An infrastructure workforce challenge 

NSC (National Skills Coalition) recently commissioned a report with BlueGreen Alliance from researchers at Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The report, Unprecedented Opportunity: Meeting the Workforce Demands of New Clean Energy, Manufacturing, and Infrastructure Investments, identifies an anticipated labor shortage of 1.1 million workers concentrated in construction. This shortage highlights the need to connect workers to training and supports that will provide access to the skills needed to access these good jobs which, on average, pay more than 10% above the U.S. median hourly wage. 

The BUILDS Act: A Key Component of the Solution 

The BUILDS Act which was recently reintroduced in the Senate by Senator Kaine (D-VA) after previous reintroduction in the House last fall by Representatives Bonamici (D-OR) and GT Thompson (R-PA) could help support industry needs and access to workforce training to address the anticipated labor shortage in infrastructure. 

The bipartisan legislation (which stands for “Building U.S Infrastructure by Leveraging Demand for Skills”) would establish a grant program to support industry and sector partnerships and workforce development efforts related to infrastructure. The grants could be used to establish and convene sector partnerships, navigate Registered Apprenticeship registration, connect with education partners, and design curriculum. The grants would also support workers both before and during employment by providing training, attire, tools, services like childcare and transportation meant to support workers during their first six months of employment. Some supports would last more than a year to ensure participants are able to remain in and complete programs. 

At NSC, we often analyze the BUILDS Act through the lens of our People Powered Infrastructure Campaign because it focuses on the infrastructure space, it has broad implications for our work. Establishing and convening industry and sector partnerships, worker training, and supports are components of many of NSC’s legislative recommendations to Congress. These partnerships have a proven track record of identifying and meeting workforce needs across various industries.  

Legislative Prospects and Advocacy 

While BUILDS is unlikely to pass as a standalone bill, there is hope that it will be incorporated into the upcoming reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), currently being negotiated in the Senate. 

During the 2024 Skills Summit, NSC partners met with lawmakers to highlight the critical need to invest in partnerships and supportive services to meet our nation’s workforce needs and highlighted the BUILDS act as part of that advocacy. NSC staff will continue these conversations to ensure that WIOA (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act) reauthorization meets the needs of workers and employers alike.  

The post How the BUILDS Act can Ease America’s Infrastructure Labor Shortage appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Despite public commitments from Democrats that job-creating investments in infrastructure and energy would be paired with sufficient funding for the workforce training that is essential to filling these new jobs, IRA contains none of the $40 billion for workforce that skills advocates had been pursuing. While the IRA does contain funding and energy tax credits to support targeted workforce programs, there is no funding for programs inclusive of those serving youth and adults authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. There is also no funding for strategies NSC’s network identified as critical for supporting infrastructure and energy job creation, including expanding federal financing for high-quality, short-term programs at community and technical colleges; investments in partnerships between industry, educators, and other workforce experts; or supporting worker access to and success in training for jobs for which businesses are and will be hiring.  

This legislation falls short of what training providers need to support workers, businesses and communities. NSC looks forward to working with Congress, the administration and network partners to continue to advocate to policymakers on the critical need for robust investments in skills and tax credits that truly incentivize employers to provide training and career pathways for underrepresented populations. 

Energy Tax Breaks 

There are roughly a dozen energy related tax credits in the legislation that intend to facilitate access to clean energy and support workers’ access to apprenticeship and prevailing wages. For the most part, these credits are available to energy producers or to support the construction or retrofit of facilities to include energy efficient components. The programs provide either a base credit or a bonus rate if the contractors and laborers are paid prevailing wages and registered apprentices represent a percentage of labor hours scaled up over three years. For those employers who meet the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, the bonus rate is five times the base credit rate.  

These credits may help increase apprenticeship offerings in the clean energy and construction space, but fail to include a focus on access to apprenticeship or prevailing wage for workers of color or women – those who have historically and continue to be excluded from good jobs in energy sectors. A narrow selection of credits for illustrative purposes are included below: 

• The Production Tax Credit (PTC) for electricity generated from renewable energy sources which had been phasing out is extended to 2025 for energy produced from wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower sources. Facilities that meet the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements can earn up to five times the credit of qualifying facilities who don’t leverage these priorities.  
• The Investment Tax Credit (ITC) is also extended through 2024 and provides a credit for installing renewable energy generation equipment. The base credit provided is 6%. For facilities that meet the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, the bonus credit lands at 30%.  

The tax credit programs, including those explained above, create a potential for increased demand for apprenticeship programs; however, they do not come paired with dedicated funding to help stand up these programs, empower businesses to hire workers from local communities, support partnerships between industry and training provider, or for federal agencies to track which workers the agencies are providing apprenticeship opportunities. While some employers may choose to meet the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements necessary to take advantage of the bonus credits, it is unclear how many employers who do not already meet these requirements will be impacted by these provisions. 

Programmatic Funding  

There is roughly $4.5 billion in the IRA that could be used for workforce or occupation-specific training. None of this funding is specifically allocated to support the costs of workers accessing or succeeding in training. Advocates may be able to collaborate with Energy agencies and contractors to support occupational-specific training and upskilling. The opportunities NSC has identified in the Inflation Reduction Act include: 

• $250 million is provided to support agricultural research and education including providing pathways to the agricultural sector or federal employment.  
• $200 million in assistance to states and municipalities to help provide training and education to contractors involved with the installation of energy efficiency improvements. These funds can be used to reduce the cost of training, provide testing and certification and partner with non-profits to develop and implement programs. 
• $330 million for grants to states and municipalities to adopt energy efficient building codes and provide training and enforcement programs to achieve full compliance 

• $670 million for grants to states and municipalities to meet or exceed codes zero energy standards and provide training and enforcement programs to achieve full compliance and adoption 
• $400 million for competitive grants to states, municipalities, tribes, or nonprofit school transportation entities to replace heavy-duty vehicles with those that are zero emissions. Workforce development and training to support maintenance, operations and charging/ fueling are eligible uses for funds under this program. 
• $2.8 billion for Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants. Grants will be awarded to a partnership of tribes, local governments, Institutions of Higher Education and a non-profit community-based organization; a non-profit community-based organization; or a partnership of non-profit community-based organizations. Recipients may use the funds to monitor, prevent, and remediate investments in low and zero emissions technology and infrastructure as well as workforce development efforts that help reduce greenhouse gases.  

What’s next 

While skills advocates will be glad to see some limited funding for workforce, it simply isn’t enough.  

The business leaders, labor leaders, community college leaders, industry training providers and other stakeholders who participated in our infrastructure Industry Recovery Panel  (a group NSC convened to advise the Biden administration and Congress on federal recovery policies) have made it clear that local resident training, industry partnerships, equitable career pathways, short term training and flexible apprenticeships are critical components to meet our nation’s infrastructure and energy goals. Instead of the narrow, occupation-specific investments that continue to come out of Congressional spending packages, advocates require legislation that: 

• Makes robust investments in supporting businesses in the energy sectors working with each other to support training and education opportunities;  
• Support training and education providers’ capacity to support workers success in these opportunities; and  
• Where Congress does focus on tax policy, this policy should center on providing additional benefits to businesses who provide training and supports for workers who have been unemployed and who need access to additional training opportunities.  

As NSC’s network continues to work with Congress and the Administration, these are the type of sensible legislative solutions we will pursue to make a real impact on workers and businesses alike. 

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Communities and workers across the nation continue to grapple with the impacts of an uneven economic recovery.  Just as America’s workers and families have not been impacted equally by the pandemic, Black, Indigenous, people of color, women, immigrants, people without a college degree, workers in low-wage jobs, and rural communities continue to face systemic barriers to good jobs and economic mobility in the recovery.   

To create an equitable and inclusive economy, National Skills Coalition calls for a bold slate of federal and state policies to invest in today’s students, workers, businesses, and communities. Informed by our network, NSC’s Making College Work, Implementing an Inclusive Economic Recovery, Digital Equity @ Work, People Powered Infrastructure, and Data for an Inclusive Economic Recovery campaigns offer a roadmap for transforming who has access to high-quality education and skills training and quality jobs.  While these new policies and investments in workforce, higher education, and human services are long overdue, there is also an opportunity for states to leverage and expand existing policies, programs, and funding streams to move forward a strong skills agenda toward an inclusive economic recovery. 

SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) is one such powerful and frequently underutilized program that states can leverage to build career pathways systems that increase postsecondary enrollment and completion, provide supportive services, and connect students to quality jobs that offer economic mobility and meet the needs of local employers.  Through partnerships among community colleges, human service agencies, labor agencies, state higher education offices and associations, community-based organizations, adult education providers, and other workforce partners, states are able to harness SNAP E&T to generate a robust funding stream that expands the holistic supports and connections needed for increasing access to high-quality education.   

Thanks to the generous support of the Lumina Foundation and ECMC Foundation, National Skills Coalition is working with and providing technical assistance to state teams from Arizona, Connecticut, Michigan, New Mexico, and Virginia to build or expand Career Pathways SNAP E&T programs through their community colleges. These states will be exploring how SNAP E&T can be a powerful equity tool to dismantle systemic disparities, increase access to postsecondary education, and meet the economic and moral imperative of the moment to address the needs of all workers.

The Need for SNAP E&T: Americans Face Resource Gaps because of Systemic Inequities, Not Individual Choices 

As a result of staggering wage and wealth disparities and the growing cost of living that has outpaced wages, workers and learners face sizable resource gaps that make it challenging to afford the costs of basic needs like housing, food, childcare, transportation, broadband and technology – let alone the high-quality education programs that would allow them to develop the skills and earn the credentials necessary for good jobs. In the last twenty-five years, there has been little to no progress in closing the gender wage gap, and the Black-white wage gap has widened. According to an analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, women working full-time in 2019 earned just 83.1% of what men earned working full-time, a rate that drops to 77.3% when comparing the wages of part-time workers.  Latina women working full-time earned just 58.4% and Black women 63.1% when compared to the median weekly earnings of white men. This growing income inequality perpetuates and widens existing racial wealth gaps created by prevalent and pervasive discriminatory policies that have historically restricted (and continue to restrict) who has access to capital, real estate, home ownership, education and training, and good jobs.  In 2019, the Urban Institute found that the net worth of a typical white family was eight times that of a Black family and five times that of Latino families, with great variation based on place. In our nation’s capital, for instance, white households had 81 times the wealth of Black households.   

These wage and wealth gaps create even more pressure for American workers, as housing costs have skyrocketed amidst rising inflation, with anywhere from one in five to one in seven renters falling behind on payments. Even when taking into account higher minimum wages in some states and municipalities, it would take 97 hours per week of work for the average worker earning a minimum wage job to afford a 2-bedroom home at fair market value. Adding to issues of housing affordability, over 20 million Americans reported not getting enough to eat during the pandemic.  Rates of hunger were much higher, and in some cases double, among Black, Indigenous, Latino, Pacific Islander, and multiracial individuals.  For students enrolled in public community and technical colleges, close to two-thirds of students reported experiencing some form of basic need insecurity, with food insecurity topping the list.  Nearly one in eight Americans received SNAP food benefits, with nearly two-thirds of these households including families with children.  Further stretching the American family, the costs of center-based child care increased 47% during the pandemic, with in-home care increasing by 70%.  Far too many workers, students, children, and older adults lack access to the food they need, safe and stable housing, and affordable childcare, making it challenging to enroll and complete postsecondary education and training programs or access quality jobs that offer economic stability and mobility. 

Advocates and States Can Help Shift the Narrative Shift to Increase Access to Resources like SNAP E&T 

As the imperative for policies and resources to address this astounding need has grown in the wake of the pandemic, so too has the narrative that resource gaps are somehow the result of individual actions and choices versus systemic inequities and policy failures.  The data make clear, along with the experiences of millions of families and workers across the country, that these myths of meritocracy are damaging workers, our economy, and the growth and progress of our nation. These resource gaps are not the result of individual choices or lack of hard work, but rather borne out of an inexplicable apathy and failure to enact systemic solutions that take into account root causes and the structural racism and sexism that create opportunity gaps.  

Advocates and practitioners can help reduce the stigma and shift the narrative by normalizing public benefit access, and challenging the pernicious racist and sexist stereotypes that too frequently accompany campaigns to divest and restrict access to America’s longstanding human service programs that build collective well-being.  Too many workers are going without key resources they need and are eligible for due to shame-inducing tropes, or concern that they are taking resources away from others who need them more. Just as millions of Americans access the Pell grant, the GI Bill, and other means-tested tuition assistance programs, accessing SNAP benefits and SNAP E&T can provide foundational  resources that support workers and their families as they develop the skills and earn the postsecondary credentials necessary to move into quality jobs that offer generational pathways out of poverty.  

State agencies, advocates, and practitioners can respond and help by sharing state-level disaggregated data and lifting up the voices of students and workers to build awareness of the scale of the issue and elicit policy and programmatic solutions from those impacted.  Creating opportunities for policymakers to hear directly from those with lived experience can have a powerful effect on changing the narrative.  It is easier to dehumanize and cling to racist and sexist stereotypes perpetuated within the welfare reform and work-first movements when dealing in the abstract or focusing on individual exceptions.  It is much more challenging when listening to a community college student describe the challenges of living in her car and juggling school and unstable work, or hearing a father in a small rural town detail how SNAP benefits and SNAP E&T were essential resources that allowed him to feed his family, complete a high-quality education and training program at his local community college, and secure a good job to support his family and contribute to his community.   Elevating these experiences can help shift the focus towards systemic solutions, illustrating that the root causes are structural and the responsibility falls on our systems and not on individuals.   Worker and student voices highlight for policymakers the collective benefit of supporting the potential and wellbeing of all workers, to build local communities and inclusive economies. 

 Americans See the Value of Postsecondary Education that Can Be Supported by SNAP E&T 

Against the backdrop of these resource gaps, completing high-quality skills training programs and earning postsecondary credentials continues to be one of the best generators of economic mobility, creating pathways into quality jobs while meeting the needs of employers and local businesses.  Nationally, over 60.5 million Americans 25 and older need  access to post-secondary education and 25.6 million Americans 25 and older are without a high school equivalency–over 86 million adults who need access to high-quality education and career pathways. Numerous studies have also indicated that workers themselves see the value of postsecondary education and want the chance to build new skills and earn quality credentials.  A recent Lumina Foundation and Gallup study showed that 94% of students currently enrolled in postsecondary education identified that earning at least one credential beyond high school was important for securing the job they wanted, with 80% of those who never enrolled but were considering college reporting the same. 

These workers seek and understand the benefits that postsecondary education and credentials can confer. Research has consistently shown the correlation between educational attainment and higher wages, lifetime earnings, generational wealth, reduced unemployment, and access to quality jobs.  SNAP E&T can ensure more workers have the opportunity to complete high-quality skills training and pursue career pathways. While increasing access to high-quality skills training and holistic supports that boost postsecondary credential completion won’t close racial and economic equity gaps as a stand-alone strategy, together they can be a critical lever for change alongside other policies and investments to create an inclusive economic recovery. 

SNAP E&T Can Close Opportunity Gaps and Help Build and Inclusive Economy  

With affordability and cost continuing to top the list of reasons why adult students do not complete postsecondary education or fail to enroll in the first place, it’s no wonder that community college enrollment has steeply declined during the pandemic, with a 7.8% enrollment drop in Spring 2022 alone, and  higher rates among adult students and women.  For parenting students, the lack of affordability coupled with insufficient childcare has devastating impacts on enrollment and completion. SNAP E&T offers a flexible funding stream that can address affordability and resource gaps to connect more adults to high-quality postsecondary programs, like apprenticeship, Career Technical Education, and workforce training programs available through community and technical colleges.  Along with staff to support workers and students in navigating their career pathway, SNAP E&T can also offer an equitable framework and funding to provide supportive services like childcare, transportation, tools, books, and payments for industry certifications.  Addressing affordability gaps reduces the debt burden that prevents many adults, especially students of color, from enrolling and completing college certificates and degrees. 

In making these investments, states can and should prioritize high-quality education and training programs that integrate adult education, offer stackable credentials, feature industry partnerships, and create better outcomes for Black workers and other systemically marginalized workers and learners.  This career pathways approach to SNAP E&T can also advance economic, racial, and gender equity, through partnerships and a flexible model that can help redress the harm done through educational tracking, occupational segregation, and welfare reform’s work-first approach which generated little economic mobility and instead perpetuated cycles of generational poverty.  SNAP E&T can also be a powerful economic driver in a region, in rural and urban communities alike.  

Fortunately, many states are already harnessing the potential and power of SNAP E&T to increase postsecondary attainment, address basic needs insecurity, and close opportunity gaps so more workers move into quality jobs and businesses have the workforce they need.  States like Oregon, Washington, Virginia, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, California, and Louisiana have built SNAP E&T models and partnerships among community and technical colleges and human service partners, with models ready to be replicated and expanded.  NSC’s Career Pathways SNAP E&T technical assistance project will lift up and support the scaling of these best practices while developing new and innovative approaches through communities of practice and collaboration among states and NSC’s networks. 

Read more about the project here.

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A recording of the three-hour event can be viewed on YouTube.

Lindsay Blumer, President and CEO of WRTP | Big Step (left) and Chytania Brown, President and CEO of Employ Milwaukee (second from left).

National Skills Coalition CEO Andy Van Kleunen was in attendance along with a number of Governors, Mayors and Local Elected Officials, labor leaders and workforce development experts—including Lindsay Blumer, President and CEO of WRTP | Big Step and Chytania Brown, President and CEO of Employ Milwaukee (the city’s Workforce Development Board). Their joint effort to train Milwaukee residents for skilled careers in the building trades was specifically called out by the Vice-President in her opening remarks.

Andy caught up with Lindsay and Chytania after the event. You can read their interview on LinkedIn.

$40 Billion To Be Spent on Workforce Development

At the event, Vice-President Harris announced an estimated $40 billion of the $1.9 trillion  appropriated under ARPA would be expended through 2024 on workforce development efforts in such areas as diversifying the infrastructure workforce, strengthening the healthcare workforce, and expanding access to skilled jobs for underserved Americans.  Many of the models cited in the posted White House analysis attended the Summit in person to share their efforts.

Across all these local projects, best practices highlighted for years by NSC’s policy agenda were lifted up as model uses of ARPA funds, including

• Pre-Apprenticeships: Using public dollars to fund pre-apprenticeship programs that ca prepare a wider and more diverse set of applicants for acceptance into a registered apprenticeship, even if the apprenticeship itself is privately funded (e.g., one that is company-sponsored, or funded under a negotiated labor-management agreement)
• Wrap-Around Services: The need for flexible funding that can be used to help trainees and workers deal with both unanticipated financial emergencies (e.g, a car breakdown) as well to assist with longer-term needs outside the classroom that would impact their likelihood of completion (e.g., childcare, counseling assistance).
• Industry Partnerships: The recognition that the most successful workforce development models were using public funds to bring together partnerships of labor, business, community organizations, community colleges, workforce boards, and others—often at the initiation of local elected officials (mayors, county executives, et.al.) who were able to bring together players from across agencies and traditional funding streams.
• Making College Work: Governor Tom Wolf of PA in particular discussed how ARPA dollars had helped drive a set of reforms throughout the state’s public higher education system to make it more responsive to the immediate career and employment needs of working residents throughout the Commonwealth.
• Funding Flexibility: ARPA was structured as emergency funding which allowed resources to get on the ground quickly, with significant flexibility given to states and locals to use the resources to meet a variety of co-occuring needs simultaneously versus pushing funding down through separate silos with contradicting requirements. This allowed training and support services and even one-time emergency assistance funds to be given to workers through a single source vs. different agencies. It also allowed a greater diversity of applicants to pre-apprenticeships to qualify for immediate assistance vs. going through different qualification processes depending on their background or range of needs.

NSC would like to see more such models—and the wider adoption of such effective practices—incorporated not only into the broader expenditure of ARPA funds, but in how all workforce, higher education and support service programs are authorized and implemented into the future.

What’s Next for NSC Members?

For the past two years NSC has been concerned that policymakers, in prioritizing how to spend available pandemic recovery resources, were not looking ahead and investing in the futures of those working people most impacted by the COVID recession.  Many of those workers—people of color, women, lower-wage workers—were at risk of being left behind, and many of them still have not had the chance to share in recent economic growth. We’ve wanted to see those working people prioritized and given the chance to enter into skilled careers better than the jobs they held prior to the pandemic.

The Biden administration has clearly embraced that perspective, given its recent attention to the workforce development issues through this ARPA Workforce Summit, as well as the Talent Pipeline Challenge it recently issued to secure commitments from local employers, state/local officials, unions and industry partnerships to train and diversify the new infrastructure workforce. The model workforce training efforts shared that the ARPA Summit demonstrate that many states and localities have turned this corner as well.

However, we know from reports from NSC members that many states and locals are still sitting on a significant amount of unspent ARPA dollars, and have been hesitant to make the kind of forward-looking investments in people highlighted by this White House event.  This not only puts the futures of many working Americans on hold.  It threatens the future viability of the rollout of the Infrastructure Improvement and Jobs Act, which will be creating millions of jobs in sectors that already are reporting difficulties finding qualified workers for good-paying, skilled positions. To make sure the shovel-ready projects being designed for infrastructure investment next year with IIJA dollars will be able to immediately move forward, we need to be making sure our communities are worker-ready as well—which means investing now in skills and opportunity of our people.

NSC’s People-Powered Infrastructure Campaign will be actively working with the Biden White House and various agencies (Labor, Education, Commerce, Transportation, Energy) to make sure Washington is giving every available support to states and locals to design infrastructure projects with local people in mind. (Some of those recommendations can be viewed in the proposal issued by our Infrastructure Industry Recovery Panel last year.) And we will be working with our members and state affiliates around the country to push now for the expenditure of available resources—including those from the American Rescue Plan—in workforce training and career pathways for people who have in the past been denied a chance to be part of our country’s infrastructure workforce.

Stay tuned for future analyses from NSC about how its members can weigh in on these discussions both in Washington and at the state / local level.  Our next Fireside Chat will also focus on these issues with a key leader in the Biden Administration’s infrastructure rollout.

The post White House Urges Use of Federal Dollars for Workforce Investment appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

It is because of our collaborative work with our network and partners – including members of our four Industry Recovery Panels – that we received a seat at the table alongside Director of the National Economic Council Brian Deese, Director of the Domestic Policy Council, Ambassador Susan Rice, Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu, American Rescue Plan Coordinator Gene Sperling, and Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.

Our recent Fireside Chats with Secretary Walsh and Ambassador Rice discussed the critical role investments in skills training for workers and employers play in an inclusive economic recovery. Our ongoing work to ensure people have access to the training they need to get jobs created by the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law is focused on:

• Investment in a diverse, multigenerational workforce trained to power our infrastructure
• Investment in skills training, supportive services, and local employment strategies that can support an inclusive 21st century infrastructure workforce – see our five recommendations here.

At the roundtable, the White House stated its commitment to build a more inclusive infrastructure workforce, and NSC’s partners on the ground are committed to the same. For example, on last month’s Fireside Chat, City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) Chancellor Juan Salgado highlighted an agreement with the Mid-America Carpenters Regional Council that guarantees advanced placement in the Council’s pre-apprenticeship program for students who complete a basic certificate in carpentry at CCC. The carpentry certificate is one of over 100 certifications offered tuition free through CCC’s Future Ready initiative which was made possible by federal recovery packages. Over 75% of CCC students are Black and Latinx as are over 86% of Future Ready participants.

NSC and our network partners look forward to working with federal agencies, states, and municipalities to ensure that we are fully tapping the talent of all workers, including women, people of color, and local residents to rebuild our nation’s roads and bridges, expand broadband, and upgrade public transit, utility, and clean energy systems.

The post NSC Invited to the White House, A Call for People Powered Infrastructure appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

In order to fill the millions of good-paying infrastructure jobs that will be created by this law, workers (both unemployed people and people who want to transition into this growing sector) will need access to training in order to transition into a career in infrastructure. Access to training will be particularly important for those who were most impacted by the pandemic recession, including women, immigrants, people of color, young adults, and people without training or education beyond high school. Some  of these workers  have also been  underrepresented in infrastructure fields.

Prior to the pandemic and passage of this bill, the construction industry was already facing serious challenges hiring workers with the necessary training. A tight labor market, limited access to training, and racial and gender discrimination contributed to the hiring problem. The transportation sector also faced labor constraints in repair and maintenance, while major urban transit systems faced aging rail and bus stock. 

Now with accelerated retirements, the transportation industry is even more in need of trained workers to implement the projects that will be funded by the infrastructure law.  

The IIJA can be implemented in a way that meets some of the skills needs of states and communities across the country. But there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that the bill supports people’s access to infrastructure training and not just hard infrastructure. 

What is in IIJA – and what is not

In total, the IIJA includes $550 billion in new spending to support transportation projects, broadband and digital equity, clean energy, and updates to the power grid. Of that funding roughly 60% ($280 billon) is reserved for repairing, modernizing, and building new transportation assets.  

 The Biden Administration initially released the proposals that later became IIJA in concert with a “human infrastructure” component, the American Families Plan. Together, these plans made up the President’s Build Back Better plan and included proposed investments of $80 billion for the workforce system and education through our community and technical college and adult education systems, as well as proposals that would have supported access to training at community colleges. Unfortunately, only IIJA passed.  

While IIJA does not include the same level of funding that Build Back Better proposed, it does include significant resources that could be accessed for workforce development and skills training.  

The potential funding sources and select policy provisions within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law are essential to the four key strategies NSC network partners have identified as critical for successful implementation of people-powered infrastructure:  

• Aligning agencies around a common vision for people-powered infrastructure  
• Expanding access to inclusive, high-quality skills training for infrastructure fields  
• Providing economic supports to reduce costs of needs such as childcare and transportation    
• Including local resident training and employment plans for federal infrastructure projects and providing accountability for jobs outcomes   

Each of the provisions of IIJA highlighted below can be used to support the four priorities discussed above – ensuring agency alignment, expanding access to skills training, providing economic supports to reduce costs of support services, and including local resident training and employment plans and accountability for job outcomes.   

States can create Transportation Human Capital State Plans that enable people-powered infrastructure

Under IIJA, U.S.  Department of Transportation (US DOT) is required to encourage states to create 5-year human capital plans. US DOT has until May 2023 to release guidance and seek plans from the states – meaning now is a critical time for workforce advocates to start building relationships with state DOT officials who will be tasked with developing them.   

In crafting these five-year plans, states will include descriptions of anticipated coordination with education providers, workforce boards, industry, and unions. The state plans are also meant to include strategies to ensure workers have access to skills necessary to fill jobs created by businesses with federal funding under IIJA.  

Creating these plans is voluntary for states, however. That means it will be up to advocates to work with state decisionmakers to ensure the plans have a comprehensive, statewide approach to their transportation workforce. This is a critical opportunity for advocates to provide guidance to policymakers, connect them to workforce experts in their network, and ensure state plans include our shared priorities to support people powered infrastructure. 

States can access funds from surface transportation formula grants to support skills

The IIJA includes considerable funding that states and regions could use for workforce training and education and support services. Very little funding in the legislation, however, is explicitly dedicated to the workforce.   

Still, state executives, agencies, and lawmakers have the authority to leverage billions of certain federal transportation formula funds to support a well-trained workforce, ensuring access to good jobs today for millions of workers and the long-term maintenance of physical assets. 

Previous surface transportation bills permitted a variety of uses for these funds and IIJA expands the allowable uses to include outreach and partnership with workforce boards and labor organizations and provision of pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship and on-the-job training opportunities.  

Both Oregon and Maryland have passed state legislation that directs their state DOTs to allocate ½ of 1% of these formula dollars to supporting either childcare or convening of industry or sector partnerships, respectively. If more states took this approach, the result would be billions of dollars available to support strategies that broaden opportunities for workers and the pipeline of new hires for businesses.  

Recipients of capital grants can use that funding to support workforce strategies and equity plans

Over the next five years, the Department of Transportation will award at least $60 billion to states, localities and other public entities through competitive grant programs. These grants are intended to support capital expenses associated with building and maintaining roads, bridges, transit and other modes of transportation projects. Little of this funding is required to be targeted to workforce programs — only a grant program targeting the procurement of low- and no- emissions buses and related facilities requires that 5% be set aside for workforce development. There is, however, a more explicit focus compared to previous surface transportation reauthorization’s on ensuring grant applicants have a strategy to train and hire workers and provide access to good jobs.  

First, U.S. DOT will give priority to applicants for these capital project grants that address how a proposed project will decrease transportation costs, support good-jobs, and create workforce opportunities for underrepresented populations including using local hire – all key components of people-powered infrastructure. 

Even as state and municipal applicants will be asked to incorporate these considerations into applications, skills advocates will need to proactively engage to make connections to existing programs and organizations and provide guidance on proposed strategies. 

Next, once awarded a capital grant, states, cities and other recipients will have discretion over how to fund the activities in the application. This means it will be critical that recipients put funding behind the workforce plans identified in applications to U.S. DOT. 

This chart outlines competitive grant opportunities for public entities over the next five years. Applications for each of these grants will receive a preference if it includes a workforce and equity plan. Funds from each of these grants may be used to support the implementation of these plans, but it is not required in federal statute.  

States can access funds for on-the-job training and supportive services for workers who have been underrepresented in infrastructure jobs

Access to supportive services like reliable transportation, childcare, and career counseling is critical to ensuring that individuals successfully participate in training programs and can access good infrastructure jobs. The Federal Highway Administration’s On-the-Job Training Supportive Services (OJT SS) allows states to request funds to support costs of supportive services. Eligible costs include state or community-based programs that target apprenticeship and training programs to women, people of color, and other populations of workers who have historically been excluded from infrastructure industries.  

IIJA continues the OJT SS program. Practically, funding for OJT SS falls far behind either worker need or business demand. Funding is unchanged from previous surface transportation reauthorizations remaining at $10 million annually – a statutory level that has been in place since the 1970’s. While this funding can be used to reduce the costs of childcare and transportation, the federal investments are simply too small to make a significant impact in providing for workers’ needs. As such, this is an area where skills advocates can work with state DOTs and Workforce agencies to identify how additional resources from other federal and state sources can be pooled to serve a greater number of individuals’ needs for job training and career success. 

States and local areas can leverage new provisions that allow preference in contracting for hiring workers from the communities in which programs are built

Local hire policies enable states and cities to give preference in contracting to entities who will hire residents from the communities in which projects are being built. However, outside of a few pilot programs, local hire practices have been banned by the federal government since the 1980s as they were ruled a hindrance to competition. 

With the enactment of the BIL, the ban was overturned for highway and transportation projects. This means that federal funding can once again be used to incentivize local hire when states, cities and regions contract out work. It also means applications for competitive capital grants from the federal government will prioritize projects that include the practice.  

This will ensure that jobs will be available in certain local areas, but it doesn’t ensure that the existing local workforce will be able to access those jobs. States and local areas should leverage planning processes and funding under capital grants and funds from formula grants to support the local partnerships and training opportunities that enable workers to access infrastructure jobs.  

There is still work to be done at the Federal level

Even as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law goes further than previous surface transportation bills in supporting workforce training and ensuring that the jobs created by the law benefit workers who are underrepresented in infrastructure fields, in the transportation sector, there are areas where the law does not go far enough.    

• IIJA provides insufficient dedicated funding for workforce training or support services critical to accomplish capital projects funded by the bill and to support racial equity in access to jobs. This means that without investments from other funds or projects, workers in need of access to training programs and economic supports will continue to be unable to access good infrastructure jobs.  
  
• IIJA provides insufficient guidance to U.S. DOT on accountability measures for workforce outcomes. Congress should direct the U.S. DOT to collect – or U.S. DOT should require grant recipients to report on – workforce outcomes from capital grants. These outcomes should include hiring under local hire provisions, training workers received, and outcome metrics that align to workforce and education programs like wages and continued employment over time. This data be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and gender so there is transparency around how different workers are faring and so we can hold policies accountable to equitable outcomes.  

The infrastructure bill will be implemented over the next five years, and advocates should not delay efforts to engage all levels of government. Grant opportunities, formula funding, on-the-job training, new local hire capabilities, and state human capital plans will all require engagement and input from skills advocates to direct resources to where they are most needed. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will create 2 million new jobs, but it is up to advocates to ensure that workers have access to them and that they are good jobs. 

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Last fall, President Biden signed into law a historic, nearly $1 trillion bill to invest in American infrastructure. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) will spur tons of projects that rebuild our nation’s roads and bridges, expand broadband, and upgrade public transit, utility, and clean energy systems.  

 This investment can meet the demand for resilient, sustainable, and equitable infrastructure, which will only increase in the midst of global transformation and climate change. But investing in hard infrastructure isn’t enough – we must also invest in a diverse, multigenerational workforce trained to power our infrastructure.  

Indeed, the IIJA has the potential to create millions of good-paying jobs that could offer new careers to workers impacted by the COVID-19 recession, as well as by longstanding structural inequities. Workers of color and women experienced disproportionate job loss during the pandemic and are underrepresented in infrastructure jobs. These dual trends reflect established patterns of occupational segregation that need to be disrupted to fully tap the talent of all workers.  

If jobs created by the IIJA are going to contribute to an inclusive economic recovery, we need new policies aimed at developing the next generation of infrastructure workers. Policymakers at all levels – federal, state, and local, can take action now to invest in people-powered infrastructure.  

People-powered infrastructure policies will benefit both workers and businesses in infrastructure industries. Even before the pandemic, employers in fields from construction to utilities faced challenges of an aging, retiring workforce. The federal infrastructure investment will only heighten the demand for trained infrastructure workers. 

We are putting forward five policy recommendations build an inclusive infrastructure workforce for the 21st century. 

1. Significantly expand access to skills training offered through registered apprenticeship programs and workforce programs at community and technical colleges. 

Apprenticeship is a known model for training workers in infrastructure fields. Due to its “earn and learn” approach, apprenticeship can be a particularly powerful job training strategy for workers who have lost their jobs during the pandemic and need to train for a career while also earning a paycheck. Public policies intended to expand apprenticeship can diversify infrastructure hiring pipelines if they invest in equity-advancing practices, such as pre-apprenticeship and mentoring programs. Pre-apprenticeship programs that are aligned with industry needs and provided in partnership with culturally and linguistically competent organizations can provide valuable on-ramps to apprenticeship programs for workers of color and women. Likewise, investments aimed at diversifying apprenticeship mentors can foster workplace inclusion and leadership for underrepresented workers.   

Policy leaders can also make debt-free financial aid more readily available for short-term training programs that meet quality assurance standards and are offered by public community and technical colleges. Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that 60 percent of jobs created through the federal infrastructure bill will require six months of training or less. Debt free financial aid is important for building the infrastructure workforce in an equitable way since Black and Latinx students take on a disproportionate amount of student debt due to the racial wealth gap.  

Industry-recognized, short-term training programs can support workers who are just entering the infrastructure field, as well as frontline workers looking to further build their skills so they can advance their careers. Training pathways are key for creating advancement opportunities for women and people of color who are concentrated in entry level utility and transportation roles. To support workers throughout their careers, these programs should result in credentials that lead to good jobs, continued education and training, and career advancement.  

2. Invest in industry partnerships in the infrastructure field and support their capacity to engage in equity-advancing practices. 

Industry partnerships bring together local businesses, unions and worker organizations, community colleges, training providers, and community organizations, to develop local and industry-specific workforce strategies. Industry partnerships are a proven model for helping workers enter and advance in a local industry and helping local companies support an inclusive talent ecosystem. Industry partnerships also address specific challenges identified by industry stakeholders representing both workers and businesses. 

Industry partnerships have the potential to expand access to quality infrastructure careers for people of color and women. Since industry partnerships intentionally broker training, hiring, and advancement opportunities between workers and employers within a particular sector, they can be used to disrupt occupational segregation if they are equity focused. They can also broker apprenticeship strategies, validate industry-specific credentials, and connect community college workforce programs with employers. 

Policymakers can specifically invest in industry partnerships’ capacity to assess industry needs, convene partners to develop and align workforce strategies and programs, and broker services. While these activities are critical, they are rarely directly funded by public dollars.   

Policymakers can also fund infrastructure industry partnerships to develop training, hiring, and advancement strategies intentionally designed to increase opportunities for people of color and women, and to help employers, unions, and training providers adopt and measure equitable, inclusive practices. Such funding can be coupled with technical assistance and learning communities that build partnerships’ capacity to engage in equity-advancing practices. 

3. Provide economic supports to make skills training and career transitions possible.

The costs of training for an infrastructure job go beyond tuition or training fees. Expenses like books and supplies, equipment, transportation, and childcare add up; and they can be prohibitive for adults who are already covering the costs of supporting a family on a limited budget following one of the greatest economic crises in our history.  

Policymakers can invest in economic supports for services like childcare and transportation and supplies and equipment to make skills training and career transitions possible for people who are trying to get by financially.  

Economic supports can fill resource gaps caused by structural racial and gender inequities and exacerbated by pandemic-related job loss. Indeed, investments in affordable, accessible, high-quality childcare will be essential if we want women to be part of the 21st century infrastructure workforce. Similarly, investments in transportation supports are key for construction and infrastructure workers who need to travel to project worksites. These economic supports are particularly important for workers who are entering an apprenticeship or a first job in the field and have not yet realized the full earnings potential of an infrastructure career. 

4. Incentivize and support training, hiring, and career advancement of local residents

The IIJA is intended to invest in local communities –including those that have been under-resourced– so that everyone has access to rails and roads, clean water, high-speed internet, clean energy and climate resilient infrastructure. We can bring even more benefit to local communities by incentivizing training, hiring, and career advancement of local residents for newly created infrastructure jobs.  

Federal, state, and local officials can incentivize the training and hiring of local workers through the bidding process for federally funded infrastructure projects. The U.S. Employment Plan – developed by Jobs to Move America and approved by the Department of Transportation – is a possible model. The plan encourages bidders to include workforce training, employment, and jobs in proposals, with a focus on good jobs and equity. Investments in the capacity of local training programs are also key to supporting local hire. 

Additionally, policymakers can ensure that skills training opportunities are available throughout local workers’ careers so people can train for a first job and a sustainable career in the field. Strategies like industry partnerships and short-term workforce programs are key to supporting workers in getting a first job and through the life of their career.  

5. Collect data and report on jobs outcomes of federal infrastructure spending with attention to race, gender, and geography

When we have good data, we can use it to hold our policymakers accountable for better, more equitable outcomes.  

To track the progress of efforts toward building an inclusive infrastructure workforce, federal agencies can mandate data collection on who is trained and hired through federal infrastructure spending, disaggregated by race/ethnicity, gender, geography and other factors.  

The federal government can also report on long-term employment outcomes—particularly for workers of color and women who are underrepresented in the infrastructure field. 

There must be an investment in the capacity to collect and report data, where local training and community organizations are part of data collection.  

Join our Campaign! 

The policy agenda laid out here was informed by the  recommendations of an Infrastructure Industry Recovery Panel — leading experts working in local communities — convened by National Skills Coalition and Business Leaders United in 2021 (an Initiative of National Skills Coalition). Panelists represented business, labor, education and training organizations, and others working in construction, utilities, transportation, and clean energy fields. 

In partnership with the Industry Recovery panel and network members like you, we have influenced federal policy. The IIJA included $1 billion-plus in workforce investments connected to infrastructure that will engage the Departments of Transportation, Energy and Labor. 

While our advocacy has fueled progress, policymakers have a lot of work left to do to truly support people powered infrastructure and drive an inclusive economic recovery.  

Will you join our campaign and urge policymakers to support people powered infrastructure today? Sign our petition now and we’ll be in touch with opportunities to influence federal, state, and local policies that give people access to training for careers in infrastructure.  

The post As the infrastructure bill is implemented, NSC pushes training for the next generation of infrastructure workers appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

On May 17th, the House passed H.R. 7309, which would reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2022 (WIOA). The bill is an important step in this reauthorization process of WIOA, offering provisions consistent with NSC recommendations and significantly higher authorization levels for funding than when WIOA was passed in 2014. 

WIOA is the primary bill establishing programs under the federal workforce system. WIOA was last reauthorized in 2014, and has been due for reauthorization since 2020. National Skills Coalition’s network has advocated for much-needed changes to the bill to ensure our nation’s workforce system is more successful, robust, and equitable. 

The bill includes provisions that support key NSC priorities for reauthorization:

1. Creation of new programs with dedicated investments in industry or sector partnerships that work with businesses, worker organizations, and training providers to promote quality jobs, workforce diversity, and inclusion; 
2. Codification of a program to support community and technical college capacity to meet needs of workers, students and businesses; 
3. Increased authorization of funding for WIOA programs, with a prioritization of communities and workers who have been most impacted by the economic effects of the pandemic and structural racism;
4. Centered voices, experiences, and expertise of people with lived experience in shaping policies and programs;
5. Embedded support for digital access and learning for all working people at home and on the job in ways that support equitable upskilling;
6. Alignment of programs and resources that support the whole person in training for a career or advancing in their existing one; and
7. Greater support for frontline workforce development professionals to strengthen cultural awareness and sensitivity and advance equity. 

These themes are aligned with what NSC heard in our robust listening sessions with representatives from the workforce system, community and technical colleges, racial equity and gender equity experts, labor and labor management partnerships, businesses and industry associations and other experts in helping workers access and succeed in skills training necessary to fill jobs for which businesses are hiring. 

However, the bill is missing a few NSC priorities relevant to how the system is able to engage with and meet needs of businesses: 

1. Modernizing the capacity of the public workforce system to serve both job seekers and a new focus on opportunities for existing workers who need training to advance in their careers; 
2. Embedded support for digital access and learning for all working people at home and on the job in ways that support equitable upskilling

What’s included in the House WIOA reauthorization: 

New programs with dedicated investments in industry or sector partnerships that work with businesses, worker organizations, and training providers to promote quality jobs, workforce diversity, and inclusion

Coming out of our listening sessions, experts made it clear – as they have for years – that supporting industry or sector partnerships that work with businesses, worker organizations, and training providers to promote quality jobs, workforce diversity, and inclusion is key to an equitable workforce system.

The proposed reauthorization of WIOA adopts this evidence- based practice by proposing a new Sectoral Employment Through Career Training for Occupational Readiness (SECTOR) Program which would be used to develop or expand industry or sector partnerships, as well as expand support for training costs and support services.  It also better embeds industry or sector partnerships throughout WIOA activities, including requiring states to describe how they will support these partnerships in their state plans. 

SECTOR is authorized at $1 billion in FY2023 and would provide funds to: 

• ensure stakeholders can regularly convene to identify, develop, improve, or expand training and employment opportunities for high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors or occupations. 
• form, expand, and improve training programs, to be managed by entities within the industry and sector partnerships. 

The bill instructs industry partnerships to prioritize those training programs that include attainment of industry-recognized credentials, that address specific workforce issues and needs of groups of workers, and that prioritize individuals with a barrier to employment.

The majority of provisions would allocate funds to states, who are then tasked with administering competitive grants to local collaboratives to develop, convene, and expand industry or sector partnerships. Additionally, twenty percent of provisions will be competitive funding – meaning industry or sector partnerships can directly apply for grants from the Department of Labor. In keeping with NSC’s network call to prioritize those underserved by the workforce, competitive grant funding will prioritize those industry partnerships that serve high-poverty areas, rural areas, and areas facing significant economic disruptions due to labor market changes.

Representatives Lee (D-NV) and Bonamici (D-OR) have introduced a complementary, stand-alone bill that authorizes the SECTOR program; the Community-Based Workforce Development Act, H.R. 7748. NSC will track this bill for our network and keep you informed of upcoming advocacy opportunities related to it.

Overall, NSC strongly supports the House WIOA’s policy and investment to support industry or sector partnerships. States have been required to support local areas’ establishment and work with industry or sector partnerships since WIOA passed in 2014. The House bill would provide the first dedicated resources to these partnerships through WIOA, a critical component of supporting the expansion of these partnerships to all industries and in all areas. 

Even at the currently proposed levels, however, the House bill’s authorization would fall far short of what is really necessary to establish, support, and grow sector strategies across our country. Last year, the White House recommended $5 billion for a discretionary grant program under WIOA to support the development of sectoral and industry partnerships. NSC looks forward to a higher funding level moving forward. 

Codification of Programs to build capacity at Community and Technical Colleges to provide training, student support and meet industry needs

The House bill also the important step of codifying the Strengthening Community College Training Grant program, which is a successor of the TAA Community College and Career Training Grant program (TAACCCT). This program supports the creation and scaling of education and training programs at community colleges. Under TAACCCT community colleges developed nearly 2,600 programs of study that were aligned with local and regional business needs. Mandatory funding under the TAACCCT program saw its final distribution in 2017, and since Congress had funded similar activities via the annual appropriations process. Funding is authorized at $100 million for the program for FY 2023, which is $50 million more than its current appropriation.  

The majority of training provided by the public workforce system is provided at Community and Technical colleges, and the inclusion of this program offers critical increased capacity for these institutions to serve needs of workers, students and businesses. 

Increased authorization of funding for WIOA programs, with a prioritization of communities and workers who have been most impacted by the economic effects of the pandemic and structural racism

In addition to further support for industry sector partnerships, NSC and our network have long advocated for increased funding to the workforce system. The House reauthorization authorizes new funding thresholds to be considered by the appropriations committee. Workforce programs have been cut by over 40 percent since 2000 when factoring for inflation, and these cuts means our workforce system is able to help fewer people and businesses than in the past. The WIOA reauthorization bill attempts to remedy this by increasing the amount of money authorized, $78 billion for workforce programs over six years.

Increasing the levels up to which the programs could be funded is a critical step for better supporting the public workforce system, workers and businesses. Congress, however, has consistently failed to spend authorized levels in recent years – and did not appropriate the maximum funding for WIOA since its passage in 2014. Realizing the impact of increased authorization levels will require bipartisan support for funding programs at these levels in the annual appropriations process. 

Center the voices, experiences, and expertise of people with lived experience in shaping policies and programs

The voices, experiences, and expertise of people with lived experience should shape policies and programs. The new WIOA reauthorization includes requirements that the composition of workforce boards better represent the communities for which they serve.

The legislation could go further to support the inclusion of individuals with experience in training programs and with the workforce system in policy or program leadership bodies and in designing processes for engaging with WIOA participants, focusing on improving access to programs and services. 

Align programs and resources that support the whole person in training for a career or advancing in their existing one

The bill makes several important changes to existing terminology and definitions in order to be more inclusive of those our workforce system serves. The bill amends the definition of “individuals with barriers to employment” by adding individuals who have been historically underserved and marginalized because of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. It adds “underemployed” and “long-term unemployed” to the definition of dislocated workers, meaning that those workers will now be able to  access services and resources more readily. Finally, the bill updates the term “offender,” to the more inclusive “justice-involved individual.” 

The House bill also updates supportive service provisions; another important priority coming out of the listening sessions NSC and partner organizations hosted with workforce experts and advocates from across the country.  Access to supportive services can increase accessibility and affordability for individuals seeking skills training and support persistence and completion. The bill provides dedicated and increased funding for supportive services, and adds them – by definition – as a necessary part of any career pathway. It also adds new services such as mental health care, substance use disorder treatment, and assistance with accessing the internet. 

The House bill elevates the provision of supportive services to a required activity for local areas, a requirement that seems difficult to administer, even with significantly increased authorization levels for services.  

Critical changes to the data collection and outcome measures to gauge progress toward closing disparities and advancing equity in program access and outcomes;

Consistent with NSC recommendations in our Roadmap to Racial Equity for Workforce Advocates, the House bill includes the requirement to disaggregate outcome data by race, ethnicity, sex and age – better equipping programs to drive towards equitable outcomes. The disaggregation of data components is critical, and Congress still needs to go further in measuring additional long-term outcomes like career advancement. 

The House bill includes the codification of the Workforce Data Quality Initiative Grant program, which is a collaborative federal partnership between the Departments of Education and Labor to integrate workforce and education data. Funding for this program has previously been cut, level-funded, or absent from WIOA reauthorization proposals – despite data being essential to understanding who is succeeding in workforce programs. Codification of the program provides greater leverage for advocates of funding workforce and education data programs with Congressional decision makers on funding levels. 

The bill provides authority to the Secretary of Labor to develop new performance measures to indicate the quality of jobs earned after participants receive training, such as paid time off and workplace safety, among others. This addition to WIOA text comes as there are projects at the Departments of Labor and Commerce to work with stakeholders to assess job quality. Several states are also working to define job quality in work supporting access to quality nondegree credentials. While the recognition of job quality in WIOA is critical, workforce experts are still identifying the best ways to measure and report on this, meaning a final WIOA reauthorization is likely to include different applications than the current draft. 

Greater support for frontline workforce development professionals to strengthen cultural awareness and sensitivity and advance equity

Under the House WIOA draft, local boards and frontline workforce development professionals would be required to undertake professional development to ensure equitable service delivery and outcomes for individuals who have been historically underserved or marginalized. With adequate funding and necessary engagement with experts in trauma informed practices, racial equity and inclusion and cultural competence, this addition could offer workforce program managers and staff the ability to better meet BIPOC community needs. 

Places we’d like to see the bill do more to support businesses and workers: 

Overall, the House bill needs greater focus on serving and engaging businesses that hire participants in the workforce system. This shortfall is most evident in the exclusion of a clear vision for training and upskilling workers already in the workplace and in how the bill would support workers’ access to digital skills necessary to adapt to technological changes on the job. 

Modernizing the capacity of the public workforce system to serve both job seekers and a new focus on opportunities for existing workers who need training to advance in their careers

Too often – largely because of limited funding – our public workforce professionals and local partners are forced to choose between serving workers who are looking for a job and those who need support upskilling in their current role. The House WIOA legislation includes a focus on connecting our public workforce system and apprenticeship systems. It does not, however, include changes at the scale necessary to empower small and mid-size companies to work with workforce experts to provide incumbent worker training or other types of on-the-job learning opportunities. 

Embedded support for digital access and learning for all working people at home and on the job in ways that support equitable upskilling

The bill includes a definition of Digital Skills, aligned with the existing definition in the Museum and Library Services Act, consistent with NSC recommendations. It also tasks local areas and states with identifying strategies to better support digital skills and includes these skills in the description of occupation skills training.

To truly enable workers to access basic digital literacy, digital skills when transitioning industries and digital skill needs as technological needs change in their current role, Congress should include a targeted grant program that enables local areas to partner with businesses and training providers and ensure workers have access to digital equity at work that meets the needs of businesses.

What’s next?

After passage in the House, the bill moves to the Senate for consideration. In 2021, the Senate – and House – started bipartisan discussions on modernizing WIOA. House Democrats eventually advanced this bill, while conversations in the Senate largely stalled because of the Senate’s busy calendar and other leadership priorities. Given these same issues, it’s unlikely this WIOA reauthorization advances through the Senate in the coming months. 

Both this House passage and the conversations happening now among workforce experts, however, are critical to shaping the eventual WIOA reauthorization. 

National Skills Coalition is hosting a series of webinars. Join us for Skills Summit Sequels to hear about best practices in the states and models that can inform federal decision-making and to discuss ongoing opportunities in federal and state skills advocacy.

The NSC team will keep our network informed of future advocacy opportunities and other need-to-know policies from Congress and the administration.

The post WIOA is on the move in the House!  appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

The United States underinvests in workforce compared with international peers, compared to historic levels and compared to worker and business need. These moderate proposed increases would be critical to improving the capacity of our workforce, career and technical and adult education systems to meet the needs of people across the country.  

The proposal, however, falls short of the scope and scale of investment workers or businesses need. The FY 2023 proposed investments are – almost uniformly for workforce and education programs, with a few notable exceptions – lower than those proposed in last year’s request or in proposals for additional recovery investments for states and local areas. While the proposal includes a focus on apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs that could support the successful implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure package passed last year, it also falls short of investing in the critical workforce and education programs necessary to prepare women, workers of color, and others who have been historically excluded from good infrastructure jobs for openings created through new federal investments in roads and bridges.  

NSC believes that a truly inclusive economic recovery is a recovery in which the workers and businesses who were most impacted by this recession, as well as workers who were previously held back by structural barriers of discrimination or lack of opportunity, are empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from the economy’s expansion and restructuring. 

The PBR isn’t a binding bill that can move through Congress. Instead, it is a request from the administration that signals what they intend to prioritize. This year, the administration has chosen not to prioritize large legislative proposals we saw in last year’s request and that would have supported components of Build Back Better. Instead, this proposal – which comes on the heels of Congress finalizing government funding for this year just a few weeks ago – offers moderate increases for workforce and education programs.  

Read on for specific program-level budget analysis, what this means for workforce, and how our network is continuing to push the administration for an inclusive economic recovery. 

How is workforce funded in the Presidential Budget Request?  

Department of Labor 

The President proposed an 11 percent ($14.6B total) increase in funding for the Department of Labor compared to current funding levels ($13.2B). This includes a 5% increase to WIOA Title I formula dollars. WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs all saw bumps in funding as well, detailed in the below funding chart. 

The bill would increase funding for the Dislocated Worker National Reserve (DWNR) to $100 million for the next fiscal year. This increase is consistent with priorities seen from the administration and House Democrats in proposals intended to be part of – unpassed – recovery funding through Build Back Better.  

The President proposed a nearly 30% increase to apprenticeship grants, consistent with what he called for in last year’s Presidential Budget Request, and consistent with what he outlined during the State of the Union. This includes doubling the investment in Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations grants, which provide pre-apprenticeship opportunities to boost women’s participation in Registered Apprenticeship. This is greatly needed, as women suffered some of the worst economic losses disproportionally during the pandemic. 

The President also called for significant investments – a 47 percent increase from FY2022 levels –   in re-entry employment opportunities programs, an important step in giving opportunities to formerly incarcerated individuals. 

New programs 

The President proposes several new programs aimed at bolstering the workforce in his budget request. This includes $100 million for a new Sectoral Employment through Career Training for Occupational Readiness (SECTOR) program, which would support training programs focused on growing industries, enabling disadvantaged workers to enter in-demand jobs. This proposal has been a key priority for National Skills Coalition and our partners, including more than 60 businesses who participated in NSC’s Business Leaders United on the Hill event earlier this month.  

This new SECTOR program would be an important investment to support business engagement with training providers and the opportunity to link workers who need skills with businesses that are hiring in key industries. Support for industry partnerships was a key recommendation from business leaders in health care, hospitality/retail, manufacturing, and infrastructure industry advisory panels NSC convened last year. 

The administration also proposed $100 million for training and employment assistance for workers in communities that have experienced job losses due to dislocations in industries related to fossil fuel extraction or energy production. This program is intended to address changes in the energy economy and support community-led workforce transition, layoff aversion, job creation and other strategic initiatives for workers and job seekers in the coal, oil, gas, and other industries experiencing dislocations. 

The PBR also takes aim at tackling energy transitions through the new Veterans Clean Energy Training program. With proposed funding at $10 million, this national training program for veterans and spouses will provide participants with education, training, and credentials necessary to secure careers in various clean energy sectors, including the solar, wind, and other low-carbon emissions or zero-emissions sectors of the energy industry. The program will provide participants with education and training for in-demand careers and provide employers in these necessary and growing industry sectors with appropriately trained workers. 

President Biden proposes $75,000,000 for a National Youth Employment Program. The program would create summer and year-round youth employment opportunities beginning in the summer of 2022 that will enable youth to enter career pathways in high-demand industries and occupations.  

Similarly, another $15 million is proposed for the Civilian Climate Corps. This would provide employment and training activities for youth in climate resiliency fields. The training activities can include paid work experiences, private nonprofit entities, and pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. This program would have been funded in the House-passed Build Back Better Act at $40 million.  

The PBR did not include proposed funding for workforce data through Workforce Data Quality grants, but these investments are critical. Understanding who is accessing good paying jobs and wage outcomes is essential to an inclusive economic recovery. 

Overall, while the increases in DOL funding and new programs provide a small step to a woefully underfunded workforce system, but the administration and Congress would need to invest much more aggressively to bring the United States up to competition with our global counterparts. 

Department of Education 

The Department of Education’s 2023 budget proposal includes some programmatic funding increases, but overall is less ambitious than the suite of budget proposals that came from the Administration last year.  

The administration proposed a significant $1,775 increase to the Pell Grant maximum award, bringing the maximum to $8,760 for the 2023-2024 academic year. The budget does not propose any eligibility changes for the Pell Grant program, or other federal financial aid programs.  

Funding for state grants for Career and Technical Education (CTE), as well as Federal Work Study (FWS) and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) see small funding cuts under the budget proposal. This was likely not purposeful, but rather reflects that these 2023 budgetary numbers were determined prior to passage of the 2022 omnibus spending bill. CTE state grants, FWS, and SEOG all saw funding increases in that final funding package. 

Sign your organization on to tell Congress to expand Pell grants to high quality, short term training programs 

Beyond the Pell Grant program, the largest postsecondary funding increases are seen among institutional aid programs supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and institutions serving a disproportionate number of disadvantaged students.  

The budget also includes a new allocation of $208 million under CTE national program funds for competitive grants to consortia of local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and employers to pilot evidence-based strategies to increase the integration and alignment of the last two years of high school and the first two years of postsecondary education to improve postsecondary and career outcomes for all students. Additionally, there is $110 million under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education for grants to eligible States and Tribal Colleges and Universities to implement institutional-level retention and completion reforms. 

Notably missing from the budget is a detailed plan and recommended funding to enact a free community college proposal. This proposal was also missing in the final version of the Build Back Better framework, to the dismay of NSC, our network, and the workers, businesses, and students who would benefit from this legislation. This is something that was included in the administration’s 2022 budget proposal. There is a mention of the Administration wishing to work with Congress on the issue. Similarly, the ‘22 proposal on expanding federal financial aid to DACA students has also shifted to intent to work with Congress on that policy change.  

Department of Agriculture 

The budget request includes level funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment & Training (E&T) funding for 100% funds. The proposal would support a $14 million increase to 50-50 funds, however, enabling states to match federal resources to help workers access better jobs and career pathways.  

Department of Commerce 

The President’s Budget Request includes a $125 million increase to Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) which helps small and medium sized manufacturers stay competitive in the global and domestic marketplace. MEP helps businesses connect with innovative strategies, new technology, and workforce development.

Chart:  Presidential Budget Request Funding Data:

What’s Next 

After the administration releases their budget request, the House begins working on the twelve annual appropriations bills. Chairwoman DeLauro of the House Appropriations Committee has suggested a goal of moving all bills through the House by July or the beginning of August, at which point the Senate would work to pass their versions of each bill to meet the deadline to fund the federal government by September 30th.  

This deadline may slip – leading to a continuing resolution that holds funding steady for a short period of time – given partisan positioning and difficulty reaching bipartisan consensus on funding at the same time as members are engaged in midterm elections.  

How can we continue to ensure our workforce works for everyone? 

National Skills Coalition, and our partners in the Coalition to Invest in America’s Workforce, continue to advocate for critical investments in workforce and education programs.  

Please join our upcoming “Summit Sequels” virtual series to learn more about skills policy issues at the state and federal levels – over the course of six webinars, you’ll hear about best practices in the states and models that can inform federal decision-making and to discuss ongoing opportunities in federal and state skills advocacy. 

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There are many reasons for this lack of access. For example, small businesses may struggle to access state incumbent-worker training funds due to burdensome eligibility requirements. Or companies’ upskilling programs may be targeted at mid-level workers rather than those in frontline or entry-level roles. Sometimes the very nature of essential work makes it harder to participate in upskilling, as when people are working rotating shifts or don’t have a fixed schedule.

Because many essential workers are people of color, these barriers can widen racial inequities in access to upskilling — and shut out workers of color from the wage gains and economic mobility that upskilling can unlock. In contrast, eliminating those barriers, if done thoughtfully and with intention, can help to close racial equity gaps. NSC is working with the selected states to apply a racial equity lens throughout this project, and will share more details on this aspect of the work in a future blog post.

Barriers to upskilling can also have major ripple effects for essential workers and small businesses seeking to adapt to new digital demands in our economy. NSC’s prior research has documented the significant need for digital skill-building across the US workforce (including workers of color) as well as innovative program models for helping workers of all backgrounds build such skills.  State teams participating in the Essential In Deed project are using the data-gathering elements of the project (described below) to gather input about the digital upskilling needs of essential workers and small businesses, and how they can best be supported.

The project will advance state-level policy efforts designed to help local businesses avert layoffs and encourage upskilling and to make digital access and learning available to working people at home and on the job. These are two of the critical goals/policy priorities NSC outlined in Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery – a vision and a set of policy goals for pandemic recovery released in fall 2020.

Five states have been selected to participate

States attended an information session about the project in Fall 2021 and subsequently submitted applications to participate. Of the five states selected, three teams are led by state officials, while two are led by NSC SkillSPAN coalitions or Business Leaders United affiliates:

• Utah’s team is led by the Utah Division of Multicultural Affairs and the Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging at the Economic Development Corporation of Utah
• Tennessee’s team is led by the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, NSC’s combined SkillSPAN lead and BLU affiliate
• Louisiana’s team is led by the Louisiana Budget Project, NSC’s SkillSPAN lead
• Indiana’s team is led by the state’s Department of Workforce Development
• California’s team is led by the state’s Employment Training Panel

Gathering data to inform policy changes

The selected state teams are currently gathering data from small businesses and workers to help identify barriers to upskilling for workers, including which groups are under-represented in their participation. This data collection and analysis portion of the project is taking place throughout the first quarter of 2022. It includes:

• Convening of two focus groups in each state: One focus group in each state is focusing on essential workers, and the other on small businesses. These focus groups provide a way to gather crucial qualitative data direct from workers and business owners themselves. People will be able to share feedback about why they have or have not participated in upskilling opportunities in the past, what could support them in doing so, and how state policies can be changed to improve their ability participate. NSC is partnering with the Detroit-based JFM Consulting Group to carry out the focus groups.

• Development of a data profile for each state. These data profiles supplement what states already have available to them through their Labor Market Information agencies. The new data profiles are tailored to each state and provide crucial quantitative data that sheds light on the characteristics and constraints facing essential workers and small businesses in essential industries. NSC is partnering with the Virginia-based Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness to produce the data profiles.

Identifying areas for policy change

Once states have received their data profiles and focus group summaries, they will begin identifying areas where state policy may need to be changed. The Essential In Deed project focuses on executive-branch changes that can be accomplished administratively, without needing to pass new legislation.

For example, a state may learn that very small employers are reluctant to apply for upskilling funds for their incumbent workforce because of barriers in the application process. The state may decide to alter the application process for all applicants, or create a streamlined process for very small businesses in particular.

National Skills Coalition staff will be working closely with state teams as they review their data and decide on potential areas for action. States will examine their data to see what light it sheds on racial inequities and potential remedies for those inequities; the evolving demand for digital skills among essential workers and small businesses and how upskilling policies can address it; and other factors specific to each state’s priorities and goals.

The five state teams participating in the Essential In Deed project will participate in two cross-state conversations to discuss what they are learning and how their data and policy ideas may be relevant to their fellow state teams. In addition, states will participate in peer learning calls with other states outside this project on an as-needed basis (such as if a state is contemplating a policy change that another state has already enacted).

By the end of 2022, each state team will have enacted or begun to enact one or more of the administrative policy changes it identified as a part of this project.

Sharing broader implications for other states and the workforce development field

At the conclusion of this project in late 2022, NSC will published a “lessons learned” report that highlights key takeaways that have implications for other states. Particular attention will be paid to strategies and policy levers that can close racial equity gaps and foster digital skill-building among essential workers and small businesses.

Stay tuned for more updates from NSC as the Essential In Deed project continues throughout this year.

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The increased investments are a positive sign from Congress and the administration to recognize the importance of the workforce system. However, greater investment is needed to achieve a truly inclusive economic recovery where all workers – especially those historically underserved by the workforce system – can access training programs and small and mid-sized businesses have greater access to hiring skilled talent. The National Skills Coalition and our network continue to advocate for $40 billion in supplemental funding for workforce programs as proposed under Build Back Better. 

A breakdown of the amount allocated for workforce programs is below, as well as what the funding bill means for the workforce system, and what’s next for advocates.

Major takeaways from the FY2022 spending bill 

Department of Labor 

Nearly every workforce program National Skills Coalition tracks saw an increase in funding. This amounted in a net increase of over $200 million across programs – a result of collective advocacy from our network over the years. 

 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Title I programs overall saw an increase of $34 million. Specifically, a $14 million increase for Dislocated Worker programs; a $12 million increase for Youth programs; and a $8 million increase for Adult programs.  

Apprenticeship grants also saw a major increase in funding – a $50 million increase – in alignment with the President’s call to strengthen apprenticeships in his State of the Union speech. 

The Dislocated Worker National Reserve saw one of the greatest increases in funding for workforce: a $20 million increase. This funding is imperative given that the number of dislocated workers rose during the pandemic. 

Native American Programs, Reentry Employment Opportunities, Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers, Youth Build, and JobCorps programs all saw moderate increases to funding. Senior Community Service Employment Programs and Workforce Data Quality Initiative Grants saw level funding from the 2021 FY funding bill. 

Department of Education 

Two key programs in the Department of Education – Career and Technical Education State Grants and Adult Education and Family Literacy State Grants – saw a large increase investment as well; over $60 million combined. Our adult education advocates were some of the most vocal during our 2022 Skills Summit, showing their advocacy and voice were heard throughout Congress. 

Funding for New Grant Programs 

There are a handful of new programs of note within the FY2022 funding bill. This includes a new $8 billion competitive grant for postsecondary institutions to assist students with access to basic needs. There is also a new $5 million Postsecondary Student Success grant, as well as a $20 million Rural Postsecondary Economic Development Grant. 

What does this mean for advocates? 

National Skills Coalition recently took to the virtual Hill as a part of the 2022 Skills Summit – resulting in over 125 meetings between workforce advocates and federal policymakers to discuss investing in skills training; the importance of industry sector partnerships; and the need to expand federal financial aid to short-term, high-quality training programs through the JOBS Act. 

Advocates’ voices were clearly heard throughout Congress – as workforce funding increased throughout these many programs by over $150 million. But more work is needed from advocates and the administration to ensure our workforce system serves all people. For comparison, the House passed workforce funding levels significantly higher than the FY2022 funding package – $40 billion – at the end of 2021 as a part of the Build Back Better package. Advocates now have a key opportunity to build on this momentum.  

What’s next for workforce?  

Take advantage of multiple funding streams coming down the pipeline for workforce  

With this new funding, coupled with the recent investment through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, National Skills Coalition is encouraging our network to ensure these investments are implemented equitably. NSC has launched a new initiative – Implementing an Inclusive Economic Recovery – to aid states in this process.  

A major part of the infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was the Digital Equity Act – which provides states with roughly $2.75 billion in federal grants to create digital inclusion programs. Digital skills are key to workers succeeding in training programs – and advocates can learn how to best implement this money through an upcoming webinar hosted with NTIA on March 22. Register here. 

National Skills Coalition encourages skills advocates to remain aware of the multiple funding opportunities coming down the pipeline from the administration. Recently at the Skills Summit, Ambassador Susan E. Rice, Domestic Policy Advisor in the Biden administration, discussed how we can continue to build back better through workforce. Further, Dept. of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona; Dept. of Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo; and Dept. of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh, spoke about what the Administration is doing to provide access to skills training that will allow workers the ability to progress in their careers, including the Good Jobs Challenge. Tune in to those sessions here. 

Finally, a major barrier for workers to enter training programs is cost. By expanding federal financial aid to short-term training programs, more workers can quickly access training programs, and businesses will have a larger pool of talent from which to hire for in-demand jobs. National Skills Coalition is leading a major effort to pass the JOBS Act, which would do just that. Stay plugged in here and sign onto our letter today. 

Thank you to our entire network for helping to lead the fight in ensuring policymakers work as a partner to the workforce system. For questions on the FY2022 appropriations bill or other federal funding streams for workforce development, please reach out to Caroline Treschitta, Federal Policy Analyst, at caroline@nationalskillscoalition.org  

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As our country emerges from the most devastating economic crisis since the Great Depression, we have a real chance to significantly impact the lives of workers and businesses by equipping them with the 21st century skills our country needs.  

First, consider that Congress made over $1 billion in investments in skills training when it passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in November – and more investments are currently under discussion by federal policymakers. 

And, Congress is in the midst of conversations that would reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), America’s primary workforce training program.

With the implementation of these groundbreaking investments, and reauthorizations of key policies on the horizon, it’s a critical time to rethink our workforce system – especially in the context of the restructured labor market, massive economic displacement from a global pandemic, accelerated technological change, and new attention to our history of structural racism.  

Decisions made by state and federal policymakers over the next year are an opportunity to achieve workforce development policy changes that contribute to a more inclusive and equitable economy for working people and the small and mid-size businesses that hire them. How we implement federal recovery investments will lay the groundwork for new, consistent federal investments in skills training, changes to other major federal policies, and for the workforce development strategies that states, and localities pursue for years to come.  

We could ensure a public workforce system that truly keeps pace with worker and business demand for skills in local economies. We could make great strides dismantling the structural racism within the workforce and education and training system; addressing the disproportionate impact of economic crises (current and future) on workers of color, immigrants, and workers with a high school diploma or less; and acknowledging the essential role of small businesses who hire and invest in their workers. 

Imagine: a workforce system that supports the workforce equitably and meets the moment we’re in – and a future where change is the only constant.   

As NSC works with our networks to shape a reauthorized WIOA and steer implementation of workforce investments in this context, our work will be guided by our Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery framework. 

Building off that framework, NSC launched a new initiative – Implementing an Inclusive Recovery – to shape implementation of federal recovery investments as well as new state and federal workforce investments and the workforce development strategies that states and localities pursue for years to come. 

Listening to the Voices of Program Leaders and Practitioners  

 Input from field stakeholders, including those working on the ground and those with lived experience, is critical to understanding what is working and what needs to change in our public workforce investments and policies to create more equitable outcomes. That’s why, during the fall of 2021, NSC and a set of national partners convened a series of listening sessions with stakeholders from across the country to inform this initiative and a set of recommendations for federal and state lawmakers charged with implementing federal recovery dollars. With several national partners, NSC convened 15 listening sessions with over 160 stakeholders representing approximately 140 organizations.  

These sessions have been driven by an organizational commitment that NSC made in our Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery framework of engaging, listening to, and learning from advocates and partners leading racial and economic justice efforts as well as leaders of color in the workforce development world. The pandemic made this task more urgent, as it magnified historical and structural inequities faced by workers of color, immigrants, those with a high school diploma or less, and other historically excluded populations.   

Participants represented a wide range of perspectives  – workforce boards, community-based workforce training providers, workforce advocacy coalitions and organizations, community colleges, businesses and chambers of commerce, funders, unions, and labor management partnerships.  They also came from both rural and urban areas and represented 40 states as well as several Tribal nations. Across all sessions stakeholders generously shared their experiences, ideas, and insights on how to implement workforce investments, policies, partnerships, and practices in ways that address inequities and support an inclusive workforce. 

The listening sessions were designed to seek feedback from a diverse group of people and organizations about what is getting in the way of providing equitable access to good jobs, workforce education, and supportive services for workers most impacted by the pandemic recession and structural barriers to opportunities, particularly Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) workers.  

NSC sought to lift up and seek feedback from listening session participants on key recommendations for industry- and worker-targeted skills policies across a range of topics such as sector partnerships, business and industry engagement, community college and career pathways, data and performance measurement, and support for frontline workforce development professionals.  Across all these topics participants identified what must happen to ensure more equitable access to programs and services and to reduce racial and gender disparities in outcomes. 

NSC also worked with key partners in hosting six sessions on equitable access to education and training and related services for Latinx workers, Black workers, Native or Indigenous workers, immigrant workers, working mothers, and formerly incarcerated workers. These organizations, including Unidos US, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Northwest Area Foundation, National Employment Law Project (NELP), National Partnership for New Americans, and Institute for Women’s Policy Research provided critical research and perspectives on challenges facing and opportunities for better supporting these workers. 

What We Heard: Themes for implementing workforce programs to advance equity 

Key themes emerged across the listening sessions. As we consider how to implement federal workforce programs to advance equity, we will want to center these themes:   

• Continue to prioritize investments in the communities and workers who have been most impacted by the economic effects of the pandemic and structural racism. Include community-based organizations who have deep connections with and understanding of communities historically excluded from skills training and employment opportunities (e.g., formerly incarcerated people).  

• Center the voices, experiences, and expertise of people with lived experience in shaping policies and programs. Include individuals with lived experience on policy or program leadership bodies and in customer-centered design processes focused on improving access to programs and services. 

• Align programs and resources that support the whole person in training for a career or advancing in their existing one.  Continue flexibility in program eligibility, allowable costs, and braiding of funds to address local needs, pay for wrap-around supports, and help people feel included and connected to a network of services.  

• Change what we’re measuring to gauge progress toward closing disparities and advancing equity in program access and outcomes.  Develop longer-term measures, such as job quality and career advancement, and disaggregate outcomes by race/ethnicity and other demographics to ensure movement toward equitable outcomes.  

• Support industry partnerships that work with businesses, worker organizations, and training providers to promote quality jobs, workforce diversity, and inclusion.  Ensure industry partnerships in a broad range of sectors have the tools to disrupt occupational segregation of people of color and women in lower wage jobs and support training and career advancement opportunities. 

• Increase digital access and learning for all working people at home and on the job in ways that support equitable upskilling. Invest in digital access and skills training alongside and inside of career pathway programs, including better assessment of digital skills and greater flexibility in where, how, and when training is delivered. 

• Increase support for frontline workforce development professionals to strengthen cultural awareness and sensitivity and advance equity. Shift from providing compliance-oriented training to skills based professional development for program managers and staff that helps them better meet BIPOC community needs (e.g., training in trauma-informed practices, racial equity and inclusion, and cultural competence). 

What’s Next? Implementation Recommendations 

In the next few months, NSC will release analysis that delves deeper into some of the key themes noted above. We will also be releasing a framework for state and federal policymakers to support equitable implementation of federal workforce investments and initiatives. These recommendations and analyses will be shaped by NSC’s commitment to assessing the potential racial impacts of our policies. Last year, NSC completed the development of an internal racial equity policy assessment tool to guide us in developing our policy proposals. That tool shaped our approach to the listening sessions and will shape our development of these key themes and recommendations. In these and other ways, we’ll continue to create opportunities throughout the year for our network to shape federal initiatives and recovery implementation at the state and local levels. 

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