U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Https

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock () or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Plan: Colorado PYs 2016-2017
Combined Plan C

Section: WIOA State Plan Common Elements

Narrative: II. a. 2. C.

Published
Located in:
  • II. Strategic Elements

    The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a Strategic Planning Elements section that analyzes the State’s current economic environment and identifies the State’s overall vision for its workforce development system. The required elements in this section allow the State to develop data-driven goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce and to identify successful strategies for aligning workforce development programs. Unless otherwise noted, all Strategic Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs.

    • a. Economic, Workforce, and Workforce Development Activities Analysis

      The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an analysis of the economic conditions, economic development strategies, and labor market in which the State’s workforce system and programs will operate.

      • 2. Workforce Development, Education and Training Activities Analysis
        The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an analysis of the workforce development activities, including education and training in the State, to address the education and skill needs of the workforce, as identified in Education and Skill Levels of the Workforce above, and the employment needs of employers, as identified in Employers' Employment Needs above. This must include an analysis of –

II. a. 2. C. State Workforce Development Capacity

Provide an analysis of the capacity of State entities to provide the workforce development activities identified in (A) above.

Current Narrative:

Colorado has implemented a workforce system designed to increase capacity to serve more customers. Led by the strategic vision set by Governor Hickenlooper and the Colorado Workforce Development Council, the functional design of the Colorado workforce system starts with housing five of the core programs in one state agency, allowing for optimal coordination in both strategic planning and operation execution. The recent addition of Vocational Rehabilitation under CDLE serves to further increase capacity and extend the alignment of the system to a broader and more diverse population of jobseekers across the state. A streamlined customer experience through referrals from and to core, non–core, and program partners coordinates workforce activities and increases the capacity of each partner by allowing specialized services to function optimally and assist in the elimination of the duplication of services.

Furthermore, in an effort to reach more customers, partnerships were developed with libraries to increase capacity, especially in rural areas across the state. Beyond bricks–and–mortar, Colorado utilizes technology to increase access; examples include virtual job fairs, videoconferencing throughout the Colorado Workforce Centers, especially in rural areas, and resources available through Connecting Colorado.