Public policy. In May of 2005, the CWA issued our official report entitled "Critical Trends and Issues in Workforce Development in Franklin County." This report highlights the growing workforce needs and current funding trends in our local community. Click here to view the report (need Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Community survey. Over 900 low-income residents responded to the survey, providing their perspective on what services are needed to assist them in finding and retaining employment, the state of currently offered workforce services, and their perceived barriers to employment. The report also includes data collected from workforce development staff on their perception of issues affecting this population of job seekers. Click here to view the report (need Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Increasing public and private investment in CWA's workforce programs. Central staff developed and obtained funding for the S.K.I.L.L.S. Nontraditional Occupations project which targets low-income women and minorities. The project includes soft-skills, such as job readiness training, basic literacy support and financial literacy training, along with nontraditional occupational training in high growth industries that offer starting wages of no less than $11.50 an hour.

Implementing a common web-based tracking and reporting system- Firstwave. Firstwave is a shared customer management system that links all member agencies. It provides a paperless referral process and offers an extensive collection of workforce development demographic data, assessment of customer needs and skills, tracking of services, and maintenance of job placement and retention outcomes.

Evaluating CWA member agency effectiveness. Our evaluation will promote continuous improvement practices and establish common service standards. Through use of the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) standards for employment and community services, we began the initial steps of ranking the services currently offered by the Alliance member organizations. Initial operating standards have been developed and approved by the CWA Governing Board.