Title
Briefing on the Redesignation of Local Workforce Development Areas 14 and 16 into a New Single Local Workforce Development Area
Purpose
PURPOSE/BACKGROUND:
In December 2019, all the Local Elected Officials (LEO’s) who serve on either the Greater Peninsula Workforce Board (Gloucester County, Hampton, James City County, Newport News, Poquoson, Williamsburg, and York County) and Hampton Roads Workforce Council (Chesapeake, Franklin, Isle of Wight County, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Southampton County, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach) were asked to support the reorganization and merger of the two workforce boards so that they could better serve the needs of both employers and job seekers in the greater Hampton Roads area. All fifteen LEO’s approved.
Discussion:
To move forward with this process, formal approval from each jurisdiction must be received in order to make a request to the Governor’s Office for official workforce development area redesignation.
Since the signing of a Collaborative Resolution in September 2018 by Delceno Miles, past chair of the Hampton Roads Workforce Council, and Dr. John Olson, chair of the Greater Peninsula Workforce Board, the two workforce boards have worked together to strengthen workforce development by partnering to accomplish the following activities:
• Established the Hampton Roads Coalition for Talent through a $100,000 GO Virginia Grant;
• Formed a Joint Business Services Team that assisted over 4,000 employers and provided a single point of contact for the region’s economic development agencies;
• Implemented a joint fundraising initiative resulting in over $250,000 in new private resources to support workforce development initiatives throughout the region;
• Conducted joint Communications Committee meetings that resulted in the publication of three regional newsletters and labor market digests;
• Held a joint executive committee meeting followed by a joint full board meeting;
• Had reciprocal meeting attendance by staff and chairs;
• Held a joint annual meeting that had over 300 people attend;
• Issued a joint economic impact report (that covers both service delivery areas);
• Started the process to hire a grant writer both to support internal grant applications and as a fee for service for other nonprofit entities; and,
• Began exploring other fee for service opportunities.
“Workforce and Talent Development” is the most important issue that employers discuss and that potential employers express interest in before moving into our area. As the two boards have made great strides in partnership opportunities, it is inevitable that they begin to discuss a strategic consolidation that adjusts the focus from what they can do together as allied organizations (negotiating back and forth) to a more structured and coherent single organizational approach that can address workforce development issues across the entire region.
This new organization would mean that the current Hampton Roads Workforce Council and the Greater Peninsula Workforce Board would no longer exist in their current forms. However, in their place there would be one truly regional board and organization that all employers, individuals, educational institutions, economic development agencies and other partners could come to for advice, input, and guidance on all issues related to workforce development.
In order to make this happen, they need the support of each locality by signing this proposed Resolution to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Governor for Local Workforce Development Area Redesignation. The goal is to have all the appropriate approvals in place by June 30 so that they can begin making the necessary steps to consolidate in the coming fiscal year.
Impact:
Publication of a regional economic impact report concluded that there was a $4.30 return on investment for each $1.00 spent by the region’s two workforce boards. The reorganization of the local workforce development areas will better serve the needs of both employers and job seekers in the greater Hampton Roads area.
Recommendation:
Rec
Receive briefing in the afternoon. Approve Resolution in the evening.
Body