Narrative: III. a. 1.

Governor Justice’s vision is to create a dynamic and inclusive workforce ecosystem in West Virginia that empowers individuals to thrive, drives economic prosperity, and fosters a resilient and innovative economy. WVWDB is the Governor’s agent for the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of West Virginia’s workforce development system. Members collaborate to provide state-level coordination and integration of federal and state workforce development policies and strategies with a goal of creating a more job-driven service delivery system. The goals and strategies included in this plan were developed in a collaborative effort with partners and approved by the WVWDB.

The WVWDB has recently focused and enhanced its strategic role in assuring that a policy and procedures framework is in place for consistent service delivery and, working closely with WorkForce West Virginia (WFWV), that training and technical assistance occurs among all partners and the local workforce development boards (LWDBs) to further the No Wrong Door model that is the cornerstone of the state’s vision. 

Full Board meetings occur every quarter. Significant decisions are made with the approval of a simple majority of a Board quorum. Status updates on any current initiatives are given, as appropriate, to the full Board during regular meetings, and if action is required, the Board is able to act accordingly. Public notice of regular Board meetings will be provided to all members no less than seven days before the day of the meeting. All meetings of the Board will be publicly announced in advance and open and accessible to the public. Information on the state board’s activities and schedules can be found on the Board’s new public website: https://workforcedb.wv.gov/

State Workforce Board Functions:

(a) Development, implementation, and modification of the 4-year State Plan;

The WVWDB provides oversight for all steps of the 4-year State Plan.  The oversight includes analyzing labor market trends, demographic data, employment rates, industry growth sectors, skills gaps and other relevant factors.  Based on analysis, members and stakeholders establish clear and achievable goals for the state’s workforce development over the next 4 years.  

A leadership planning team for the development of the WIOA strategic plan includes staff from the Governor’s Workforce Resiliency Office, the WVWDB, and WFWV. The team conducted an analysis of workforce and employment data, resulting in the identification of four strategic focus areas that were presented to the Board and partners as the strategic goals for 2024-2027. 

Partners reviewed and provided feedback related to the goals before they were presented to the WVWDB and approved at the December 13, 2023 meeting. Each partner identified a point of contact for their WIOA planning who participated in meetings and submitted partner plans by December 22, 2023. The plan was available for WVWDB review and partner comment from February 5-9, 2024 and is then available for public review and comment from February 12-28, 2024. Public comments will be reviewed by the leadership planning team and to consider for incorporation before the March 4, 2024 submission deadline.

The Interagency Collaborative Team (ICT), established under the state Workforce Investment Act, ensures coordination between the agencies engaged in workforce development activities, LWDBs, and WFWV. The ICT operates as a state interagency source for addressing issues or concerns related to building and maintaining the most effective and efficient implementation of WIOA and the overall workforce development system in West Virginia. The team focuses on how best to collaborate between and among the state agencies directly involved in workforce development activities. The ICT serves as a forum for the LWDBs to seek information or recommendations to fulfill their responsibilities. WFWV convenes the team at least monthly and provides administrative and other services.

To ensure seamless alignment of activities and goals across programs, partners maintain continuous communication to enhance awareness of each other's initiatives. This commitment to information sharing ensures that state and local staff remain well-informed about the comprehensive array of services and resources available from partner agencies. Regular communication takes place at both the state level and within AJCs, where daily interactions with partner agency staff occur. Mandatory cross-training initiatives further optimize service delivery to AJC customers, simultaneously preserving resources for future demands.

(b) Review of statewide policies, programs, and recommendations on actions that must be taken by the State to align workforce development programs to support a comprehensive and streamlined workforce development system. Such review of policies, programs, and recommendations must include a review and provision of comments on the State Plans, if any, for programs and activities of one-stop partners that are not core programs;

The WVWDB recently reorganized advisory committees to include state partners and to align with goals developed for the WIOA strategic plan.  The Operations Committee supports the State Plan’s goal of utilizing a variety of strategies to align the core programs, one-stop partners, and other resources to achieve fully integrated customer services. This includes 1) creating workforce development activities regarding gaps identified in the state’s workforce analysis; 2) setting collaborative performance goals, certifying one-stop centers, sharing information/data, and working together to resolve problems and addressing gaps; and 3) collaborating and coordinating on training, marketing and feedback by utilizing existing committees, workgroups, and programs while aligning and sharing resources when appropriate.  

(c) Development and continuous improvement of the workforce development system; 

The ICT serves as a key group to ensure continuous improvement.  The group encourages and promotes stakeholder engagement, barrier assessment for individuals, data analysis related to the economy and workforce, mapping programs and resources, collaborative problem-solving, and training and capacity building.  

The Career Pathways Committee comprises education, community organizations, employers, and workforce organizations. This committee meets with partners from around the state and gathers information and ideas on how these groups can align, share resources, and collaborate.  The goal of this committee is to make recommendations to the WVWDB on how to better coordinate education, training, and supportive services to create clear and accessible pathways for individuals to enter and progress with targeted industries or career fields.  

Industry Partnerships and Employer Engagement Committee: The Industry Partnerships and Employer Engagement committee includes multiple employers within several industries to collaborate with colleges, high schools, labor and workforce agencies, community organizations, and other community stakeholders. These partnerships align training with the skills needed for that industry while facilitating training, hiring, and career advancement for workers.

To ensure seamless alignment of activities and goals across programs, partners maintain continuous communication to enhance awareness of each other's initiatives. This commitment to information sharing ensures that state and local staff remain well-informed about the comprehensive array of services and resources available from partner agencies. Regular communication takes place at both the state level and within AJCs, where daily interactions with partner agency staff occur. Mandatory cross-training initiatives further optimize service delivery to AJC customers, simultaneously preserving resources for future demands.

(d) Development and updating of comprehensive State performance and accountability measures to assess core program effectiveness under WIOA sec. 116(b);

The Performance and Accountability Committee is established to develop metrics and measurements for publishing comprehensive workforce data that will enable the West Virginia Workforce System to measure comprehensive accountability and performance. The Performance and Accountability Committee, in consultation with other committees and the Board, recommends policy, budget, and administrative actions to the Governor to ensure that West Virginia can measure what matters for businesses, job seekers, and government. Elements from the Board’s Strategic plan specifically assigned to this committee include:

• Design and implement a statewide survey measuring businesses’ satisfaction with the workforce system. 
• Develop and deliver a consolidated budget report including performance data that improves transparency in workforce funding to enable smarter policy decisions.
• Advance recommendations to the Governor to improve system alignment, accountability, and efficiencies.
• Endorse a set of common state performance measures and champion the delivery of a Performance Accountability System to track workforce program outcomes.
• Promote a model that determines the return on public investment for workforce system programs in order to inform policy and resource allocation.

The committee is particularly engaged in cross-agency, cross-program performance metrics, in identifying common performance metrics, and in ensuring that decisions made by the WVWDB are informed by sound data and analysis.

Leaders of program partner agencies engage in a performance accountability process that is informed by data and aligned to the vision and goals of the Governor and the WIOA State Plan. Under the WIOA State Plan, a renewed focus on dashboards and system performance is being implemented with shared responsibility for transparency and accountability in its systems. The WVWDB, the Performance and Accountability Committee, and WFWV staff will establish baseline data points and annual accountability points to measure success in meeting goals. The assessment process will:

• Establish performance metrics and indicators aligned with the goals of expanding work-based learning, reducing barriers to sustainable employment, investing in high-growth sector strategies, and integrating and innovating service design and delivery.
• Conduct regular data analysis and performance reviews to assess LWDB performance in these areas.
• Provide ongoing technical assistance, resources, and support to LWDBs to address challenges and capitalize on opportunities for improvement.
• Foster collaboration and information-sharing among LWDBs, state agencies, employers, educational institutions, and other stakeholders to maximize impact and achieve shared goals in workforce development.

State Monitoring: Through the state’s monitoring system, fiscal monitors will conduct at least one annual onsite monitoring review for each of the seven LWDBs for compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. Any issues are handled through the state’s monitoring resolution process.

Evaluation: The WVWDB and WFWV will develop an evaluation agenda and utilize a portion of the state set-aside to conduct more formal mixed-methods evaluations of programs focused on best practices and impactful components of the state’s strategy that positively influence labor force participation, youth services, work-based learning enrollments, and access to education and training for skills development. The evaluation agenda will dig deeper into issues so as to inform stakeholders and the public about effective workforce development practices in West Virginia.

(e) Identification and dissemination of information on best practices, including best practices; 

The ICT serves as a key group to ensure continuous improvement.  The group encourages and promotes stakeholder engagement, barrier assessment for individuals, data analysis related to the economy and workforce, mapping programs and resources, collaborative problem-solving, and training and capacity building.  

(f) Development and review of statewide policies affecting the coordinated provision of services through the State's one-stop delivery system described in WIOA sec. 121(e); 

The WVWDB has spent the past year reviewing policy structure and making necessary changes to policies.  An entire section of policy has been developed for One-Stop Delivery System.  Policies recently approved and implemented include One-Stop System Vision, One-Stop Delivery, Requirements for Local Memorandum of Understanding policy and template, One-Stop Infrastructure Funding policy and template, One-Stop Certification, One-Stop Operator Requirements, and Common Identifier.   Current policies can be found here. 

(g) Development of strategies for technological improvements to facilitate access to, and improve the quality of services and activities provided through the one-stop delivery system; 

West Virginia is making and receiving considerable investments in technology and infrastructure upgrades that will improve the delivery of workforce development services.

WFWV needs a comprehensive approach that encompasses both technological advancements and investments in human resources. The agency acknowledges that technological improvements, including modernizing the UI System and establishing call centers to address information demand, are essential. These technologies also require a skilled and dedicated workforce to use them, thus highlighting the need for effective training programs to ensure staff readiness to handle workload fluctuations and new challenges.

(h) Development of strategies for aligning technology and data systems across one-stop partner programs to enhance service delivery and improve efficiencies in reporting on performance accountability measures, including design implementation of common intake, data collection, case management information, and performance accountability measurement and reporting processes and the incorporation of local input into such design and implementation to improve coordination of services across one-stop partner programs;

West Virginia’s MACC (Managed Administrative Computing Environment) data system is a comprehensive database used to manage various aspects of workforce development programs and services. It serves as a centralized platform for collecting, storing, and analyzing data related to employment, training, and workforce activities across the state.

The MACC data system is designed to support the implementation of the WIOA and other federal and state workforce development initiatives. It allows state agencies, LWDBs, service providers, and other stakeholders to track participant information, program outcomes, and performance metrics in real time. The system incorporates Wagner-Peyser, Adult, Dislocated Workers, Youth, Trade Act, National Dislocated Worker Grants, Rapid Response, Jobs for Veterans State Grants, Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers, Jobs & Hope WV, and the Eligible Training Provider List.

The core partners have developed interfaces between the WFWV MACC system, the Adult Education MIS system, and the DRS iECM system that allows co-enrollment of individuals under three core partners and the real-time sharing of participant activities and common data elements in the respective systems. This allows case managers to immediately know what services are being provided to a participant as well as follow up, performance, and other informational needs.

(i) Development of allocation formulas for the distribution of funds for employment and training activities for adults and youth workforce investment activities, to local areas as permitted under WIOA secs. 128(b)(3) and 133(b)(3);

The Funding Stream Report quantifies the level of both fiscal and programmatic (service delivery) involvement of all the entities involved either directly or tangentially with workforce development in West Virginia. The data collected for the report is critical to assessing the AJC system. With the original passage of House Bill 4083 in 2002, the West Virginia Legislature required this annual report regarding the source, use and outcomes of all funds received for workforce development activities in the state. 

The Funding Stream Report requires information on: 

• Source and amount of federal, state, and other funds received for workforce development activities, 
• Purpose of each of the above funds, 
• Services provided in each of the seven regional workforce development areas, and 
• The measure used to evaluate program performance (including current and baseline performance data) and any other information the council requests. 

All publicly funded workforce development programs operating in the state are to report: 

• Amount of federal funds expended by each program, 
• Amount of state funds expended by each program, 
• How the funds are spent, 
• The resulting improvement in the workforce. 

The purpose, beyond identifying sources and uses of funds, is to focus on the outcomes of workforce development. Holding agencies and programs accountable for results is vitally important. Getting the most value from the dollars invested, whether federal, state, or independent grants, is critical to the success of West Virginia’s WDS.

(j) Preparation of the annual reports described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of WIOA sec. 116(d);

Annual reports are developed and reported by WFWV.  Each year, WFWV issues an assessment of the West Virginia WDS, called the Workforce Development System Report. This serves as the primary assessment of one-stop partner program services in the state, reporting on the AJC System, funding streams (the Funding Stream Report), performance requirements, positive practices, and the Interagency Collaborative Team (ICT) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This summary document gives a public account and assessment of the current operations, structures, activities, finances, and future direction of AJCs. The report is published annually, as required by the West Virginia Legislature, and reported to the Legislative Oversight Commission on Workforce Investment for Economic Development.

(k) Development of the statewide workforce and labor market information system described in sec. 15(e) of the Wagner-Peyser Act; 

Labor market information is provided through the WFWV website at lmi.workforcewv.org.