NAWB Executive Boot Camp

Executive Boot Camp

In collaboration with the California Workforce Association (CWA), the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB) proudly presents the 2024 Executive Boot Camp. This program is designed for professionals in the workforce development sector and offers a rich blend of personal, organizational, and leadership development, coupled with insights into the broader workforce ecosystem.

The 2024 Executive Boot Camp is not just about acquiring skills; it is an opportunity to join a network of professionals dedicated to making meaningful and significant changes in workforce development.

Program Fee:

$2,150 per participant (Members get a discount!)

Duration:

March 2024 - January 2025

Format:

A combination of in-person and virtual sessions structured around four core training modules, supplemented by a practical Workforce Board Simulation.

Training modules:

• Personal Development and Leadership: This module will focus on enhancing individual leadership qualities, understanding workforce development trends, and mastering change management.

• Organizational Leadership: Participants will gain insight into effective workforce board management, including fiscal and grant management, data analytics, and team building.

• Systemic Leadership: Participants will explore strategic partnerships, gain insight into managing political dynamics, and discover new ways to integrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) into their leadership practices.

• Workforce Board Simulation session: Offers practical application and hands-on experience in real-world workforce development scenarios.

• Capstone Project: A significant component of the program, participants will develop their own project to present to the NAWB Board of Directors and staff.

Key Benefits:

• Develop leadership skills tailored to the unique challenges of workforce development.

• Engage in a mixture of interactive workshops, strategic discussions, and practical simulations with other workforce development leaders.

• Make invaluable connections with industry leaders and peers.

Testimonials

NAWB Bootcamp was a memorable investment in my career. At the time of my attendance, I had just begun working for Workforce Southwest Washington as the Data and Compliance Coordinator (8 months). The invaluable opportunity to learn about the workforce system, roles and responsibilities of the Local Workforce Development Boards, and executive level leadership lessons provided me a solid foundation to excel in my role.  As a result, I was promoted to Quality and Compliance Manager and lead monitor the following January.

The peer feedback and interaction as well as my capstone project on Collective Impact enabled me to integrate what I had learned through Bootcamp, my education in Management and Leadership, and experience in Community Health to have a better understanding of how to implement workforce systems-level change and envision it in a broader context. Although the timing of the implementation of my board-level project ended up being not quite right for our LWDB, elements have been integrated into work being done with our Quality Jobs initiative, and a light was cast on how we can evaluate the elements we use of Collective Impact.

Tamara Toles - Workforce Southwest Washington

NAWB Executive Boot Camp was a great opportunity to learn about roles and responsibilities of Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDBs(, and how board staff are involved in activities to support the board in fulfilling these roles and responsibilities. 

At the time, I participated in the NAWB Boot Camp, I had previously worked on state-level WIOA Title I-B policies and had monitored LWDBs for WIOA compliance at the Arizona Department of Economic Security,, and recently started working for the Pinal County Workforce Development Board (PCWDB), as the Compliance and Monitoring Specialist. Although I was familiar with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act WIOA) governance requirements, and WIOA Title I-B program requirements, I was new to working with a LWDB, and I was still learning how WIOA requirements were implemented at the local level. 

By participating in the NAWB Boot Camp, I was able to meet and learn from other LWDB staff peers from across the country. Through our interactions, I was able to learn about how LWDAS face similar and unique workforce challenges, and the way each LWDB prioritizes, plans and takes action to resolve these challenges.  As part of the NAWB Boot Camp, each student works on a capstone project, and presents at the end of class to the other students in class. The feedback from the other students on my capstone and the opportunity to learn from listening to other student's presentations on their capstone projects was immense and invaluable.  For my capstone, I wanted to work on a topic that our Local Workforce Development Board wanted to implement so that the research and time spent on the capstone helped to move us towards implementation. My capstone project centered around developing a dashboard for the ARIZONA@WORK Pinal County. ARIZONA@WORK Pinal County is the branding for our local workforce system that is comprised of 13 local WIOA Programs. The vision for the dashboard was that it would combine data for all of ARIZONA@WORK Pinal County partners (core and required), rather than focusing on only the WIOA Title I-B Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth Programs, so that we could measure the collective success of our local workforce development system. The research included searching for WIOA dashboards from other LWDBs across the country to see if there were examples of a similar dashboard, identifying challenges in the development of the dashboard, and possible solutions to overcome the challenges. Through my research I was unable to identify another LWDB or state that used a dashboard with information for all the WIOA core and required partners, and identified that a challenge to overcome was the collection of data from all of the partners since multiple case management and reporting systems are used by the partner programs. 

To give an update of the ARIZONA@WORK Pinal County Dashboard, Pinal County Workforce Development Board has hired a data analyst, and she has developed the dashboard we dreamed about. As part of this process, we met with all partners to explain the purposes of the dashboard, to request monthly data reporting from partner programs that PCWDB did not have access to, and developed a mechanism for data collection for the dashboard. Currently, the dashboard is used internally, but we look forward to posting the dashboard on our webpage in the coming months. 

Moriah Robles - ARIZONA@WORK Pinal County

The NAWB Executive Boot Camp provided me an opportunity to connect with colleagues from around the country and glean ideas, best practices, and strategies around workforce development. The capstone project provided us a launching pad for what has now become the strategic framework for convening a coalition of partners (NPOs, CBO, Higher Ed, School District, Municipalities, etc.) to address the needs of more than 42,000 Disconnected Youth in our region, which has garnered the attention of elected officials, philanthropic organizations, and an increasing number of partners.



Ricardo Villalobos, Ph.D.​​​​ - Workforce Connections Southern Nevada