How Are Community Colleges Accessing WIOA Funding

By

Morgan Polk

Public community colleges and the federal workforce system, governed by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), both aim to prepare people in this country for jobs and meet local employer needs. However, the two systems are structured differently, and it can be difficult to integrate work and strategically leverage resources despite similar goals.

Community college workforce practitioners often have questions about how they can navigate WIOA's funding landscape. Ultimately, the answer depends on each local context. WIOA funding for workforce development is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), which sends the majority of funding to states, which in turn send it to local workforce development boards. States develop WIOA plans, but the local workforce boards are responsible for deciding how to spend the majority of the money.

For our work leading the Workforce Transformation Cohort, we interviewed community college workforce development professionals on how they used WIOA funds. We highlight three promising approaches below.

Rowan College of South Jersey

Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) and the Gloucester County Workforce Development Board formed a strategic partnership and fully integrated staffing in April 2023. This collaboration leverages the strengths of both institutions to foster economic mobility and support pathways for career growth.

Through this partnership, the college and workforce board:

• Develop workforce training programs, both individualized and cohort-based, that lead to industry-recognized, stackable credentials and degrees.
• Align marketing and branding efforts to engage employers, employees, and job seekers.
• Combine funding resources to support education, training, and career pathways services from both institutions.
• Set metrics to evaluate the success of dual-enrolled college students and American Job Center job seekers who utilize WIOA funds for training programs, including achieving dual enrollment targets defined by the workforce board.

Prior to this formal integration, RCSJ and the Gloucester County workforce board had a good relationship. They worked together but not as strategically. Rowan President Fred Keating saw an opportunity to take their partnership to the next level by incorporating the workforce board staff. For local leaders, the decision to integrate made sense not only from a strategy perspective but also to share operating costs.

Since the integration, workforce board staff have been working to make pathways clear and accessible, including by bringing other departments of the college on board and adopting shared language when talking about who these programs are serving, how well the programs are preparing students for the workforce, and additional employer needs.

County College of Morris

Colleges can leverage WIOA funding without fully integrating staff. County College of Morris (CCM) in New Jersey has developed a strategy that utilizes funding from their local workforce board to pay for apprenticeship programs. CCM works with local employers in need of particular skills and helps them develop apprenticeship programs and other trainings accessible both to new and incumbent workers. The employer pays CCM directly, but CCM connects them with the workforce board, which can reimburse the employer for this training. This strategy works because employees at CCM understand the workforce board's priorities, success metrics, and program eligibility requirements.

CCM has found success connecting the workforce board with employers and has expanded it to a local high school looking to provide pathway programming for 16 seniors. CCM developed the curriculum in partnership with the school. The high school pays CCM for this service, and the workforce board pays for 9 of the students who qualify for WIOA funding. CCM has discovered that if you bring the Workforce Board eligible participants, they will happily provide the funding to support them.

Kentucky Community and Technical College System

KCTCS includes 16 colleges with over 70 campuses across the state. The colleges are part of a unified system but are individually accredited. The system "envisions dynamic and transformative collaborations that drive workforce innovation and economic prosperity across Kentucky," per their annual report. This focus on collaboration seems to have paid off. According to the same report, KCTCS is Kentucky's largest workforce training provider. We spoke to three colleges about how they work with their local workforce boards to provide workforce development opportunities that align with WIOA funding.

Jefferson Community and Technical College has a project-based partnership with their local workforce board after primarily moving away from individualized training accounts (ITAs) close to seven years ago. The college and the workforce board have a longstanding relationship and in addition to funding certain workforce programs, the board has helped garner employer support and state-level funding for additional programs, including an apprenticeship model called KY FAME.Gateway Community and Technical College works collaboratively with their workforce board to respond to the local economy, including funding satellite programs in rural areas to ensure access to training. College staff partner with WIOA case managers to match students with needed wraparound services.Maysville Community and Technical College has three campuses in one workforce board's service area and one in a second board's area. These two boards receive different levels of WIOA funding and use their funding differently. Both boards refer students to the college, and the college will flag for the respective boards if they believe a student is eligible for WIOA dollars. WIOA funding helps "fill in the gaps" where financial aid doesn't in healthcare and IT fields, and in manufacturing if the employer does not pay themselves.

All three Kentucky colleges spoke about being a trusted partner that could deliver results for the workforce board, and the importance the relationship they had with the board played in their work together.

These examples are snapshots of work going on across the country. If you know of an innovative partnership model between a workforce board and a community college, I want to know about it! Drop me a note here.