How Federal Investments Strengthen Community College and Workforce Board Partnerships

Every year, billions of dollars and countless hours of workforce training are poured into separate silos – public community colleges and the federal workforce system administered through the $2.9 billion Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) through the U.S. Department of Labor. Both aim to prepare Americans for jobs.

Despite similar missions and “customers” – students, employers, and job seekers – these two public systems are not as integrated or synergistic as they could be. In lieu of this coordination, students, employers, and taxpayers lose out.

We have the right ingredients to support a high-functioning public community college and workforce ecosystem, but we need a forcing function to serve as a “recipe” to pull them all together. Federal investments have been proven to serve as that recipe – creating, deepening, and expanding partnerships between local workforce boards and community colleges.

The most notable example is the Labor Department's Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program. From 2011 to 2018, TAACCCT funneled $1.9 billion to sixty percent of the nation's community colleges–more than 700 institutions–to equip unemployed or underemployed adults with industry-aligned credentials. According to a 2019 congressional report, students and workers earned more than 320,000 credentials in manufacturing, healthcare, IT, energy, transportation, and other industries under TAACCCT. A 2018 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor highlighted some innovative ways community colleges and workforce boards began partnering thanks to TAACCCT.

We have a new window of opportunity that could work like TAACCT. While some aspects of its implementation are likely to shift under the new administration, over the next few years, a historic wave of federal industrial policy investments from the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law could be another forcing mechanism to better connect and align these two public education and training systems as well as other community college partnerships. Doing so would result in more efficient utilization of taxpayer-funded workforce education and better employment outcomes for students and job seekers.

As states and regions navigate optimal uses of annual federal public workforce system funds, federal industrial policy investments, and any future workforce infusions like TAACCCT, expanding these partnerships should be a key priority. Here are some models to guide effective implementation.

Community College of Spokane and Spokane Area Workforce Development Council

Community Colleges of Spokane, a district comprised of two individual colleges and a district office, and the Spokane Area Workforce Development Council share a joint leadership position. One person serves as both the chief workforce officer for the college district and the CEO of the local workforce development board.

The two entities also co-invest in a shared business engagement manager who actively reaches out to local employers to understand their challenges and help the college and workforce board solve them.

In terms of operational integration, the Community College of Spokane gains access to data from the workforce board about industry needs, credential requirements, and expected wages for jobs in the local labor market. This data spur discussion with the colleges' vice presidents for instruction and learning, deans of career and technical programs, provost, and other staff with a goal of better aligning the college's offerings to the region's needs.

Valencia College and Career Source Central Florida

Ten years ago, then Valencia College president Sandy Shugart saw an opportunity to expand the college's offerings beyond transfer pathways in order to support working adults in Orlando's vibrant but lower-wage service and tourism industry by collaborating with Career Source Central Florida, the local workforce board, to expand upskilling and workforce offerings. Valencia College and Career Source Central Florida established the Accelerated Skills Training Program using TAACCCT funds. The program has served over 12,000 students across manufacturing, construction, transportation and logistics, and healthcare.

CareerSource is located on Valencia’s campus, they leverage WIOA funding to meet both Valencia and workforce board’s shared goals, share document and data management systems, and even pursued grant opportunities together to augment college and WIOA resources.

As one outcome, Valencia College and Career Source Central Florida are now co-leading the workforce strategy for the Central Florida Semiconductor Innovation Engine, one of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s Regional Innovation Engines, a major $160 million CHIPS and Science Act investment to grow industries and jobs in emerging technology areas. Under Engines, Valencia and Career Source are securing state Open Door grants to support their work and will mentor other colleges and workforce boards to scale their collaborative approach across the state.

Rowan College of South Jersey and Gloucester County Workforce Development Board

Rowan College of South Jersey and the Gloucester County Workforce Development Board have formed a strategic partnership that goes beyond sharing one employee or simply co-locating physically.

In April 2023, Gloucester County’s workforce board staff became Rowan employees on the Gloucester campus. This collaboration leverages the strengths of both institutions to foster economic mobility and support pathways for career growth.

The college and workforce board leverage this partnership to:

● Develop workforce training programs, both individualized and cohort-based, that lead to industry-recognized, stackable credentials and degrees.

● Unify marketing and branding efforts to collectively engage employers, employees, and job seekers.

● Combine funding resources to support education, training, and career pathways services from both institutions.

● Set metrics to evaluate the success of dual-enrolled college students and American Job Center job seekers who utilize WIOA funds for training programs, including achieving dual enrollment targets defined by the workforce board.

Prior to this formal integration, Rowan College and the Gloucester County workforce board had a good relationship. They worked together but not as strategically. Rowan President Fred Keating saw an opportunity to take their partnership to the next level by incorporating the workforce board staff. For local leaders, the decision to integrate made sense not only from a strategy perspective but also to share operating costs.

Since the integration, workforce board staff have been working to make pathways clear and accessible, including by bringing other departments of the college on board and adopting shared language when talking about who these programs are serving, how well the programs are preparing students for the workforce, and additional employer needs.

While partnerships cannot solve all of the challenges community colleges and workforce boards face, they can significantly improve outcomes for both entities and the communities they serve.

As states gear up to receive federal investments in the future through bills like the CHIPS and Science Act, Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the Inflation Reduction Act, more workforce boards, community colleges, and state leaders should look to these investments as an opportunity to catalyze and deepen long-term synergistic partnerships.