Publications

PUBLICATIONS

Workforce Development Board Readiness: Embracing Skills-Based Hiring & Advancement and Learning & Employment Records

NAWB, together with partners in the workforce ecosystem have been researching the paradigm shift of Skills Based Hiring & Advancement (SBHA) and Learning & Employment Records (LER). The transformation is being documented and we recently shared our new resource, Workforce Development Board Readiness Embracing Skills-Based Hiring & Advancement and Learning & Employment Records to our members. This publication contains vital information and suggestions to reimagine your workforce approach.

Download Report

Race Equity in Workforce Development: A Survey of Attitudes

Download Report

Since its inception, the workforce policy apparatus has not directly addressed racial inequalities within its mandate. Too often color-blind policies fail to account for the realities of structural racism that expose minorities to the vagaries of a substantively unequal opportunity landscape.

NAWB convened a taskforce of workforce visionaries to reveal disconnects in practitioner-led dialogues and to unmask barriers to centering racial equity in the workforce development ecosystem. This report reflects the earnest efforts of workforce stakeholders and the expertise of national experts aiming to build an inclusive workforce development system.

Reentry Workforce Development Survey

A pie chart showing the primary funding source for adult reentry services

A rapidly tightening labor market is forcing employers across the country to consider workers they once might have turned away, and workforce boards are looking at alternatives to meet the shortage of skilled labor. In response, the National Association of Workforce Boards partnered with the Council of State Governments Justice Center to conduct a survey of state and local workforce boards to learn how they are using Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and other funding to provide training and employment services to formerly incarcerated individuals to help them succeed in the workforce.

Download here.

NAWB and Aspen Institute's Upskill America Release New Tool On How Employers Can Use Workforce Boards to Upskill Their Workers

The tool explains to employers:

What do Workforce Development Boards offer?
Understanding your regional labor market
Developing Strategies for Improved Talent Development/Retention
Additional Resources

Click below to access the tool:

A blue background with the words accessing the network of local upskilling & related resources available to support your business

Workforce Board Operations Survey
DOWNLOAD
Button
EXAMINATION OF PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT (PLA) AS STRATEGY FOR ACHIEVING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM SUCCESS

Working-age adults typically hold a wealth of knowledge gained through sustained working experience, on-the-job training, non-credit educational programs, and for some, military service. This paper explores how Workforce Development Boards (WDB) can use Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) to provide a more efficient pathway for adult students to acquire credit and skills valued in the labor market. PLA has proven to increase the persistence to graduation and is a tool that allows workforce system customers valuable and cost effective post-secondary credentials. Thank you to the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and the ECMC Foundation for making this paper possible.
DOWNLOAD
FAMILY-CENTERED APPROACHES TO WORKFORCE PROGRAM SERVICES

NAWB in conjunction with Innovate+Educate (I+E) and the Urban Institute fielded a survey in 2017 of workforce development boards (WDBs) to assess how workforce boards are servicing parents under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). In Spring 2018, Urban Institute released Family Centered Approaches to Workforce Program Services, a report based on the findings from the survey. The report provides a snapshot of how WDBs are supporting parents and families in creating economic stability through employment and examines the implementation of family friendly services in six areas: planning and oversight, data, partnerships, deliver of services, funding, and policy. The report is one aspect of a larger NAWB initiative, NAWB and I+E Family Centered Employment initiative, funded by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to aid workforce boards in advancing pathways to employment for parents and families of young children. NAWB has partnered with I+E to work with three workforce boards across the country to expand understanding and programming of family-centered services by piloting tools and techniques to ensure parents have increased opportunities for employment and their families have access to high quality services and child care.
DOWNLOAD
WIOA SYSTEM ASSESSMENTS
DOWNLOAD
A CHANGING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE
DOWNLOAD
THE STATE OF APPRENTICESHIP AMONG WORKFORCE BOARDS

Workforce boards and the apprenticeship system share the same fundamental goals: they connect workers to economic opportunity while meeting the skill needs of employers in high-demand industries.
DOWNLOAD
BEYOND WIOA: WHY WORKFORCE BOARDS SHOULD CARE ABOUT EDUCATION POLICY

A finished paper on the connection between workforce boards and the education community that Jobs for the Future developed from its initial white paper. This was released to a broad audience.
DOWNLOAD
FINANCING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

December 2016
Options for funding workforce development, presented by the Federal Reserve and Third Sector Capital Partners.
DOWNLOAD
PROMISING PRACTICES FOR STRENGTHENING THE REGIONAL STEM WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT ECOSYSTEM

Authors: Committee on Improving Higher Education's Responsiveness to Regional STEM Workforce Needs: Identifying Analytical Tools and Regional Best Practices; Board on Higher Education and Workforce; Policy and Global Affairs; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
DOWNLOAD
LITERACY, TECHNOLOGY, COMMUNITY: THE IMPORTANCE OF SMART TECHNOLOGY IN WORKFORCE AND ADULT EDUCATION

April 2016
Authors: Marilyn Matsunaga, MBA; Ron Painter, MPA; Jose Reyes, Ed.D.; Mitch Rosin, MA, MS, MPS

Whitepaper analyzes the reasons why access to educational material online is critical to moving the United States forward in terms of economic development and academic attainment.
DOWNLOAD
THE WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY ACT (WIOA) - DRIVING INNOVATION, COLLABORATION, AND PERFORMANCE

August 2014
Analytical Report - National Association of Workforce Boards and Public Consulting Group
DOWNLOAD
THE IMPACT OF EXTREME EVENTS ON BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

August, 2013
Innovative Approaches to Managing Risk for the National Association of Workforce Boards
University of Pittsburgh | GSPIA
DOWNLOAD