Here in Florida, we unified our brand to CareerSource throughout the state and every workforce board changed its name to reflect that brand. I work for CareerSource Capital Region serving three counties and the capitol city of Tallahassee. Our system is emerging as a business resource and job seekers career adviser to better match the needs of business with the skills of all job seekers.
Congress eliminated some of the redundant training programs and I applaud that. Why? The constant posting of grants that ultimately award only 5% or so of the applicants is a distraction in the system and does not serve to strengthen the level of service. It creates sporadic influxes of federal dollars that can have a positive impact but rarely last more than a year after the funds are gone. Instead, the local boards will have some flexible dollars to experiment and try to develop new best practices for the system to emulate and scale up. This is a better and more focused way of strengthening the system.
Thankfully the leaders in the workforce system get it. They get the business connection as the demand side and the job seeker as the supply side. We have also long known in the system the disconnect between the post secondary system churning out and directing our future workforce to credentials that have little or no real value in the world of business and industry. Apprenticeships have waned over the years and now we see critical shortages in automobile repair, truck maintenance, welders, and many other high wage jobs that are subjugated to second class level by the education system. Mike Rowe did a great job in front of Congress with this talk.
The system is improving and we are partnering with Chambers, Community Colleges and others to provide a more integral approach to serving the community.
