Virginia points the way to workforce reforms Wednesday, April 09, 2003 Despite our reluctance to get involved, EDPros will need to become more active in workforce development. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) is up for reauthorization this year (probably in the fall), and there are many flaws to fix. Recently, Virginia enacted reforms to its workforce system. These reforms point to areas where federal level efforts are particularly weak. Better accountability. WIA has a lot of mumbo jumbo about accountability. But the measures are not clear or simple. Virginia is trying to cut through the fog and improve these metrics. Improved service at the One Stops. The old WIA had a sensible idea in setting up One Stop Centers, but they rarely work very well. Virginia is trying to improve their performance through better integration of services. One Stop Centers have a long way to go. Creation of Middle Colleges for at risk youth. I've never seen a Youth Council that works very well under WIA. (The ones I've seen are simply captives of their service providers.) Virginia has come up with an alternative to deal with the very serious problem of high school drop-outs. A Middle College is an alternative high school with demonstrated successes. We need these alternatives. In most regional economies, anywhere from 20% to 60% of the ninth graders will not complete high school. That's the hidden Brain Drain. Here's an example of a Middle College from California, and here is an article from the Ford Foundation that gives you a good overview of Middle Colleges. posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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