The Mayoral-appointed Baltimore Workforce Investment Board (BWIB) designs and executes the strategic and policy frameworks for the cutting edge programs and initiatives that the City’s workforce development system offers. The BWIB strongly supports efforts to mold and build the City’s current and future workforce to meet the needs of Baltimore’s new knowledge-based economy. The members of the BWIB have acquired a strong knowledge-base and familiarity with workforce issues over the years. As a result, our Board members are well equipped to bring to bear their experience and expertise in a variety of subject matter areas on public policy developments in the local, regional and national workforce development arena.
A Public Policy Committee was established in 2001 to advocate for legislative and budgetary initiatives in Annapolis and Washington that promote the City’s ability to connect target populations to employment and improve education and job readiness services for all job seekers, including people with criminal records. The Board’s voice has been heard regularly in Annapolis and in Washington on behalf of policies, programs and budgetary initiatives that promote, enhance and help sustain Baltimore’s workforce development system.
The BWIB membership reviews and approves the Board’s Public Policy Priorities, prepared in draft by the Public Policy Committee during an annual strategic assessment exercise that takes place prior to the end of each calendar year. The Public Policy Committee then takes the lead in educating elected officials on the BWIB’s key legislative and budgetary priorities, coordinating expert testimony and the presentation of written materials during legislative hearings and in other forums.
Chief among the indicators of a City’s economic vitality is its ability to generate and fill substantial employment opportunities. Baltimore has made significant strides in recent years in the economic development arena, bringing substantial business investment to the City and creating new employment opportunities for its citizens. However, like other large urban centers, Baltimore faces challenges in building its workforce that reflect unique local conditions and call for thoughtful, locally derived solutions.
From 2001 to the present, declining federal support for the nation’s local workforce investment areas has resulted in Baltimore losing millions in funds that support the innovative employment and training initiatives offered by the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development (MOED), the City’s workforce development agency and One-stop Career Center operator, and its workforce partners. This trend in reduced federal investments in local workforce areas occurs at a time when Baltimore City’s unemployment and poverty rates remain stubbornly high, when thousands of ex-offenders in need of training and jobs are returning to our neighborhoods each year, and when research shows that nearly 30% of the City’s young people are not employed.
At the same time, Baltimore is confronting other significant workforce challenges. These include economic stress and job losses due to the current nationwide recession, industry-specific worker shortages in such areas as healthcare, the need to develop “on-ramps” to handle the job expansion that is anticipated in the coming years as a result of the Pentagon’s 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, and the need to create a continuous pipeline of workers to fill the thousands of job vacancies that will occur as the City’s “baby boomer” generation retires.
Baltimore City’s capacity to address both sides of the workforce equation – to ensure that businesses have a qualified pipeline of skilled workers and job seekers are prepared for and have access to good jobs – underscores the vital importance and highlights the value of the local workforce development system. Every year, the City’s One-stop Career Centers provide professional career and reemployment services to a record number of citizens and assist hundreds of employers to meet their staffing and training needs. Despite a precipitous decline in federal funding over much of the past decade, all federal Workforce Investment Act performance measures have been exceeded, thousands of training activities have been provided and more than 5,000 of the City’s adult residents have obtained employment each year. Similarly, the local workforce system’s school-based initiatives and programs for out-of-school youth enable thousands of young people to gain valuable summer work experience and connect to internships or career growth employment opportunities. Close alignment between Baltimore’s workforce system and the City’s economic development efforts will expand service capacity, leaving no one behind as out City moves into the 21st Century economy.
The BWIB’s Public Policy Priorities for 2012 – 2013 are particularly attuned to the highly polarized political climate, the impact of long-term debt-reduction efforts and the tumultuous budgetary challenges leaders are grappling with at every level of government. Challenges to the local workforce development system in securing needed federal appropriations have never been more serious. Nor has the need ever been more pressing for effective advocacy forthe reauthorization of theWorkforce Investment Act (WIA). In response, the BWIB will continue to strongly advocate for budgetary and legislative initiatives in both the Maryland General Assembly and the U.S. Congress that will promote, enhance, and expand Baltimore City’s workforce development system.
State Funding for Maryland’s Workforce Delivery System
Strongly advocate and promote the need for State general funds to ensure adequate resources are available to support Maryland’s workforce delivery system.
Full Funding for the Maryland Summer Youth Connection Program
Strongly advocate for full funding for the Maryland Summer Youth Connection program, originally established during the 2005 session of the Maryland General Assembly (Senate Bill 586, Chapter 322, Acts of 2005), to provide disadvantaged students with paid summer work experiences.
Position Baltimore City’s Existing and Emerging Workforce for BRAC
Strongly support legislative and budgetary initiatives that engage the workforce development and education systems in a partnership effort to prepare Baltimore City residents for BRAC employment opportunities and also for the indirect jobs that will become available in the construction and building trades and other industry sectors as a result of base realignment.
Training for Job Seekers and Low-Wage Incumbent Workers, and Adult Literacy and Workplace Literacy Training
Continue to support legislation and budgetary initiatives that assist Baltimore’s job seekers and low-wage workers to access training opportunities that help them overcome education and skills deficits and gain entrance into needed adult and workplace literacy programs.
Training for Incarcerated Individuals and People with Criminal Records
Continue to support legislative and budgetary initiatives that promote the employability of previously incarcerated adults, including efforts to provide skills training and literacy services to a greater number than is presently served.
Continue support of legislative and budgetary initiatives that enhance the employability of incarcerated individuals and increase their likelihood to connect to employment quickly upon re-entry, including adult education and literacy services.
Education, Training and Job Placement Services for Disconnected Youth
Support legislative and budgetary initiatives that provide youth who are disengaged from work and school with a menu of education and career development options that lead to positive employment outcomes.
Increase Compulsory Educational Age Requirements
Support legislative initiatives that would promote educational age requirements that prepare youth for the 21st Century workforce and careers.
Federal Appropriations
November 2011 employment statistics indicate that 13.9 million Americans are currently out of work, and nearly 6 million have been unemployed for six months or longer. Training and employment services have been and will continue to be critical to re-employing these citizens and rebuilding our economy. In a misguided attempt to address over-arching budgetary constraints, recent Congressional proposals have sought to square deficits by making disproportionately large budget cuts to workforce development services. Legislation brought forward in the House of Representatives has been particularly problematic, threatening a range of measures from severe funding reductions to defunding of the workforce system altogether. The BWIB will support strong funding for workforce development system. We will also work to educate our Congressional representatives on the vital services delivered through the workforce system and the benefits dollars spent in this area yield across the nation’s economy.
Youth Development
Support efforts in Congress to ensure a robust federal role in the education, skills development, and career preparation of our young people. In 2009, for the first time since the termination of federal funding back in 2000, Congress allocated funds to support locally-based summer youth employment programs. It is imperative that there continue to be a vibrant federal, state, and local partnership in providing resources for promoting the growth and workplace readiness of America’s young people. In addition to summer youth employment, the federal government should be encouraged to support other proven strategies for outreach to our young people, especially those confronting challenges.
Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act
Support WIA reauthorization legislation that builds upon the progress already achieved in the evolving private sector-led local workforce investment system, strengthens the authority and flexibility of local elected officials, increases funding for local workforce investment areas and excludes any semblance of block granting or expenditure ceilings for formula funding grants.
Use of Federal Funds in Support of Transitional Employment
Promote policy revisions that would allow for the utilization of federal funds for the support of local Transitional Jobs initiatives. The “Transitional Jobs” employment strategy seeks to transition people with labor market barriers into work using wage-paid, short-term employment that combines real work, skill development and supportive services. Transitional Jobs have also been referred to as public service jobs, community service jobs, and publicly funded employment. Especially during these financially challenging times, federal support for this workforce development strategy holds promise for helping unemployed Baltimoreans find gainful work.
Top
of Page
|
