Five Year Strategic Plan Update
INTRODUCTION
The following is an update to the Atlantic Cape May Workforce
Investment Board's Five Year Strategic Plan. Two years have passed
since the writing of the original plan and much has changed. Like
an infant finding its way in this world, we are growing and learning
as we go along. In implementing our plan we have experienced considerable
successes balanced by the occasional disappointment. Nevertheless,
the WIB and its 14 mandated partners under WIA, have developed
a One-Stop System of six core sites, identified Job Connection
as the One-Stop operator, agreed to Memorandums of Understanding
(MOUs) with all involved parties and conducted two years of service
delivery.
These past two years have been a period of major transformations.
For starters, we had to deal with the shift from JTPA to WIA. The
enormity of this task can be summed up with just the change from
the Summer Youth Program to Year Around services. Then we had to
deal with a terrorist attack on our country with the resultant
downturn in the economy. This event led to record numbers of dislocated
workers seeking assistance from the One-Stop system. The WIB persevered
through it all and has made great strides in improving the delivery
of the workforce development system. Throughout the process, the
WIB has championed an open-door policy. In order to ensure that
everyone in the bi-county region was involved, numerous meetings
were held with anyone and everyone who may have an interest in
the development of workforce policy. The WIB utilized focus groups,
the input of County officials and held countywide summits so as
not to preclude anyone from the process. The result is a workforce
development system that accurately reflects the needs of the residents
and is flexible enough to adjust with continuously evolving national,
state and local economies.
Particular accomplishments, in additon to the formation of the
One-Stop System include the establishment of a Youth Investment
Council, the development of a separate youth system and the writing
a Youth Plan for future direction. The WIB also possessed the foresight
to examine Literacy issues of the bi-county region and tackle a
difficult, fragmented and neglected system. Our efforts in this
area have allowed us to readily provide ABE, ESL and GED testing
to those in need of basic skills development and the creation of
a Literacy Plan. Also, the Disability Committee was made a standing
committee to direct more energy toward addressing the particular
needs of this target population.
Finally, the WIB emphasized the need to offer enhanced services
for the employer communities. Board members recognize the significance
of properly servicing employers and the positive impact this experience
can have on the workforce environment. Therefore, the Board has
pledged to provide employers with useful economic development and
workforce data regarding the two counties.
Past evaluations have indicated that problems exist in coordinating
services throughout the system. But we are heading in the right
direction and every time we hit a bump in the road, everyone involved
takes a pause and we collectively figure out a way around the obstacle.
Again, this is a reflection of the procedure used in setting policy,
which emphasizes constant communication amongst the varied interests.
As a result, this update is the culmination of a collaborative
process and was developed to correct shortcomings while planning
for changes in the evolving workforce environment of the two counties.
The WIB and YIC have reorganized several times in order to more
readily attend to the needs of both job seekers and employers.
These two bodies have indeed become the recognized leaders in systems
development for job readiness training and have produced stellar
results. By no means do we intend to rest upon our laurels as this
update is not only intended to express how far we have come, but
to also lay the foundation for what we need to build upon and will
therefore serve as the map for where we believe we need to go.
Therefore, the following plan highlights the efforts of the WIB
and the YIC plus the Literacy, One-Stop and Disability Committees
as they fine tune two years of planning and move forward to serve
the diverse communities residing in Atlantic and Cape May counties.
Contained within the next seven sections of this plan are an examination
of past performance and our map for the future of each of the areas
mentioned above. It is our intention for this plan to serve as
the guidepost for our efforts in the next three years under the
Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
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Atlantic
Cape May Workforce Investment Board 