A New Year’s Message from Brad Turner-Little

Posted on by Support

To start 2025, I’ve been looking at the various predictions being made for the coming year. I’ve found bold predictions about space travel, logical ones about demographics, and ones that have made me chuckle. While they come from different people with different points of view, one through-line that shows up in (almost) all of them is the continuance of the dramatic rate of change, largely driven by the accelerating influence AI will have on all our lives.

That has led me to reflect on the message we heard during The Forum 2024 from Eric Termuende, best-selling author and leader in workforce trends, who talked about the importance of building trust not just within teams, but also within communities during times such as these.

One of the ways that trust is built is by listening hard and acting upon what you’ve heard. That’s what NAWB is committing to this new year – listening hard and creating opportunities to engage, advocate, share, and work together to build the capacity and capability of our members to meet this critical moment in communities across the nation.

Over the past year, we’ve learned our members want more ways to learn from each other, tell the workforce system’s story more effectively and find ways to lean into the opportunities new technologies offer for both operations and services.

As a result, we’ve developed a variety of offerings for our members to take advantage of early in 2025 that respond to these desires. Here are the top five!

1. Winter Webinar Series: One of the best ways we have to share what’s making a real impact in communities is for local boards to showcase what’s working for them and how they do it. Our Winter Webinar Series continues our commitment to create ways for you to learn from those making a difference on the ground in communities. The session on Wednesday, Jan. 22 will focus on promising practices leveraging SNAP E&T funds to drive impact.

2. Engaging new (and returning) Members of Congress: The 119th Congress starts its work this month and now is the time to get to know them and for them to get to know you. Our first Public Policy PowerUp of the year, on Friday, Jan. 24, will focus on strategies to effectively tell your story to lawmakers. You can also use the Hosting a Congressional Site Visit Guide we jointly published last summer with the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals as a step-by-step map for having policymakers visit your services.

3. Microsoft Copilot Pilot: We’ve heard from boards across the country about the need for their teams to understand how emerging technologies can improve their workflows. In response, we’ve secured the opportunity for local boards to have their teams trained at no cost in using Microsoft Copilot in 2025. Learn more about how to take advantage of this benefit.

4. The Forum 2025: The single largest annual gathering of the workforce ecosystem, The Forum (March 29 – April 1) continues to offer one of the best venues to learn from peers, build networks, and get reenergized for the work ahead. This year’s theme is Together.Forward.Change., and we’ve got a full lineup of dynamic sessions, expert speakers, and innovative programming designed to inspire and empower workforce leaders.

5. Workforce Advocacy Day: New in 2025, Workforce Advocacy Day (April 1-2) will be our opportunity to collectively tell our story and demonstrate the nation’s public workforce system’s impact in communities directly to Congress.

In addition to these five things, our weekly NAWBNews emails feature more opportunities to engage with other boards and NAWB.

To close, I want to add to the list of predictions for 2025. It’s one that’s not far-fetched; it’s based on what I know to be true – your commitment to your communities. In 2025, hundreds of thousands of people will find their way into the world of work because of you; tens of thousands of businesses will find the talent they need to grow because of you. And because of you, more families will be more economically secure than they were in 2024.

We at NAWB are excited for this year and all it will hold as we work to support, serve, and represent you and the critical work you do every day.

Happy New Year – let’s make 2025 amazing!

– btl

How Colorado is Supporting Older Workers

Posted on by Stacy

Workforce Challenge:

Jobseekers at several Pikes Peak Workforce Center events had mentioned challenges with finding positions as an older worker. In conjunction with its already popular Beyond Age (55+) workshops, the Center created the Beyond Age Job Fair in August of 2024.

Workforce Solution:

The Center sent out a newsletter containing the benefits of hiring older workers including the experience, critical thinking and knowledge that can only be reached at a certain age. For this event we invited employers actively hiring older workers looking to start new careers and/or find more opportunities to grow.

Outcomes and Benefits:

Seventeen employers attend this Pikes Peak Workforce Center event in addition to 164 job seekers. Of the job seekers in attendance, 76% met the target demographic aged 50 and over! This was successful event will successful event will be held again in 2025, in addition to the organization’s many other job fairs/hiring events.

Continuing Resolution passes without WIOA reauthorization

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Dec. 20, 2024 – The 118th Congress will conclude without having completed work to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This leaves our nation’s public workforce system once again at a crossroads as workforce development boards look ahead to the future.

WIOA was last updated in 2014 with an authorization period of five years, concluding in 2019. It remains a national imperative that Congress work to successfully reauthorize this critically important public investment which serves as the workforce ecosystem’s backbone in communities and states across this country.

Newly updated WIOA legislation is needed to ensure services to thousands of employers, learners, and workers as they seek to leverage the public workforce system to find dignity through work, build new skills, change careers, and to secure family-sustaining employment.

The National Association of Workforce Boards–which serves, supports and represents workforce boards–looks forward to working with the 119th Congress to update WIOA to meet the current moment and to help more Americans find success in today’s dynamic economy. We stand ready to work together to that critical end.

Congress Proposes New CR, Does Not Include WIOA Reauthorization

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Dec. 19, 2024 — Late this afternoon, Congress released a new draft of the Continuing Resolution (CR) to continue funding the government through March 14. This new bill does not contain A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA), which would have reauthorized the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) through 2030. (Note: This is a reversal from the initial CR released earlier this week, which included ASWA, after the CR was criticized by conservative members of Congress and President-elect Trump for the many extraneous provisions that had been added, effectively killing the proposal.)

The new CR includes a two-year debt ceiling suspension — a key request from President-elect Trump — along with a slew of other spending priorities sought by Congressional Republicans.

It is unclear if this newly released CR has the necessary support in Congress to pass. If it is adopted, it will likely mark the end of further consideration of WIOA reauthorization this Congress.

Our public policy team is continuing to engage with this process closely and will keep members informed of any further developments.

Congress Releases the Legislative Text of the Continuing Resolution; ASWA is Included

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Dec. 18, 2024 — Yesterday, Congress released the legislative text of the Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend funding for the current fiscal year until March 14, 2025. The bill includes a number of pending pieces of legislation, including A Stronger Workforce for America (ASWA), which reauthorizes the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) through 2030. The inclusion of ASWA in this bill is an important milestone for our nation’s public workforce system.

We remain concerned about certain provisions in the bill and their impact on local boards’ ability to fulfill their missions – such as the redesignation process and expanding the Governor’s set-aside allowance. However, we are pleased to see several changes within the proposal that have been made since the bicameral bipartisan Committee agreement was announced a few weeks ago. These changes include:

  • The 50% training mandate has been adjusted so that Supportive Services and Career Services can be calculated as up to 10% of Title I funds, giving boards more flexibility in meeting this mandate.
  • ASWA increases youth work experience obligations to 40% but does not include an employer matching requirement.
  • Extended implementation timelines in serval programmatic areas.

While not aligned to NAWB’s recommendation to fund local and state workforce boards at the level needed to fully meet demand, we note that this authorization would increase in funding over current levels.

Should the CR complete the legislative process and the WIOA system be reauthorized, we stand ready to work with the Department of Labor and other workforce development stakeholders to inform ASWA’s implementation.

E08: Partners in Progress: Workforce, Economic Development, and Commerce Unite

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In this episode, CEO of South Central PA Works, Jesse McCree, joins us for an illuminating discussion on workforce development innovation. Leading an influential board that spans eight counties in central PA, Jesse offers insights from his nearly eight-year tenure.

The conversation delves into South Central PA Works’ pioneering strategies, including fair chance hiring initiatives and community access points. Jesse also recounts his path into the workforce development field and outlines how his organization is harnessing data, fostering agility, and embracing technology to address future labor market challenges.

A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA) Hotline Process

Posted on by Support
Dec. 11, 2024 — As you are aware, a bipartisan, bicameral agreement, known as A Stronger Workforce for America Act (ASWA), was announced by Congressional leaders just before Thanksgiving. We have previously highlighted that while there are elements of this legislation that are aligned with NAWB’s vision for the public workforce system, our members continue to raise serious concerns regarding specific aspects of this agreement. These concerns continue to be centered around ASWA’s proposed training mandate, increased allowance for state-level Title I reservations, and the wider process for redesignation of local workforce areas—areas of the legislation we highlighted explicitly last week.

At the time of this writing, ASWA is still being considered by the Senate via a “hotline” process which requires the consent of all 100 Senators. There remain several holds on this hotline process, from both Democrats and Republicans, on a range of issues including the concerns raised by NAWB and its members. This process is still ongoing and remains extremely fluid.

Another possible path forward for ASWA is attaching it to another “must pass” piece of legislation under consideration in the current Congress. While these options are limited and have other associated challenges outside of the current hotline process, the need to fund the federal government beyond December 20, 2024 via an extension of current federal funding (known as Continuing Resolution, or “CR”) remains a key outstanding issue that lawmakers must address by next week.

While it remains unclear whether ASWA can be advanced via either of these paths in the coming days ahead, we are continuing to reiterate these concerns directly to lawmakers. Concessions have been made already in certain areas; we remain hopeful that additional improvements to the legislation can be made at this late stage in the reauthorization process.

Updates on WIOA Reauthorization

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As we reported on November 27, Congressional committee leaders have reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement to reauthorize WIOA. Since that time, NAWB, as well as partners from our local coalition, have been actively engaged with committee staff on aspects of the bill which stand to jeopardize the ability of local boards to fulfill their mission.

Through all these conversations, we have reiterated the importance of local boards being empowered to serve those individuals seeking paths to employment and businesses needing to hire that talent. Local boards are best positioned to understand economies on the ground, talent needs in their region (which could include training but should not be unnecessarily required), and build strategies to address those needs and connect people with work.

The bill’s training mandate, redesignation, and the additional state set-aside provisions as currently constructed threaten a local board’s ability to meet that objective and would severely limit its ability to be demand-driven. By directing a majority of a local board’s resources to be used for explicit and limited purposes, tens of thousands of employers will no longer be effectively served by the American Job Centers. More job openings will remain unfilled and the system will add fewer new workers to our nation’s tax base.

There are currently a handful of Senators who have placed a hold on the bill, which stops it from moving. The deadline for the hotline process on the Republican side is Thursday, Dec. 5 and the Democratic side is Friday, Dec. 6. As we continue to have ongoing discussions with Senate and House Committees on ways to refine and improve the agreement in the areas of greatest concern to our membership, we urge you to contact your Senators and ask them to place a hold or to continue their hold on ASWA to prevent these harmful provisions from impacting your board’s operations. Please free to share these perspectives and also connect them with NAWB directly for any questions regarding these efforts.