s Annual Workforce Report will describe outcomes from specific initiatives, progress in supporting targeted populations, staff development, sector-based partnerships, etc.,
- Customer satisfaction surveys administered by each program will reflect whether services are meeting the needs of customers,
- The State Workforce Development Board’s Policy Committee will review and assess the physical and programmatic accessibility of the Burlington AJC and One-Stop system in 2021.
- The State Workforce Development Board’s Policy Committee will be working to establish a common set of workforce system performance measures that public and private stakeholders can look to in evaluating how well Vermont is meeting its labor force education, training, and employment needs.
The State will use the results of the assessments and other feedback to make continuous and quality improvements, using the regular negotiation of the One-Stop MOU as the mechanism for initiating system-wide changes.