WorkforceCamp: An Introduction to Workforce
Policy, Strategy and Implementation

 Welcome & Overview of WorkforceCamp
 For questions
 Speak up
 Index cards
 Twitter backchannel #wfcamp09
 Folderscontents on wiki
http://workforcecamp.wikispaces.com/

 Pair up
 Introduce yourselves to each other
 Introduce your partner to the group – name,
affiliation & location, three “tags”

UNDERSTANDING HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL
CONTEXT: BOB JONES, MARION PINES

BIG PICTURE ISSUES:
POLICY & STRATEGY

Did you know (3.0) Laid off
 

Thinking about our nation,
your state or your
community:
What kept you awake last

night? Last year?
 What is emerging that will
keep you awake in the
future?

UNPRECEDENTED? OR “HERE WE GO AGAIN”?

 Strategy& Purpose: “what” & “why”, not “how”
 “Big Deal” Issues
 Seeks to change behavior:
 Individuals
 Companies
 What we do communally through government and
in our communities

 Issues about:
 Employment
 Skills
and knowledge of workers
 Worker transitions
 Worker/learner supports
 Territory spans many silos:
 Workforce boards
 Community Colleges and other post-secondary
 Adult education/basic skills development
 Economic development
 Human services skills & employment

 Multiple levels:
 Federal
 State
 Regional/local

Formal Levers include: Informal Levers include:
 
Legislation Building guiding coalitions
 
 Regulation  Advocacy
 Directives  Engaging people in the
issue
 Organizational structures
 Incentives
 Funding
 Performance
requirements
 Incentives

POLICY = “WHAT” & “WHY” PROGRAM = “HOW”
Aimed at broader change Created to solve a specific
 
problem
More readily integrative

Tend to form silos, create turf
Systemic, lasting change; 

Focus on delivery of service/
often affects multiple 
programs solution to specific

BREAK (10 MINS)

Agric
ultur
Polic al
y
Defense Policy
Trade y
th Polic
Polic Heal
y

Logic Model & Theory of

Change
 Adaptive Strategy &
Social Impact

Mission: Prosperity (good jobs,
thriving communi3es)
Strategy: Increase community 1. Purpose
(regional) agility and resilience Facilitate healthy community networks
focused on innova3on and transi3on
(workers, firms communi3es)
2. Environment
“Wicked problem”
spaces in communi3es
3. Outcomes
Partners
5. Learn
• Alignment (priori3es, strategies,
• Evalua3on
resources, investments)
• Documenta3on
• More collabora3ve ac3vity across
• Retrospec3ve
diverse partnerships
• Feedback loop
Public • Survey
• Measurable changes in awareness,
opinion, percep3on, aOtudes
• Self‐organized individuals help
themselves and each other
• More meaningful engagement
4. Ac9ons
• Partnership building: Asset/resource
mapping, social networking, convening Impact
• Increased agility, resilience
• Informa3on: data gathering, environmental scan
• Change in ways of doing business
• Strategy: Ini3a3ve development &
implementa3on • Increased confidence in community
• Engagement: facilita3on, events, communica3on, • Improved eco‐system awareness
promo3on • Increase in peer‐to‐peer learning,
bartering/brokering
* Based on Geoff Mulgan’s Adap3ve Strategy Model ar3culated in The Art of Public Strategy (Oxford University Press, 2009).

Get into groups of 5-6

 Select a “problem” from
environmental scan
 Develop a modified
theory of change
Define and give context

to problem (cause)
 Identify what action(s)
you will take to address it
 Define outcome(s)
 Report back

Exploration & Simulation

Sector Partnerships: Regional public-private

workforce partnerships in critical industries
Career Pathways: How people advance from one job

to another based on skills and experience
Entrepreneurship: How we help people make jobs

(not just find them)
Community engagement: How we influence attitudes

and behaviors in firms, communities, and among
people

Private
State
Funders
Workforce
Intermediary
Education Work
Workers
and Support
Businesses & Industry Training Providers
Associations Providers
Labor,
Economic
Developers

Convened by Richmond Works Strong career pathway focus.
 
(Local Workforce Investment Board) Targets at-risk youth in Richmond, CA.

Unprecedented level of Since its launch in April 2007, the
 
collaboration with employers, Adult partnership has placed 90% of its 130
Education, public and private graduates in green construction jobs
training programs, unions, city paying $18+/hour.
economic development, and the
city housing authority.
Richmond Works staff worked

closely with employers to
understand skills needs across
positions in the construction and
solar installation sector.
Public private partners provide in-

kind and financial support.

Involves identifying a set of occupations within an industry,

the relevant skills needed for each, and the steps (including
coursework, certificates, degrees) needed to obtain
employment and advance in each.
Career “lattices” or “crosswalks” are a related concept,

indicating sets of skills that are transferrable across
industries or related sub-sectors.
Often at the center of a sector partnership’s activities, if

employers in the partnership identify this is as a missing
piece to filling their workforce gaps.
Many community colleges use employer or industry advisory

boards to help them create career pathway curriculum in
target industries.

Entre- &
Jobs &
intra-
Opportunity
preneurs
High
Lifestyle Community
growth Innovation
businesses value
firms

A region with mixed urban, suburban and rural areas, maybe 50 square miles;

roughly a population of 150,000 people. Pockets of poverty, mostly solid working
class neighborhoods, increasingly diverse, but aging population.
The area encompasses two local workforce areas, 3 community colleges, a

University, a handful of Chambers of Commerce, a few school districts;
Regional economy made up traditionally of small- to mid-size manufacturing but

that sector has been shrinking;
Relatively strong organized Labor presence;

High proportion of private construction contractors with little to no work in the

down economy, including insulation workers, welders, pipefitters, electricians,
roofers and builders;
The region also is home to a large software company advertising to the public

about recent sustainable business practice efforts.
Data shows emerging growth in “green manufacturers” – e.g. 2 solar panel

manufacturers; a wind turbine manufacturer; a recycled carpet company; a few
window supply companies trying to shift to energy efficient products;
One of the solar manufacturers approached a local workforce board with this

question: “My company employers 12 people, but to grow quickly I need a dozen
more entry- to mid-level workers who know their way around the basic technology
that I use to design and produce my specialized solar panels. What can you do?”

Imagine this is an emerging opportunity in your region. A convener has been

given a small ($20K) grant to start a sector partnership in green
manufacturing.
You are all invited to be members of this new sector partnership. You will

play different roles – these are described on your role cards.
One of you (in each group) has been assigned the role of “convener” or

“intermediary.” It’s your job to get this group talking coherently about
relevant workforce needs, and possible joint efforts for sector growth. Get
ready to facilitate.
Take 2 minutes to get into your role – really think about the interests and

motivations of that person. Become that person. Get into it!

YOUR TASKS FOR THE NEXT 45 MINUTES CONSIDER THESE QUESTIONS:
What is potentially different about this
Start by introducing yourselves 
partnership from existing workforce or
training efforts?
in your “role.” Then get to: How will you identify common, persistent

workforce challenges across employers
1. Why we’re all here today; in this sector?
What types of activities do you envision
2. Some identification of 
meeting the workforce needs of
common needs; employers at the table?
How will you know it is meeting their

3. At least one idea for needs? How will this partnership engage
additional employers?
common action. What funding streams might be tapped

to support convening the partnership
and mid- to long-term activities of the
partnership?
Who is not at the table that should be?


Did you get distracted by

trying to define “green
jobs”?
What did “conveners” notice

about the process?
What were the biggest

barriers to consensus?
What ideas emerged?

What would be next for this

partnership?

Flickr friends: Video friends:
 
blumpy Dariopimentel (& Karl
 
Fisch & Co)
 Tirajisu
 reb5574
 krossbow
 demi-brooke
 voxefx
 Mike Schinkel
 olikristinn
 newzgirl
 bettybraun