In the future, businesses will demand workers with higher-level skills and more education. Community colleges are key providers of career and technical training as well as traditional academic education. These colleges can also play important roles in the one-stop system created by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), through which a variety of federally funded employment and training programs provide services. Given the importance of community colleges to workforce development, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine (1) how community colleges meet the workforce training needs of their communities; (2) what community colleges do to integrate with the nation's one-stop system; (3) the conditions or practices that enhance or impede these efforts; and (4) the actions the Departments of Labor and Education have taken to encourage linkages between community colleges and the workforce investment system, including one-stops. To address these objectives, GAO visited 20 community colleges, surveyed one-stop centers and their associated workforce investment boards, and talked to Labor and Education officials. The community colleges that GAO visited developed various approaches and programs for career and technical training to meet the needs of industry sectors, individual employers, and certain types of students and workers. Through a variety of outreach, relationship building, and data collection efforts, community colleges have come to understand the specific training needs of key industries in their regions and use this information to keep programs current or develop new programs to address these needs. Community college activities include providing contract or customized training to the employees of specific employers; working with small businesses; and targeting training and education programs to specific populations, such as disadvantaged adults, high-school students transitioning to college, and one-stop clients. Nationwide, GAO estimated that about 11 percent of one-stops are operated solely or jointly by a community college, while 34 percent have community college staff colocated at the center. Similarly, GAO estimated that, nationwide, 49 percent of local workforce investment boards have community college presidents represented on their boards. Some of the benefits of these arrangements include cost sharing and improved communication among participating programs. Officials at the colleges and one-stops that GAO visited reported also conducting other joint activities, such as strategic planning and data sharing. Community college and workforce officials cited state funding and leadership as factors that help integration between community colleges and the workforce system but identified WIA performance system measures and WIA funding issues as impediments. Under WIA, states and local workforce areas must meet performance levels in their Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs that can be difficult to obtain when serving some populations, such as those on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or youth, causing disincentives for the one-stops to serve them. In a 2004 report, GAO recommended that the Labor Department develop a systematic way to account for differences in the population groups served by states' one-stop centers and apply it to all states when establishing their performance levels. To date, Labor has not taken action on this recommendation; however, Labor officials stated that states may use their own adjustment models and that the department has worked to ensure consistency in the process. It is uncertain whether Labor and Education's efforts to build linkages between community colleges and the workforce system will be successful in encouraging community colleges to focus on workforce development. Labor's WIRED, High Growth, and Community Based grants aim, in part, to help community colleges and other workforce entities collaborate. As discussed in GAO's recent report on these grants,Labor's evaluations do not fully measure their effectiveness, and GAO recommends that Labor take steps to do so. Labor and Education jointly funded a $1.5 million initiative in 2006 to help build linkages between community colleges and the workforce system. The agencies did not conduct an evaluation, but plan to issue a report in 2008 about the participants' challenges and successes. Four appendixes include: (1) Objectives, Scope and Methodology; (2) Community Colleges Selected for Site Visits; (3) Comments from the Department of Labor; and (4) GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments. (Contains 24 footnotes, 1 figure, and 3 tables.).

This book has two things going for it that are rarely combined—it is fundamentally purposeful and it is useful. As the authors point out, there is a trilogy of needs confronting any business leader with a change agenda and/or transitioning into a new top role: influence, coalition building, and performance consulting. Of the three, performance consulting has received the least amount of attention in both the public and private-sector businesses. Because the focus on performance consulting rests primarily on the worker and the workplace environment, the authors contend that we must have a picture of how that environment has changed over the years. In this book, visionary leaders of community colleges will present their views about the present challenges and future approaches needed for community colleges to be successful.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilizations as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible.

Many people who work in Workforce Development in Community Colleges have not had the benefit of courses or a degree program in Workforce Development. For that reason, when they join a community college, they often need a primer on the purpose, goals and nature of workforce development. This book is intended for that purpose. It can help newly-hired community college staff members, administrators, and even board of trustees members on the important workforce development mission of a community college.

This book is written for workforce developers in community colleges and branch campus settings. College administrators, public officials, and employers may also find it helpful because it will give them a frame of reference for directing--or judging the quality of--community college workforce developers, the functions they oversee, the results they obtain, and the services they offer. This book can also serve as a text for the many students who are preparing themselves for careers in the challenging world of workforce development in community colleges. The book is intended to cover key issues in workforce development. The fifteen chapters are: (1) "The Role of Workforce Development Organizations" (Laurance J. Warford); (2) "Strategic Business Planning for Workforce Development" (Frederick D. Loomis); (4) "Integrating Workforce Development and Institutional Requirements" (James Jacobs); (5) "Competencies for Workforce Developers" (William J. Rothwell and Patrick E. Gerity); (6) "Building Community Partnerships for Workforce Development" (Mary Gershwin); (7) "Marketing Workforce Development Organizations" (Paul Pierpoint); (8) "The 5-S Consultative Approach to Sales" (Wesley E. Donahue and John E. Park); (9) "Finance and Budgeting for Workforce Development Organizations" (Leslie Roe); (10) "Establishing and Maintaining Effective Relations with Workforce Development Faculty, Staff, and Administrators" (Dennis Bona); (11) "Assessing Needs for Training and Nontraining Projects" (Elaine A. Gaertner and Cheryl A. Marshall); (12) "Integrating Complex Training and Nontraining Projects" (Ethan S. Sanders); (13) Evaluating Workforce Development Efforts (William J. Rothwell); (14) "Outsourcing Training" (Karen A. Flannery); and (15) "Lessons Learned and Emerging Issues" (Patrick E. Gerity). Appended are: (1) Developing a High-Performing Organization: Self-Assessment Instrument for Workforce Development Professionals in Higher Education; (2) Competency Model for Community College Workforce Developers; (3) Competency Assessment Instrument for Community College Workforce Developers; (4) Templates for Conducting 5-S Consultative Sales; (5) Coaching Checksheet for Community College Workforce Developers; (6) Templates for Community College Workforce Developers; and (7) State-by-State Electronic Resources for Workforce Development Strategic Plans and Customized Job Training Grants. The book also contains a foreword by George R. Boggs and James McKenney; preface; information about the contributors, and an index.

Across the United States, partnerships have formed between business and industry and rural community college workforce development customize training programs to meet the demands of the 21st century labor market. For many business and industry managers, a partnership has become a necessary means to train the unskilled as well as update skills required for the current workforce. This research study examined the business and industry manager's perceptions of their partnership with the Wallace State Community College workforce development customize training program. Qualitative methods were used to gather and analyze data obtained from semi-structured interviews. Katz and Kahn's Open System Theory, which stressed the environmental influence on an organizations survival, provided the theoretical framework for this research. The results of this study revealed the necessity of a fruitful partnership for the maintenance and growth of a business or industry. Moreover, partnership strengths and weaknesses between business and industry managers and the Wallace State Community College workforce development customized training program were indicated in this research. The results of this study may set a benchmark for current and future workforce development customize training programs with their partnerships with business and industry by providing information of the strengths and weakness of a partnership.