NAWB Workforce Initiatives

Innovations in the field

NAWB is involved with special initiatives to build innovations in the field and conduct research that advance our mission.

Workforce Investment Works

The Workforce Investment Works campaign was developed in the fall of 2010 and launched in January 2011 to target policy makers across the country. The concept of the campaign was to create a storytelling website to help America understand the value proposition of workforce funded programs and services; to generate support of workforce funding through social media; and to build the capacity of the workforce investment system stakeholders to utilize consistent messages with their local elected officials and the news media to bring awareness around the repercussions of cutting workforce funding.

Putting Data to Work in Workforce Development

NAWB has partnered with Social Solutions to help its members adopt promising new technology to help prepare for and transition to data-driven, collaborative, and evidence-based approaches to workforce development. Efforts to Outcomes (ETO) software technology can have a transformational effect on WIBs, driving efficiencies across all of their programs and partners, breaking down silo-ed service delivery with powerful real-time reporting capabilities, while generating insight from a broader and more meaningful set of performance measures.  Rapidly deployable, ETO software enables workforce agencies to realize a reduction in operational costs, improved program outcomes, increased funding and better overall performance in as little as 20 weeks. Special benefit packages available only to NAWB members are available now.

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New Web App Brings Access to WIA Analytics
to the Nation’s Workforce Investment Boards

FutureWork Systems, LLC and the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB) have partnered to bring national quarterly Workforce Investment Act (WIA) data to workforce investment boards using the latest in Web-based Decision Support Technology. Under this new partnership, NAWB brings its members significant savings on subscription fees for this new WIA resource.

For more information about the FutureWork Systems and NAWB partnership and the PMQ Web app, please visit www.futureworksystems.com, or contact FutureWork Systems, Ken Ryan at kryan@futureworksystems.com or 800-448-2266. Thirty-minute PMQ demonstrations are available.

Read the press release »

NAWB Joins College Completion Effort of the
Center for Women and Work

The National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB) and the Rutgers University Center for Women and Work (CWW) are joining forces to explore ways to help workforce development clients complete college degrees.CWW has launched a multi-state initiative to leverage existing resources in order to identify adults close to finishing a degree and help them earn the remaining credits they need. This creative effort draws on a range of funding sources and programs to expand the potential pay-off of short-term training by helping workers obtain solid credentials that can lead to higher earnings. By establishing mechanisms for the public workforce system and higher education institutions to collaborate in new ways, WIBs and One-Stops can add a tool to their arsenal that will help put the unemployed back to work and improve employment outcomes for incumbent workers the system serves.

Read the press release »

National Economic Impact Scorecard Initiative

The NAWB, EMSI and Full Capacity Marketing, Inc. designed a national workforce scorecard model that reports the benefits and costs of WIA programs, along with the unique economic impacts of WIB operations on regional income and jobs. The Scorecard model is adapted to assess single or multiple WIBs as well as local, state or multi-state service regions and was piloted with South Central Michigan Works!.

Download the full report »

Healthcare Virtual Career Network

The healthcare industry continues to provide some of the best career opportunities in the country. To help job seekers, career changers, and entry level individuals enter healthcare, the U.S. Department of Labor funded the development of the Healthcare Virtual Career Network (VCN), a comprehensive online tool for exploring healthcare careers, locating training and education programs, and finding jobs in over 75 different healthcare career fields.  The National Association of Workforce Boards, working with the American Association of Community Colleges, Jobs for the Future, American Council on Education, and many others, received a grant from DOL to ensure the successful launch of VCN, which can be found at www.vcn.org.

Policy Papers

Developing Human Capital:
Meeting the Growing Global Need for a Skilled and Educated Workforce
A policy paper released by The McGraw-Hill Research Foundation calls for greater collaboration between the business and education communities to create a coordinated, institutionalized system that prepares the workforce of today and tomorrow for the demands of an increasingly high-tech and more competitive global economy. Authors Janet Bray, executive director of the Association for Career and Technical Education; Ron Painter, CEO of the National Association of Workforce Boards; and Mitch Rosin, director of adult education and workforce initiatives for McGraw-Hill Education call on business and educational communities to collaborate to decrease widening skills gap.

Read the press release »
Download a copy of the paper »
View related blog post by Steve Satterwhite, CNBC »

Investing in America's Future Workforce - Policy Brief
NAWB and the Partnership for America’s Economic Success support early childhood programs, which can lead to higher attainment of basic skills, graduation rates and earnings. Investing in early childhood programs can help workforce professionals improve the ebectiveness of their services and assist in developing a corps of productive, globally competitive workers.