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Resolutions Adopted at the
67th Annual Conference of Mayors
New Orleans, Louisiana
June 11-15, 1999 |
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JOBS, EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
EFFECTIVE TRANSITION TO AND IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT OF 1998
WHEREAS, The U.S. Conference of Mayors has had strong policy supporting systemic
change in our country’s workforce development system for the last eight years; and
WHEREAS, an efficient, effective and comprehensive workforce development system
is essential to the employment opportunities of those who live in our nation’s cities
and is locally designed market-driven, and responsive to employer needs; and
WHEREAS, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 on August 7,
supported by The U.S. Conference of Mayors, which creates a national network of locally
driven workforce investment systems, provides a meaningful role for the mayor or chief
elected official, ensures funding of the $250 million Youth Opportunity Grants program,
temporarily retains the JTPA population threshold of 200,000 as under current law, to the
extent feasible; and
WHEREAS, while the Workforce Investment Act provides a meaningful role for the
mayor or chief local elected official, new flexibility and opportunities for
collaboration, it is not as far reaching as originally intended in terms of creating a
consolidated workforce development system at the federal level; and
WHEREAS, The Workforce Investment Act contains activities such as preparation of
the workforce, the delivery of training and education services leading to
self-sufficiency, career planning, life-long learning, keeping businesses competitive,
local economic development strategies; and
WHEREAS, the Act recognizes that chief local elected officials and their
appointed local workforce investment boards are responsible for creating a system that
responds to local labor markets, local employers and residents, and local economic
development strategies; and
WHEREAS, under the Workforce Investment Act, mayors or chief local elected
officials and their local workforce investment boards are charged with designing and
building a revised system that is universally accessible through the one-stop system and
therefore needs to be funded and to have a funding structure to support the creation,
implementation and maintenance of this infrastructure; and
WHEREAS, The U. S. Conference of Mayors recognizes that in order to meet the
needs of employers and maintain credibility with the business community, there needs to be
leverage to work with business and investment in job growth areas; and
WHEREAS, Congress intended that effective delivery of workforce development
services under the Act requires collaboration, consultation and negotiation between state
and local governments; and
WHEREAS, the initial success of the implementation of the Workforce Investment
Act of 1998 is dependent upon the degree of integration of resources and services of all
the workforce development related activities in each state through the local workforce
board system; and
WHEREAS, the first year of implementation of the Workforce Investment Act will
involve the establishment of many new services and procedures mandated by the Act; and
WHEREAS, Congress intended to create a flexible, evolving system where long-term
effectiveness and customer satisfaction will indicate the success of the system; and
WHEREAS, in preparing citizens for employment and employment upgrade, many
services are driven by the needs of the business community, and as a major focus in the
workforce development system, the business community must participate in and understand
the measures of success of the system; and
WHEREAS, although comprehensive standards and performance measures in all
workforce development efforts are necessary, performance data must be compared in a
consistent, equitable manner to present an accurate and meaningful picture of system
quality and results,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the first year of the implementation of the
Workforce Investment Act should be viewed as a continuation of the transition period to a
comprehensive workforce development system that will evolve according to lessons learned
during implementation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors supports broad
parameters for standardized, comprehensive, easily understood and easily comparable
performance measures to indicate the success of the workforce development system; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that there should be one set of data elements for
measuring the system and broad parameters for measuring performance across the entire
system of nationally networked, statewide local workforce investment systems; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in the Interim Final Regulations and the subsequent
Final Regulations promulgated under the Act, wherever authority is not assigned explicitly
to a particular party, the U.S. Department of Labor should reinforce Congress’ intent
that state and local levels negotiate as equal partners in the workforce development
system; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that in order to build the necessary infrastructure for
a workforce development system and have leverage to work with the business community and
maintain focus on the most-in-need customers within the infinite service demand of the
universal system, sufficient resources and flexible funding must be provided; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that funding must be maintained at least at current
levels for all activities for economically disadvantaged adults, dislocated workers, and
all youth including the Summer Youth Employment Program, since the $250 million Youth
Opportunity Grants Program is targeted primarily to empowerment zones (EZ) and enterprise
communities (EC), and there must be resources invested to serve the universal community;
and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that local flexibility, especially the design of the
integration of various systems, must be maintained; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that leadership is required at the federal and state
level to establish and promote the collaboration, partnerships and resource investment
required for building and maintaining an effective One-Stop system.
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