| Mayor O'Neill Leads Jobs Committee
in Seating Workforce and Education Policy Priorities By Josie Hathway  At the Jobs, Education and Workforce Committee meeting during the 67th Annual Conference of Mayors in New Orleans, Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill introduced the Guidebook For Mayors on the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) which discusses how mayors can leverage WIA to enhance the economic growth of cities. Mayors supported the passage of WIA, which is being implemented across the country over the next year, to create a more efficient and effective workforce development system. Assistant Secretary Raymond Bramucci, Employment and Training Administration, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), addressing the Jobs Committee, reinforced DOL’s commitment to carry out Congress’ intent for a locally driven system that gives mayors and local elected officials the local flexibility to drive change and truly meet the needs of their workforce and business. Bramucci said that he is committed to provide all the support he can to ensure that WIA leaves a legacy of a world class workforce development system for our nation. Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer, Chair of the Welfare-to-Work Task Force, gave a report on the status of Welfare-to-Work reauthorization and the challenges cities face in moving families to self-sufficiency. Palmer led the charge in sending a letter from the Conference urging Congress to reauthorize Welfare-to-Work at the full $1 billion proposed in the President’s FY 2000 budget. He also proposed a resolution for public service jobs creation and a request for research from the Great Cities Universities on what is happening to families who are leaving welfare. Mayors were unanimous in their support of Mayor Palmer’s proposals. Mayor O’Neill called for Welfare-to-Work Best Practices and urged Mayors to continue to call their local partners to the table to ensure the success of WTW. Bramucci who assured mayors that the Administration is committed to continued funding and addressing implementation challenges stated, "This is a venture capital program. We’re putting money out there where the returns can be extremely high. But we need time." The Conference Jobs, Education and Workforce Committee deals with other issues which they addressed in resolutions including the needs of urban youth, quality public education, quality child care for working families, quality early childhood education, moving high concentrations of welfare recipients to self sufficiency, and an effective workforce development system that retains business and helps keep them competitive.
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