Narrative: III. a. 2. E.

Postsecondary Financial Assistance—Washington Tops the U.S. List

Washington is a national leader in making postsecondary education and training affordable and accessible for everyone. The state offers some of the most generous financial aid support in the country intended to help low- and middle-income families afford the cost of postsecondary education, no matter the learning venue. The state’s diverse range of programs and policies ensures that nearly everyone has a financially supported pathway to success, regardless of their chosen path (traditional degrees, apprenticeships, non-degree programs, part-time, etc.).

Despite these options, many Washington residents don’t apply—either because they are unaware of or have trouble navigating among these financial supports or don’t recognize their value in helping afford postsecondary education and training. This is a real miss for our state, as it reduces the number of residents who go on to education after high school, limiting their economic mobility, while also hindering the state’s goal to increase the number of residents with postsecondary credentials and training. In the Exploring Challenges in Postsecondary Access report, the Washington Student Achievement Council in partnership with the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges conducted a study to better understand the barriers to postsecondary education. In the study, 80% said that it would cost too much to go back to school despite the fact that nearly all would qualify for a full Washington College Grant. Grant awards vary based on income, family size, and school or program cost. For 2023-24, an eligible student from a family of four with income of $73,000 or less per year would get a full award, for example.

Notable financial aid and postsecondary support options within Washington’s current system are included below:

• The Washington College Grant (WCG): Astate-funded grant program helping Washington residents pay for tuition and fees at approved public colleges, universities and licensed private career schools in the state. The eligibility requirements support a broad set of life experiences including undocumented Washington residents pursuing approved certificate programs, job training, apprenticeships, as well as part and full-time college two-year and four-year college degrees.  Recent legislative actions are aimed at furthering postsecondary accessibility:
  • Legislation in 2022 created the Evaluation of Apprentices Receiving Credit Towards Higher Education Degrees (SB 5764), initiating a five-year collaborative process led by the William D. Ruckelshaus Center at Washington State University to evaluate opportunities for apprentices to earn credit toward a higher education degree. The aim is to remove barriers for students enrolled in state registered apprenticeship programs to access the Washington College Grant, and to set the same grant amount for students in apprenticeships as for those attending two-year institutions for tuition and fees, supplies, equipment and other educational costs.
  • House Bill 2214, 2024 legislation passed by the legislature further enhances access opportunities for the WCG by proposing automatic eligibility for the grant for participants in the TANF or SNAP food assistance programs. This move is designed to simplify the application process, defer or even bypass the FAFSA process, and extend the grant's reach to more students in need, thereby reducing the hurdles for low-income residents of Washington to pursue higher education and secure better economic opportunities.
• Opportunity Scholars: This program offers financial assistance along with mentorship and career training. It supports students as they build their pathways to high-demand careers, with a particular focus on tackling barriers to education and training that many face in Washington. The program targets high-demand fields like trade, STEM, and healthcare, and has seen its scholars graduate into these fields with impressive success, such as most Baccalaureate graduates earning close to $100K a year and Career and Technical Scholarship graduates earning four times what their families earned at the time of their application​.
• Opportunity Partnership: Links community and technical colleges with local workforce development councils to provide mentorship and other career connected learning opportunities to low-income students who lack social capital in their chosen career field. Program also provides emergency financial support to eliminate unforeseen barriers to program completion.
• College Bound Scholars: Program, paired with the WCG, designed to inspire and encourage Washington middle school students from low-income families to prepare for and pursue postsecondary education. The early commitment of state funding for tuition is intended to alleviate the financial barriers preventing students from considering education or training beyond high school.
•  Washington Award for Vocational Excellence (WAVE): This merit-based scholarship celebrates top Career and Technical Education (CTE) students at both high schools and community and technical colleges, providing up to two years of postsecondary tuition assistance. The WAVE scholarship sends a clear message that CTE can be a pathway to postsecondary credentials and high-demand, high-wage occupations.
• Apprenticeships:  Apprenticeships offer a structured “earn as you learn” model that is a proven method to strengthen the workforce by providing workers with hands-on training, skills and credentials while making a living and providing businesses direct access to a growing pool of skilled workers. Apprenticeships have a 10-year taxpayer return of $7.80 for every tax dollar invested. The last several years have seen modernization of the state apprentice system, and expansion into more industry sectors, and increased accessibility to more historically underserved populations.

PRIORITY 3: YOUTH

Youth were disproportionately affected by recent economic disruptions including the COVID pandemic and the great recession of 2008-2011. Many industries that typically employed young individuals, such as hospitality, retail, and entertainment, faced significant challenges, leading to fewer opportunities for employment, job losses, and reduced working hours. Additionally, disruptions in traditional education settings, including remote learning and school closures, affected youth skills development, mental health, and access to internships or work experience, further hindering youth employment prospects.

Overall, the pandemic created significant obstacles for youth seeking employment; both new challenges and the exacerbation of existing challenges in entering the workforce. Addressing the needs of all youth is critical to ensuring a more inclusive and equitable job market, especially those facing barriers to continued education and employment, including youth with disabilities; justice- and foster-involved youth; youth experiencing poverty and homelessness, racism, family disharmony, gender identification, and other socioeconomic challenges. Partnering with businesses is essential, as it helps tailor training programs to meet industry demands, fostering a symbiotic relationship between education and employment. Raising awareness of youth work opportunities not only empowers young individuals but also bridges the information gap between employers and potential employees and allows businesses to tap into crucial underutilized labor sources. By investing in comprehensive education and vocational training programs, we can equip youth with the skills and knowledge needed to secure stable employment and financial independence.

Increased adoption of technology in the workplace and the classroom will also continue to have outsized impact on young learners as they prepare for a rapidly evolving job market. Artificial intelligence is challenging traditional education models, and students, educators and other workforce development stakeholders will need to be empowered to capitalize on these benefits while safeguarding against risks. Students will need to employ this technology in the classroom to build skillsets needed by employers, while at the same time bolster developing durable skills such as critical thinking and collaboration. At the same time, educators and workforce professionals enhance their effectiveness by utilizing AI to perform tasks such curriculum development, assessment, job matching, labor market analysis, standards and certification, and other supports. Over the next four years of this workforce development plan, the usage and regulation around AI and other technology for youth will need to be aligned with other ongoing state efforts, including the 2024 Executive Order on AI, and other legislative efforts.

The guiding principle of comprehensive supports for individuals with barriers to employment has heightened importance for youth populations. Effective support services for youth are designed within the core tenets of positive youth development and trauma-informed care.  Such evidence-based, youth-centered services play a pivotal role in enhancing their educational attainment, training opportunities, and future productivity in the workforce. These services address various barriers that young individuals often face, enabling them to succeed in their educational pursuits and transition effectively into the workforce. Such supports enable many young workers to take advantage of training and education opportunities that may not be otherwise available.

Many young people lack confidence and self-awareness and when coupled with structural barriers, such as a lack of transportation or child care, food and housing insecurity, age caps on aid programs etc.,. many young adults are unable to utilize Washington’s financial aid programs for postsecondary education and vocational training. This is especially true for historically marginalized populations, who are often as likely to enroll but less likely to persist to program completion, leading to fewer certificates, diplomas, and industry-valued credentials for this priority population.

The objective of this strategic priority is to improve opportunities for young people, especially those kept furthest from opportunity to transition to an economically successful adulthood by way of reinforcing the existing and bolstering new areas of impact, including:

• Increasing youth awareness of workforce services and programs. Connecting youth to the appropriate programs equips them with the knowledge and tools to build successful and fulfilling careers. We can achieve this impact by remaining youth-centered and focusing on:
  • Strengths-based, person-first programming. When we recognize that youth already possess skills, abilities, and strengths, we can build on and amplify these opportunities when we prioritize what is already going well for that youth.
  • Supporting co-enrollment in youth-opportunity and re-engagement programs , when appropriate, such as WIOA Youth and Open Doors. Such efforts will require the removal of barriers to co-enrollment in multiple programs.
  • Aligning youth programs with the needs and interests of young people in a geographic area.
  • Connecting business with formal education programs to create continuous pathways from education to employment to career.
  • Supporting the use of workforce and peer navigators with youth-serving programs.
  • Expand career-connected learning and exploration to in-school youth, starting as young as elementary and middle school.

• Broadening access to and shortening the time required to achieve credentials. Increasing rates of youth credentialing not only enhances the qualifications and employability of our future workforce, but also enables youth to embark on a pathway to economic stability, boosting long-term career prospects and contributing to overall economic growth in society. Shortening this transition period from secondary education to career will make them competitive candidates for quality jobs earlier in life and should decrease the unemployment rate of this demographic. We can achieve this impact by focusing on:
  • Exploring dual credit programs in secondary schools
  • Strengthening and increasing available apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs and pathways
  • Supporting Career and Technical Education (CTE) widely, across all occupational sectors
  • Support CTE building trade and industrial arts programs to prepare for jobs created under new federal investments (IIJA, IRA, CHIPS Act).
  • Enhancing Transition and Pre-Employment Transition Services for young people with disabilities, including by using the strategies described above.

We’ve learned from prior investments in helping youth transition to successful careers. The following programs and services have proven successes to build upon:

Skill Centers are regional secondary schools that serve high school students from multiple school districts. They provide instruction in preparatory programs that are either too expensive or too specialized for schools or districts to operate individually. Currently, there are fourteen (14) skill centers in Washington state.

The Running Start Program allows 11th and 12th grade students to take college courses at Washington's thirty four (34) community and technical colleges. Students earn both high school and college credits for their successful completion of these courses.

Career Connect Washington (CCW) offers work-based and academic programs for young people to explore, learn, and/or earn money or college credits while learning. CCW was created by a partnership of business, labor, education, government and community leaders. Started in 2017, CCW bridges the gap between employers and educators by providing the connection, funding, and support they need to deliver high quality academic and work-based experiences for Washington students, especially those who have been kept furthest from opportunity.

CCW’s primary focus is growing career connected learning opportunities for youth and young adults up to age 29. But all students and job seekers can participate in CCW programs. CCW prioritizes programming for students kept furthest from opportunity, such as BIPOC youth, low-income youth, youth with disabilities, and youth for whom English is a second language. CCW Career Launch programs include both a paid, work-based learning experience with an employer and postsecondary academic education (resulting in an employer-verified credential or 45 credits toward a postsecondary degree). These Career Launch programs help to level the playing field for students furthest from opportunity, by offering real pay, real employment experience, and postsecondary credentials of value in Washington’s labor market. For additional information on CCW, please see Appendix A for more details in IV. Coordination with State Plan Programs.

Core Plus uses the power of hands-on learning to better integrate academic and career-based education. Core Plus is an industry-validated, skills-based manufacturing and industrial arts curriculum, with standardized certificate systems to document attainment of learning goals and objectives. It originated as a grassroots program led by industry to re-emphasize CTE in schools with Boeing collaborating on Core Plus Aerospace. It has now expanded to include construction and maritime curricula, as well.

Elective Credit for Paid Work Experience As of the 2023-2024 academic year, high school students are able to earn up to two, elective, high school credits for paid work experiences and/or employment.

High School and Beyond Plan This plan guides students’ high school experiences and to prepare them for transition from K-12 to a successful career in the workforce. Students begin developing the plan in middle school and update it annually, with the support of educators and guidance counselors. In 2023, the legislature required a statewide universal platform for the plan. This continuous improvement will guide the use of the High School and Beyond Plan (HSBP) over the next four years.

BACKGROUND

Historically, the workforce education system has been split into two parts – secondary (seventh through twelfth grade) and postsecondary. In the secondary system, learning focused on preparing students for future career training and was not student-centered. Emphasis and encouragement focused on entering a four-year college degree program after high school graduation. Little effort was spent developing student interests, capabilities or learning styles, especially beyond formal college education. By not making concerted efforts to place students on continuous learning pathways leading to careers of interest to them, most students are not set up to make meaningful progress towards entering the workforce. More career guidance, counseling, and navigator resources can help students to align their future goals with their current education pathways. Focusing on the learner, including how one learns, and embedding education and skills (advanced math and science) throughout K-12 courses, including CTE can also support students as they navigate their career path and transition to adulthood.

Historically, only in the postsecondary system could students continue their studies along more focused career pathways and earn degrees, certifications, and other types of recognized credentials. By undervaluing the education of those K-12 years and not making concerted efforts to place students on continuous learning pathways leading to careers, this system did not set up the majority of students to make meaningful progress towards entering the workforce. More career guidance, counseling and navigator resources can help students to align their future goals with their current education pathways. Furthermore, the additional high school graduation requirements added over the years can have the effect of making coursework less meaningful and relevant for students and restricting the responsiveness of schools. The process of transitioning from high school into postsecondary education is also in flux, as the education system moves away from standardized testing. Additionally, transcript evaluation and translation are not consistent across institutions. As a result, there are questions as to whether dual credit and CTE courses taken in high school will result in the intended credits awarded by postsecondary entities. These issues compound missed opportunities that are systemic, structural barriers and no fault of the youth nor the educators within these systems. Youth participation in the workforce is crucial for the future of the state’s economy, providing a skilled talent pipeline for businesses, addressing labor market demands, and bringing fresh perspectives leading to adaptation and innovation. As such, we must proactively move to dismantle the harmful impacts of these systems, however unintentional, to create more holistic, supportive, and responsive pathways from education to credential attainment to self-sustaining employment.

Another key challenge facing the youth labor market is the mismatch between the skills and competencies of young workers and the demands and expectations of employers. At the same time, internships and apprenticeships are valuable forms of work-based learning that can enhance the employability and skills of youth workers, as well as the productivity and innovation of businesses. However, many employers face regulatory and administrative barriers that discourage them from hiring and employing youth workers in these programs.

To address this gap, it is essential to streamline policies and procedures that facilitate the hiring and employment of youth workers in internships and apprenticeships. These forms of work-based learning can provide valuable opportunities for young people to acquire relevant skills, experience, and networks, while also benefiting employers by enhancing their productivity, innovation, and social responsibility. However, many employers face barriers and disincentives to engage with young workers, such as complex regulations, administrative burdens, and lack of information and support. To address this, the workforce development system will explore options to facilitate employer engagement with young people such as establishing a statewide governance structure and vision that supports and coordinates apprenticeship programs available to youth across different sectors and regions, establishing workplace business liaisons with the K-12 education system, reducing logistical, regulatory, and financial barriers to employer participation and inviting business representatives to the youth strategic priority work group. These interventions aim to foster collaboration and communication between employers and educators, as well as to align the goals and strategies of the youth workforce development system with the needs and interests of the business sector.

Aligning programs and credentials to be responsive to student and industry needs must be supported. Industry-recognized credentials (IRCs) are crucial for students entering the workforce; leveraging partnerships between business and education can help create clearer pathways to employment. Apprenticeships are a proven model of attaining IRCs, while simultaneously earning money and embarking on a path towards a lifelong career. Yet, pre-apprenticeship programs face significant administrative hurdles; consequently, many of these programs restrict access to youth aged 18 or older, to comply with certification requirements, such as OSHA, forklift safety, etc.

Providing youth and young adults with opportunities to make meaningful strides towards IRCs and with job opportunities that allow them to earn and learn simultaneously, is crucial to their self-sufficiency. By engaging in the workforce during ages fifteen through eighteen youth are much more likely to remain in the workforce and advance in their careers. If students graduate from high school with no IRCs and little idea of what type of work they would like to do, they are more likely to forgo college and vocational training opportunities and have more limited prospects for participation in the workforce. They are more likely to have entry-level jobs with fewer prospects for career advancement. Such stop-gap employment, where wages are unlikely to increase over time, can lead workers towards a “lost decade,” in which such workers drift in and out of similarly low-paying jobs with few prospects for advancement. As such workers age, they become less and less likely to attain additional education credentials and complete trainings due to multiple factors such as limited time and money, familial and dependent responsibilities due to a lack of adequate caregiving infrastructure in our society, and additional barriers to accessing support systems.

This strategic priority has significant interaction with Priority 1: System and Priority 4: Credential Transparency. For example, a youth-specific online portal to consolidate relevant youth-related resources would directly support system integration for youth. This could include services for youth with disabilities and other systemic barriers such as foster- and justice-involvement, federal definition language and requirements, and others. The portal could also serve as a data-sharing opportunity for support programs such as SNAP and TANF, as well as information and access to wrap-around services such as those noted in the youth support services section. In addition, a Learning and Employment Record (LER) could enable Washington to map available resources and launch a collective impact campaign to connect the most economically vulnerable jobseekers with clear, navigable routes to livable wages in high-demand, high-wage fields. It is envisioned as a key strategy for ameliorating systemic inequity and poverty and assisting workforce system customers achieve true self-sufficiency through the integration of diverse workforce, education, and supportive services and resources. The LER would employ a no-wrong-door approach, linking student academic records with the workforce and social support systems, in alignment with FERPA and other such safeguards for confidential information. Individuals would own their data and control access to it.

CRITICAL STEPS FOR SUCCESS

Dual Credit

Dual credit programs play a pivotal role in fostering youth employment and career pathways by offering high school students the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school. By completing college-level courses in high school, students develop a solid foundation for further education or immediate entry into the workforce with advanced skills and qualifications. Such opportunities not only enhance their employability but also reduce the time and financial barriers often associated with traditional postsecondary education. To maximize these benefits, stakeholders need to explore how to better support and align dual credit and other credentialing opportunities for youth, including partnering with skill centers and other community-based organizations that support such pathways.

Dual credit programs in Washington include:

• Advanced Placement
• International Baccalaureate
• Cambridge International
• College in the High School
• Running Start
• Career and Technical Education

Opportunity youth

Youth who have historically been kept furthest from opportunity have the most to gain from engagement with education and employment supports. Current existing supports for such youth include the WIOA Youth program and Open Doors education reengagement programs. When state systems that support youth are better integrated and efforts are aligned to provide comprehensive, wraparound supports, youth are better prepared to complete secondary credentials, such as attainment of a high school diploma or an equivalent credential. Secondary credential attainment is a necessary pre-requisite to supporting youth towards their goals of employment, self-employment, and/or postsecondary education. We will continue to pursue alignment of overlapping program efforts that serve this vulnerable population, as well as seek to create more rigorous systems of measurement around upstream progress indicators, such as secondary credential attainment.

WIOA Youth prioritizes service delivery to youth and young adults aged 14-24 who identify as low-income, with emphasis on youth who have disconnected from formal education pathways and who experience additional barriers such as disability, homelessness, foster- and justice-system involvement, parenting, and English as a second language. WIOA Youth service providers partner with shelters, drop-in centers, transitional living centers, food banks, juvenile court systems, tribal partners, and others to provide warm hand-offs and referral pathways for youth with significant barriers.

Partnership between workforce pathway providers and the Open Doors program is a continual process of refining and iterating on existing state and local policies to ensure we are continuing to remove barriers at the administrative level so youth do not experience disconnection or disruption in engagement with education and workforce preparation activities. Washington State Employment Security Department is working in close partnership with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to remove and reduce policy barriers that limit co-enrollment in these two programs. Additionally, this state agency partnership is collaborating to ensure practitioners have awareness of and access to all relevant resources to support co-enrolled populations.

Apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship

Registered apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs are a valuable resource for many young people that don’t thrive in traditional, formal education programs. Registered apprenticeship programs and their supporting feeder programs are seeing increased support at all levels – from federal funding infrastructure strategies to on-the-ground awareness and engagement from youth and young adults in reengagement education pathways.

There is renewed interest in Washington to coordinate career-connected learning pathways with apprenticeship opportunities. Career Connect WA (CCW) is an umbrella initiative that has invested in expanding apprenticeship and has grown to more than 30 programs across the state, creating more pathways to middle class jobs through apprenticeship. To continue this work, CCW, the Employment Security Department (ESD), Labor and Industry (L&I), and other partners worked together to apply for the Apprenticeship Building America grant (ABA) from U.S. Labor Department to expand registered apprenticeship and recognized pre-apprenticeship programs in high-growth and high-demand industry sectors. This grant was awarded in 2022 and ESD issued an RFP to award $3,751,236.00 to Program Builders ready to build and expand programs statewide. The ABA grant program aims to increase equity and accessibility in program delivery to apprentices and bring the Registered Apprenticeship model to more industries. ESD looks to use their ABA funds to bolster the already established CCW network and the established sector intermediary partnerships such as: clean energy, healthcare, advanced manufacturing and aerospace, technology, and cybersecurity, maritime, and construction.

In 2023, in partnership with The Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC), CCW received $23 million in support from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration’s Good Jobs Challenge grant to create the Washington Jobs Initiative (WJI). WJI is helping Washington residents, including youth and young adults, to connect to good jobs through registered apprenticeships and other technical training programs. The initiative leverages CCW’s existing system to coordinate efforts across the state and ensure a focus on equity and diversity. Eight sectoral partnerships were awarded funds totaling nearly $17 million to train and place nearly 3,000 Washingtonians into good jobs with a family-sustaining wage in five key industries: construction; healthcare; advanced manufacturing and aerospace; clean Technology and energy; and information technology and cybersecurity.

INCREASING SUPPORTS FOR YOUTH

Better aligning youth programs with WIOA eligibility requirements

Aligning youth education programs with the WIOA funding eligibility requirements is one way to enable more young people to tap into and combine training programs and funding streams. WIOA provides limited federal funding to support youth workforce development initiatives; aligning youth education programs with WIOA requirements can help to leverage and maximize financial support for initiatives aimed at preparing youth for the workforce. Eligibility requirements help service providers prioritize youth and young adults most in need yet are flexible enough to ensure that even the most highly barriered youth can still access the program.

WIOA funding comes with federal and state-required performance and accountability reporting. In an integrated system, partner providers should look to system-wide metrics that track progress to mutually negotiated, cross-agency goals. Service integration should be responsive to the performance requirements of each participating partner. WIOA metrics may add value to non-WIOA programs. For example, WIOA outlines guidelines and standards for program quality and effectiveness that are aligned to the principles of youth development through fourteen (14) youth program elements. Aligning youth education programs with these requirements helps ensure that programs are developmentally appropriate for all young people. Other WIOA components that align with the workforce plan priorities include increasing youth wraparound supports, especially mental health supports, creating seamless pathways from education and employment through high school into adulthood, enhancing collaboration and coordination within the workforce development system, and addressing the workforce needs of business.

Another program that could better align with WIOA eligibility is the Basic Food Employment and Training (BFET) program. This program is an important part of Washington State’s comprehensive workforce development system serving the needs of low-income individuals from ages sixteen to fifty-nine (16-59), displaced workers, and employers. This program is committed to assist Basic Food recipients by encouraging economic well-being through skill acquisition and gainful employment. The program offers job search, training, education, and job readiness activities to improve BFET participant’s employment prospects and wage-earning potential.

For example, the BFET program partners with several community-based organizations and the State Board of Community and Technical Colleges that also receive WIOA funding. When a partner is unable to support a participant under BFET due to program restrictions, WIOA support is available and vice versa. The partnerships and alignments continue to develop to ensure youth are served and not left behind.  

Connecting business and education
Connecting businesses and educational institutions is crucial for enhancing youth outcomes in workforce training. Businesses can provide insights into the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed in the workforce. This information helps educational institutions tailor their programs to align with current and future job market demands, ensuring that youth receive training relevant to industry needs. Collaboration facilitates increased access to experiential learning opportunities like job shadowing, internships, apprenticeships, and informational interviews. These experiences offer valuable hands-on exposure to the workplace, allowing youth to gain practical skills, understand industry expectations, and build professional networks. Providing such opportunities, especially to historically marginalized communities that may have limited access, creates a more equitable playing field for entry into the workforce. These efforts could also align with CCW efforts, which specifically bridge training and support gaps for youth entering the workforce.

Transition and Pre-employment Transition Services

For youth with disabilities, enhancing Transition and Pre-employment Transition Services (PRE-ETS) significantly contributes to better youth support for workforce training by focusing on preparing students for successful transitions from school to the workforce. Coordinating work-based learning experiences for pre-employment transition students with employers through the workforce system is a crucial component of these services. Facilitating awareness and accessibility to such credentials – including some credentials as fundamental as a driver’s license - can seem simple but remain a primary barrier for many youth in accessing postsecondary education and employment opportunities. For WIOA Title IV partners, the following credentials count and could be supported through the workforce partners:

• High school diploma or Washington State recognized equivalent
• Secondary and postsecondary report card and transcript continuity
• On-the-job-training for specific employment
• Registered apprenticeship training program
• Passage of exam(s) for industry or employer-recognized credentials (HVAC, Accounting Specialist, etc.)
• Development of career pathways with industry, vocational, and postsecondary training for pre-employment students and young adults, leading to employment

Workforce navigators

Using workforce system navigators significantly reduces barriers for youth entering the workforce preparation and employment systems by providing personalized guidance, support, and resources. Navigators act as advocates and mentors and help youth navigate the complexities of the job market, educational opportunities, and support services. By offering individualized assistance, addressing specific challenges, and connecting youth to relevant programs and resources, navigators empower young individuals to overcome barriers such as lack of information, limited access to opportunities, or uncertainty about career pathways. There is little funding explicitly for youth navigators. However, system partners could consider working across funding streams to redesign navigation services, carving out funds specifically for youth. For example, co-funding WIOA PRE-ETS navigator services with WIOA Title I funds, might create a direct point of contact for other WIOA-eligible youth to assist with work-based learning experiences, pre-internships, and internships.

Timeline and Milestones

This strategic priority follows a similar timeline to the other priorities:

Year 1: Establish partnerships across Workforce System

• Establish a leadership work group with Workforce Board Sponsor.
• Link to other workgroups focused on improving youth outcomes, such as the Career Connect Washington Inter-Governmental Work Group.
• Conduct an environmental scan of existing efforts.
• Gather feedback from Youth through survey.
• Identify the most pressing barriers.
• Identify most relevant metrics for evaluating outcome performance.

Year 2: Pilot efforts for impact statements

• Identify and implement pilots for achieving impact and removing barriers.
• Track evaluation metrics.
• Write two-year update.

Year 3: Evaluate pilots and progress

• Evaluate pilots for impact and effectiveness.
• Identify pilots for expansion.

Year 4: Expand on best practices

• Develop the next iteration of pilots and innovations.
• Develop the next four-year strategy.

PARTNERSHIPS

The state’s strategies were developed in close partnership with education and training providers statewide. The state Workforce Board also serves as the Washington state administrator for the Carl Perkins Act, and the executive director of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges and K-12 Superintendent of Public Instruction are voting members of the Board.

The State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) is an active, collaborative member in the WIOA workgroups, keeping a focus on students, workers, employers, and industry driven priorities around education leading to job entry, job and wage progression, and retention. DSHS also contracts with the SBCTC to provide education, employment, and training services to eligible TANF and BFET eligible recipients. DSHS supports state level coordination of educational policy, practice, data, and evaluation for TANF and BFET participants with SBCTC by providing agency funded staff at the organization that are specifically focused on these programs. In addition, there is coordination through a tiered, collaborative, leadership model that begins with the Legislature with the Legislative Executive Task Force, includes a group of high level agency leaders focused on policy, and a group of mid-level leadership focused on implementation of services.

BEdA adult education and literacy activities are integrated with other education, training, and employment programs at the state and local levels. At the state level, the governor-appointed Adult Education Advisory Council (AEAC) is charged with improving partnerships, collaboration and coordination at every level. Membership in the AEAC includes representatives from the Basic Education for Adults division of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), higher education, adult education, community based organizations, private sector employers, business, private literacy organizations, economic development councils, library programs, labor programs, corrections education, and the general public.

The council membership meets once each quarter at one of the colleges and, in collaboration with representatives of the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, organized labor and the Association of Washington Businesses, explores and develops initiatives to improve access to workforce training, to boost local economic development and to expand the services for dislocated workers in the state.

The Workforce Education Council (WEC) consists of the chief workforce education officer from each of the 34 community and technical colleges in Washington State. The WEC is a subsidiary of the Instruction Commission (IC) and the Washington Association of Community and Technical Colleges (WACTC) and works collaboratively with BEdA in the development, implementation, and expansion of Washington’s nationally recognized and replicated Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training (I-BEST) initiative to accelerate basic education client’s transition into professional-technical, college-level certificate and degree programs in high demand industries.

The Washington State Instruction Commission for Community and Technical Colleges (IC) exists to enhance instruction and library/media services within the community and technical colleges of the State. The Instruction Commission is directly responsible to the Washington Association of Community and Technical Colleges presidents (WACTC) through a liaison appointed by the president of WACTC. The liaison serves as the primary communication link between the Commission and WACTC. The IC also forms a communication link between the following councils, all of which send representatives to the IC: the Council for Basic Skills, the Articulation and Transfer Council, the Continuing Education Council, the eLearning Council, the Library Media Directors Council, and the Workforce Education Council. The Instructional Commission and Student Services Council are also critical partners in the expansion of and educational support services to students in I‑BEST programming.