Narrative: III. a. 2. A.

***Below describes how the State will implement the strategies discussed in II(c) above.

Goal 1: Maximize Efficiency of the Workforce Development System (WDS).

For WIOA to continue to be successful the WDS must be seamless, comprehensive, and accessible.  Partners in the workforce development system will work together in order to maximize benefits to our customers and improve WV’s LFPR.

Strategy 1.1: Core partners will collaborate to align program initiatives and processes.

• Annually update MOU with all partners. 
• Conduct regularly scheduled meetings to discuss workforce development.  The meetings consist of members from each agency subject to the reporting provisions of WIOA.  Meetings with partners will promote program integration to eliminate duplication of efforts.

• ICT (monthly)
• WVWFDB (quarterly)

  Strategy 1.2: Ensure cross-training of all workforce development system partners.

• Deploy a comprehensive on-line training program to provide exposure to WDS services.
• Engage in team-based system management for the customers at our American Job Centers of West Virginia (AJCWV). 
• Train staff to serve individuals with barriers to employment, including individuals with disabilities and lacking adult basic education.
  • DRS will train partner staff regarding service to individuals with disabilities, including etiquette, accessibility, accommodations, resources, and other relevant topics, as appropriate.
• Technical assistance and training will be provided on the state management information system to all workforce development staff, both regionally and locally.

Strategy 1.3: Communicate with all partners within the workforce development system.

• Workforce development news and notices are updated on the WorkForce West Virginia (WFWV) website www.workforcewv.org.
• The state convenes monthly meetings with local workforce development board directors.
   Strategy 1.4: Maintain integrated state management information system utilized by core partners.
• Provide user training on the integrated state management information system to workforce development staff, both regionally and locally.
• Maintain the integrated state management information system for co-enrollment of individuals receiving services from the core partners.
• Utilize the integrated state management information system to monitor and evaluate performance of core partner programs in relation to the six state goals.

Goal 2: Strengthen Relationships with Employers.

Collaborate with employers utilizing a variety of methods to develop solutions to their workforce needs.

     Strategy 2.1: Partner with employers to identify workforce needs.

• Solicit employer feedback to identify the skills and competencies necessary for employment.
• Promote and develop sector strategies based on labor market information and employer needs.
• The WVWFDB will set policies for providing services to employers through enhanced agency coordination.  State agencies will act as intermediaries for organizing outreach to employers on a wider geographical basis than local regions.
• Connect employers to participate in business-education partnerships.  These partnerships connect schools, employers, and community organizations with individuals to provide career-related experiences and employment opportunities such as soft skills development, internships, OJT, workplace shadowing, and career mentoring. 
  Strategy 2.2: Provide access to training programs that meet the needs of employers.

• Maintain partnerships with employers, community colleges, secondary and post-secondary certificate granting schools, and LWDBs to continue micro-credentials that demonstrate skill development.  This allows for the attainment of employability skills and measurable skill gains to align career pathways for individuals with barriers to employment, especially those with disabilities. 
• Promote the development of Registered Apprenticeship programs focusing on non-traditional industries and occupations. 
• Maintain relationships with the secondary, postsecondary, and adult education systems to ensure that programs of study reflect employer needs.
• Encourage employers that receive state funds from economic development and similar programs to utilize the public workforce development system.

To demonstrate WFWV’s encouragement of co-enrollment, the following numbers were queried from the MACC from July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2019:

• WP and WIOA Adult-1,590
• WP and WIOA DW-3,030
• WIOA DW and TAA-398
• WIOA DW and NDWG-1,569
• WIOA Adult and NDWG-438

Goal 3: Overcome Employment Barriers of Individuals.

Strategy 3.1: Assess needs of individuals seeking employment and/or training.

• Provide counseling to ascertain service needs of individuals to determine skills necessary for desired employment.
• Coordinate cross-program services for job preparation activities to develop employability skills, adult basic education, and occupational training.  When appropriate, individuals will be co-enrolled between two or more core programs to accomplish this goal.

Strategy 3.2: Use the Employment First framework to ensure competitive, integrated employment as the priority option for individuals with significant disabilities. 

• Engage individuals with disabilities by offering realistic entry points into career pathways.
• Through integrated efforts, the core partners will increase awareness and access to services to individuals with disabilities.  These efforts include maximizing resources, co-enrollment, cross referrals, outreach, and service delivery which will allow for successful employment outcomes.

Strategy 3.3: Provide access to training programs that meet the needs of individuals.

• Maintain partnerships with employers, community colleges, secondary and post-secondary certificate granting schools, and LWDBs to continue micro-credentials that demonstrate skill development.  This allows for the attainment of employability skills and measurable skill gains to align career pathways for individuals with barriers to employment, especially those with disabilities.
• Promote access to Registered Apprenticeship programs focusing on non-traditional industries and occupations. 
• Refer individuals to training programs that lead to self-sufficiency.

Goal 4: Promote Career Pathways.

Emphasize career pathways to assist individuals entering and moving within the labor force and to educate employers on the advantages of career pathways.

Strategy 4.1: Adhere to WIOA career pathways development.

• West Virginia Adult Education, Career and Technical Education (CTE), and the Community and Technical College System (CTCS) of West Virginia will continue strategies to integrate career pathway programs.  This integrated system will permit individuals to enter the pathway at any level.

Strategy 4.2: Enhance current career pathways system.

• Maintain a comprehensive career pathway system that combines education, training, counseling, and support services from multiple programs, including secondary and postsecondary CTE, Adult and Literacy Education (Adult Education), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training, the CTCS of West Virginia and higher education.
• Ensure career pathways are aligned to in-demand occupations likely to pay sustaining wages.  The LWDBs will engage employers to accomplish this goal.
• Place individuals with barriers to employment, especially those with disabilities, into quality entry-level jobs that provide the work experience and non-technical skills necessary to lead to employment in high-demand jobs.
• Require OJT and incumbent worker training be tied to a career pathway.

Strategy 4.3: Educate individuals and employers to encourage career pathways in training and employment environments.

• Promote and support the creation of pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship programs in non-traditional occupations as part of a relevant career pathway model.  Apprenticeship opportunities within the workforce development system will be promoted as job training options to individuals.
• Provide career guidance to individuals with barriers, especially those with disabilities, about programs and services that provides an effective pathway to their career goals.
• The WV WDS will keep information on the workforce development website up to date regarding career pathways and information provided by the Department of Education around initiatives such as Simulated Workplace.
  • The WVDE staff worked with numerous businesses and industries throughout the state to design Simulated Workplace. This educational initiative was created to assist schools in integrating workplace environment protocols into the CTE programs that align with West Virginia workforce requirements.  These protocols focus on transitioning the classroom to a student-driven “company” environment, random drug testing, professionalism, attendance, 5-S quality and safety. Simulated Workplace has enhanced instructional delivery of CTE and created a more engaged student. The Simulated Workplace environment provides students with the opportunity to take ownership of their individual performance as it impacts the overall success of their education while thriving in an authentic workplace culture.  Simulated Workplace also encourages local business and industry experts to join onsite review teams to assist schools in meeting their workforce needs and expectations.

Goal 5: Identify and Maximize Postsecondary and Employment Opportunities for Youth.

Identify employment challenges faced by youth and provide access to postsecondary training/education and employment opportunities to improve WV’s labor force participation rate.

Strategy 5.1: Execution of WIOA regulations regarding youth.

• Recognizing the new priority on OSY, the State will identify models and effective practices, including for recruitment, flexible enrollment (e.g. self-attestation, co-enrollment, career pathways and retention) to help local area staff successfully meet the needs of those individuals.

• Identify models and effective practices for youth, including recruitment and flexible enrollment, to help local area staff successfully meet the needs of those individuals.
• Partner with the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education and LWDBs ensuring statistical models and negotiated performance levels are established and calibrated to accurately reflect the profiles of youth being served within the State and in each local area.
  Strategy 5.2: Coordination of youth services within the workforce development system.

• Develop transitional jobs, social enterprises, and other work experience strategies to help OSY with limited work histories develop the skills needed for workplace success.
• Co-enroll high-risk individuals, ages 18 to 24, as both WIOA Adult and WIOA Youth participants to leverage funds and provide necessary services.  Co-enrollment can occur in Title II adult basic education services, EARN, TANF, or other partner programs.  Continue the use of ITAs for 18 to 24-year olds in combination with work-based learning opportunities.
• The State will expand opportunities for youth to acquire post-secondary skills and credentials needed for high wage jobs through increased access to career and technical education programs and work-based learning experiences. The WVDE and the CTCS will work cooperatively to explore and develop appropriate connections between WIOA youth activities and Perkins postsecondary and state-funded programming.
• The WVDE will support the transformation and modernization of CTE and align CTE with the career pathways recognized by the State.
• LWDB will collaborate with YouthBuild, JobCorps, and AmeriCorps sites, identifying partnerships in local plans.

 Strategy 5.3: Provide youth a clear pathway to success.

• Collaborate with LWDBs to identify access points which enable individuals to complete training and enter a successful career pathway.
• DRS has re-aligned its resources to increase and improve services to youth with disabilities, especially high school students with disabilities. DRS has MOUs with all 55 county boards of education and has a vocational rehabilitation counselor assigned to each high school in the state. These counselors provide pre-employment transition services to students with disabilities to ensure students, and their parents, and school personnel are aware of available services, training, education, and employment options. Through the POWER program, students with disabilities have opportunities for job shadowing experiences. Through STEP, students may receive services from teachers outside of the classroom, including job coaching and job placement. Youth may also continue to receive services from DRS after exiting high school. This often includes additional training and education required to achieve their chosen employment goal.
• Leverage resources providing effective and efficient services to youth.  This includes cross referrals and co-enrollment of individuals in addition to joint projects and activities at the state and regional level.
• Utilize the Office of Apprenticeship to promote apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities for youth.
• Transcripted EDGE credit can be earned by students to matriculate from secondary career technical education to CTCS. The West Virginia EDGE was established in 2001 in Senate Bill 436. EDGE is an acronym for Earn a Degree-Graduate Early and is a result of the seamless curriculum initiative that focuses on curriculum alignment between educational levels. The alignment process identifies curriculum gaps, eliminates curriculum duplication and sets curriculum mastery levels to pre-determined standards while saving tuition money for students.

 Goal 6: Align WV’s Labor Force Participation Rate with the National Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR).

 WV has the lowest LFPR in the United States. Increasing labor force participation rates and reducing unemployment rate disparities for people with disabilities, both younger and older workers, and people with lower educational attainment would lead to measurable increases in the size of the state's available labor force.  Helping minorities and other groups with barriers to employment is critical to ensuring that West Virginia’s employers are able to find workers and our economy is able to expand.

 Strategy 6.1: Match individuals to adult basic education.

• Individuals will be assessed and referred to adult basic education to obtain skills needed for their career pathway.
• Adult Education will track referral source and Education and Career Plan (ECP) utilization in its Management Information System (MIS).

 Strategy 6.2: Match individuals to postsecondary training or education.

• Core partners will increase referrals to postsecondary training or education leading to employment.
• Capture data match with WFWV and Higher Education Policy Commission on individuals who enter postsecondary education or employment.

 Strategy 6.3: Utilize career pathways when working with youth.

• Core partners will provide youth opportunities for academic enrichment and employment.

 Strategy 6.4: Improve the ability of core partners to match individuals with employers.

• Making better job matches between individuals and employers reduces an individual’s time between jobs and minimizes delays to entering the workforce.
• DRS employment specialists continuously collect employment information from their business contacts. This information, including job orders for open positions, is immediately input into the WFWV’s online MACC system and shared within the WDS.
• DRS will continue to serve on Business Service Teams (BSTs) with WFWV, Adult Education, LWDBs, and other related entities. Through training and standardizing informational materials, when possible, these teams provide a full range of WDS information when making visits to employers. This will allow the WDS to maximize the impact of employer visits and ensure that businesses are aware of all resources available through the WDS.
• Enhance State MIS to ensure information gathered is complete and accurate.
• Improve accuracy of occupational classification among employer postings, training program, and participant work histories.

Strategy 6.5: The State will expand opportunities for youth to acquire post-secondary skills and credentials needed for high wage jobs through increased access to career and technical education programs and work-based learning experiences. The WVDE and CTCS will work cooperatively to explore and develop appropriate connections between WIOA youth activities and Strengthening Career and Technical Education Act for the 21^st Century (Perkins V) postsecondary and state funded programming.

Strategy 6.6: The Department of Education will explore the transformation and modernization of CTE and evaluate the opportunity to align CTE with the career pathways recognized by the State.

Strategy 6.7: Explore opportunities to establish Career Development in K-12 education curriculum starting with eight (8th) grade to include career orientation, workforce development information and promote career pathway for youth.

Strategy 6.8: LWDBs will explore opportunities to increase their focus on developing and establishing summer youth programs providing work experience and soft skills to youth.

Core Program Activities to Implement State Strategy

Each WIOA core agency has roles and responsibilities in serving consumers and employers through the AJCWV. These partners collaborate to better serve consumers utilizing these one—stop employment centers by sharing resources, reducing redundancies, and optimizing service delivery. Depending on the needs of individuals and the available services and resources from the programs (depending on eligibility), one or more agencies may provide services to a consumer. All three partners work with other agencies in various capacities to ensure its alignment with other WIOA programs.

To ensure the alignment of activities across programs, partners maintain ongoing communication to maintain awareness of the activities of other programs. In order to best serve consumers, state and local level staffs are kept well-informed of the services and other resources available from partner agencies. This communication occurs in several ways. At the state level, the AJCs, where daily interaction with partner agency staff occurs. Cross-training is also available, if needed. These activities result in better services to AJC consumers because they are provided the most appropriate services while preserving resources for future consumers.

Further alignment of services will be conducted at the individual consumer level. As appropriate, consumers may be referred to any of the core partners. When this occurs and a consumer is served by more than one WIOA agency (co-enrolled), the benefits of WV’s integrated IT system become available to the consumer and service providers. 

The integrated system will update daily to inform service providers of the services that other agencies are providing a co-enrolled consumer. This knowledge will allow each agency to coordinate services while also avoiding the duplication of services. In addition, core partners will host and participate in community forums targeting special populations and provide public service announcements about services available. This system is in the process of being developed and in the initial stage of implementation core and partner programs will collaborate to ensure that resources are leveraged and services are not duplicated. Integration among core partners enables the WDS to remain flexible and adaptable while operating in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

AJC services will provide improved access and efficiency, along with value- added services to customers of the WDS. Partners are responsible for the delivery of workforce education and training programs and related services, as well as education programs that support career preparation and advancement. Strategically, the programs and agencies serve either a common customer or are charged with achieving similar employment and education outcomes for their targeted customer groups, including those most in need and those with disabilities. These services will include:

• Providing services that facilitate the match between high-demand jobs, employers and job seekers;
• Providing employment, training, and retention services for eligible WIOA participants and prioritizing services to recipients of public assistance and other low-income individuals and individuals who are disabled and/or basic skills deficient, to spur financial self-sufficiency;
• Developing adult education and family literacy programs that ensure all adults have the basic education skills they need to contribute to their families and communities;
• Providing employment, training, and retention services to individuals with barriers to employment, including veterans, individuals with disabilities, trade-affected individuals, older individuals, ex-offenders, homeless individuals, long-term unemployed individuals, and youth;
• Encouraging the use of training services that provide portable, stackable and transferable credit and credentials;
• Providing “wrap around” support services, such as childcare, unemployment insurance, and transportation to enable eligible individuals to work or participate in employment and training activities;
• Monitoring and evaluating compliance of local area service delivery for fiscal accountability and program effectiveness; and
• Providing technical assistance to LWDBs and training providers to ensure the most effective delivery of workforce services.

The state will take further actions to coordinate services between WIOA core programs and non— core programs and services to create an effective career pathway system. These actions will include the following:

• The education agencies and educational institutions will work with the WVWFDB and LWDBs to build career pathways that include secondary and postsecondary career and technical education programs of study.

• The state will expand skill-building services funded through SNAP E&T, including leveraging federal funding available through SNAP E&T 50/50 funds for employment, training, and related support services, and coordinate those services with WIOA core programs.
• The state will increase the integration of TANF employment and training services with WIOA core programs.
• The state will design career pathways to have an entry point along the pathway that meets the adult education and workforce program alignment requirements in the “ability to benefit” provision of Title IV of the federal Higher Education Act, to enable eligible participants without a high school diploma to qualify for Pell Grants and other federal student financial assistance.