WIOA State Plan Common Elements

In order to ensure ongoing alignment between the various government agencies that are responsible for administration of the state’s workforce and education system, the CWDB and its state partners will utilize the following seven strategies to frame, align, and guide program coordination at the state, regional, and local levels.

Seven State Strategies

1.     Sector Strategies

2.     Career Pathways

3.     Regional Partnerships

4.     Earn and Learn

5.     Supportive Services

6.     Creating Cross-System Data Capacity

7.     Integrated Service Delivery

These seven policy strategies are evidence-based and have been shown to ensure effective delivery of services and increase the likelihood that those who receive services obtain gainful employment. The information below provides the overarching policy rational for each of the strategies, concrete examples of how the strategies will be implemented throughout the state will vary from partner to partner. For that reason, California chose to establish bilateral partnership agreements among WIOA core and required program partners, such as vocational rehabilitation and adult education, which detail concrete goals associated with each of the strategies. Those objectives are outlined under the operational elements portion of the plan.

California will use vehicles such as the partnership agreements, joint task forces, joint listening sessions, joint policy development, and ongoing conversations to ensure that the strategies identified are implemented in a way that provides integrated access to our shared customers – people with disabilities, formerly incarcerated, veterans, immigrants and refugees, foster youth, etc.

Sector Strategies

Sector strategies are policy initiatives designed to promote the economic growth and development of a state’s competitive industries using strategic workforce investments to boost labor productivity. The strategic focus is on prioritizing investments where overall economic returns are likely to be highest, specifically in those sectors that will generate significant gains in terms of jobs and income.

Targeting the right sectors is essential and requires that policy makers use economic and labor market data to determine which industry sectors are best positioned to make gains if investments in workforce development are made. Investment decisions are typically also contingent on the degree to which a sector faces critical workforce supply problems, for example, whether the industry faces or will face a shortage of skilled workers in a particular occupation, whether these shortages are a consequence of either growth or retirements.

A key element of sector strategies is the emphasis on industry and sector partnerships. These partnerships bring together multiple employers within a sector to find shared solutions to their common workforce problems. When done successfully, sector strategies can lead to mutually beneficial outcomes for business, labor, and the state by increasing competitiveness and growth, improving worker employability and income, and reducing the need for social services while also bolstering government revenues generated by both business and workers.

Career Pathways

Career pathways are designed to facilitate incremental and progressive skills attainment over time, in clearly segmented blocks, such that those who move through the pathway obtain education or training services built on the foundation of prior learning efforts. The objective is to provide a packaged skill set which has demonstrable labor market value at each stage of the learning process. Key elements of successful pathway programs include the following:

• Varied and flexible means of entry, exit, and participation through multiple “on and off ramps” and innovative scheduling practices.
• Entry and exit points are based on student, worker, or client needs as well as educational or skill levels, allowing those with different skill levels to participate where appropriate.
• Flexible exit allows those who cannot complete a longer term program the ability to build longer term skills through short term serial training efforts.
• Pathways programs are characterized by a high degree of program alignment and service coordination among relevant agencies, which can typically include adult education and basic skills programs, community colleges CTE programs, high school CTE programs, workforce development board programs, as well as social services agencies.
• The receipt of industry-valued credentials at each stage of training.
• Employer engagement to ensure that training and education are relevant to the labor market.

Career pathways programs are particularly useful in serving populations with barriers to employment because they can be packaged in a way that responds to client population needs. Combining career pathway programs with sector strategies has the potential to help move populations with barriers to employment into the labor force while also meeting employer’s workforce needs, by providing disadvantaged individuals with a tangible and marketable skill set that is in-demand.

As is also outlined below, apprenticeships can provide industry-driven, high-quality career pathways where employers can develop and prepare their future workforce, and individuals can obtain paid work experience, classroom instruction, and a portable, nationally-recognized credential. This model is especially impactful for supporting individuals with barriers to employment, such as people with disabilities, along a structured and meaningful career pathway that can be tailored to the needs of the participant and the employer.

Earn and Learn

Earn and learn policies are designed to facilitate skills attainment while also providing those participating in these programs with some form of compensated work experience, allowing them to “earn” income while they “learn” to do a job. Because many WIOA customers have barriers to employment and cannot afford to attend an education or training program full time because time spent in the classroom reduces time that can be spent earning income, earn and learn opportunities are an important strategy for success.

These programs include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Apprenticeships
• Pre-apprenticeships
• Incumbent worker training
• Transitional and subsidized employment
• Paid internships and externships
• Project-based compensated learning
   

The principles of earn and learn are broad enough to allow for flexible program design. As such, programs may be customized to serve clients on the basis of their given level of skills and their particular educational or training needs. Transitional and subsidized employment programs can be used to provide work experience to those who have none, facilitating the hiring of individuals that employers might not otherwise employ. Incumbent worker training serves the purpose of keeping the state’s workforce productive and its businesses competitive. Similarly, pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs can provide access to formal skills training opportunities in a variety of occupational fields that typically provide good wages and a middle class income.

Regional Partnerships

Labor markets and industry are both organized regionally. Organizing workforce and education programs regionally increases the likelihood that workforce and education programs can be aligned to serve the needs of labor markets. Regional organizing efforts should aim for the development of value-added partnerships that not only help achieve the policy goals of the partnership but also help partners achieve their organizational goals.

Regional partnerships can be mutually beneficial when they are set up to leverage each partner program’s core competencies and subject matter expertise. When shaped in this manner, regionally organized programs economize the use of scarce resources, while also allowing program operators to take programs to scale, reduce administrative costs, and package and coordinate services on the basis of specialization.

The objective of regional organizing efforts is not to create monolithic one-size-fits-all uniform workforce and education programs, but rather to coordinate service delivery on the basis of program strengths while also aligning partner programs with each region’s particular labor market needs. The exact manner in which these partnerships come together will vary from region to region based on the unique set of circumstances that shape each region’s workforce needs.

Supportive Services

Evidence suggests that skill-training programs accrue substantial and long-term benefits to job-seekers, particularly to women, low-skilled workers, workers with an outdated skill set and workers with other barriers to employment. However, many of the clients served by the state’s workforce and education programs face barriers to employment that also undermine their ability to complete a training or educational program which could help them upskill or reskill in a manner that increases their labor market prospects. Individuals often need access to a broad array of ancillary services in order to complete training or education programs and successfully enter the labor market.

Supportive services provided through the state’s workforce and education programs include everything from academic and career counseling, to subsidized childcare and dependent care, to transportation vouchers, to payment for books, uniforms, and course equipment, to substance abuse treatment, as well as benefits planning and assistive technology for people with disabilities. Supportive services may also include licensing fees, legal assistance, housing assistance, emergency assistance, and other needs-related payments that are necessary to enable an individual to participate in career and training services.

The combination of supportive services provided should depend on each particular individual’s needs and background, as well as the eligibility criteria for various programs. The exact menu of services offered to program participants will vary from region to region and locality to locality, but should always be centered on what is best for the individual.

Cross System Data Capacity

Diagnostic data is intended to steer investment to help ensure that programs align with labor market trends and needs by looking at patterns of job growth as well as aggregate education and training program output with respect to the number of degrees and certificates received and industry-recognized credentials awarded. Performance data is intended to measure typical program outcomes for individuals receiving services while helping quantify skills attainment and degree and credential production. The following types of data are used to guide the design and evaluation of workforce and education programs in California:

• Diagnostic data pertaining to the relative importance of the different industries, sectors, and occupations throughout California.
• Diagnostic data analyzing the extent to which state education and training programs are preparing students and workers with the requisite industry-recognized skills and credentials to meet employer’s skills needs and future industry demand for trained workers in relevant sectors and occupations across the state’s regions.
• Performance data on workforce and education programs, including required WIOA performance data.
• Impact analyses and return on investment studies that allow one to assess the value of the state’s workforce and education programs, as well as the ability to track outcomes longitudinally to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of career pathways.

Integrated Service Delivery

Integrated service delivery is when multiple partners work together to collaborate and coordinate their support, services and interventions. The focus is generally on individuals, or target groups, who have complex needs that require services from a variety of partners. Integrated services delivery also results in program alignment and provides access to the broad array of services funded across the state’s workforce and education programs. This approach supports the workforce systems’ ability to focus on skills development, attainment of industry recognized credentials and degrees, and prioritization of career pathways in high demand, high pay sectors.

Integrated service delivery also provides staff with the flexibility to provide customized services based on the needs of the job seeker. Services should provide job-seeking individuals with skills and supports necessary for successful participation in education and training programs that lead to employment in in-demand occupations. This can occur in a variety of ways depending on the needs of both employers and the client base in each regional and Local Area.