About the Board

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Introduction

The statewide workforce development system is comprised of 49 Local Workforce Development Areas (Local Area), each with its own business-led Local Workforce Development Board (Local Board). These Local Boards work in concert with their local Chief Elected Official to oversee the delivery of workforce services relevant to their local residents and businesses. Critical to their charge is their oversight of the local One-Stop Career Centers which are the hub of the statewide service delivery vehicle for workforce, education, and business services. Workforce funds allocated to Local Boards support the job training, placement, and business services delivered though the One-Stop Career Centers. These Centers, through partnerships with other local, state and federal agencies, education and economic development organizations provide access to job, skill development and business services vital to the social and economic well-being of their communities.

Each Local Workforce Development Board (LWDB) has its own charter, organization, and unique context. What they all share, however, is a set of central roles. Each LWDB provides oversight for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act program, acts as a catalyst to provide seamless services among various workforce programs, and provides community leadership around workforce issues.

Employers' Training Resource (ETR) administers the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) for Kern, Inyo and Mono Counties. ETR, a department of the County of Kern, provides staff services to the Kern, Inyo, and Mono Counties Consortium Workforce Development Board (KIM LWDB) which provides policy guidance for the local system. The Kern County Board of Supervisors serves as the Chief Local Elected Official for the three county consortium and provides the administrative structure and oversight.

KIM LWDB's Mission: to develop job opportunities, a qualified workforce, training and education that lead to employment.
KIM LWDB's Vision: to provide all people access and opportunities through workforce development.

LWDB Functions

As community leader, there are five ways that LWDBs can carry out their role. The list below is intended to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive, since each LWDB in California will find that it incorporates most of these roles in varying degrees in all aspects of their work.

The LWDB as Convener

Bringing together business, labor, education, and economic development to focus on community workforce issues. LWDBs bring together business leaders to respond to local workforce needs with an understanding and focus only possible at the regional level.

LWDBs are an important nexus of communication, facilitating dialogue about workforce issues among employers, policymakers, labor, education, economic development and the public.

Regional economies have complex sets of workforce issues that span across business, community organizations, government, organized labor and residents. Workforce issues are about skilled workers, but they are also about the changing workplace, access to jobs for all populations, transportation and housing, and support for workers such as health care and childcare.

As intermediary organizations with participation from business, labor, non-profits, government, and educational institutions, LWDBs can ensure that all of the right people are in the room for critical discussions about the region's economy and workforce needs.

LWDBs bring together business leaders to respond to local workforce needs with an understanding and focus only possible at the regional level. Convening businesses within key industry sectors to better understand the needs of the industry provides valuable information for organizations providing education and job readiness services. LWDBs also convene around specific issues of critical importance to the community, such as low wage workers, the aging workforce, or school dropout rates.

The LWDB as Workforce Analyst

Developing, disseminating and understanding current labor market and economic information and trends. Information about jobs and career pathways, described in accessible ways, is a critical function of the LWDB.

LWDBs play a key role in collecting and analyzing labor market data for their region. This entails not only finding and using statistical data to paint a picture of the local economy, but turning that data into useful information for educators, policy makers and the business community. Often, statistical information is several years old, so the LWDB also takes a proactive role in using its convening role to bring together employers through focus groups and other mechanisms to understand the current and future skill requirements and hiring needs of key industries. Understanding and disseminating information about trends in employment can be valuable to One-Stop Career Centers, community colleges, and schools.

Mapping the gaps between the needs of the economy and the current delivery system is also a key function of the LWDB. Many LWDBs initiate asset mapping in their communities, to provide information about the services that are available. They also scan their region to learn about the potential mismatches between the skills required and the current workforce, or the education and training needed by residents and the actual offerings.

Information about jobs and career pathways, described in accessible ways for students and job seekers, is also a critical function of the LWDB. Often, employers can't see the career pathways within their industry, and the LWDB works with tools to map occupations and skill requirements in ways that can be used by both people who want to enter a field and incumbent workers who want to progress in their careers.

The LWDB as Workforce Broker

Bringing together systems to solve common problems or brokering new relationships with businesses and workers. It is not always enough to get everyone in the same room.

LWDBs play an important role in bringing people and groups together, providing them with access to the information that they need to make informed decisions, and brokering agreements between employers, government agencies, and various programs. A LWDB functioning as an intermediary provides a mechanism to connect organizations, institutions, businesses and people to each other and to the services and information they need.

LWDBs serve an important role in bringing together the business community in a particular industry sector and educational agencies to help "translate" from one system to the other, and to help develop services that meet the needs of business. In some places, LWDBs have brokered training programs and services between employers and training providers.

The LWDB as Community Voice

Advocating for the importance of workforce policy, providing perspective about the need for skilled workers. LWDBs are an important nexus of communication, facilitating dialogue between employers, policymakers, and the public.

An important function underlying these roles is that of communication. LWDBs serve as a community voice in a number of ways. By using the information gathered as a result of convening employers, LWDBs can help regions articulate their needs to policymakers at all levels of government. LWDBs can use information gathered as part of their workforce intelligence activities to communicate key skill shortages, skill gaps, and the need for labor and/or job opportunities.

LWDBs also serve as the voice of the community, by articulating the needs of individuals looking for training and jobs. For example, returning Veterans, people being released from the correctional system, and individuals with disabilities may have special needs or require more intensive services.

With its diverse membership, the LWDB is uniquely positioned to tell the whole story - not from the point of view of business, government, labor or community group - but from the whole. This voice can provide powerful messages to the Legislature, the Administration and other policy leaders.

The LWDB as Capacity Builder

Enhancing the region's ability to meet the workforce needs of local employers. For many programs, success is measured by the dozen, when actual demand is in the hundreds or thousands.

As a capacity builder, the LWDB has a responsibility to scan the performance and effectiveness of One-Stop Career Centers, training programs and other community resources, and ensure that services are high quality. The LWDB can provide critical guidance to agencies in the form of technical assistance, well articulated goals and performance measures, and insistence on excellence. Using their role as convener, the LWDB can bring together service providers and educators to inform them of current and future workforce needs, and to learn about best practices on the ground, and facilitate dialogue about the most effective way to serve businesses and job seekers.

The KIM WDB supports California's workforce vision to:

Build and maintain career pathways in growth industries
Train in occupations that require skills beyond a high school diploma
Provide training or education that results in an industry-recognized certification or college degree
Provide training that results in an occupation which provides a self-sufficient or family sustaining wage

The KIM WDB, through ETR, One-Stop partners and service providers, provides excellent workforce services to youth, job seekers and employers. Through collaboration, accountability and the use of performance measures, we will continue to build upon a proven track record to fulfill our Mission and Vision in the region. KIM WDB will engage employers to ensure they have the skilled workforce required to compete in a global economy and strengthen partnerships among the business, education and workforce system partners to improve acquisition of in-demand skills by job seekers.