CAAs offer skills training programs which range across traditional blue collar arenas to entry-level white collar office training.

Massachusetts CAPs provide welfare to work services to more than 5,000 people.

Massachusetts CAAs report that ESOL is a critical service which could be provided to more individuals than are currently served.

Youth ages 16-25 are a population greatly in need of training services, yet are not a priority service population for many funders, according to CAA survey respondents.

Although wrap-around support is a service at which CAAs excel at providing, there is stll an acute need for what training providers view as essential supports, such as child care during non-traditional hours and transportation support.

Priorities for workforce development providers for the upcoming year include developing linkages with employers, other training providers, and administrators of workforce development funds at local and state levels.

III. Capacity-Building Meetings

This project centered around two meetings of approximately 20 representatives of Massachusetts CAAs (and the survey reported on in the next section). The ambitious objectives of the meetings were to take initial steps to:

• provide an introduction to and overview of the major components of the Massachusetts public workforce development system;

• build an increased understanding among meeting participants of how CAAs fit into the workforce system—currently, and into the future;

• develop CAA capacity to critically analyze and effectively participate in local and state workforce development systems.

The first meeting was held on Friday, October 22, 1999 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Southern Middlesex Opportunity Council in Framingham. In addition to the presentation of a broad range of information, the meeting centered around discussion of six areas of concern, which provide a framework for program development:

1. What is workforce development?

2. Why should CAAs offer workforce development programs and services?

3. Who is the customer? Who needs workforce development programs and services?

4. What do jobseekers need?

5. What are the types of programs and services?

6. What components do all workforce development programs have?

The second half-day meeting was held on November 5 and centered around discussion of a case study developed specifically for MASSCAP’s Workforce Development Initiative. The purpose of using a case study was to achieve two key objectives: 1) to understand workforce development and how CAAs fit into the system as it now exists and as it will change in the near future (internal context); and 2) to develop strategies to effectively participate in the local and statewide workforce development system (external context).

As outlined in Appendix 5, participants were asked to approach the case study through three sets of questions and concerns:

Analyze the Opportunity. Is this a good opportunity for the CAA? What are the key variables/decisions? Who is the number one customer? How should the CAA choose between service delivery and advocacy agendas?

Strategic Planning Issues. How would you think about this possibility? Who would you involve? How long would the planning take? What scale of involvement makes sense for the CAA?

Context and Policy. What are the linkages with the workforce development system? What are the linkages with other organizations? How would you deal with the funding issues? How can the CAA ensure the low-income community benefits?

The meeting proceeded in a discussion format with large group exercises. The exercises included brainstorming and then prioritizing group lists by individual participants. This was particularly effective in surfacing key themes relevant to both the Delta CAP in the case study, as well as to all Massachusetts CAAs focusing on workforce development.

Neither the discussion in the meeting, nor this report, are of sufficient depth to fully articulate the strategic development questions facing CAAs in workforce development; but the following list proposes some key themes around many of which meeting participants reached consensus.

In brief, consensus developed around the following areas.

Advocacy versus Service Delivery. CAAs need to carefully and continually prioritize their time and attention across these two areas with a thoroughgoing focus on the CAA mission. In the end, however, it is not a question of either/or (i.e., should we do advocacy or service delivery?), but a question of how to carry on both effectively.

Paying Attention to WD Customers. Considerable attention was spent throughout the case study in thinking about "who the customer is" for CAAs starting, maintaining, and growing workforce development services. In the case study, it was the key employer(s) who meeting participants prioritized as customers for CAA attention. (This fits with an increasing role for employers in federal WIA regulations and state WTF legislation, as well as the increasing role of employers in local public workforce development systems across the state.)

Building and maintaining strong relationships with employers is always important for the implementation and growth of workforce development programs. (While this is common wisdom today in the workforce development system today, few education and training providers do an excellent job at this. Yet prioritizing employer concerns—with, not instead of, jobseeker concerns—still does not receive the attention it needs.)

Strategic Analysis of the Workforce Development Landscape. Discussion underscored the need to know the workforce development landscape, in terms of (a) prerequisites to success for organizations of the type and scale of CAAs, (b) implications for CAA mission to work in the interests of local low-income communities, and (c) knowledge of federal, state, and local programs, and (d) knowledge of the customers (i.e., low-income residents, employers, funding sources).

Strategic Analysis of Organizational Issues. Many comments and perspectives were shared as to how CAAs should tackle workforce development.

Further results of the discussion in the November 5, 1999 meeting are included in the Recommendations section of this report.