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System Alignment and Oversight

Vision 

Vermont’s employment demands will be met through a statewide, coordinated, and integrated system of workforce education, training, and development where all Vermonters can connect to robust career pathways, advance along career ladders, and new Vermonters can quickly secure employment with a Vermont employer.   

Goals 

Goal 1: Connect Vermonters to the education, training, and supportive services needed to enter and advance along a career pathway that leads to greater financial independence. 

Goal 2: Increase the number of women, veterans, minorities, people with disabilities, and other underrepresented people employed in the skilled trades, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields, advanced manufacturing, and other priority industry sectors in Vermont. 

Goal 3:  Increase the number of Vermonters with barriers to employment who complete high school, earn a post-secondary credential - including an industry-recognized certificate, registered apprenticeship, or post-secondary degree program - and become employed in occupations that align with the needs of Vermont’s employers. 

Goal 4: Improve Vermont’s workforce development system by continuously aligning, adapting, and integrating workforce education and training programs and career and supportive services to meet the needs of all customers. 

Goal 5: Expand Vermont’s labor force by helping more Vermonters enter the labor market and assisting out-of-state workers in securing employment with Vermont employers and relocating to Vermont. 

Goal 6: Connect employers with technical assistance, hiring best practices, and workplace enhancements.  

Goal 7: Adapt the current Workforce Development system to pandemic-era realities, by supporting and enhancing remote options for employers and workers and updating physical locations to address safety and accessibility concerns.  

Goal 8: Acknowledge additional elements that impact Vermont's workforce system, including housing, childcare, broadband, education and affordability, by taking a more holistic approach and better aligning our workforce goals. 

Assessment 

The State will assess the overall effectiveness of the workforce development system in the following ways: 

  1. The six common performance measures reported by the core partners will indicate how many jobseekers and employers are being served, how well they are being served (short and long-term employment, wages, credential attainment, skill gain, repeat services, etc.), and whether our performance is aligned with our goals this program year and over time, 

  1. The common data elements collected on program participants and services will indicate whether target populations are experiencing positive impacts as expected, 

  1. The state’s unemployment and labor market participation rates will indicate if employers’ needs are being met, 

  1. The WIOA narrative report and VDOL’s Annual Workforce Report will describe outcomes from specific initiatives, progress in supporting targeted populations, staff development, sector-based partnerships, etc., 

  1. Customer satisfaction surveys administered by each program will reflect whether services are meeting the needs of customers, 

  1. The State Workforce Development Board’s Policy Committee will review and assess the physical and programmatic accessibility of the Burlington AJC and One-Stop system in 2022 and 2023.  

  1. The State Workforce Development Board’s Policy Committee will be working to establish a common set of workforce system performance measures that public and private stakeholders can look to in evaluating how well Vermont is meeting its labor force education, training, and employment needs. 

The State will use the results of the assessments and other feedback to make continuous and quality improvements, using the regular negotiation of the One-Stop MOU as the mechanism for initiating system-wide changes. 

Strategy

Vermont will be using the following strategies to advance the State’s goals and meet the objectives highlighted in the questions above: 

Strategy A: Publish and share information describing education, training, and skill development opportunities with the public and related service delivery providers in a customer-friendly format. 

Strategy B:  Collect and review labor market, education and training, and workforce service delivery data by gender, age, race, ethnicity, and disability status. 

  • Ensure that data supports ongoing analysis whether these strategies are addressing the employment and training needs of Vermonters with barriers to employment, including displaced homemakers, low-income individuals, minorities, individuals with disabilities, youth, older individuals, ex-offenders, homeless individuals, youth who have aged out of the fostercare system, individuals who are English language learners, individuals with low levels of literacy, farmworkers, single parents, veterans, long-term unemployed individuals, and New Americans. 

Strategy C: Develop common intake, communication, and referral processes to increase co-enrollment in and alignment of workforce service and support programs. 

  • Expand physical colocation of WIOA partner programs and service providers.   

  • Develop and conduct semi-annual opportunities for communication, service coordination, and cross-training of workforce service delivery providers at the regional and state level. 

  • Share information about available support services, eligibility information, and referral protocols among workforce service providers. 

  • Provide virtual workshops for partner staff and service providers to facilitate greater alignment and integration of JVSG, TAA, RESEA, SNAP, and TANF programs into the one-stop system. 

Strategy D: Develop and coordinate shared professional development opportunities, best practices, and approaches to counseling individuals in entering and advancing along career pathways. 

  • Increase awareness among secondary school and career and technical education (CTE) counselors about the variety and availability of employment opportunities available to ensure that students’ personalized learning plans are informed by broad exposure to careers, including non-traditional careers for women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities. 

Strategy E: Increase outreach and delivery of workforce services to at-risk youth, ex-offenders, women, veterans, minorities, individuals in recovery, New Americans, individuals with disabilities, migrant seasonal farmworkers, and mature workers to support their initial, continuing, and extended participation in the labor market. 

  • Increase access to employment services by providing them in places more convenient to the customer. 

  • Promote the coordination of and expansion of publicly availably transportation options for working Vermonters. 

  • Improve physical and programmatic accessibility of all WIOA partner program services and spaces. 

  • Promote program and community-partner collaboration to develop cohort-specific programs serving at-risk youth. 

  • Explore opportunities to jointly pursue Second Chance Act grants to support the re-entry of former inmates into successful, long-term employment. 

Strategy F: Expand the use of progressive employment practices. 

  • Expand coordination and availability of transition support for individuals moving from secondary to post-secondary education and training to enable successful entry into future employment in a career pathway with opportunities for advancement. 

  • Offer additional support to employers who hire individuals overcoming barriers to employment. 

  • Increase use of work-based learning and training opportunities.  

Strategy G: Prioritize participant enrollment in education and training programs that result in measurable skill gain and attainment of a high school diploma or post-secondary credential. 

  • Maximize the use of work-based learning and training to help job seekers build and master skills. 

  • Increase the number of registered apprenticeship opportunities in the State 

  • Establish a pre-apprenticeship registration program that outlines how credits and hours earned will be recognized when enrolled in a subsequent registered apprenticeship program. 

Strategy H: Support sector partnerships that inform the development and expansion of career pathways and alignment of education, training, and recruitment activities. 

  • Support partnerships among primary, secondary, and post-secondary education and training providers, including career and technical education centers and adult education and literacy providers to establish and expand career pathways, especially for in-demand and higher-wage industries and occupations. 

  • Expand development of career pathways, pipelines, and ladders that extend from introductory and entry-level to middle-management. 

  • Expand partnerships with employers and industry and economic development leaders to develop training programs that meet the employment needs of local businesses. 

  • Prioritize career pathway development in the manufacturing, health care, human services, construction, business services, information technology, and hospitality sectors with the development of new registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs by 2023. 

Strategy I: Assist employers in accessing and retaining qualified workers. 

  • Increase the coordination and availability of services offered to employers. 

  • Adopt a “no wrong door” approach with the business community to reduce redundancy, confusion,  and streamline service and funding access. 

  • Encourage and assist employers in providing information about available employment opportunities in publicly accessible spaces. 

  • Develop common, easily accessed tools and resources to assist employers in receiving workforce services. 

  • Provide relocation information and employment assistance to in- and out-of-state job seekers to connect them with available jobs. 

  • Expand efforts to effectively serve employers through Creative Workforce Solutions (CWS) 

  • Increase outreach and explore best practices for enhancing and systematizing Rapid Response, Layoff Aversion, and Trade Adjustment Assistance activity.  

Strategy J: Utilize the Workforce Development Board and its members to advocate for workforce support infrastructures such as housing, childcare, broadband, community development, and more.  

  • Regular stakeholder engagement about the needs of workers in each region and sector.  

  • Consistent communication with the administration and legislature on ongoing legislation that supports our workforce.  

  • A testimony both written and in-person on workforce support-related investments.  

  • Public education through social media, interviews, and email to educate and inform the public about the connections between the above investments and a growing workforce.