Narrative: II. b.

1. Vision

Describe the State’s strategic vision for its workforce development system.

Governor Polis has focused on four key issues: tax reform and economic development, energy and renewables, health, and education and workforce. A priority area for fulfilling this vision is ensuring all Coloradans have access to opportunities for quality, life-long education connected to the future of work. This overarching vision for the state is in alignment with the vision of the Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC), which is charged with aligning the efforts of economic development, education, workforce development, government and business stakeholders at the local, regional and state levels. The CWDC vision is that every Colorado employer has access to a skilled workforce and every Coloradan has the opportunity for meaningful employment, resulting in individual and statewide economic prosperity.

CWDC ensures the strategic vision for the workforce system remains relevant by convening partners, leveraging resources and working to remove communication and regulatory barriers in order to help businesses create jobs, retain jobs and access a highly competitive workforce. It is CWDC’s mission to enhance and sustain a skill-based talent development network that meets the needs of employers, workers, job-seekers, and learners for today and tomorrow. 

The CWDC has also adopted values that guide how the work of the talent development network is completed. Those values are: Equity, Agility, and Integration.

2. Goals

GOAL A: ALIGN STATE POLICIES AND FLEXIBLE RESOURCES TO ENSURE ALL COLORADANS HAVE EQUITABLE ACCESS TO OPPORTUNITIES FOR QUALITY, LIFE-LONG EDUCATION CONNECTED TO THE FUTURE OF WORK.

The Colorado workforce development system is building on its strong foundation to ensure that all Coloradans have access to opportunity. From this base, it is time to ensure that as a state we provide flexible resources to ensure Coloradans have equitable access to life-long learning opportunities connected to the future of work. To ensure success Colorado is committed to formulating, testing and scaling the braiding and blending of funding across programs, as well as exploring pay-for-performance contracting and alternative sources of capital for the system. To accomplish this goal we recognize the need to enhance the execution of SNAP 50/50 to ensure all communities are maximizing their available resources. We also recognize the need to promote collaboration models between Colorado Works and workforce programs to ensure attainment of aligning state priorities and flexible resources to ensure all Coloradans have access to opportunities for quality, life-long education connected to the future of work. 

GOAL B: INCREASE THE AWARENESS OF THE TALENTFOUND NETWORK SO MORE INDIVIDUALS AND BUSINESSES UTILIZE THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES

In order to increase the impact of  the TalentFOUND Network and tell the story of the entire system, Coloradans must be informed of the array of services and resources available to them through My Colorado Journey. To do so will require increasing the flow of individuals into the TalentFOUND network through educator training on existing resources, including My Colorado Journey, and career advisor training. To support this training it will be imperative to map and promote in-demand industries in future-ready ways and explore how we can embed work-based learning and apprenticeship opportunities throughout Coloradans life-long education journey. 

GOAL C: PROMOTE CAREER NIMBLENESS AND AGILITY FOR ALL COLORADANS

Throughout the process of developing goals and strategies for this plan, there was significant engagement and collaboration among state-level program leaders. It was clear throughout the process that there is a push for all programs and partners to promote career nimbleness and agility for all Coloradans. To do so will require a statewide focus on career attachment strategies with a path to prosperity. This will also include an emphasis on creating lifelong upskilling opportunities that incorporate earn and learn approaches so individuals do not have to sacrifice income to increase their skills.  

GOAL D: STRENGTHEN PARTNERSHIPS TO ADDRESS JOB QUALITY AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL AND COMMUNITY LEVEL ISSUES IMPACTING ECONOMIC MOBILITY

Goal D is focused on addressing job quality and issues that impact economic mobility. To achieve this goal will require strengthening partnerships that can help address these issues. This will be accomplished by providing better service to individuals in need of support by strengthening the alignment and information sharing across all programs. Colorado is committed to developing an increasingly evidence-based workforce system, and specifically, is working to incentivize the use of evidence-based interventions by offering flexible award sizes, time periods, and performance measures, and continuing to build evidence of what works in Colorado.

Strengthening partnerships will also require supporting local boards to engage businesses and key employers to address community issues that induce childcare, transportation,and affordable housing.

A cross-functional work group comprised of state and local staff was convened to identify and implement strategies for achieving the above stated goal. Colorado has utilized, and will continue to utilize, the following strategies for identification, outreach, recruitment, and service delivery for individuals with barriers to employment:

• Data Quality - It is imperative that processes for the collection and reporting of relevant data are functioning effectively in order for Colorado to reliably demonstrate service to targeted groups. The aforementioned work group reviewed the functionality of Colorado’s data management and reporting system to ensure its capacity to accurately gather and report this information.
• Streamlining Intake - The work group studied the various intake processes in Colorado’s local workforce areas with an eye toward maximizing customer value and minimizing waste. The group recommended that unnecessary steps, forms, and functions be discontinued.
• Partnerships - Reaching and serving our state’s most vulnerable populations requires strong, effective working relationships among the programs and agencies that make up Colorado’s talent development system. State staff has worked, and will continue to work, to foster these partnerships in order to build referral systems and collaborative service delivery platforms that allow for quality wraparound services.

The following charts detail Colorado’s progress in serving the agreed-upon population groups:

3. Performance Goals

Using the table provided in Appendix 1, include the State's expected levels of performance relating to the performance accountability measures based on primary indicators of performance described in section 116(b)(2)(A) of WIOA. (This Strategic Planning element only applies to core programs.)

Performance measurements are negotiated annually with the US Departments of Labor and Education. Colorado will develop proposed targets for the applicable performance measurements for PY 20 and PY 21. This state plan will be updated as performance targets are negotiated in each program year based on the negotiation process with the federal departments.

4. Assessment

Describe how the State will assess the overall effectiveness of the workforce development system in the State in relation to the strategic vision and goals stated above in sections (b)(1), (2), and (3) and how it will use the results of this assessment and other feedback to make continuous or quality improvements.

Colorado is focused on enhancing its use of evidence to inform workforce development strategies and to influence the design and execution of initiatives. The vision and goals discussed above are theory-informed. By measuring progress and the results of implementation, we will be able to collect data that can move our work along an evidence continuum. Where needed, assessment plans will be developed by the CWDC in partnership with all system programs. The assessment plans will include measurable goals, progress benchmarks, and specific indicators that will be used to monitor progress. Through ongoing WIOA Implementation Team meetings strategies will be assessed for their performance and the implications of that performance on the system overall in relationship to the overarching goals and specific program performance measurements. Internal and external evaluation work will also be conducted to ensure fidelity in our work and improvement in the quality of implementation.