By Joan Crigger
April 12, 2004

The United States Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council met for their spring Board meeting on April 1-3 in San Diego and shared concerns about new Administration proposals on job training and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Since the meeting, President Bush has made several speeches on job training bringing to fruition the information that was mere rumor during the meeting and reflecting the greatest fear of the Board members.

The President has long supported a block grant for adult workforce programs and that is reflected in the House bill that was passed May 2, 2003. The House bill consolidates the adult training program, dislocated worker programs and the Employment Service into a single block to the states. In President Bush's recent remarks he has suggested consolidating four programs into a single block grant for a total of $4 billion. The only other job training program at the U.S. Department of Labor that could bring the level of funding to $4 billion is to include the youth employment program.

Board members and mayors have been very concerned about the proposed changes in the reauthorization of WIA and the proposed cuts in the FY 2005 proposed budget that would consolidate programs and cut formula funding to local areas. The Board, who interact on a daily basis at home with private sector businesses who are invested in the local workforce system, asked staff to prepare a letter for their local Workforce Investment Board members to send to the President telling him that local businesses support the current local program and outlining the positive impact of the services on their bottom line.

During the Board meeting there was a continued discussion about youth programs and the continued support of the Youth Opportunity (YO) network of programs. Following a meeting in early January with 24 of the 36 Youth Opportunity program directors and their Workforce Investment Board directors, the Workforce Development Council has been looking for ways to ensure that the positive lessons learned in YO are not lost but are incorporated into all youth development programs. The Board is also very concerned about the Administration's proposal to cut the youth formula program by 25 percent in order to fund new initiatives.