Workforce Innovation Networks—WINs—today
announced a major expansion, with the addition of 15 organizations
that are both actively engaging their members with the public
workforce development system and providing lower-skilled workers
the training and support they need to succeed at work, advance
their careers, and increase their incomes.
At the local level, WINs is expanding the number
of organizations working as intermediaries with the public workforce
system from the current nine demonstration projects to a total
of twenty-one.
At the state level, WINs is launching three
partnerships among state employer associations and key state-level
decision makers in workforce development, including elected officials
and representatives of administrative agencies.
Both efforts are funded by the U.S. Department
of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.
"The inexorable progress of technology
has raised skill requirements across a wide spectrum of jobs,"
said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training
Emily Stover DeRocco. "That change, along with the loss of
a vast pool of accumulated experience as baby boomers retire,
clearly supports our efforts to make the public workforce investment
system demand-driven so that workers are prepared with the skills
employers need."
The principle behind the WINs project is that
employer organizations can act as effective intermediaries to
increase employer use of the public workforce system so that business
needs are met at the same time that labor market outcomes are
improved for lower-skilled adults and youth.
WINs is a partnership of the Center for Workforce
Success, the non-profit affiliate of the National Association
of Manufacturers; the Center for Workforce Preparation, a non-profit
affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; and Jobs for the Future,
a non-profit organization based in Boston. Each of the three partners
has selected four organizations to join WINs.
"We couldn't be more pleased with the caliber
of our new NAM affiliates in the WINs initiative. Their ability
to connect employers, job seekers and the public workforce system
will be an enormous asset to their communities," according
to Phyllis Eisen, vice president of the National Association of
Manufacturers. The four NAM affiliates chosen to join the initiative
are the California Association of Employers (Sacramento, CA),
the Employers Association (Peoria, IL), the Manufacturers Association
of South Central Pennsylvania (York, PA), and the San Diego Employers
Association, Inc.
"A number of chambers are actively engaged
in workforce development; CWP selected those sites that have the
best potential for making a difference in their communities and
with the publicly funded system," according to Beth Buehlmann,
executive director of the Center for Workforce Preparation. The
four Chambers of Commerce chosen to join the initiative are the
Arlington Chamber of Commerce (Arlington, TX), the Brooklyn Chamber
of Commerce (Brooklyn, NY), the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of
Commerce (Cincinnati, OH), and the Tulsa Metro Chamber/Workforce
Tulsa (Tulsa, OK).
"Jobs for the Future conducted the Career
Advancement Strategy Competition to seek out the nation's most
innovative models, and we received over 275 applications,"
according to JFF President Marlene B. Seltzer. The four organizations
chosen to join the initiative are the Capital Area Training Foundation
(Austin, TX), the New Century Careers, Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh,
PA), the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (Milwaukee, WI),
and WorkSource Partners (Brookline, MA).
The three WINs state-level partnerships will
be created and coordinated by the Association of Washington Business,
the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, and the Wisconsin Manufacturers
and Commerce/Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Their goal
is to help make state workforce systems more effective at meeting
the needs of employers, their lower skilled employees, and job
seekers.
Established in 1997, WINs takes a "dual
customer" approach to workforce development—meeting
employer needs and improving lower-skilled worker career prospects.
This has distinguished the initiative since its inception.
More information is available on the following
Web sites:
Center for Workforce Preparation:
http://www.uschamber.com/cwp
Center for Workforce Success: http://www.nam.org/secondary.asp?TrackID=&CategoryID=292
Click here to go back
