4. The LWIB has a clear strategic direction and has aligned relevant regional resources such as regional workforce, education, community development, welfare, and economic development organizations, programs and initiatives to that direction.
Guiding Questions for Standards Number 4.
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LWIB Response: Note responses to guiding questions may be grouped but groupings and individual responses must cover all questions and identify the questions being answered.
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a. How has the Board set its strategic direction and identified relevant regional and local workforce resources - financial and otherwise?
b. How has the Board established and communicated goals for the regional workforce system?
c. What efforts are being made to collaborate with relevant entities that can help advance the strategic direction such as but not limited to, industrial resource centers, Ben Franklin programs, organized labor, apprenticeship programs, economic development organizations, county assistance offices, advocates for minority populations, individuals with disabilities and community-based organizations?
d. How is the Board coordinating with, aligning, and leveraging resources from local and regional educational institutions that can support its strategic direction, including Community Colleges, State System and State Related institutions, private universities, Project 720 High Schools, school board members and all Career and Technical Education programs. How does the Board work with these or other partners to promote program offerings that are consistent with the region’s high priority occupations and ensure that curriculum are kept up to date with the needs of industry and employees?
e. How are non-WIA resources, including private sector, foundation and other public entities, being leveraged to support regional initiatives and strategic direction?
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a. The LVWIB has set two major strategic directions including: (1) Foster a demand-driven workforce development system and (2) build the WIB’s capacity in policy governance and operational effectiveness. The WIB’s membership and Committee structure provide the relevant regional and local workforce resources. (Attachment 10)
The Board set its strategic direction by developing a strategic plan that aligns with the Lehigh Valley Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy Report which is viewed as the economic development plan for the Valley, with outcomes aimed at
(1) creating better jobs and incomes (2) diversifying the economy and strengthening economic sectors (3) exposing new market potentials and business opportunities (4) developing and improving infrastructure/environment, and (5) enhancing the quality of life. (Attachment 11)
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b. The LVWIB uses the alignment model of Economic Development, Workforce Development and Education and all community organizations that feed this model. (Attachment 12)
The LVWIB has established its goals through strategic planning sessions on Preparing for a 21st Century Economy: Community Strategies for Wealth Creation with ALL community players including leaders in: economic/workforce development, superintendents and school boards, career and technical schools, high schools, community colleges, four year colleges, labor organizations, community/faith based organizations, private sector, community planners, city officials, legislators, Society for Human Resource Management leaders, to name a few, and significant collaboration and alignment with the Lehigh Valley Business/Education Partnership.
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c. LVWIB collaborates with numerous entities to help advance the region’s strategic direction, as outlined below.
Manufacturers Resource Center: LVWIB works with the regional Manufacturers Resource Center on Industry Partnerships, including the Chemicals/Plastics/Rubber, Metals, and Logistics/Transportation industry clusters. LVWIB, MRC, LVEDC conducted employer roundtables in the Plastics, Metal, Banking, Hospitality, Healthcare, Distribution, Construction, Food and Beverage, and Cement industries. We also collectively co-sponsor workforce initiatives.
Organized Labor: Representatives from organized labor serve as members of the LVWIB. We work with bargaining units, such as Teamsters, UAW, in the approval of OJT’s.
Apprenticeship: A representative from the U.S. Dept. of Labor’s Apprenticeship & Training division is on the LVWIB Youth Council and provides the information and process to connect local employers with certified apprenticeship programs.
Economic Development: LVEDC is represented on the LVWIB. LVWIB is a member organization of LVEDC, is actively involved in new company growth/expansions, and provides job and labor market, industry cluster data, wages and other information as necessary.
County Assistance Office: The Private Industry Council, a LVWIB Operator, is the primary contractor for Lehigh & Northampton Counties’ DPW Welfare-to-Work/SPOC Program. A Local Management Committee meets monthly and is comprised of representatives of CareerLink Lehigh Valley, PIC, community colleges, and county assistance offices, etc.
Advocates for Minority Populations: The LVWIB Executive Director actively participates in the regional Latino Study’s, Community Committee; CareerLink holds weekly job order meetings with community/faith-based organizations; incentive grants have been used to increase the ESL program’s capacity; Small Business Resource Days are held with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; and approximately eleven percent of LVWIB/CareerLink staff are bi-lingual.
Individuals with Disabilities: OVR is one of the operators in our consortium. The Supported Employment Program and OVR are co-located with LVWIB/CareerLink Lehigh Valley. Materials and services are available for the visually and hearing impaired and CareerLink’s are ADA compliant, regional projects are initiated as requested/decided upon.
: LVWIB maintains an Affirmative Action Recruiting Resource List, including contact information on social agencies, faith based and community organizations, churches, etc. This distribution list is used to inform organizations about recruiting programs, workforce issues, industry cluster needs, and special events. CBO representatives serve on both the LVWIB and Youth Council.
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d. Coordination and alignment occurs as a result of key players serving on each others’ boards or advisory groups. By having a common agenda, we can operate programs in response to identified needs that support the LVWIB’s, and each others’ strategic priorities. (attachment) By following our model, the Lehigh Valley Career Pathways initiative is growing, schools are providing shadow days to explore careers, Project 720 schools are providing rigorous academic curriculum and instruction to career bound students, career and technical education is aligned with targeted industry clusters and priority occupations, education is initiating new programs that support targeted industry clusters, and we are leveraging schools to offer career investigatory software.
Community colleges work to align programs with targeted industry clusters, work within our CareerLink workforce centers, jointly participate and fund workforce initiatives, act as a spokesperson for our workforce system, and create a pathway for continuation of education. Colleges and universities align with internships, workforce services, and job and labor market information and aid in decreasing the brain drain in the Lehigh Valley. In partnership with Lehigh University, who is the only four-year college Board member, we collaborated on: ■ the U.S. DOL WIRED initiative ■ Advanced Materials & Diversified Manufacturing/Nanotechnology Industry Partnership ■ Lehigh University’s S.T.A.R. Academies career awareness program for students in grades 4-12.
Bi-monthly meetings are held to address workforce issues, job and labor market issues, industry cluster issues and skills identification needs, employment trends, worker dislocation, hiring needs and much more.
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e. Non-WIA resources are engaged to support our efforts including: CJT and WEDNet funding to advance the skills of incumbent workers; PA WIN to increase the basic language and education of workers; Council of Supply Chain Management using scholarships; Green Knights Economic Development; Latino Alliance Scholarship Programs; Lehigh Carbon Community College providing free semesters to dislocated workers; Perkins funds to employ a Workforce Instructor housed at our CareerLink Centers; Chambers of Commerce through workforce initiatives, LVEDC offering sponsorship of public broadcasting; Lehigh Valley employers provide funds in support of workforce preparedness programs, and volunteers; NAACP sponsored events; trade unions provide training for apprenticeships along with the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training; United Way partners on engaging the Latino and older workers; Small Business Development Center in developing entrepreneurships.
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5. The LWIB has both a broad-based and a targeted cluster-linked integrated business services plan. The business services plan ensures continuous outreach to employers, the identification of employment opportunities and the posting of these opportunities to the PA CareerLink system.
Guiding Questions for Standards Number 5.
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LWIB Response: Note responses to guiding questions may be grouped but groupings and individual responses must cover all questions and identify the questions being answered.
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a. Does the Board, along with its workforce partners, have a business service plan in place?
b. How does the business service plan link to regional targeted clusters, as well as support broad based efforts to identify workforce needs of businesses and job opportunities for residents.
c. How does the Board proactively work to reduce duplication and increase coordination among relevant governmental entities that do outreach to employers, including welfare providers, economic development agencies, and PA CareerLink and specific program job developers?
d. How are all PA CareerLinks utilizing information on high priority occupations and how are they ensuring that the PA CareerLink staff is fully aware of the career pathways in these occupations?
e. How does the Board obtain feedback from employers and is this information used to continuously improve services?
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a. The Business Services Plan is part of the Strategic Plan for the LVWIB and its partners and focuses on maximizing market penetration especially in targeted industry clusters approved by the Board. They include: healthcare industry/life sciences, advanced materials manufacturing, technology intensive and support-related manufacturing, business services industry, information and communication industry, financial services industry.
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b. We have taken the most recent release from CWIA that includes the First Quarter 2005 Employer Summary List, which we have separated by industry clusters and focus on sales & marketing efforts in these identified firms. Due to other marketing efforts to brand LVWIB & CareerLink names, we have become the first choice in resources for employment and training information. We offer free monthly employer training classes on the use of the CareerLink website. We maintain memberships in: Society for Human Resource Management, Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, Council of Supply Chain Management, Virtual Manufacturing Augmentation Council, and numerous community Boards of Directors. We also survey and request information from employers on what skills and gaps they have identified and continue to identify in the workforce.
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c. The LVWIB sits at the economic development table and engages all entities that do outreach to employers by providing documents like the Lehigh Valley Outlook, by using our CareerLink Centers to host bi-weekly meetings to inform ALL community and government entities about changes in the job and labor market, by embracing staffing agencies as job development team members, by hosting community forums on jobs and skills needed to work in the Lehigh Valley by supporting career websites for school students, and by making all jobs available to all who can help put workers back into Lehigh Valley’s labor market.
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d. LVWIB approves all training programs for the Statewide Training Programs/Provider List. All training programs identified must follow the Eligible Training Programs/Provider Process and be an occupation on the High Priority Occupations List.
Lehigh Valley CareerLink operators/staff must use the High Priority Occupations List for approving all WIA funded training options for customers. This list is published on the www.paworkforce.state.pa.us.
CareerLink staff are made fully aware of the career pathways in these occupations through a universal tool called Lehigh Valley Outlook. Additional awareness tools include: career ladders for individual companies; a website called Career Cruising; e-media marketing tools including employer driven DVD’s; industry cluster information; job and labor market information sessions; Society for Human Resource Management; and by serving on career and technical advisory committees and career pathway committees; staff meetings and workforce initiatives like Lehigh Valley Career Awareness Month.
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e. Employer feedback is collected on an ongoing basis through employer customer surveys, personal contacts, focus groups, roundtables and through Lehigh Valley’s SHRM employer base of over 800 human resource members. Feedback results are compiled with written reports reviewed by the LVWIB and CareerLink staff.
All issues, suggestions and concerns are addressed within twenty-four hours. Our customer satisfaction rate is reported on the LVWIB Scorecard and also highlighted on our web site for review by new and current employers.
Through an Earmark Grant, the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion conducted an in-depth Gap Analysis for the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, Inc. of CareerLink Lehigh Valley. This analysis identified potential gaps or duplication of services and partners to the various Lehigh Valley target communities affected by population and employment dynamics. The report evaluated and reported on key findings of: the general population; underserved sectors of the workforce; the Lehigh Valley business community, and a report on major recommendations. (Attachment 13)
Additional feedback is obtained through the monitoring of On-the-Job Training employers, youth worksite employers, and other workforce activities like Lehigh Valley Job Fair, Training Information Fairs, Community Forums, industry cluster organizations, and by surveying every single person/employer that uses our workforce system.
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6. The LWIB is ensuring that its PA CareerLinks provide excellent and fully accessible services to both employers and job seekers.
Guiding Questions for Standards Number 6.
Please note that part of the information used to evaluate performance under this standard will be the information already provided by the CareerLink evaluation process
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LWIB Response: Note responses to guiding questions may be grouped but groupings and individual responses must cover all questions and identify the questions being answered.
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a. How do the PA CareerLinks fit into the LWIB’s overall strategic plan to address the region’s human capital needs?
b. How does the Board ensure that PA CareerLink operators are fully informed of the priorities of the Board and monitored on a regular basis to ensure that they are educating and training their staff to fulfill the requirements of the Board?
c. How does the Board ensure that PA CareerLinks are providing services to employers and job seekers that support the development of the region’s targeted industry clusters?
(The following questions do not need to be answered on this form)
d. How does the Board determine the number and geographic location of the CareerLinks comprehensive and mini-centers and access points?
e. How has the Board met its obligations to support the Commonwealth’s Quality Review Process for PA CareerLinks? Has the Commonwealth certified all PA CareerLinks? If not, what is the Board doing to ensure that all PA CareerLinks are certified?
f. How has the Board ensured that all PA CareerLinks are fully accessible to all people with disabilities?
g. How does the Board measure the satisfaction of PA CareerLink customers and how is the data used to improve services?
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a. Since the LVWIB markets CareerLinks as the core of our workforce system, they are an integral player in addressing human capital needs. Under the strategic direction of the LVWIB Access Committee, CareerLink is the workforce system used to engage the workforce, our workforce partners, education, economic development and the private sector. Collectively, we continually align services to be of the caliber for creating a competitive human capital advantage for the Lehigh Valley region.
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b. LVWIB staff are housed in a comprehensive CareerLink Center which is the hub of our workforce system. This alignment allows for an actual day-to-day preview, monitoring, and conversation to ensure the effectiveness of our system, the knowledge base of staff, and also any changes in the WIB’s strategic direction. This information is then addressed through CareerLink staff meetings, Operators meetings, LVWIB Access Committee, Youth Council meetings, and LVWIB meetings.
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c. (1) High priority occupations have been identified within targeted industry clusters; (2) Training resources are directed to these high priority/high demand occupations; (3) CareerLink conducts Training Fairs on high priority occupations; (4) LVWIB and CareerLink Lehigh Valley remain closely aligned with its employer base, in order to identify emerging high priority occupations and address workforce issues pertaining to these occupations; (5) LVWIB provides oversight to ensure that resources are properly directed through the monitoring of training providers, training program, and under the direction of the LVWIB ’s Finance Committee.
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d. In conjunction with the Chief Elected Officials, the LVWIB Access Committee, CareerLink Operators and the LVWIB, the following process is followed: (1) review economic development targets, (2) collect changes in demographics, (3) review foot traffic at existing CareerLink locations, (4) review staffing changes, (5) review budget, financial obligations and existing partners, (6) analyze customer satisfaction, (7) review strategic plan to address workforce gaps, (8) research and evaluate new locations and partners, (9) bring changes to the Access Committee and LVWIB for approval.
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e. The Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, Inc. has met its obligations to support the CareerLink Quality Review Process. The timeline included:
The LVWIB representative assigned to the Quality Review team attended training and planning meetings scheduled by the Commonwealth on August 9, 2005 and December 16, 2005.
The Commonwealth’s Quality Review team conducted its on-site review of the Allentown and Easton CareerLink sites on January 9-11, 2006. The visit began on January 9th with interviews of the LVWIB Chair and Executive Director regarding leadership and strategic planning issues. The Quality Review team then conducted interviews of the CareerLink operations staff at the Allentown and Easton sites.
The LVWIB is awaiting certification from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
f. The LVWIB performs monitoring oversight of all CareerLink Lehigh Valley sites on an ongoing basis, at which time an Americans with Disability Act Compliance Review is completed.
The LVWIB Quality Improvement Specialist, CareerLink Lehigh Valley’s EEO Officer, and a representative from OVR visit all sub-contractors, OJT employers and training providers on an ongoing basis to assure ADA compliance.
During program year 2005, the Department of Labor and Industry required an ADA Accessibility Review Team be established which included representative from OVR, the local Equal Opportunity Officer, CareerLink site Managers and LVWIB oversight staff. The team conducted a review of Lehigh Valley’s two comprehensive CareerLink Centers and acted upon findings within 30 days.
All monitoring reviews are reported to the LVWIB.
g. The Board measures customer satisfaction on an ongoing basis through surveys, individual and group meetings, orientations, focus groups, training effectiveness questionnaires, workforce initiatives and through visitations to training vendors, sub-contractors and worksites.
Feedback is collected, immediately reviewed and sent to appropriate staff so that customer concerns and issues can be addressed within twenty-four hours. Our Customer Satisfaction Rate is reported on the LVWIB Scorecard and also highlighted on the Lehigh Valley CareerLink web site for review by new and existing customers.
Through an Earmark Grant, the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion concluded an in-depth Gap Analysis for the LVWIB of: (1) the basic level of satisfaction of our customers; and (2) the attitudes of potential clientele from underserved communities, such as the Hispanic community.
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