“Today is only the beginning,” Gov. Ritter said as he signed an executive order outlining the new workforce development push during an event in Monument. “Over the next year, the steps we take now will help ensure that Colorado’s workforce continues to be one of our strongest assets, which ultimately will help us come out of this downturn stronger and healthier than before.”
In addition to increased business representation, the executive order calls for closer alignment of education and workforce development programs. The order also calls for several Cabinet members to serve on the Workforce Development Council.
In 2008, Gov. Ritter convened a Jobs Cabinet to review and recommend improvements to the state’s workforce development system. “The Jobs Cabinet worked hard to create a roadmap that would help the state break down silos between education systems, workforce development programs and our business development initiatives,” Gov. Ritter said.
The Jobs Cabinet’s final report, issued in August 2009, called for the 19 existing Workforce Investment Boards across Colorado to focus on industry growth strategies, nurturing talent and building a job training infrastructure in Colorado.
Another key recommendation was to modernize the Workforce Development Council, a body that oversees and supports those Workforce Investment Boards’ efforts statewide. With Gov. Ritter’s signature on today’s executive order, that Council will be re-launched with a renewed focus on flexibility, innovation and closer ties with each community.
New members of the Colorado Workforce Development Council were nominated by each workforce region. Thanks to that locally-driven and transparent nomination process, the Workforce Council now has a balanced mix of people representing the business, education, workforce and economic development communities. The complete membership list is attached to this news release.
“The core idea is simple,” Gov. Ritter said. “We need a workforce system that can meet the demands of business. It is this idea that became the core of our efforts to revitalize the Colorado Workforce Development Council. We have worked closely with local communities ensure that the Workforce Development Council would provide a voice to each region of the state.”
History of Colorado’s Workforce Development System
Colorado’s employment and training programs date back more than 75 years to the 1930s when the Wagner-Peyser Act was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt, establishing the nation’s employment security system and a network of state-run employment offices called Job Service Centers.
Efforts continued throughout the 1950s and 1960s, as adult and vocational education programs were put in place. Finally, by the 1970s, the Job Training Partnership Act and myriad other programs were implemented. The problem, however, was that when those last pieces were put in place, no cohesive picture finally emerged.
Instead, what appeared were three separate “pictures,” each with its own delivery system, responsibilities and constituencies. Programs interacted as necessary and in recent years good faith efforts were made to bring people together in hopes of facilitating greater interaction, but the merging of major initiatives never happened across the board. Now, with the signing of Executive Order 2010 012, a breakdown of those silos is set to begin.
