Why the “A Stronger Workforce for America Act of 2026” Falls Short—and Why Your Voice Matters Now

This week marks six weeks until the start of Forum 2026 in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada.

As we get closer, I wanted to take a moment to share some of the exciting things we have in store for you before, during, and after the Forum—and how this year’s experience has been intentionally designed to help you grow as a workforce development leader.

Before getting into specifics, I want to share an important shift we’ve made this year: we’ve redesigned the Forum to be more impactful. That means fewer sessions than in past years—but each session will be longer (75 minutes), highly interactive, and focused on giving you practical tools you can take home and implement in your local area.

It’s not enough to simply hear about good ideas happening across our industry. We need to turn those ideas into action. That’s exactly what this year’s Forum is designed to do.

We also know that pre-conference sessions aren’t always the right fit for everyone. So, this year, in addition to our pre-cons, we’re excited to introduce post-conference sessions—giving you the opportunity to continue learning even after the main conference wraps up.

Lastly, before I share some of the specific things we are doing to make this Forum memorable and the best ever, I want to recognize that this is a change from what we have always known at the Forum.  I know there is value in being in DC, but this evolution of the Forum allows us to unlock new possibilities that will make this year’s experience our most impactful yet.

DC in the Desert

Many of you attend the Forum to stay connected to federal policy and strengthen your advocacy efforts. This year, we’re bringing DC to the desert.

We’re thrilled to welcome Deputy Secretary Keith Sonderling (U.S. Department of Labor) and Deputy Assistant Secretary Nick Moore (U.S. Department of Education) as main stage participants. We’re also grateful to have The Honorable Dina Titus U.S. Congresswoman (NV-1) joining us for our Executive Director and Board Chairs meeting.  And we aren’t stopping there; we hope to have additional announcements over the next few days.

We’re also investing heavily in advocacy this year through a dedicated Advocacy Track, including training on how to effectively advocate at the national level—highlighted by a session led by former Congressman Jon Porter on making meaningful impact with federal elected officials – and sessions focused on state, county, and municipal advocacy. We’re seeing some of the most successful boards in the country capture momentum by leveraging influence at every level of government—and we want to help you do the same.

Forum Awards

One of my favorite parts of the NAWB Forum is the opportunity not just to gather, but to celebrate the best and most innovative work happening across our workforce system. The Forum allows us to elevate the strategies, partnerships, and leadership that are driving real results in communities across the country.

This year, we’ll highlight forward-thinking practices and the outstanding partnerships at the heart of WIOA. If your board is doing work you’re proud of, I encourage you to nominate your board for a Forum Award. Sharing your story helps amplify your impact—and gives others across the system real examples they can learn from and build on. The deadline to submit your application is February 19^th.

Pre-Cons and Post-Cons

This year you can choose one of these pre-conference sessions on Monday, March 23^rd to start your Forum experience:

• Mark Perna, last year’s most popular plenary speaker, presenting Mastering the Megatrends: Shaping the Next Generation of Talent

• Mary Ann Lawrence leading Are You Ready? Board Contingency Planning

• Turning Data into Action: Insights That Drive Workforce Board Impact—a session that is free for Members thanks to generous support from the Lumina Foundation. Non-members will pay $295 to attend.

• We’re also excited to partner with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) on a special DOL-funded pre-con workshop focused on the electric vehicle industry cluster and the workforce systems needed to support everything from critical mineral extraction and the lithium battery lifecycle to vehicle manufacturing, retail, and maintenance. Board representatives selected for this session may receive up to $700 in travel reimbursement and will be eligible for up to $10,000 in planning grants through a Shark Tank–style pitch competition. Applications for the EV workshop close this Friday February 13! APPLY HERE.

On Thursday afternoon, March 26^th, we’ll launch three post-conference sessions:

• Working Smarter with AI: Building an Ethical, AI-Literate Workforce with AI expert, Past-Chair of the Colorado Workforce Development Council, Chair of the NGA AI and Quantum Workforce Sector Partnership Subcommittee and author of Thought Partner—The Fusion of Soul and System: The AI Collaboration, Jonathan Liebert. This session moves beyond hype and fear to focus on what truly matters: ethical and responsible AI use, real-world productivity gains, and building true AI literacy across teams. 

• From Employer Demand to System Design: Advancing Skills-Based Talent Strategies is a hands-on working session with workforce leaders, employers, and national partners—including our sponsor Walmart, the Kauffman Foundation, CBEN, and Britebound—focused on advancing skills-based talent strategies and launching NAWB’s new Skills Toolkit

• Level up your grants strategy with Grant Writing: Go, Write Win! led by TAD Grants, designed to help you submit stronger, more competitive proposals with confidence. The session goes beyond theory, breaking down evaluation criteria, proposal scoring, common pitfalls, and real-world strategies for client management, contract negotiation, and organizational readiness—so you can submit high-quality applications on time, every time. Normally $995, this special session is available for $595 for NAWB Members and $695 for Non-Members—an exceptional value for a comprehensive, hands-on grants training.  *Please note this session runs through the end of the day on Friday, so please plan your travel accordingly. (Forum room rates are still available Thursday and Friday nights.)

Partner Track Excursions

We’ve been excited to see how many attendees are bringing travel companions this year—about one in eight registrants so far. Because of that, we’ve built out a slate of excursions and experiences that we are calling our “Partner Track” to make the week memorable for everyone.  These are excursions designed for your travel companions, but I totally understand if you want to sneak away to see the Hoover Dam on Friday.

Excursions include:

• Monday (3/23): F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix Plaza – experience the world’s most popular racing series

• Tuesday (3/24): Allegiant Stadium tour – home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels

• Wednesday (3/25): Area15, Imersive experiential museum, including Meow Wolf – Omega Mart, Illuminarium, and more

• Friday (3/27): A guided visit to the Hoover Dam—the largest single workforce project in US history

Now Is the Time to Book

If you haven’t finalized your plans yet, now is the perfect time to do so. We ask you to book your room at The Cosmopolitan, the official hotel of The Forum 2026, to stay connected to the full Forum experience and take advantage of our discounted room block.

And for a limited time, you can also save 10% on standard Forum registration during our President’s Day sale by using the code FRMVEGAS26. Tickets at this rate won’t last long.

I can’t wait to welcome you to Las Vegas and to Forum 2026. It’s shaping up to be one of our most impactful gatherings yet.

See you in Vegas!

Drew

There are leaders who serve a system—and then there are leaders who build one.

• a business-facing workforce system that treats employers as true customers,
• a local, convening role for boards that aligns partners,
• and a relentless focus on outcomes for job seekers and communities.

• a strong national voice,
• shared learning and best practices,
• and advocacy grounded in what works on the ground.

Andrew Bercich, CEO of NAWB, shared “Bob Knight, who I count as a mentor and friend, didn’t just witness the evolution of the workforce system… he helped author it. From the earliest days of NAPIC to the national influence of NAWB, Bob championed business-led, community-rooted solutions that kept opportunity within reach. His legacy lives in every board convening employers around talent needs, and in every job seeker who found a pathway forward because Bob insisted the system could deliver better—smarter, more humane, and more accountable.”

Yesterday, congressional leaders announced a bipartisan agreement on the FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. For the public workforce system, the most important takeaway is a welcome one: WIOA Title I funding will remain very close to FY 2025 levels.
After a year marked by uncertainty, that stability matters.

Over the past several months, workforce boards across the country have been doing their level best to plan against the backdrop of an unusually volatile environment. We have navigated a President’s budget that proposed deep reductions to workforce investments, alongside House proposals that raised serious concerns about the future of core formula programs. Our system was not waiting to react to the potential for funding cuts as we noted in our November 2025 report A System Under Strain: New Survey Reveals the Impact of Funding Uncertainty on Workforce Boards, indeed boards were making sometimes difficult cuts proactively and finding efficiencies wherever possible. Against that backdrop, the decision to adopt the Senate’s funding levels provides much-needed certainty and preserves the foundation of the public workforce system.

At the national level, WIOA formula funding will be approximately $10 million lower than FY 2025. That modest reduction is limited to the Adult program, while Youth and Dislocated Worker funding remain level. While no reduction is ideal, particularly at a time when local systems are facing rising costs and growing demand, this outcome avoids far more disruptive cuts and maintains the core structure that our communities rely on.

In practical terms:
-Adult Activities will see a small decrease
-Youth Activities will remain flat-funded
-Dislocated Worker programs will remain flat-funded

This level of stability allows workforce boards to continue serving employers, supporting jobseekers, responding to rapidly changing labor market conditions and adapting to a technological environment that changes by the day. It preserves capacity at a moment when flexibility and responsiveness are essential.

It is also important to remember that national funding levels do not automatically translate into local allocations. Once the bill is enacted, the Department of Labor will apply statutory formulas using updated economic data to determine state allotments, followed by local allocations within each state. Because those formulas are driven by relative unemployment and disadvantaged population data, local impacts will vary.

That reality underscores why NAWB continues to emphasize two core principles: flexibility and local control.

Workforce boards operate closest to their communities. They understand local labor markets, regional employers, and the unique barriers facing jobseekers in their areas. Preserving flexibility in how funds are used, and ensuring decisions remain locally driven, is what allows the workforce system to deliver the most meaningful results.

We are grateful for the bipartisan agreement that provides stability after a challenging year, and we view this outcome as a solid foundation as conversations continue around FY 2027 funding and broader workforce policy. At the same time, NAWB will continue to advocate on behalf of our members for policies that strengthen, rather than constrain, the public workforce system.

Stability is not the finish line… but it is a necessary starting point.

As the bill continues to progress through the final steps of enactment, we will continue to monitor and keep you informed.

I’m honored to step into the role of CEO of the National Association of Workforce Boards, and I want to start by saying thank you.

Thank you to the NAWB Board of Directors for the trust they’ve placed in me, and to our members and partners across the country for the work you do every day. Workforce boards are doing some of the most important work in our economy and our communities, and I don’t take lightly the responsibility of serving this network.

Many of you know me already. I’ve had the privilege of serving on the NAWB Board for more than a decade, including as Chair. I’ve also served on local workforce boards and on the Colorado Workforce Development Council, and I’ve spent time in the system as a consultant and one-stop operator.

For most of my career, I’ve also worked in the private sector leading corporate talent organizations with as many as 350 Recruiters, along the way partnering with dozens of workforce boards and local areas across the country to meet hiring needs in diverse fields from advanced manufacturing to healthcare and most recently in the Generative AI space. But I was lucky, after spending most of my career on the demand side of workforce, I was able to pivot and follow my passion for workforce, becoming a consultant to boards and ecosystem partners, helping design and execute strategies, study the culture of high-performing regions and become more involved in day-to-day operations of our AJCs. I’ve seen this system from a myriad of different angles—employer, board member, one-stop operator, strategy consultant—and that range of perspective shapes how I think about NAWB’s role and our opportunity.

When we are at our best, the workforce system is proactive and deeply connective. We bring employers, educators, community organizations, and workers together to solve real problems and create real opportunities. Workforce boards are uniquely positioned to do that work, not on the sidelines of economic and technological change, but right at the center of it.

We’re living through a period of real change. Technology, demographics, geopolitics, and shifting expectations about work are all reshaping how jobs are created, how skills are valued, and how people move through careers. These changes aren’t abstract — they’re already showing up in your communities and in conversations you’re having every day.

NAWB’s role at this moment is clear: to help ensure workforce boards aren’t just navigating change but helping shape what comes next.

That means continuing to elevate the voice and value of workforce boards nationally. It means strengthening NAWB as a place for shared learning, influence, and innovation. And it means making sure policy, practice, and investment decisions reflect what actually works on the ground.

In the near term, my focus is on listening and learning and turning that into action. I want to hear from members about what’s working well, where things feel hard, and where NAWB can be more helpful. I want to deepen relationships with our partners across government, industry, education, and philanthropy. And I want NAWB to continue showing up as a trusted, practical, and forward-looking leader in the workforce ecosystem.

A big part of that is our annual Forum. It’s our flagship convening and one of the places where the NAWB community really comes together. I want it to continue to be a space where people connect, learn from one another, and help set direction for where the system is headed.

Looking a bit further ahead, I’ll work closely with our Board to take what we’re hearing from members, partners, funders, policymakers, and employers and turn it into a clearer, longer-term strategy for NAWB, especially as we head toward our 50th anniversary in 2029.

As always, the strength of NAWB comes from its members. My commitment is to lead in partnership with you, to be honest about the challenges ahead, ambitious about what’s possible, and grounded in what it takes to make things work. A core part of that commitment is being a strong, consistent voice for workforce boards in Washington and beyond.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve, and I’m energized by the work ahead. I’m looking forward to building the next chapter of NAWB — and the future of our workforce system — together. And I look forward to meeting you at the Forum in Las Vegas this March.

Andrew Bercich
Chief Executive Officer
National Association of Workforce Boards