Under the provisions of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Governor of each State or Territory must submit a Unified or Combined State Plan to the U.S. Department of Labor that outlines a four-year strategy for the State’s workforce development system. The publicly-funded workforce development system is a national network of Federal, State, regional, and local agencies and organizations that provide a range of employment, education, training, and related services and supports to help all job-seekers secure good jobs while providing businesses with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.

The local board, in this case the Hennepin-Carver Workforce Development Board, in partnership with the chief elected official for the local area involved, has developed the local plan which meets the requirements in WIOA section 108 and requires submission to the Governor.

The local plan includes

(1) a description of the strategic planning elements consisting of:

     (A) an analysis of the regional economic conditions including

          (i) existing and emerging in-demand industry sectors and occupations; and

          (ii) the employment needs of employers in those industry sectors and occupations;

     (B) an analysis of the knowledge and skills needed to meet the employment needs of the employers in the region, including employment needs in in-demand industry sectors and occupations;

     (C) an analysis of the workforce in the region, including current labor force employment (and unemployment) data, and information on labor market trends, and the educational and skill levels of the workforce in the region, including individuals with barriers to employment;

     (D) an analysis of the workforce development activities (including education and training) in the region, including an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of such services, and the capacity to provide such services, to address the identified education and skill needs of the workforce and the employment needs of employers in the region;

     (E) a description of the local board’s strategic vision and goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce (including youth and individuals with barriers to employment), including goals relating to the performance accountability measures based on primary indicators of performance described in section 116(b)(2)(A) in order to support regional economic growth and economic self-sufficiency; and

     (F) taking into account analyses described in subparagraphs (A) through (D), a strategy to work with the entities that carry out the core programs to align resources available to the local area, to achieve the strategic vision and goals described in subparagraph (E);

(2) a description of the workforce development system in the local area that identifies the programs that are included in that system and how the local board will work with the entities carrying out core programs and other workforce development programs to support alignment to provide services.

A public hearing was held on Tuesday, July 10, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. during the County Administration committee meeting, in Room A-2400 of the Government Center, to obtain public comment on the 2018 and 2019 Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act Local Plan. The Clerk of the Board published notice of the public hearing in the official newspaper of the county and the Hennepin-Carver Workforce Development Board distributed the notice to interested individuals, agencies and organizations.

Current Request: At the public hearing of July 10, 2018, no input to the Plan was received by the County Administration committee. Input received via publication has been incorporated into the Plan. The action now requested is for the county board to approve the Hennepin-Carver Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act Local Plan and authorize staff to submit the Plan to the Governor of the State of Minnesota. This local plan will then be incorporated into the Unified or Combined State Plan for the State and submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor. The Plan outlines the Hennepin-Carver Workforce Development Board’s contribution to the statewide workforce development system.