Tuesday, April 06, 2004
President Bush proposed reform of the Workforce Investment Act yesterday. He has set a target of doubling the number of people served by the WIA to about 412,000.
The President is not proposing new money for retraining. Instead, he is focusing on reducing the administrative overhead in the system. There's a lot of room for improvement. WIA is currently training only about 200,000 people nationwide, at a cost of $4 billioon. That's $20,000 per worker.
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.
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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.