March 3, 2009
Joseph M Carbone
President and CEO, The WorkPlace, Inc
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, held a recent hearing entitled
“A Stronger Workforce Investment System for a Stronger Economy.”
The hearing refocused attention on the need to modernize and strengthen the workforce investment system, which is responsible for creating jobs and providing job seekers with the education and skills training needed to obtain and succeed in 21st century jobs.
“The Senate has passed a bill to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act twice over the past six years, but it has not been signed in to law,” said Harkin. “At a time when national unemployment hovers around 10 percent, and when so much political attention is being devoted to job creation and savings, it is critical that we modernize and reauthorize the WIA — the cornerstone of our nation’s workforce development system.” Witnesses included:
• Joseph M. Carbone, President and CEO, The WorkPlace, Inc., Southwestern Connecticut’s Workforce Development Board, Bridgeport, CT
• Anthony P. Carnevale, Research Professor and Director, The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, Washington, D.C.
• Cheryl Feldman, Executive Director, District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund, Philadelphia, PA
• Paul Stalknecht, President and CEO, Air Conditioning Contractors of America, Arlington, VA
• Robert Templin, President, Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA), Annandale, VA
Joseph M Carbone
President and CEO, The WorkPlace, Inc
Testimony transcripts from Joseph M. Carbone, President and Chief Executive Officer, The WorkPlace, Inc.
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Dear Senator Harkin and HELP Committee Members:
Thank you for the opportunity to provide input on this important topic. The American workforce system has the potential to play a pivotal role in economic recovery and regional competitiveness, as I hope my testimony will illustrate.
My organization, The WorkPlace, Inc., is a private 501(c)(3) not-for-profit which has served as Southwestern Connecticut’s Workforce Investment Board (and predecessor Private Industry Council) for 26 years.
Although there are some differences in how states set up their systems, and differences in local market needs and priorities, our experience is broadly representative. Like other WIB’s, we are guided by a Board of Directors representing business, labor, and other WIA-mandated partners and key stakeholders.
A Stronger Workforce Investment System for a Stronger Economy
Moving Beyond the Formula
1. The critical role the workforce investment system plays in addressing the employment, education, and skill needs of its dual customers – workers, jobseekers and employers
The system is fundamentally sound but imperfect. It has responded to the challenge of a recession far beyond what was imagined by the makers of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).
o The Act enables WIBs to play a critical role during times of recession as well as prosperity.
o One-Stops are the hub of the system; they act as natural magnets for unemployed, underemployed, and employed individuals, as well as businesses needing workers.
o Workforce Investment Boards (WIB’s) can be neutral brokers, which is a necessary factor in bringing together many diverse and competing partners.
o WIBs are business-led, and they become the natural place for businesses to turn to when they need workers.
o WIBs connect partners; the Act identifies the required partners and suggests others as well. However, it takes WIBs with credibility to keep the partnership together and make it productive.
o WIBs are flexible and able to change as economic conditions dictate; for example less training and more education in a deep & prolonged downturn.
o The Workforce Investment Act enables WIBs to lead a free-market system of job training. As a regional planning entity and not a competitor for training business, they can select from proposals and programs from for-profit, not-for-profit, and government providers. The customer and taxpayer interest can come first.
o Formula funding provides the seeds for the local system, as well as program support.
o WIB’s received ARRA/stimulus investments under similar rules to the formula funds, which enabled the system to adjust to the new requirements brought about by high unemployment and many new customers needing service.
o The Workforce Investment Act offers local communities a choice — their WIB can be the administrator of the three pools of funding under the formula system, or they can choose to do that PLUS a far more enterprising approach.
2. New and innovative practices used to better integrate services to more effectively meet the needs of workers and employers, including barriers to such practices
Some WIBs and One-Stops are finding creative ways to work with multiple partners to better integrate services. Here are a few examples from our experience in Connecticut:
o Older Workers have been full integrated into the One-Stop system. By using SCSEP (Senior Community Service Employment Program) as a true training model, we have been able to provide skills upgrades and job placements to unemployed workers over age 55.
o We leverage and integrate the following:
o WIA Core Services (job search, computer workshops, professional development)
o Community Colleges (skills training certificates)
o Local Government (serve as host agencies)
o Business - Adecco and other placement agencies have signed on to place older workers in skill-specific permanent placements. GoliathJobs.com (via it's JobsOver50 division) has developed a website specifically to connect older workers with job openings.)
Read the entire testimony transcript by clicking here.
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