DRAFT

The New York State Workforce Investment Board, the State’s 33 local workforce boards, and the individual program partners all support the goals set forth in the Workforce Investment Act for a comprehensive workforce development system. The two years since implementation have shown that a comprehensive system is possible but takes time to develop and improve upon. Successes have been achieved across New York State and New Yorkers are committed to building upon these successes. Individual program partners have each made a contribution to this success and bring the diversity of customers and expertise to the system. The State and local boards support continued and expanded funding for each of these programs and for system participation. Continued funding helps ensure support for the one-stop system, one-stop centers and workforce training and will ensure that our state and nation’s workforce will remain competitive in the global economy.

Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act provides an opportunity to build upon the initial WIA and the following principles would help further those goals:

1. We believe that business-led boards are critical to the success of workforce systems. We encourage Congress to continue and strengthen this commitment by permitting boards to focus their efforts on policy rather than through compliance-driven programmatic functions.
2. We believe the power of business-led, demand driven boards lies in strengthening their roles and responsibilities separate from any one program in the WIA legislation. The legislation seeks to empower boards to bring cohesiveness to a workforce system, not to any one program, and the creation of a separate article in WIA would ensure a neutral system board with the responsibility of encouraging system service integration to both businesses and individuals and develop a common purpose across all partner programs, while ensuring the integrity of the unique missions of individual programs.
3. The development of system measures is critical to encouraging partnership and developing mutual system accountability. Federal requirements create an undue burden on partner programs to do so and prevent easy data sharing due to uncoordinated federal reporting requirements. We believe Congress needs to create an environment to facilitate data sharing across federally funded programs to help states and localities engage in meaningful performance discussions.
4. We believe that the integration of services across programs continues to be an essential workforce development system function. We appreciate any effort Congress can take to provide state-level flexibility across partner programs to make the process of cost allocation easier without compromising the integrity of any one program. The one stop system and infrastructure deserves at least some dedicated funding beyond (but including) program partner cost sharing.
5. We believe that youth are important customers to workforce development systems and the Youth Council provides a means for creating a local youth workforce investment system within the context of the larger workforce investment system. Core services should be available universally to emerging workers. This will require much better alignment of workforce and educational systems and we urge Congress to mandate education representation on Youth Councils.
6. We believe low levels of literacy continue to be one of the biggest challenges in developing a 21st century knowledge workforce. We urge Congress to continue to press for strong linkages between Title 1-B and Title II programs in recognition of the importance workplace literacy represents to the needs of business.
7. We support the current partnership of programs identified as part of a comprehensive workforce development system and believe the system could increase its value from inclusion of other federally-funded programs in this partnership. Partnership must be built at the federal level for success to be achieved at the state and local level. Many solid partnerships and successes have been built at the local level but more remains to be achieved. Federal support and guidance can only enhance state and local efforts in building a comprehensive workforce system. If business-led local boards are to be charged with developing a system, their efforts need to be supported at the federal level.