It Takes a Community: Ensuring WIOA Planning and Implementation Lead to Greater Economic…

“This brief and the WIOA Planning & Implementation Toolkit provide advocates, community-based service providers, public system leaders, philanthropy, and researchers with practical and actionable recommendations for leveraging WIOA’s state and local planning processes, and other opportunities embedded in the legislation, to increase employment and economic opportunity for adults and youth facing barriers to employment” (p.1).

“Goal 1: States and communities should seek to leverage data and information effectively to identify the scope, scale, and needs of adult and youth jobseekers facing barriers to employment.

Goal 2: States and communities should seek to align resources and strategies with the needs of adult and youth jobseekers facing barriers to employment and evidence-based and promising solutions.

Goal 3: State and local public systems should plan and partner effectively to maximize resources and leverage strengths.

Goal 4: States and communities should create accountability mechanisms, evaluate efforts, and periodically revisit goals for serving the employment needs of adults and youth facing barriers.

Under each of these goals, this brief offers ideas and actionable recommendations for advocates, community-based service providers, public system leaders, philanthropy, and researchers to get involved in WIOA planning processes. Although these distinct roles may be arbitrary in some communities or may not exist entirely, readers should consider how they can advance this brief’s recommendations while leveraging the strengths of organizations and stakeholders in their community to achieve the four goals outlined above” (p.9).

(Abstractor: Author)

Full Publication Title: It Takes a Community: Ensuring WIOA Planning and Implementation Lead to Greater Economic Opportunity for Adults and Youth Facing Chronic Unemployment

Now is the time for communities and stakeholders to help shape the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act’s (WIOA) implementation—an undertaking that can have lasting and far-reaching positive effects for adult and youth jobseekers facing barriers to employment. Given the economic and social costs of chronic unemployment and poverty, working to meet the employment needs and interests of these jobseekers must be priority in states and communities. Acting in partnership with many other system partners and stakeholders, the public workforce system under WIOA can pave the way toward building robust and aligned public systems that meet the workforce needs adult and youth jobseekers facing barriers to employment. Leveraging the state and local planning processes and other opportunities embedded in WIOA, community stakeholders and leaders can achieve the goals of increasing employment and economic opportunity for adults and youth facing barriers to employment now and into the future” (p. 33). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2015
• Author(s): Young, Melissa.
• Organizational Author(s): Heartland Alliance’s National Initiatives on Poverty & Economic Opportunity
• Funding Source: Funding source not identified
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Long Dang
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies