Yesterday’s District Dime made recommendations to strengthen and reform the city’s First Source law. Mayor Vince Gray has made First Source a priority, and he’s right to do so. The city needs to do better at linking residents to jobs created by publicly funded projects.
Fixing the District’s approach to workforce development goes beyond First Source, however. The Mayor and DC Council need to develop a clear economic opportunity agenda. We currently have a fragmented set of workforce programs and services, and although some are doing excellent work, the scope of the unemployment and underemployment problem calls for systemic reform. That means strengthening the web of education and training programs, building more robust connections between workforce development providers and employers, and crafting an economic development strategy that goes beyond real estate deals to attract and retain key industry sectors, in part by helping those sectors meet their employment needs. Strategies to promote economic growth must include mechanisms to link un/underemployed residents with economic opportunity.
A new paper by Greater Washington Research at Brookings and the DC Jobs Council argues that with a more strategic approach to employment and training, Mayor Gray could make better use of existing funding to get more District residents into steady jobs and help them move up the career ladder. A clear mayoral mandate — with the leadership structure to back it up — to connect adults and young people to career pathways would provide government leaders, employers and service providers a shared goal and offer a framework for working together.
Key to these efforts is overhauling the city’s Workforce Investment Council (WIC). The WIC is a federally-mandated body charged with setting workforce development policy. It has been dormant and ineffective when it should be overseeing a strategic workforce development agenda and facilitating collaboration among employers, educational institutions, government agencies, and nonprofit providers. The WIC should spearhead the workforce development component of the city’s economic opportunity agenda by both helping District residents increase their skills and earnings, and matching qualified District residents with employers who are ready to hire them.
Our paper outlines six steps to transform the WIC:
1. Charge the WIC with spearheading the workforce development component of the Mayor’s economic opportunity agenda.
2. Transform the WIC’s organizational structure by:
a. Transferring the WIC from the Department of Employment Services to the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and build workforce development-economic development connections and capacity.
b. Within two to three months, determine whether to incorporate the WIC as a non-profit 501(c) 3 organization.
3. Identify a strong WIC Executive Director and qualified staff.
4. Reconstitute the WIC membership.
5. Develop and release a plan for the WIC with measurable goals and interim progress measures. The plan should define the WIC’s role in overseeing federal Workforce Investment Act dollars as well as guiding other local and federal dollars supporting education, training, and employment-related activities.
6. Connect the WIC with reforms in the Department of Employment Services.
By aligning the efforts and interests of employers, public education and training programs, nonprofit providers, the community college and K-12 programs, the WIC can build out an economic opportunity agenda and help make serious progress towards the vision of “One City” Mayor Gray outlined in his campaign.
