tcoxen's blog

A recently released baseline evaluation report on the National Fund for Workforce Solutions offers helpful insights on the impact sector strategies can have on low-income, low-skilled workers and also highlights some of the opportunities and challenges that face the national initiative that is working to build workforce partnerships rooted in industry sectors and improve labor market outcomes for both low-income individuals and employers using three approaches: sector initiatives, career pathways programs and workforce intermediaries. 

The State Sector Strategy Toolkit is a collaboratively developed, web-based tool intended to help states to design and implement statewide sector policies and frameworks that position their regions to strengthen regional, skills-based economic competitiveness.

In October, there was a joint meeting of the Learning Network and Policy Academy. I spent that time interviewing state sector leaders from across the country about their experiences. Now, when you visit the toolkit, you'll be able to hear what they had to say. Each module includes a 1-5 minute clip related to that subject. Here's a sneak peak from the introduction, where they answer the question "What do you know now that you wish you'd known then?"

Please check these new video additions out, along with all the other valuable tools and ideas you'll find in the toolkit. And as always, if you have something you'd like to add, please email me!

From KnowledgeWorks, an interactive map describing forces affecting education:

It could be video games. Bioengineering. Or health care. All of these forces and more are explored on the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and Institute for the Future 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education.

Look around the map. Explore it. While we'd never suggest that this map contains all of the answers and perfectly predicts the future, it does offer a clear point of view based on countless hours of research, analysis and expert opinion. Think of the map as a provocative tool, as the beginning of a movement, or, at the very least, part of a good conversation. Join in. And help us shape the future.

Leadership dialogue on green jobs from the Council on Competitiveness' National Energy Summit and International Dialogue.

A new report from Workforce Strategy Center (WSC) and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation titled “Employers, Low-Income Young Adults and Postsecondary Credentials,” highlights programs in 14 communities that are successfully addressing the challenge of providing disadvantaged young adults with the technical and postsecondary education that may qualify them for skilled positions.

This report from Science Progress (a project of the Center for American Progress) is relevant to states as they think about connecting cluster and sector strategies.

In this paper, we focus on the importance of President Barack Obama’s call for a new federal effort to support regional innovation clusters. We know now—from a solid record of state and local achievements and academic research—that regional innovation clusters are a critical component of national competitiveness. Geographic regions that are bound together by a network of shared advantages create virtuous cycles of innovation that succeed by emphasizing the key strengths of the local businesses, universities and other research and development institutions, and non-profit organizations. Think information technology in Silicon Valley, music in Nashville, manufacturing in the Pacific Northwest, or life sciences in Massachusetts.

Over the nearly-four years of the project, 11 states have participated in in-person policy academies designed to help them grow their capacity to support secctor strategies in their states. Over the past few months, we took this policy academy concept "virtual" with a series of webinars. That series is now complete, and links to the material from all five sessions are below.

Virtual Policy Academy: State Sector Strategies for a Skilled Workforce and a Strong Economy (6/9/09)

Recording:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/State Sector Strategies.wmv

Slideshow:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/State Sector Strategies.pps

Links to resources mentioned in the presentation:

• Job Training That Works: Findings from the Sectoral Employment Impact Study
• BEST Benefits: Employer Perspectives
• Accelerating State Adoption of Sector Strategies: Phase 1 Report
• An Evaluation Framework for State Sector Strategies

Virtual Policy Academy: Foundations of State Sector Strategies (7/16/09)

Recording:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Foundations of State Sector Strategies.wmv

Slideshow:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Foundations of State Sector Strategies.pps

Virtual Policy Academy: Promoting Regional Economies (8/6/09)

Recording:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Promoting Regional Economies.wmv

Slideshow:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Promoting Regional Economies.pps

Virtual Policy Academy: Sustainability and Impact (8/27/09)

Recording:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Sustainability and Impact.wmv
Please excuse technical difficulties in the recording of this session.

Slideshow: http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Sustainability and Impact.pps

Virtual Policy Academy: Selected Topics in State Sector Strategies (9/17/09)

Recording:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Selected Topics.wmv

Slideshow:  http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Selected Topics.pps

NNSP recently held a webinar regarding the recently released Sectoral Employment Impacct Study report from Public/Private Ventures. The study clearly shows that well-implemented sector-focused training programs significantly improve the earnings of low-income, disadvantaged workers and job seekers.

In the webinar, attendees learned about the profiled initiatives, heard from the study’s authors, and discussed how organizations are already using the study to promote their sector initiatives.

Webinar Recording

Slideshow

Report: Job Training That Works: Findings from the Sectoral Employment Impact Study

Materials from the Foundations of Sector Strategies webinar - the first of a series of Virtual Policy Academy webinars - are now available.

Recording:
http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Foundations%20of%20State%20Secto...

Slideshow:
http://www.insightcced.org/uploads/nnsp/Job%20Training%20That%20Works.pps

The next webinar in the series will be held August 6th. Titled "Promoting Regional Economies," it will discuss issues related to adopting and supporting a regional framework for workforce development. Topics will include:

- Promoting Regional Economies – looking beyond geo-political boundaries
- Funding Strategies and Sustainability – funding regions and building capacity
- Data-Driven Decision-Making – using regional labor market and economic data
- Aligning Resources and Strategies – identifying and overcoming barriers

You can register to participate by visiting https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/342244096

Notes are attached from the fourth call of this ongoing discussion group. The most recent conversation addressed how state evaluation work fits into the national context of better aligned performance measurement across federal agencies, as well as lessons learned and appropriate ways to capture impact on specific industries.