Narrative: l. 2.

The workforce development system (WDS) of West Virginia believes that all of its successful activities positively contribute to the ongoing mission of increasing the labor force participation rate. To maximize its ability to achieve this mission, the WDS has identified the following goals for Program Years 2020–2023:

Goal 1: Maximize Efficiency of the WDS

For WIOA to continue to be successful the workforce development system 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 labor force participation rate.

Goal 2: Strengthen Relationships with Employers

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

Goal 3: Overcome Employment Barriers of Individuals

Identify employment barriers of individuals and develop solutions. The removal of barriers is a key component to improving WV’s labor force participation rate.

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.

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.

Goal 6: Align WV’s Labor Force Participation Rate with the National Labor Force Participation Rate

WV has the lowest Labor Force Participation Rate 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.

DRS is fully committed to coordinate its activities and services with core and community partners to ensure successful completion of the aforementioned goals. The following goals highlight specific focus areas for DRS that will also contribute to the overall goals of the West Virginia WDS:

DRS Goal 1 – Provide integrated vocational rehabilitation services to West Virginians with disabilities to promote attainment of a high school education or greater, in order to increase their ability to move through meaningful career pathways. Compared to the national average of 30.9%, West Virginia has a much lower percentage of individuals 25 years and older having attained a bachelor’s degree (19.9%; from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/WV,US/PST045218). For individuals with disabilities, the percentage is much lower, at 5.8% (from the Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2018). While a majority (75.6%) of West Virginians with disabilities age 25 or over have a high school education or higher, nearly a fourth (24.4%) of this population does not, compared to only 8.6% of the State’s population of 25 or older without a disability (Annual Disability Statistics Compendium: 2018). Close relationships with the WV Adult Education Program (Adult Ed) and the WV Higher Education Policy Commission, as well as State and Local Education Agencies, will help to close this education gap.

DRS Goal 2 – Provide Pre–Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) to students with disabilities. Pursuant to requirements of WIOA and findings from the 2018 CSNA, DRS will, in cooperation with State and Local Education Agencies, provide Pre-ETS to students with disabilities, focusing on students 21 years or younger while still in high school. The provision of Pre-ETS offers students with disabilities information about careers, career opportunities, education and training programs, and self–advocacy. This information and work–based experiences can lead to more well–informed career decision making and can empower students with disabilities to become more educated and skilled, moving toward a career that meets their needs.

DRS Goal 3 – Provide integrated vocational rehabilitation services to West Virginians with disabilities, committing to the use of the Employment First framework, to enable them to obtain competitive, integrated employment, especially in occupations and careers within emerging industries statewide. From a Bureau of Labor Statistics’ October 2019 report, West Virginia had the lowest workforce participation rate (all individuals, with and without disabilities) among all the states and the District of Columbia, with 55.3% compared to the national average of 63.3%. Individuals with barriers to employment, including those with disabilities, have lower employment/workforce participation rates. Labor force participation among persons with disabilities in West Virginia has been steadily declining in recent years. Since 2010, labor force participation among these individuals is estimated to have fallen from 31.7% (63,609) to 26.1% (49,199) in 2018. As of 2018, labor force participation for persons with disabilities in West Virginia was almost 11 percentage points below the national rate of 37.0%. West Virginia has a high poverty rate, with 17.8% of residents below the poverty level compared to 11.8% nationally (https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/IPE120218). The poverty rate is especially high for individuals with disabilities, with estimates that 34.5% of West Virginians with disabilities above the age of 18 (64,907 of 187,988) were living in poverty in 2017, the highest rate in the nation. excluding Puerto Rico. Even among those employed, there are still significant numbers of West Virginians who earn below the poverty line.

Workforce WV expects the largest numeric change in employment growth (from 2016 to 2026) to occur in the industries of Health Care and Social Assistance (+19,026; 14.94%), Ambulatory Health Care Services (+9,675; 23.90%), Educational Services (+4,498; 7.52%), Government (+3,996; 5.40%), Construction (+3,701; 12.36%), and Social Assistance (+3,507; 19.67%).

Findings from the 2018 Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment (CSNA) indicated the need to improve VR services in specific ways to warrant the creation of two additional DRS goals.

DRS Goal 4 – Improve access and availability of transportation options for DRS consumers who need transportation assistance to achieve or maintain competitive, integrated employment. FY 2018 CSNA findings from field staff surveys indicate a need for continued efforts to increase the availability of transportation throughout the state. Based on responses by stakeholders across the state, including observations and recommendations by the WV State Rehabilitation Council, transportation continues to be an issue and a perceived barrier to employment/training. DRS continues to focus on individualized transportation solutions (ITS) to help alleviate the transportation gap while taking into account the wide array of circumstances that West Virginians with disabilities experience. DRS counselors also encourage consumers’ family members to assist with reimbursable transportation. DRS will continue to make sure that consumers are aware of these options and continue to identify targeted solutions to the varied transportation issues for West Virginians with disabilities, focusing specifically on ITS.

DRS Goal 5 – Continue to build collaborative relationships with community providers [including community rehabilitation programs (CRPs), Independent Living, and other community providers] to enhance the availability of services to DRS consumers. VR consumers require specialized services provided by CRPs statewide to achieve an integrated, competitive employment outcome. Responses from the CSNA indicate there still is a need for DRS to continue to improve collaborative relationships with all community providers. Findings from the CSNA point to a need to focus efforts on specific geographic areas within the state where miscommunication between community providers and DRS counselors continues.