Washington Workforce Development News
Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board
August 22, 2019
STUDENT DATA DUE TO WORKFORCE BOARD NEXT WEEK
Schools reporting student data to the Workforce Board have until August 28 to finish loading records into the agency’s secure, encrypted Student Data Portal. Get detailed instructions and watch a recorded webinar. The Workforce Board uses this data to evaluate the performance of education and training programs, including employment and earnings of recent graduates.
WHERE ARE YOU GOING? CAREER GUIDES AVAILABLE NOW!
What’s purple, packed with career and education information, and absolutely free? Why it’s the current edition of the Workforce Board’s ever-popular Where Are You Going? career guide! Order free copies of the guide, which includes a career quiz, information on hundreds of in-demand occupations, job interview tips, and more, at http://www.wtb.wa.gov/careerguide.asp. Bonus: the guide also serves as a printed companion to www.CareerBridge.wa.gov.
FOUR WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AREAS RECEIVE $5.8M TO FIGHT POVERTY
Governor Inslee awarded $5.8 million from the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Statewide Activities fund to fight poverty in four workforce development regions across the state as part of “Economic Security for All.” It’s intended to support a long-term, systemic approach to helping Washingtonians move out of poverty at large scale. The state will measure success on two key statistics: the number of families receiving food assistance benefits who move up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and net poverty reduction for their entire community by March 2022. Four Workforce Development Councils were awarded funding and include: Benton-Franklin WDC; Workforce Southwest Washington (Clark, Cowlitz, and Wahkiakum counties); Workforce Central (Pierce County); Spokane Workforce Council.
SELF SUFFICIENCY CALCULATOR REDESIGNED
There’s now a fresher look and feel for the Self Sufficiency Calculator that helps Washington residents learn about the cost of living in their local area, how to budget for expenses from healthcare to housing, and what impact different career choices and training programs might have on their ability to earn a living wage, among other features. The calculator is maintained by the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, in partnership with other Workforce Development Councils in the state, and is updated with new data every two to three years. The calculator launched in 2007 and is a popular resource on www.CareerBridge.wa.gov. Find out more.
SEPTEMBER WEBINAR FOCUSES ON NATIONAL SURVEY THAT COLLECTS GROUND-LEVEL WORKFORCE DATA
The Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County are co-sponsoring an informational webinar focused on a national survey that collects ground-level information about workforce services. The webinar runs from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., Wednesday, Sept. 11. It will provide more information about the Workforce Benchmarking Network’s national surveys, which have yielded the largest data set of information from community-based organizations and others who provide direct workforce services. The comprehensive survey captures aggregate information about program participants, services, and a variety of results. The survey was relaunched this summer with the goal of generating more current information from the field and expanding the number and types of programs represented. Find out more and register for the webinar.