National Funds for Workforce Solutions' Workforce Change Model

The national model is based on work by a group of national funders who have a long history of addressing workforce needs and potential solutions.  They have joined forces to leverage support to regions of the nation who are willing to invest in workforce partnerships that will ultimately develop a system to make system changes demand driven and responsive to funders to guarantee output and ultimately outcomes that will ensure the region is accountable for initiating meaningful changes in the workforce system to impact long term workforce solutions.

Individual change, institutional change and system change will result in better jobs, workers, and a better workforce development system that will result in better jobs, workers and ultimately a better workforce development system.

The DRRC seeks to improve both the quality of jobs and the capacity of workers by promoting change at three levels:  within individuals in terms of job creation and career advancements; in employers or businesses in terms of recruitment and retention of skilled employees,  and to impact systematic changes that will result in policy changes and ultimately a better workforce development system.

The work is based on the premise that to change a workforce system you must start at levels where you can impact change and revise the system.

The approach will involve identification of  accessible career advancement opportunities for lower skilled individuals – what jobs and skills are needed to better develop entry to mid level skilled individuals?  This will include the identification of entry level position needs and potential for career advancement opportunities.  By working with employers as workforce partners, a sector approach will enable the demand to be aggregated across employers.  Resources will be deployed by the workforce partnership to impact long term system changes.

In the spring of 2008, the Danville Regional Foundation brought area leaders to the table to discuss a potential pilot program that could be launched in the region in conjunction with the National Funds for Workforce Solutions.  Over the following months, the initial project expanded over a larger geographic footprint.

An organizational structure was formed to support the initiative, and the group worked to develop a “Theory of Change” that would lead their future efforts. They developed an initial cluster that had the potential of meeting the goals of their target market by identifying “Green Skills” and funded the first RFP at $100K targeting the need to develop certified specialists in an emerging field in the region.