Narrative: b. 2.

The State of Colorado  will continue to make  efforts to create new ways of engaging businesses through collaborative public/private partnerships that utilize technology to resolve critical labor market shortages and deficiencies. State workforce and labor market professionals must work with businesses to identify the additional skill sets needed in the future and to identify the foundational skills needed to acquire those skills. Additionally, there is a critical need for industry, workforce, and economic development organizations to work together to strengthen the ability and responsiveness of higher education to develop training that meets real time needs of high growth/high demand industries. Finally, there is a need to continue the development of a comprehensive demand-driven system that will provide all Coloradans the opportunity to engage in productive work. 

SCSEP staff will be encouraged to  make use of the Labor Market Information (LMI), which is an important feature of the One-Stop Career Center System. Through America’s Labor Market Information System (ALMIS), job seekers will have access to a database containing information about over ten million employers throughout the country. 

The Colorado SECEP program will continue to develop  job leads and identify potential employers in the public and private sectors by advertising, attending job fairs, responding to ads in local newspapers, contacting employers (in person, by telephone, and by letter), attending job trainings, speaking at local business meetings, and by asking employers with jobs that are suitable for SCSEP participants to speak at workshops. Also, the Program will continue to use the Internet to access various job search sites in an effort to identify job opportunities for SCSEP participants. The SCSEP partnership with the Workforce Development Centers will continue to be maintained and improved, to offer participants leads on jobs and additional training as needed. To foster good job retention and employer relations, emphasis will continue to be placed on sending qualified and suitable participants to each particular job interview. The typical SCSEP participant usually accepts part-time employment with day time hours during the normal work week. Therefore, the program mostly targets community service organizations and small businesses, since these employers have more of the types of jobs that SCSEP participants are seeking. Also, because SCSEP participants do not normally accept relocations or extended commutes, the Program has primarily focused on the local, community job markets. A significant portion of the Program’s unsubsidized placements occur when the host training sites hire the SCSEP participants that are assigned to them. Program managers and staff will continue to routinely visit host training sites to encourage them to hire their assigned SCSEP participants when there are job openings and available funds. The value and benefits of hiring their SCSEP trained participants will continue to be emphasized.