Executive Summary
The District of Columbia has taken a number of steps to strengthen its workforce development system. Yet central components of that system — one-stop career centers (recently re-branded as American Job Centers) — have not been reformed and have serious limitations. Residents and businesses are supposed to access employment services at one-stops. Yet job placement and retention rates are low, both job seekers and employers feel that one-stops do not serve them well, there is little consistency in services at the city’s centers, and one stops lack a clearly defined mission.
The District can better meet the needs of job seekers and businesses — and make the most of its resources — by transforming its one-stop career centers. This policy brief describes the characteristics of effective one-stop centers and explains how the District can use a process known as “certification” to set uniform standards, drive improvement, and provide accountability for its one-stops.
The District is currently developing a certification process in response to U.S. Department of Labor requirements. The effort’s success, however, will depend on making certification a meaningful exercise: setting a clear mission, developing high-quality standards, establishing accountability tools, and connecting one-stops with experts to make needed changes.
Strengthening D.C.’s one-stops can also make the District’s other workforce efforts more effective. This includes the One City One Hire program started in 2011, which has placed over 5,000 unemployed residents in D.C. jobs, the workforce intermediary that will be launched this year to match hospitality and construction employers with workers in those fields, and the D.C. community college. As a gateway to the District’s workforce system, effective one-stops can help job seekers and businesses take advantage of these other efforts.
