The Future of Workforce Boards

 by Lauren Duke, IEDC Fellow 

On Tuesday, September 15, JFF (formerly Jobs for the Future)  teamed up with XPRIZE and New Profit to discuss working with workforce boards, American job centers, and the US workforce system. The conversation was the third installment in a series of webinars discussing the United States’ workforce systems. The discussion centered around Career One-Stop Centers and innovative workforce boards.

The webinar began with Dr. Angela Jackson, a partner at New Profit. She discussed the disproportionate workforce preparedness disparities among minority communities. New Profit launched the Future of Work challenge to encourage support for upskilling the workforce around the country, focusing specifically on workforce boards to meet job seekers in their communities. Josh Copus, Director at JFFLabs, then discussed the state of Workforce Investment Boards (WIB) throughout the country. He emphasized that many workforce boards are expanding beyond the mandate and standards set by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. 

Tracy Bledsoe, the Business Services Specialist for Goodwill Industries of Midlands/Upstate SC, gave examples of a workforce board that is going beyond those standards. Her local One-Stop job center provided career service support to her as she decided to re-enter the workforce after staying home with her children. Because of the significant gap in her resume, she struggled to find employment. Her workforce center offered her resume assistance, gave her work experience, and provided her with workforce development outside of formal education and reskilling.

Tracy emphasized the need of WIBs and job centers to meet an individual where they are. Providing personal support to an individual as they navigate new career paths or restructuring of their skills leads to greater success. Many individuals need to tackle obstacles before reentering the workforce, such as securing childcare or improving technology skills. Job centers can provide resources and information necessary to assist in each step of the job search or reskilling process.

Veronica Buckwalter, Associate Director at JFF, then discussed modernization in WIBs and job centers. She asserts that “future forward” centers are opportunity oriented, human centered, data obsessed, and tech enabled. The focus on people over procedures paired with technology will aid in the development of a region’s workforce in a rapidly modernizing job climate. Boards should look for ways to integrate technology while allowing the client to have a positive experience. 

Best practices among Workforce Investment Boards and local job centers should be shared with others throughout their region and the country in order to lead to further success in these workforce development efforts. The human centered approach to workforce development, one that focuses on a person’s individual needs rather than standard job placement, has proven successful in the job centers and boards mentioned throughout the webinar. Economic developers can encourage their local centers to adopt these practices and approaches to workforce development in order to create a thriving regional workforce.