By Shannon Holmes
October 9, 2006

The U.S. Conference of Mayors Workforce Development Council (WDC) held its 18th Annual Congressional Forum September 26 in Washington, DC. At the forefront of the discussion was a proposed $325 million rescission in the FY 2007 appropriations for the local workforce system and the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

WDC members and colleagues attended the meeting from various cities across the country including: Akron, Albany, Baltimore, Boston, Cambridge (MA), Canton (OH), Chardon (OH), Chicago, Cleveland, Denton (TX), Elkhart (IN), Hartford, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Louisville, Lubbock (TX), Miami, Nashville, New Haven, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Saint Louis, San Diego, Seattle and Youngstown (OH). President of the Workforce Development Council Sallie Glickman, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board, chaired the meeting.

Gay Gilbert, Administrator of the Office of Workforce Investment in the Employment and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor, gave the keynote address to the WDC. Gilbert provided an update of the Department’s WIRED initiative as the means to develop regional economic growth. Currently there are 13 regional sites and an additional 13 virtual region sites across the country with grants to implement the WIRED initiative and achieve the goal of expanding employment and advancing opportunities for workers while simultaneously catalyzing the creation of high'skill, high-wage jobs.

Gilbert also informed the group that, with the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act most likely moving into the 110th Congress, the Department would move forward with the bill passed by the House of Representatives in March of 2005 and add career advancement accounts (CAAs) to the legislation. CAAs would be self-managed accounts of up to $3,000 that workers and people looking for work, both adults and out-of-school youth, could use to obtain training and other employment services. The accounts must be used to pay for expenses directly related to education and training, not supportive services, and would be available up to two years for a total of $6,000. She reassured WDC members that the CAA program would not do away with the One'stop center delivery system, but rather make the local workforce system more efficient.

With the fiscal year 2007 budget being pushed back until after the mid-term elections, Lee Foley, Partner at Foley, Maldonado, and O’Toole, informed WDC members about the dynamics of the 109th Congress with regards to the appropriations process and the implications on the Labor, Health and Human Service, Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill, not passed by either chamber. This bill remains the only bill not passed by the House due to an amendment to raise the minimum wage. Once returning from the mid-term election, Congress is more than likely to be in session until Christmas in order to complete all of the appropriations bills and the remainder of the ambitious agenda set for the lame duck session.

Foley informed WDC that 2001 “was the worst recession since the last recession in U.S. history.” With the slowest post war job recovery and longest, highest unemployment, Foley stated that he is surprised that there has been less investment in job training since 2001 and not more. Despite efforts from the Administration to cut or shift programs, Congress has supported the local workforce system and not funded the proposals put forth by the President. He further mentioned that Congress wants to stick with a system that works, and not fund new programs that are not intimately tied to the current system, especially in tight budgetary times. The outlook for the upcoming 2008 fiscal budget is that funding for workforce programs would remain consistent with the past several years, meaning small cuts, but level on the whole.

He further stressed that the proposed rescission of $325 million will have a tremendous impact, as well as other provisions included in the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, on the local workforce system. If the House version of the appropriations measure is enacted for FY 2007 there will be 100,000 fewer individuals trained under the Workforce Investment Act and 1.65 million less people provided basic core services through the Employment Service. He implored WDC to make certain that Congress realized the implications to the workforce system.

The reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act has been under way for almost four years, with a few obstacles that need to be overcome to secure passage of the bill. However, there is commitment from Senator Michael Enzi (WY), Chair of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and Representative Howard “Buck" McKeon (CA), Chair of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, to resolve the outstanding issues in order to provide the local workforce system the flexibility and means to prepare a competitive American workforce.

Beth Buehlmann, Majority Education Policy Director, and J.D. LaRock Minority Senior Education Policy Advisor, of the Senate HELP Committee, and Michele Varnhagen, Minority Labor Counsel, and James Bergeron, Counselor to the Chair, for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, participated on a panel to discuss the status of the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and other workforce related legislation during the remainder of the 109th Congress and the outlook for reauthorization in the 110th Congress, all which will be determined by the outcome of the mid-term elections. The panel members agreed that there was a way to resolve issues between the two differing versions of the measure, but the final hurdle that remains – a faith-based job hiring provision – is one that needs to be resolved at the Congressional member level.

With the full agenda for the lame duck session, WDC members were told to prepare for the possibility that WIA reauthorization may be pushed into the 110th Congress, at which time the local workforce system needs to educate new members of Congress about the importance of the local workforce system in light of the reauthorization and FY 2008 budget process that will begin in February. Members of the panel also informed WDC that they should focus on informing their members about the severe impact that the proposed $325 million rescission in the proposed House FY 2007 Labor-HHS appropriations bill will have.

Carl Fillichio, Vice President of Innovation and Public Engagement for The Council for Excellence in Government, and Joan Kois Woodward, Executive Director of Global Markets Institute at Goldman, Sachs & Co., presented a report on a series of six town hall meetings on jobs and the economy in cities across the country, in which five major themes emerged from members of the community: education is the most important key to developing the economy and creating and retaining good jobs; collaboration between the public and private sectors is imperative for growth; strategies and mechanisms for accessing investment capital need to be established and well-communicated to enhance business formation and growth; beyond obtaining and continuously upgrading basic skills, individuals need to demonstrate the will to work; and adaptation at institutional and personal levels is vital to creating good jobs in a competitive global economy. The recommendations from the report include: invest in education; promote innovative public-private partnerships to leverage the strengths of government, business and the community; create innovative approaches to link capital with local entrepreneurs; focus on skill and will; and continue the conversation between the private and public sectors, and with the community at large.

Over the past few years there has been an increased focus of making a more cohesive relationship between the local workforce system and the manufacturing industry. To address this issue, Phyllis Eisen, Vice President and Executive Director of the Center for Workforce Success at the National Association of Manufacturers, stressed to WDC members that business is in trouble and that there is a sense of urgency to get a skilled workforce to fill the good jobs available in high technology manufacturing. According to Eisen, there is great potential for the local workforce system to work with the manufacturing industry to fill the skill gap that exists and will continue to grow.

Other speakers that addressed the WDC included Elaine Ryan, Deputy Executive Director of Policy and Government Affairs at the American Public Human Services Association and Evelyn Ganzglass, Director of Workforce Development at the Center for Law and Social Policy, who discussed the implications of the new TANF regulations on the local workforce system and the steps that need to be taken to comply. Finally, Ellen Barclay, President of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, provided members of the WDC with resources to better tap into the foundation and philanthropic arenas as an additional source of funding for workforce programs on the local level.