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Local Vision and Goals

III.A. Describe your Vision and Strategic Goals that were developed in response to the vision and goals expressed in the Strategic Five Year State Workforce Investment Plan.

Pima County's Vision and Goals

Introduction

Section I.B. of this plan discussed a planning process that began in the fall of 1997. This planning process is broader than activities allowed under the federal Workforce Investment Act, and actually includes several local plans that have a workforce element. The Workforce Investment Board's Planning Committee envisions the local plan as a living document that has the flexibility to adapt to emerging needs.

The intent of the following is to provide the reader with a quick summary of the past two year's planning evolution, many of the stated goals to date, and stimulate thought and discussion that will lead to a viable, strong workforce plan, of which the WIA plan and WIA funding is only a part.

PIMA COUNTY'S VISION:

Following the 1997 charette, a committee of the Workforce Investment Board broke the workforce into three target groups:

Emerging workers (15-22 year olds)
Incumbent workers
The unemployed and/or dislocated worker.

At the same time, under the auspices of the Workforce Investment Board, Pima Community College developed a planning document that was completed in late 1998. This document came up with following 16 strategic recommendations:

1. Publish information regularly on job and career opportunities, as well as qualifying requirements, for the use of job seekers, training providers, school counselors, and career advisors. A continually updated job clearinghouse on a local web site might be considered to facilitate information access for employers and job seekers, as well as to create a database for analysis and planning.

2. Target a significant portion of available training funds to supporting those businesses/industries which represent the greatest potential for job growth (e.g., technology manufacturing) and those occupations which are meeting critical infrastructure needs of the community, e.g., health, public safety, construction trades.

3. Forge a strong link between adult education and pre-college (developmental) courses so that underprepared students have the necessary support pathways to obtaining skills in career-related reading, writing, and computation. Provide a system of "safety nets" so that underprepared students, immigrants, and the severely disadvantaged do not "fall through the cracks" in opportunity pathways.

4. Encourage local K-12 school authorities to take a renewed vigorous overview of occupational education, including a thorough planning analysis of the potential of the Joint Technical Education District to provide state-of-the-art training on the best equipment.

5. In issuing Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) under the Workforce Incentive Act, create a "matching system" which brings together high-demand/good pay occupations, client skills and preferences, and skill training options. The result of such matching will be to provide skilled workers in areas of greatest demand and eliminate or diminish training where demand is already met or mostly met.

6. Foster the most cost-effective use of available resources through business/industry partnerships with authorized training providers.

7. Expand the partnerships-public and private-in providing services and opportunities through the County's one-stop centers.

8. Reach children at an early age. Evaluate the effectiveness of school-to-work and other work experience programs. Develop ways of harnessing the potential learning experiences of those 66% of youths working in entry-level jobs. Tap the community's service organizations, e.g., Soroptimists, Rotary, to help get additional small businesses involved in work experience programs.

9. Analyze the success of alternative pathways to success for students with deficits in reading, math, writing, and those with physical disabilities. Develop strategies for capitalizing on these success routes for special groups of students.

10. Assist school districts in identifying and adopting best practices models in providing support social services for students, e.g., Family Resource and Wellness Centers, and more reliable cadres of substitute teachers, e.g., retirees, loaned teachers from business and industry.

11. Increase the attention of the state legislature to addressing the labor market reporting disparity of some 42,000 positions so that Pima County is seen to be a more viable location for re-locating and developing businesses.

12. Develop strategies for changing the low-wage image of Pima County.

13. Explore the implications and effects of unemployment and social needs in neighboring counties, e.g., Santa Cruz, and on the Tohono O'odham Nation.

14. Conduct additional research on the working poor in Pima County, and on the influence of Welfare Reform on this group, so as to develop meaningful mechanisms for career advancement.

15. Document the links between illiteracy and poverty. Better understand the illiterate in Pima County.

16. Understand that dislocated workers in Pima County tend to be well-educated and prime candidates for "after market" training is demand occupations.

At the beginning of 1999, the college handed the process back to the Workforce Investment Board, which is staffed by Pima County Community Services. A working group refined several of the college's strategic goals into the following:

Recommendations for Incumbent Workers

1. Develop a community-wide technical and science program that operates in the evenings and on weekends.
2. Work with employers to identify career ladders employees are currently in. Where possible, develop these with employers in the same industry or "cluster."
3. Encourage large employers to help train employees of small, local suppliers.

Recommendations for Unemployed and Dislocated Workers

1. Eliminate waiting lists for basic and remedial adult education classes.
2. Reinforce basic work ethic concepts during all aspects of training.
3. Introduce "techno-phobic" persons to basic computer skills.
4. Work with employers to clarify career ladders to help adults understand where their past experiences can lead to.
5. Focus on dislocated workers' transferable skills to move them quickly into new jobs.

Recommendations for Preparing for Employment Target Group (15-22 year olds)

1. Increase state financial support for education in exchange for increasing the number of units required for high school graduation from 20 to 22. The two additional units will be: a) one vocational unit that emphasizes applied academic learning; and b) one unit in math, technology, or science.
2. Increase the number of vocational/technical learning opportunities and number of students enrolled in vocational classes through the following: a. increase the number of articulation agreements between high schools and community colleges; b. Provide funding for additional technical and vocational offerings at individual high school sites, including specific funds to duplicate, transfer and expand existing successful programs to other school sites, and to transport students to high schools that have a specific program lacking at their school. c. increase the number of articulation agreements between community colleges and universities; d. recruit more businesses for work-based learning experiences; study the feasibility of a combined technical/vocational high school district in Pima County.
3. Provide K-12 teachers with more instruction in math, science and technology.
4. Provide educational and tutorial opportunities outside of school in reading, writing, and technical skills at all grade levels and increase resources to help all youth who are behind in school.
5. Provide enough alternative technical/vocational education slots to serve 20% of 17 and 18 year-old high school dropouts.
6. Require that workplace ethic skills be taught across all grade levels.
7. Collect and use student achievement test data to diagnose student needs and plan and develop mechanisms to increase individual test scores at all levels.

As this was occurring, the City of Tucson's Office of Economic Development, in consultation with the Workforce Investment Board and Pima College, developed the workforce development portion of its economic development plan.

General policy direction from the City of Tucson includes:

1. Reduce poverty through the creation and retention of high-wage jobs, particularly in manufacturing, targeted industry clusters, and film production.
2. Link neighborhoods with job creation and commercial revitalization initiatives.
3. Address Tucson's workforce development needs by connecting employers, educators, and people in need of skill-specific training.

General programs outlined by the City include:

1. Youth employment programs that help prevent youth from dropping out of school and support of alternative education and employment programs for youth who have dropped out.
2. The Hi tech training program and other related efforts to improve the computational and technical skills of the workforce.
3. Assistance to help employers assess their workforce development and training needs and apply for State Workforce recruitment and Training grants.
4. Community based efforts to improve opportunities for low-income workers, including mentoring programs.
5. Programs to help women into higher-paid non-traditional employment.
6. Expansion of the One Stop Career Center system.

Staff at Pima County Community services revisited the original three target groups, compared it to the local vision statement, and suggested the most critical development needs by group.

Emerging workers (ages 15-22)

Employed

Unemployed

The preceding discussion covers goals that have been presented by various local planning processes. This discussion is part of an ongoing process that the Workforce Investment Board has been involved in and this WIA plan is considered part of a broader workforce plan. The reader should remember that some activities needed to achieve some goals are not fundable by WIA. Many of these local goals have become WIA objectives as the County looks at the relationship of these goals to the State's vision and goals.

State's Vision

Arizona will have a Workforce Development system that provides all Arizonans with state-of-the-art information and knowledge for making decisions that affect their personal well being and economic futures. All Arizonans will have access to information about a full range of career opportunities as well as to the education or training they pursue the career of their choice-including careers related to an industry cluster. They will know jobs will be available, in what industries, where they will occur, at what levels of compensation, and what skills and competencies they require. Furthermore, as Arizona's economy continues to create positions unheard of a decade ago, all Arizonans will be prepared to take advantage of new career opportunities for their own benefits and that of their communities.

State Goals and Local Objectives

State Goal 1: Enhance existing and/or develop new training programs and service delivery systems to better meet industry's short, intermediate, and long-term needs.

Pima County's workforce system will

Objective 1: develop new programs to meet industry's needs (such as the fast-track machinist program and the high tech incumbent worker programs developed in the past two years);

1.a. Set up procedures to respond to specific industry requests for training programs
1.a.i. establish vendor lists of curriculum development teams to work with industry
1.a.ii. establish vendor lists of providers to implement new curriculum
1.b. Set up procedures to identify and meet incumbent worker training needs of employers.
1.b.i. identify gaps in the value chain
1.b.ii establish vendor lists of curriculum development teams to work with industry
1.b.iii. establish vendor lists of providers to implement new curriculum

Objective 2: Enhance existing training systems

1.2.a. Advocate development of a community wide technical and science program for youth and adults that operates in evenings and weekends as well as during more traditional hours.
1.2.b. Advocate and support state efforts to increase articulation between K-12, community college, university, apprenticeship and private school curriculum.

State Goal 2: Forecast demand by GSPED clusters and foundations at state and regional/county levels.

Pima County's workforce system will:

Objective 1: assist the state in collecting information about local GTSPED defined clusters through existing systems;

Objective 2: work with employers to identify career ladders within industry clusters;

Objective 3: conduct focus groups comprised of GTSPED employers to determine future employment and training needs.

2.3.a. Conduct one focus group on an industry cluster each six months.

State Goal 3: Streamline access to and/or administration of workforce development programs.

Pima County's workforce system will:

Objective 1: increase the use of technology to help develop a virtual one-stop system;

Objective 2: encourage local workforce players to become partners in the one stop system

2.a. Work with partners to develop long-term plans for program co-location.
2.b. work with partners to develop cost-sharing models based on a cost-benefit model. .

State Goal 4: Provide a self-sustaining system of governance, management, and oversight for Arizona's Workforce Development System.

Pima County's workforce system will:

Objective 1: articulate the needs of Pima County's One Stop customers to the state;

Objective 2: coordinate workforce efforts with other WIBS and the state.

Objective 3: seek additional funds to meet needs identified by the Board.

II.B. Provide an overview of how the LWIB will attain its strategic goals.

The "old" Board provided the WIB with a recommended committee structure that it felt could help the WIB attain its goals. In addition to the Youth Council (which is discussed in Chapter VIII, this structure includes an Executive Committee (composed of the WIB's Chair and Vice-Chair and Committee Chairs) and:

• Planning Committee to oversee the One Stop and develop more and better linkages and partnerships, as well as act as a forum and advocate for goals articulated through the planning processes conducted in the last two years;
• a Membership and Publicity Committee to develop potential new members and make the community more aware of programs offered by the Board.
• Performance Committee to review the financial, quantitative, and qualitative performance of the overall system, as well as the performance of service providers.
• Youth Council to oversee activities under WIA Title I-youth.