Building Workforce Development Funding...

Building Workforce Development

Funding Collaboratives

In California’s Regions

Building Regional Workforce Funding Collaboratives

Who We Are• National Economic Development and Law Center

– A national, nonprofit, research and consulting organization,

founded in 1969, and dedicated to building economic health and

opportunity in vulnerable communities

• National Network of Sector PartnersMission: to encourage the use and effectiveness of sector initiatives

as valuable tools for enhancing employment and economic

development opportunities for low-income individuals, industries,

and communities.

Support development of regional workforce funding collaboratives in

CaliforniaNNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


The Vision

• Good jobs and career paths for all

• Vital industries that need a growing

workforce

• Strong regional economies

NNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


An Effective Way to Achieve the Vision

• Regional Workforce Development

Funding Collaboratives

• Examples– Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative (BAWFC)

– SkillWorks (Boston)

– New York City Workforce Innovation Fund



CA Workforce Collaboratives:

A Shared Goal

Build a regional system which understands and

responds to the unmet skill needs of employers,

employees, and job seekers in targeted industry

sectors, so that low-income individuals and others

can gain skills and obtain family-sustaining jobs,

thereby increasing economic security, and so that

employers in those sectors can find skilled workers.




Shared Strategies

• Bring funding

together from

multiple sources:– Foundations

– Government

– Employers

– (Potentially training

trusts)

• Increase the amount of

funding

• Increase the flexibility

of funding

• Increase regional

planning and

collaboration.




Shared Strategies, continued

• Use funding to support:

• Sector initiatives

• Systems change

• Program quality improvement



Bay Area Challenges in 2004• A growing number of low-wage and dislocated

workers struggling economically

– Entry-level workers increasingly unable to make ends

meet

– Workers face an increasingly wide skill gap

• Key industry sectors in the Bay Area unable to

meet their needs for a skilled workforce

– Healthcare

– Life scienceNNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


Bay Area Challenges, continued• Workforce development system

– Lacking a strategic, flexible, systemic response that

matches regional economic development needs

– Facing cutbacks; lacking coordinated means to

maximize impact of limited resources

– Sector initiatives: producing great results, but unable

to obtain multi-year funding that matches range of

strategies necessary to address industry needs



Foundation and State Response

• Establish Bay Area Workforce Funding Collaborative

– Link funding from foundations, the state, and others:

$2 million state match (WIA 15% and 25%)

– Goals: invest in 10-county Bay Area region to:

• Increase economic security by increasing skills to work in vital

industries that provide family-sustaining jobs

• Understand employers’ workforce and skill needs, encourage a

demand-driven system, and facilitate appropriate workforce

development

• Stimulate greater regional planning and cooperation


Economic

security for

low-income

and low-wage

workers (jobs,

advancement)

Entry-level

staffing needs

met of biotech

and health

industries

Theory of Change: BAWFC

2) Economic sector targeting:

Growth, Ease of entry, Mobility, Self-

sufficiency wages, Accurate labor

market information

3) Access to social services, career

counseling, job placement services

Skills increase in high

demand occupations

Increased job

placement, retention

and advancement in

high demand

occupations

Improved system alignment:

a continuum of outreach,

education, training, and

social supports are aligned

to meet industry sector and

target population needs

5) Services streamlined: Service

providers, educators, job developers

align services, design industry-

responsive curricula, tailor pre-

employment services, focus job

development, address policy

barriers.

4) Career skills building

1) Funding systems reform to

increase the scale and efficiencies in

public and private funding streams.

6) Continuous learning to inform

course correction, changes and

needs for systems change.




BAWFC Structure• Governance

– Steering Committee, composed of five funders, establishes

and oversees implementation of goals and strategies.

– Funding Panel, made up of representatives from

contributing funders, selects projects for 2-year grants.

– Panel of Advisors informs BAWFC’s work.

• Management

– Originally staffed by SF Foundation and NNSP. In 2006

BAWFC hired staff; NNSP provides technical assistance.



BAWFC: Cycle 1 Funding• Investment: $2.1 million from 13 foundations

• Many had discontinued funding for workforce development due

to concerns regarding impact and lack of metrics linking training

to employment and family economic self-sufficiency

• Investment: $2 million matching WIA funds • $1 million of 15%; $1 million of 25%

• Match from sector initiatives awarded 2-year grants• $1.2 million from employers, including paid release time for

training

• $ 1.1 million from community colleges and other public entitiesNNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


How Sector Initiatives BAWFC Funded

Meet Industry and Worker Needs• They focus on a specific industry in a regional labor

market, over a sustained period of time

• They are led by an organization with credibility in the

industry; services are provided by multiple partners

• They create new pathways for low wage workers into the

industry, and up to good jobs and careers

• They achieve systemic changes that are “win-win” for

employers, workers, and the community.NNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


BAWFC: Cycle 1 Results as of 7/06• Grants Awarded between 10/04 and 5/05

– 935 clients received training and/or other support services.

– 795 clients completed a training program.

– 173 individuals employed in the occupation they were trained for.

– 143 individuals got an internship or continuing education.

BAWFC

Program

NOVA

WIB

San Mateo

WIB

SF PIC and

SF Works

SF PIC

and

Shirley

Ware

Center

JVS Santa

Cruz

WIB

Shirley

Ware

Center/

City

College SF

Unity

Council

Rubicon

Programs

Average

Wage

Pre-Training

N/A $8/hr $8/hr $14-15/

hr

$12/

hr

$10/

hr

$15/hr $8.50/

hr

$8/hr

Average

Wage

Post-Training

N/A $16.89/

hr

$11.84/

hr

$17-19/

hr

$24/

hr

N/A $21/hr $13.40/

hr

$13.19/

hr



Cycle 1 Results, Continued

• Workforce partnerships and programs developed

• Learning network conducted; evaluation started

• Monica Poindexter, Genentech:

“It’s all about impact. This program delivers for both

the employer and individual. We believe this

partnership between the state, philanthropy, and

employers is a model of how best to align public and

private investments in workforce development.”



How CA Workforce Collaboratives

Bring About Systems Change• Change industry practices

• The Shirley Ware Education Center and City College of San

Francisco leveraged BAWFC funding, getting significant

employer contributions of paid release time for training

participants.

• Change workforce system policies/practices• NOVA used BAWFC funding to develop the Silicon Valley

Center for Health Professions which will significantly

expand nursing and allied health training. NNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


How CA Workforce Collaboratives

Improve Program Quality

• Fund best practice development and

capacity building efforts

• Fund documentation, data collection,

and evaluation



Reasons CA Promoted Expansion

• To maximize funding by attracting other

investments, in context of declining public funds.

• To target funds to key industry sectors and worker

populations (e.g., public training and education $).

• To move decision-making on state WIA funds

from the state level to the regional level.

• To support funding collaborative development in

multiple regions, rather than just the Bay Area.NNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center


Reasons CA Promoted Expansion

“I believe that California must increase the extent to which our state resources leverage other investments in workforce development, and that these investment decisions need to be made at the regional level. To this end, the state has earmarked up to $3.9 million to invest with other matching resources in this innovative approach.”

Dennis Petrie, Deputy Director for Workforce Services,

California Employment Development Department



BAWFC: Cycle 2 Funding• Investment: $2.1 million from 13 foundations

• Four new Cycle 2 foundations replaced four Cycle 1 foundations

• Investment: $1.2 million matching WIA 15% funds

• RFP: Workforce Partnerships and Innovation grants

• New RFP: Policy and System Change grants

(foundation funded)

• Match from sector initiatives not yet known because

grant awards not yet made



Developing a Regional Workforce

Funding Collaborative

• Step 1: Identify Lead Investor(s)

– Sponsor exploration of developing a regional workforce

funding collaborative

– If interest, establish a Launch Committee

• Step 2: Marketing/Feasibility Assessment

– Launch Committee members:

• Meet with potential investors to present idea

• Hold potential investor briefingNNSP is a project of the National Economic Development and Law Center



Funding Collaborative, continued

• Step 3: Start-Up

– Launch Committee:

• Seeks analyses of key regional industries to determine priorities

for investment that fit funders’ interests

• Develops a Theory of Change with metrics that focuses

investment strategically, produces significant impact, and links

training to jobs and increases in family economic security

• Designs and promotes the collaborative investment pool and the

funding process, and facilitates participation by investors





• Step 4: Governance Committee

– Launch Committee establishes governance committee

• Typically, representatives of each investor

• May include others

• Sets policy/process regarding grant-making decision process

• Designed so that the Collaborative operates with the speed and

flexibility needed by target industries, and the needed oversight,

accountability mechanism/metrics, and systems support





• Step 5: Investors Committee

– Governance Committee establishes Investors Committee

• Typically, all investors participate in reviewing proposals for

funding and decisions on funding awards





• Adminstration

– The Launch Committee typically raises funds for more

experienced consultants to staff the Workforce

Collaborative, and to support fund development and

program management.

– The governance committee typically forms an Operations

Team that works with the consultant(s).


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