`[Senate Hearing 118-466]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]




                                                        S. Hrg. 118-466

                      THE WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND
                      OPPORTUNITY ACT: SUPPORTING
                      EFFORTS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF
                     YOUTH, WORKERS, AND EMPLOYERS

=======================================================================

                                HEARING

                                 OF THE

                    COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
                          LABOR, AND PENSIONS

                          UNITED STATES SENATE

                    ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS

                             SECOND SESSION

                                   ON

  EXAMINING THE WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY ACT, FOCUSING ON 
 SUPPORTING EFFORTS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF YOUTH, WORKERS, AND EMPLOYERS

                               __________

                             JUNE 12, 2024

                               __________

 Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
                                Pensions






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                 U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 
                 
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                 BERNIE SANDERS (I), Vermont, Chairman
PATTY MURRAY, Washington             BILL CASSIDY, M.D., Louisiana, 
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania       Ranking Member
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin             RAND PAUL, Kentucky
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut   SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
TIM KAINE, Virginia                  LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire         MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
TINA SMITH, Minnesota                ROGER MARSHALL, M.D., Kansas
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico            MITT ROMNEY, Utah
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado          TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
ED MARKEY, Massachusetts             MARKWAYNE MULLIN, Oklahoma
                                     TED BUDD, North Carolina

                Warren Gunnels, Majority Staff Director
              Bill Dauster, Majority Deputy Staff Director
                Amanda Lincoln, Minority Staff Director
           Danielle Janowski, Minority Deputy Staff Director
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
                            C O N T E N T S

                              ----------                              

                               STATEMENTS

                        WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024

                                                                   Page

                           Committee Members

Sanders, Hon. Bernie, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education, 
  Labor, and Pensions, Opening statement.........................     1
Cassidy, Hon. Bill, Ranking Member, U.S. Senator from the State 
  of Louisiana, Opening statement................................     3

                               Witnesses

White, Taylor, M.Ed., Director, Partnership to Advance Youth 
  Apprenticeship, Washington, DC.................................     4
    Prepared statement...........................................     7
    Summary statement............................................    14
Bradley, David, Ph.D, Senior Director, Jobs for the Future, 
  Washington, DC.................................................    14
    Prepared statement...........................................    16
    Summary statement............................................    21
Sullivan, Monty, Ph.D, System President, Louisiana Community and 
  Technical College System, Baton Rouge, LA......................    22
    Prepared statement...........................................    24
    Summary statement............................................    27
Bly-Jones, Lisa, Ph.D, Chief Executive Officer, Chicago Jobs 
  Council (CJC), Chicago, IL.....................................    28
    Prepared statement...........................................    30
    Summary statement............................................    35
Dickerson, Matthew, Business Development and Strategy Officer, 
  Mid South Extrusion, Monroe, LA................................    37
    Prepared statement...........................................    38
    Summary statement............................................    46

                          ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.
Sanders, Hon. Bernie:
    United Steelworkers, Statement for the Record................    74
    American Library Association, Statement for the Record.......    81
    Coalition on Adult Basic Education, Statement for the Record.    83
    American Federation of State, County, and Municipal 
      Employees, Statement for the Record........................    86
Cassidy, Hon. Bill:
    Governor Jeff Landry a Letter in Support of the One-Door 
      option.....................................................    89
Marshall, Hon. Roger:
    Support for Senate Bill S. 3825..............................    90
    Letter from the North Carolina Chamber regarding Pell Grant 
      eligibility................................................    96

                        QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

Response by David Bradley to questions of:
    Sen. Ray Lujan...............................................    97
    Sen. Maggie Hassan...........................................    97
Response by Lisa Bly-Jones to questions of:
    Sen. Ray Lujan...............................................    98
    Sen. Maggie Hassan...........................................    99
    Sen. Tina Smith..............................................    99
Response by Matthew Dickerson to questions of:
    Sen. Maggie Hassan...........................................   101
Response by Monty Sullivan to questions of:
    Sen. Maggie Hassan...........................................   105
    Sen. Tina Smith..............................................   105
    Sen. Ted Budd................................................   105
Response by Taylor White to questions of:
    Sen. Maggie Hassan...........................................   107
    Sen. Tina Smith..............................................   110

 
                      THE WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND 
                      OPPORTUNITY ACT: SUPPORTING 
                      EFFORTS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF 
                     YOUTH, WORKERS, AND EMPLOYERS 

                              ----------                              


                        Wednesday, June 12, 2024

                                       U.S. Senate,
       Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
                                                    Washington, DC.
    The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in 
room 562, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Bernie Sanders, 
Chairman of the Committee, presiding.

    Present: Senators Sanders [presiding], Murray, Casey, 
Murphy, Kaine, Hassan, Smith, Lujan, Hickenlooper, Markey, 
Cassidy, Murkowski, Braun, Marshall, Romney, and Tuberville.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR SANDERS

    The Chair. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, 
Labor, and Pensions will come to order. And let me begin by 
thanking our witnesses who are experts on workforce 
development, and practitioners who are working hard to put 
American workers and communities across this country on a path 
to higher wages and more fruitful careers. And we thank you 
very much for what you're doing.

    We are here today to talk about a very serious issue, and 
that is the need to reauthorize and expand the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act, also known here in DC as WIOA. 
In 2022, WIOA provided career and training services to nearly 
300,000 adults, 212,000 dislocated workers, 37,000 youth, and 
2.3 million individuals through employment services and 
employment service programs to connect people with good jobs.

    It also supported literacy training and basic education for 
1.1 million adults. It supports a network of 2,400 American Job 
Centers so that Americans in any community across this country 
can walk into a center to get help looking for a job, enroll in 
a training program at a local community college, or get 
referrals to food assistance or other supportive services.

    WIOA also funds national programs that serve incarcerated 
individuals--not something I want to be talking about today 
because our rate of recidivism is off the charts--workers in 
tribal and migrant communities and youth such as through 
YouthBuild, which provides valuable training to 5,000 
opportunity youth through building affordable housing.

    It has been 10 years since Congress passed the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act. In those 10 years, this country 
has experienced, as we all know, some monumental changes. 
COVID-19 pandemic altered the landscape of what jobs are 
available and forced many workers to rapidly shift careers, 
sometimes for lower wages.

    Advancements in technology have displaced workers with one 
estimate showing the current shifts toward automation could put 
up to 39 million Americans out of work by 2030. Employers 
continue to ask more from workers, and in many cases, 
contribute less to their well-being. Of the 30 fastest growing 
occupations in this country, 24 require more than a high school 
diploma.

    Let me just say this as some down to earth realities that 
I've experienced. I went to a high school in South Central 
Vermont a few months ago, and I walked into the school and 
there was a level of excitement that I had not anticipated. 
Unlike many other schools, kids were really happy to be in 
school.

    Why was that? Well, there was a program in the school that 
allowed seniors to go out and get jobs in the community half-
day while they were in school. The other half-day they were 
making 20 bucks an hour doing important work. Employers wanted 
their labor and they came back to school. They were motivated, 
much more motivated than they had previously been. They felt 
better about their academics, and did better academically, 
earning a living for their working-class families.

    Second thing that I would like to bring up and hope to 
discuss later is, through an earmark, I got some money for 
Vermont Prisons. It shocked me to know--I don't know Senator 
Cassidy, if others know this. I kind of had assumed this was a 
no brainer, but it wasn't--there are prisons all over America, 
including in Vermont where you're in jail, you don't even have 
any educational opportunity. You're sitting there watching TV, 
doing whatever you're doing, getting angrier, more frustrated.

    The rate of recidivism that we have in this country is 
extraordinarily high. So, we're spending, I don't know what it 
is in Vermont, $60,000, $70,000 a year to lock people up. And 
then a good portion of them come back because we haven't given 
them the job training, we haven't given them the education.

    We brought some money into the state. We are working with 
the community colleges who are now doing educational programs 
where the prisoners are very motivated, is my understanding. 
It's working quite well. And by the way, we also got the same 
program for the prison guards and their families to get credits 
for community colleges as well.

    The bottom line is, you have millions of kids in school 
today, they're good with their hands. They want to go out, they 
want to make a living and they don't have the training to do 
that. And I think we've got to figure out how to do that. We 
are spending huge amounts of money locking people up in this 
country, and they leave prison without the skills they need to 
succeed in the civilian world.

    Those are some of the issues that concern me. Look forward 
to discussing them with you, and thanks for being here.

    Senator Cassidy.

                  OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CASSIDY

    Senator Cassidy. Thank you, Chairman Sanders. There's about 
8 million job openings in the United States and the 
unemployment rate is low, but so is the workforce 
participation. That's a bad sign. To put it in context, about 
37 percent of working-age adults nationwide are unemployed and 
not looking for work. Again, that's not good. Idle hands are a 
devil's workshop is the old proverb, but people do better if 
they're gainfully employed.

    Many Americans are not receiving job training because of a 
workforce development program which is just not working well. 
Current Federal workforce funding prioritizes bloating 
government bureaucracy less than in investing in worker skill. 
That is why reauthorizing and improving the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Grant, WIOA--always reminds me of 
one of those songs from Lion King.

    Anyway, WIOA is so important. WIOA funds programs assisting 
Americans in obtaining crucial job skills as well as to connect 
job seekers with employment activities. But Congress has failed 
to reauthorize WIOA since it expired in 2020. I thank the Chair 
for collaborating in this. This is an important step, this 
hearing, in improving WIOA and reauthorizing. It is long 
overdue. I hope that what we learn today will culminate in a 
bipartisan Committee markup before the August recess.

    I also want to highlight Republican colleagues for their 
work to improve WIOA, including Senators Tuberville, Mullin, 
Marshall, and Braun, all on this Committee; Budd, Romney, 
Collins, all on this Committee, who have developed legislation 
worthy of this Committee's consideration. I appreciate their 
work and look forward to hearing more about their bills today.

    When Congress fails to reauthorize programs, we miss out on 
the ability to improve them to help meet the needs of a modern 
workforce and of employers. We have the opportunity now to 
increase options for training and skills development so workers 
can properly enter, reenter, and remain in an ever-changing 
workforce.

    To achieve this goal, we must, one, direct more funding to 
training and allow states to innovate to best serve workers and 
employers. Two, improve the eligible training provider list, 
making it easier for workers to connect to a more quality 
workforce and training providers.

    Three, allow states the flexibility to implement innovative 
workforce development models that meet workers where they are 
and get them better connected with employers. This flexible 
model, by the way, has been very successful in Senator Romney's 
home State of Utah, and it's something that my State of 
Louisiana is seeking to implement.

    Lastly, we need to increase transparency and accountability 
of WIOA programs for improving employment outcomes, including 
earnings, to ensure that they're best serving workers. These 
are just a few of the policies the Committee should consider.

    Again, I appreciate the Chair for calling this hearing. I 
look forward to this discussion on how to improve WIOA to 
benefit working Americans, to benefit us all. With that, I 
yield.

    The Chair. Thank you, Senator Cassidy. I would mention to 
Members that in this new room, apparently the timer is broken 
and they're trying to fix it right now. So, I will gently bang 
at 5 after your 5 minutes. It's a Senator's dream, the timer's 
broken, then go on for hours.

    [Laughter.]

    Senator Cassidy. I suggest we put on our iPhone and start 
counting down.

    [Laughter.]

    The Chair. We thank our witnesses for being here to discuss 
this very important issue. Our first witness is Ms. Taylor 
White, the director of the Program to Advance Youth 
Apprenticeship and Postsecondary Pathways for Youth in New 
America.

    In this role, she directs a network that supports over 70 
apprenticeship programs across the country through grants and 
technical assistance to expand access to apprenticeships as a 
high quality post-secondary option for youth.

    Ms. White, thanks a lot for being here.

  STATEMENT OF TAYLOR WHITE, M.ED., DIRECTOR, PARTNERSHIP TO 
          ADVANCE YOUTH APPRENTICESHIP, WASHINGTON, DC

    Ms. White. Good morning, Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member 
Cassidy, and Members of the Committee. Thank you for inviting 
me to testify today. I am, as you shared, Taylor White, the 
director of Post-Secondary Pathways for Youth at New America 
and the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship, or PAYA.

    Since 2018, PAYA has led a national network of dynamic 
public-private partnerships working to build, earn, and learn 
pathways that connect young people with training and work 
experiences they need to land jobs and work toward careers. Now 
70 members strong, the network has provided powerful examples 
of how WIOA makes a difference in the lives of young people. 
It's an honor to be here today to share recommendations and how 
we can enhance and expand these efforts.

    It's a difficult time to be a young American. Persistent 
inequities in our systems of education and work limit access 
and opportunity based on gender, income, disability, 
citizenship status, and most darkly, race. Economic mobility 
long considered a hallmark of American society has been 
declining for decades.

    With or without a college degree, a young adult today is 
less likely to earn as much as their parents. Basic necessities 
like healthcare, housing, and education that were affordable to 
previous generations are far more expensive today, making the 
transition to adulthood much harder for young people to 
navigate.

    Currently, over 12 percent of Americans between the ages of 
16 and 24 are disconnected from both education and the labor 
market. That's roughly 4.5 million young people. Rates of 
disconnection are highest among Native American, Black, and 
Latino youth. Young men are more likely to be disconnected than 
young women. And these, so-called Opportunity Youth are twice 
as likely as their connected peers to have grown up in poverty, 
and three times as likely to have a disability.

    A robust body of research demonstrates that youth 
disconnection is associated with lower levels of educational 
attainment and increased rates of substance abuse, physical and 
mental illness, and criminal activity.

    The individual and social costs of youth disconnection are 
enormous. Our public workforce system plays a critical role in 
identifying these young people and helping them access 
education, training, work experiences, and the supports they 
need to stay connected or reengage.

    Each year, WIOA-funded programs such as Job Corps, 
YouthBuild, and the myriad local programs supported by Title I 
Youth dollars provide training and services to roughly 200,000 
youth a majority of whom are neither working nor in school. But 
the number of youth served through WIOA is a shockingly small 
fraction of those who need support to access jobs, and the 
education, and training they need to succeed in them.

    By failing to serve this population of youth in much 
greater numbers, we squander an opportunity to harness the 
potential of more than 4 million Americans who are at the very 
beginning of their working lives. This is unacceptable.

    The most important recommendation I can offer today to this 
Committee is a simple one. We must substantially increase the 
Federal investment in youth programming through WIOA to a level 
that is commensurate with the scale of the barriers young 
people are facing.

    Beyond that, however, there are other changes that I 
believe would improve the workforce system's ability to deliver 
positive outcomes for young people. For example, I believe 
Congress should take steps to reduce barriers to cooperation 
between the public workforce system and other youth-serving 
systems to reduce disconnection from school and ensure that 
when students do drop out, information can be shared to 
identify and reengage them quickly in the workforce system.

    Anything we can do to reduce the time that young people 
remain disconnected will help. Simplifying co-enrollment and 
continuing self-attestation are two other ways we can do this 
through WIOA. Cross system cooperation would also be greatly 
aided by improved data system and enhanced data sharing 
flexibilities. More granular data on program dimensions, 
training provider performance, and longer-term program outcomes 
would also help state and local leaders make informed decisions 
about how to use their resources for the best possible results.

    To make this possible, Congress should invest in state and 
local data infrastructure and promote cross-system data 
alignment. Research has shown that early career experiences 
such as internships, apprenticeships, and jobs that pay good 
wages can have positive effects on future earnings outcomes.

    Under WIOA, the workforce system has placed more young 
people in these experiences with positive results. To expand 
these opportunities, Congress should establish a dedicated work 
experience fund that provides additional resources to programs 
that meet a set of quality criteria.

    For example, eligible programs should include a training 
component, lead to credentials, and provide a clear next step, 
either to further training or directly to a job, and whether or 
not they qualify for the fund. Congress should require youth 
work experience provided through WIOA to be paid if it lasts 
longer than 2 weeks.

    Finally, Congress should preserve and expand the supportive 
services available through WIOA. To address the needs of 
today's youth, including mental health issues, WIOA supportive 
services can provide a measure of stability and dignity to 
young people so they can focus on improving their futures 
rather than worrying about how to buy a uniform for work, if 
they can afford treatment for a painful tooth, or paying the 
rent.

    For too many young adults in America today, the future is 
bright, but the path to get there is long, expensive, and hard 
to navigate. The public workforce system helps some of 
America's most vulnerable young workers get on their feet and 
onto a path toward economic security, but we can do better for 
them and for all young people. And we need to, not just for 
their sake, but for the sake of our communities and our future 
economy as well. An ambitious approach to WIOA reauthorization 
is a good start.

    Thank you.

    [The prepared statement of Ms. White follows.]
                   prepared statement of taylor white


    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                 ______
                                 
                  [summary statement of taylor white]
    Ms. White's testimony makes the case for a bold approach to 
reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to 
better serve youth. Ms. White's testimony will provide insight into how 
youth are served through the public workforce system, why WIOA needs to 
be modified to better serve them, and how Congress can change the law 
to make this happen.

    Key points will include:

          In today's economy, young adults need access to high 
        quality career education, training, work experiences, mentoring 
        and support that help them gain a foothold in the labor market 
        and put them on a pathway to good jobs and careers.

          Of the 39 million Americans between the ages of 16 
        and 24 years of age, 12.1 percent are neither employed, nor 
        enrolled in education or training programs. Called 
        ``Opportunity Youth'' these youth face significant barriers to 
        employment. The cost of their disconnection is estimated to be 
        more than $3 billion annually.

          The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act supports 
        programs and resources that provide opportunities for our 
        Nation's most vulnerable youth to develop skills, earn 
        credentials, and obtain employment. Each year, WIOA-funded 
        youth programs support roughly 225,000 young people, the 
        majority of whom are disconnected from education and work. But 
        that's just 5 percent of the youth who would likely be eligible 
        to participate.

          To dramatically increase the number of youth served 
        through the public workforce system and increase the quality of 
        support they receive, Congress should substantially increase 
        funding for youth through WIOA.

          Congress should reduce barriers to cooperation with 
        other youth-serving systems and improve the coordination of 
        service delivery to reduce the risk of youth disconnection in 
        the first place.

          To understand employment outcomes beyond 1 year (and 
        thus the longer-term benefits of work experiences and 
        training), Congress should invest in state and local data 
        infrastructure and promote cross-system data alignment.

          To ensure young people are prepared for entry-level 
        jobs, over a third of which require some prior experience, 
        Congress should establish a fund to expand youth work 
        experiences, including pre-and registered apprenticeships, 
        while adopting quality criteria to increase the value of these 
        work experiences for youth and employers.

          Finally, Congress should expand supportive services 
        to address the needs of today's youth, including mental health 
        issues, to ensure they have the resources they need to complete 
        training and work experiences and to transition successfully 
        into the labor market.
                                 ______
                                 

    The Chair. Ms. White, thank you very much.

    Our next witness is Dr. David Bradley, senior director of 
policy and advocacy at Jobs for the Future. Prior to this role, 
David worked at the Congressional Research Service as a 
specialist in labor economics, focusing on labor issues and 
Federal workforce development policies.

    Dr. Bradley.

 STATEMENT OF DAVID BRADLEY, PH.D., SENIOR DIRECTOR, JOBS FOR 
                   THE FUTURE, WASHINGTON, DC

    Dr. Bradley. Good morning, Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member 
Cassidy, and Members of the Senate HELP Committee. My name is 
David Bradley, I'm a senior director for workforce policy at 
Jobs for the Future, which is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit 
organization that has worked for more than 40 years to drive 
change in America's workforce and education systems. Thank you 
for the opportunity to testify, and thank you for your 
leadership on this important issue.

    My remarks today are going to focus on three areas. One, 
why reauthorization now and what are the major characteristics 
of WIOA, the current system, and finally, a few recommendations 
for improving the system.

    Why does WIOA need to be reauthorized? Now, I'm sure my 
fellow panelists are going to give some additional reasons, but 
I would highlight, as the Ranking Member pointed out, there are 
more than 8 million job openings, and the number of unemployed 
is lower than that. Employers do face difficulty finding 
skilled workers.

    In addition, there's persistent difficulty for individuals 
with barriers to employment in attaining quality jobs. There's 
going to be an expected increased demand for skilled workers, 
in part, through the investments from the Infrastructure, CHIPS 
and Science, and Inflation Reduction Acts. Since WIOA was 
enacted in 2014, there's been a movement toward a skills-based 
employment ecosystem, which has not been fully incorporated 
into WIOA.

    Finally, there's new and constantly involving technologies 
that allow for new methods of training, delivery, and the use 
of technology such as AI and job matching. Without focused 
investments, we could miss an opportunity to increase 
competitiveness and economic advancement for all.

    Let me talk a little bit about history and characteristics 
of WIOA. WIOA was enacted in 2014, and I want to go through 
some of the defining elements of the system that we have now. 
WIOA is designed to be demand-driven. That is, it's supposed to 
be responsive to local conditions and employers' demands 
through more than 500 local workforce areas.

    WIOA emphasizes coordination and alignment through such 
mechanisms as required unified state planning so that programs 
are supposed to demonstrate that they're working together. WIOA 
provides local control. Local workforce boards, for the most 
part, are authorized to determine the specific mix of services 
and types of training.

    WIOA provides central points of service through the one-
stop delivery system, with more than 2,000 American Job Centers 
throughout the country. WIOA also provides universal access to 
career services, and has a priority of service for training 
services to individuals with low incomes and others in need of 
significant skills training.

    WIOA emphasizes certain workforce development strategies 
such as sector partnerships and career pathways that have 
evidence-based outcomes behind them. WIOA also emphasizes 
consumer choice, primarily through its system of individual 
training accounts. WIOA has a performance accountability system 
with six main indicators of outcomes, and these are common 
across all titles of WIOA.

    Finally, WIOA provides business services, including places 
where employers can go to match with skilled workers, and where 
the workforce system can provide needed services to business, 
such as on-the-job and customized training plans.

    Even with these elements, WIOA has not fully realized its 
goals. One problem is funding. In Fiscal Year 2023, programs 
and activities in the three major formula programs were funded 
at just over $3 billion. This is about the same amount that 
it's been funded since 2000, which is an inflation-adjusted 
drop of about 50 percent.

    What can be done to improve the system? One area would be 
to modernize the way people navigate the labor market and 
skills training; more robust career navigation, more strategies 
like competency-based education, and prior learning assessments 
to help people bring their experiences and translate that into 
better labor market outcomes.

    Another suggestion is to invest in evidence-based programs 
that focus on the skill needs of employers. And there are 
several evidence-based programs. We have sector strategies, 
career pathways, apprenticeship, reentry programs.

    Improving WIOA participant outcomes could also be a result 
of reforming the performance system to encourage longer-term 
engagement rather than shorter in and out and onto a job. 
There's also room for improvement in the quality control 
mechanisms for training providers. This is the eligible 
training provider list. And finally, encouraging a focus on job 
quality so that people that go through the system end up in a 
good job.

    JFF urges leaders in Congress to act and create a workforce 
system that works for all where there are no dead ends to 
economic opportunity. Thank you. I look forward to your 
questions.

    [The prepared statement of Dr. Bradley follows.]
                  prepared statement of david bradley
    Good morning Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, and Members 
of the Senate HELP Committee. My name is David Bradley. I am a Senior 
Director for Workforce Policy at Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national, 
nonpartisan nonprofit organization that has worked for over 40 years to 
drive change in U.S. workforce and education systems to ensure that 
every person can advance economically. At JFF, we've embraced an 
ambitious goal as our North Star: In 10 years, 75 million people facing 
systemic barriers to advancement will work in quality jobs. I want to 
thank you for the opportunity to address the Committee on the 
reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
               Why Does WIOA Need to Be Reauthorized Now?
    The backbone of America's economy is its workforce. Workforce 
development has become a lifelong mandate for every worker. Upskilling, 
reskilling, transition assistance, and career navigation services are 
essential to help every individual create and sustain a career that 
will enable them to support themselves and their loved ones.

    Employers must also be able to readily access the talent they need 
to compete. The nation's workforce development ecosystem--programs 
authorized under WIOA and its related partner programs--must work 
collaboratively to meet these needs.

    The United States needs a workforce ecosystem that is adequately 
funded, modern, agile, equitable, resilient, and innovative enough to 
keep up with the skill needs of individuals and employers.

    We know that calls for reform are not new. Before joining JFF, I 
worked as a specialist in labor economics at the Congressional Research 
Service, where I worked closely with the Senate HELP and House 
Education and Workforce Committees on the design of WIOA during 
reauthorization in 2014. Today, economic changes resulting from the 
pandemic and continuing technological advances require new action to 
update WIOA to meet the needs of the current and future workforce.

    It is now time for Congress to update and improve its primary 
workforce development programs.

    The labor market is constantly changing. The primary Federal 
workforce development system should be updated more frequently to 
address that reality.

    There are currently 8.1 million job openings but only about 6.6 
unemployed workers. \1\ While this gap has narrowed in the past couple 
of years, there are still not enough skilled workers to meet employer 
demand. In addition, worker shortage rates vary widely by state, which 
means it is important to have state and local responses to different 
labor market realities across the country. Many U.S. employers continue 
to experience difficulty hiring workers with the skills they need to 
fill open jobs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Job Openings and Labor 
Turnover--April 2024 and The Employment Situation--May 2024.

    In May 2024, employment increased by 272,000 jobs. Yet 6.6 million 
people in the United States remain unemployed. Of those, 1.4 million 
unemployed individuals are experiencing long-term unemployment, meaning 
they have been out of work for 27 weeks or more. \2\ Beyond the 
official unemployment count, an estimated 5.7 million people are not 
included in official unemployment totals because they have stopped 
looking for work, even though they want a job; another 4.4 million 
people are not counted because they're working part-time but would 
prefer a full-time job; \3\ and millions of workers are stalled in low-
paying jobs with limited opportunities for advancement. Many of these 
workers are Black, Latino, or members of other populations facing 
systemic barriers to economic advancement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\  Ibid.
    \3\  Ibid.

    Labor shortages are likely to persist because the skills required 
for quality jobs will also continue to change as a result of ongoing 
technological advances and because recent policies--including those in 
the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, 
and the Inflation Reduction Act--are creating millions of new jobs that 
need to be filled. The creation of new jobs combined with a tight labor 
market should expand the number of career opportunities available to 
members of populations that have long been excluded from such 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
opportunities.

    The movement toward ``skills-based'' employment practices means 
that WIOA must be updated to assist this important trend in the 
employment ecosystem. Rather than using only degrees and credentials as 
signals of qualification in the labor market, skills-based approaches 
capture learning and mastery regardless of where the knowledge was 
attained. The WIOA system can and should play a vital role in capturing 
skill attainment, regardless of the format, to help individuals attain 
quality jobs.

    The pandemic necessitated a range of efforts to deliver employment 
and training services in new and untested ways. While the labor market 
has largely recovered from the devastating effects of the pandemic, it 
is time for Congress to consider which of the developments in system 
coordination and delivery should be codified in WIOA. For example, 
changes in WIOA's requirement to have a physical One-Stop center in 
every local workforce area might lead to better service delivery 
through some mix of virtual and satellite services. Congress must also 
consider the impact of technological advancements that will impact the 
workforce. As artificial intelligence adoption becomes more widespread, 
the task makeup of jobs will shift, often requiring workers to possess 
new or different skills. The use of artificial intelligence also has 
the potential to improve the efficiency of job matching and employment 
practices generally.

    Without focused investments and updates in workforce development, 
the country could miss another opportunity to promote economic 
advancement for all. In today's economy, most quality jobs require at 
least some education and training beyond high school. However, 
opportunities to acquire the skills and credentials that lead to 
quality jobs and economic advancement haven't been equally accessible 
to all workers. It's time to close the longstanding gaps that have 
limited opportunities for people based on race, ethnicity, and 
socioeconomic status.
  History and Characteristics of WIOA Title I Programs--What Are the 
                             Goals of WIOA?
    The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA; P.L. 113-28), 
which succeeded the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220), is 
the primary Federal legislation that supports workforce development. 
WIOA was enacted in 2014 to increase coordination and alignment among 
Federal workforce development and related programs and to build on 
system innovations already underway.

    Title I of WIOA authorizes several state and national programs to 
provide employment and training services and continues the One-Stop 
system as a means of delivering and coordinating workforce development 
activities.

    At the outset, it is worth highlighting elements of WIOA that, 
collectively, are intended to comprise a ``workforce development 
system.'' WIOA's goal was to update the workforce development system 
and refine some of the innovations of the Workforce Investment Act 
(WIA) of 1998. Characteristics of the workforce system under WIOA 
include:

          WIOA is designed to be a demand-driven workforce 
        development system. This system is supposed to provide 
        employment and training services responsive to local area 
        employers' demands. The demand-driven nature of WIOA is 
        manifested in elements such as Workforce Development Boards 
        (WDBs), a majority of whose members must be representatives of 
        business, and in the requirement for local plans to identify 
        existing and emerging in-demand industry sectors and 
        occupations. There are approximately 550 local WDBs.

          WIOA emphasizes coordination and alignment of 
        workforce development services through provisions such as a 
        required Unified State Plan for core programs and a common set 
        of performance indicators across most programs authorized by 
        WIOA. In addition, WIOA requires regional planning across local 
        areas.

          WIOA provides local control to officials 
        administering programs under it. Under the state formula grant 
        portion of WIOA, which accounts for nearly 60 percent of total 
        WIOA Title I funding, most funds are allocated to local WDBs 
        (after initial allotment from the Employment and Training 
        Administration to the States) that are authorized to determine 
        the mix of service provision, eligible providers, and types of 
        training programs, among other decisions.

          The WIOA system provides central points of service 
        through its One-Stop centers (identified as American Job 
        Centers). The concept of a One-Stop center is to provide a 
        single location for individuals seeking employment and training 
        services, thus making the process of locating and accessing 
        employment services more efficient and seamless. WIOA requires 
        certain programs to be ``partners'' in the One-Stop center, 
        either by physical colocation or other accessible arrangements. 
        Notably, WIOA requires the colocation of Employment Service 
        offices with One-Stop centers. There are approximately 2,300 
        American Job Centers.

          WIOA provides universal access to its career services 
        to any individual regardless of age or employment status, but 
        it also provides priority of service for career and training 
        services to individuals with low incomes and people in need of 
        significant skills training.

          WIOA emphasizes sector partnerships and career 
        pathways workforce development strategies by requiring local 
        WDBs to lead efforts to develop career pathways strategies and 
        to implement industry/sector partnerships with employers.

          WIOA provides consumer choice to participants. 
        Participants determined to be eligible for training services 
        are provided with Individual Training Accounts (ITAs), with 
        which they may choose a type of training and the provider from 
        which to receive training.

          WIOA implements a performance accountability system 
        based on primary indicators with state-adjusted levels of 
        performance resulting from negotiations between each state and 
        the Secretary of Labor and revised based on a statistical 
        adjustment model. The performance accountability system applies 
        across all titles of WIOA.

          WIOA programs provide business services, including 
        places where employers can go to match with skilled workers and 
        to receive services in support of their human capital needs. 
        Whether through services provided by business representatives 
        or directly provided through American Job Centers, workforce 
        systems arrange for on-the-job and customized training, work 
        with employers to identify skill and employment needs, provide 
        layoff aversion services, and work to identify quality jobs.

    Even with these elements, the WIOA system has not fully realized 
all its goals. There are still far too many individuals who are not 
benefiting from WIOA's promise. In fiscal year 2023, programs and 
activities for adults, dislocated workers, and youth under WIOA's 
formula grants to states and local workforce areas were funded at just 
$3.2 billion--a funding level that has been stagnant in nominal terms 
since fiscal year 2000, and a decline of nearly 50 percent in 
inflation-adjusted terms.

    This level of funding is not adequate to meet all the promises in 
the WIOA system, nor is the system currently designed to meet today's 
extensive career navigation, skills development, and worker transition 
needs as a stand-alone program.

    In addition to the statutory requirements of WIOA, the WIOA system 
performs many functions in our broader workforce ecosystem. It serves 
as a connector of programs, a convener of partners and stakeholders, 
and a translator of labor market information.

    Workforce development boards are intended to play pivotal strategic 
roles in the design of comprehensive workforce development systems; 
engage with regional employers; lead innovative initiatives, including 
career pathways and sector strategies; and leverage additional 
resources to support workforce programming.

    Successful WIOA programs are carrying out these and other high-
quality, evidence-based strategies to address the employment needs of 
their regional economies. However, the system's limited resources are 
spread too thin, performance across the more than 500 local workforce 
areas varies, and the entire workforce ecosystem needs significant 
modernization.
        Workforce Recommendations--What Needs to Change in WIOA?
    The United States needs a workforce system that is adequately 
funded, agile, and innovative enough to keep up with the skill needs of 
America's workers and in-demand employers. To make that a reality, 
Congress should take a holistic look at how workforce programs can be 
modernized, aligned and funded to meet the needs of the U.S. economy 
today and in the future. To accomplish this, we recommend the following 
essential changes to the system's funding and design.

    A Flexible, High-Quality Lifelong Learning System. Congress should 
invest in training options that allow learners to progress at an 
accelerated pace, award credit for prior learning, offer stackable 
credentials that learners can accumulate as they move along career 
pathways, and capture skills and credentials in skills ``passports'' or 
``learning and employment records (LERs)'' that are recognized by 
employers and across education and workforce systems. In addition to 
changes in the delivery of services, JFF recommends that funding for 
skills-based training in WIOA through ITAs (skill grants), high-quality 
work-based learning (including apprenticeships), digital literacy, 
sector-based training, and career pathways training strategies be 
increased; and that Pell Grants be expanded to include high-quality 
short-term credentialing programs.

    Robust Career Navigation and Support Services. In addition to 
skills development, career navigation and support services provided 
under WIOA are critical for enabling participants to successfully 
transition to new careers and advance on career pathways. Congress 
should seek to maintain these critical services while encouraging 
system modernization through the effective use of technology and other 
strategies that result in a career navigation system that helps 
students, parents, jobseekers, and workers make well-informed decisions 
about the education, career, and employment pathways they choose. JFF 
recommends that Congress encourage the provision of real-time labor 
market information, skills assessments, skill matching, and access to 
skills training, supports, and reemployment services through a blend of 
virtual and in-person access points via American Job Centers and 
affiliated sites such as community-based organizations, libraries, 
community colleges, and K-12 guidance departments. This includes 
working with employers committed to using skills-based hiring for 
quality jobs.

    Quality Education and Training. As demand for short-term learning 
options increases among workers who need to continually build new 
skills to keep pace with the demands of the labor market, Congress 
should encourage the development of improved ways to measure the 
quality of education and training programs. This includes making 
improvements in WIOA's Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL) and 
improvements in WIOA's performance measurement system to encourage 
career pathways approaches to training. Regarding the ETPL, a 
reauthorized WIOA should clarify that States are responsible for back-
end matching of system participants with wage records, should require 
states to update the ETPL at least twice a year, and should specify 
that local workforce boards have authority to deny funding to training 
providers that do not provide quality services to participants.

    Technology and Data. We need a workforce system that makes full use 
of the latest technologies to expand and improve service delivery for 
participants. We learned through the pandemic that technology-enabled 
career navigation and training services can meet the needs of 
jobseekers and in-demand employers. We recommend dedicated investments 
for states and local workforce systems for the development and use of 
these new technologies, including investments in professional 
development for staff on their use. Congress should establish a Data 
and Technology Transformation Fund to: fund direct work with employers 
and national employer associations on multi-state training and 
credentialing efforts; provide incentives to engage in cross-state and 
multi-state initiatives such as the Workforce Data Quality Initiative 
and the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems Grant Program; and provide 
funding to states and regional workforce systems to modernize state and 
regional workforce data and technology efforts. This includes the 
integration of technology such as artificial intelligence and machine 
learning into job matching, career navigation, and training services at 
American Job Centers and related providers.

    Dedicate Funding for the Scaling of Evidence-Based Models and 
Strategies. JFF recommends that dedicated funding be provided for 
sector-focused career pathways and apprenticeship programs (including 
pre-apprenticeships and youth apprenticeships). JFF also supports 
codification of the Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO), the 
Workforce Data Quality Initiative (WDQI), and the Strengthening 
Community Colleges Grant (SCCG) programs.

    Increase the Engagement of Employers. Congress can encourage the 
involvement of employers in workforce development efforts through 
support for strategies like sector partnerships and through business 
services provided by local workforce boards to help employers identify 
ways to improve job quality for their workers and to adopt skills-based 
hiring practices for making employment decisions.

    Meet the Needs of Individuals Experiencing Barriers. While WIOA 
includes a priority for serving individuals facing barriers to 
employment, more can be done to improve the outcomes of individuals who 
experience the greatest barriers to employment. As noted above, JFF 
recommends that Congress encourage the development and implementation 
of career pathways, sector strategies, reentry initiatives serving 
people who have been incarcerated, and other evidence-based strategies 
that provide individuals experiencing barriers to employment with on-
ramps to skills training and credentials that lead to family supporting 
careers. We also recommend that WIOA's performance measures be changed 
to encourage career pathways approaches to training and that robust 
career navigation and support services, including needs-based payments, 
be available for individuals participating in pathways. We recommend 
targeted investments in professional development for staff and members 
of state and local boards on strategies that improve access and 
outcomes for individuals who face barriers to employment. We also 
recommend that states be required to identify a standardized self-
sufficiency calculation to be used for determining self-sufficiency 
standards and wages for their state and their workforce regions so 
local boards can strive to place jobseekers and workers in jobs that 
either meet or have the potential to build toward self-sufficiency 
wages.

    Job Quality. Policymakers can encourage a focus on quality jobs 
under WIOA by requiring that state and local boards consider job 
quality in planning, employer services, and data reporting activities. 
We recommend that Congress create a pilot program to test the 
feasibility of capturing additional data about characteristics of jobs 
in which people who exit WIOA are employed. We also recommend that 
states and local boards be required to identify regional self-
sufficiency standards, as noted above, so local and regional boards can 
better assess their progress toward meeting the goal of self-
sufficiency for participants. And we recommend that customized 
training, incumbent worker training, and business services activities, 
prioritize efforts that move workers into jobs that provide self-
sufficiency wages and other characteristics of quality jobs.

    Value and Invest in Opportunity Youth. In April of this year, the 
U.S. youth unemployment rate was 9.2 percent, with nearly 4.7 million 
young people ages 16 to 24 who are both out of school and unemployed--
the population that many organizations and policymakers refer to as 
``opportunity youth.'' \4\ More than one-third of these young people 
are living in poverty.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\  ``Youth Disconnection in America,'' Measure of America, 
https://www.measureofamerica.org/DYinteractive/ and Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS), The Employment Situation--May 2024.

    Congress can help to address this need by significantly increasing 
funding for youth programs under WIOA, and enhancing efforts to build 
bridges that link disconnected youth and young adults to postsecondary 
education, training, and employment. The workforce system should 
embrace evidence-based strategies that work for this population and 
expand opportunities for work-based learning, youth and pre-
apprenticeship, and employment opportunities that lead to in-demand 
careers. JFF urges Congress to continue to prioritize out-of-school 
youth in WIOA youth programs. However, we recognize the need to serve 
young people who are still technically enrolled in school, but who are 
at extreme risk of disconnection, so we support changes in the 
definition of ``out-of-school'' to allow for the provision of 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
reengagement strategies for these young people.

    Adequate Funding. While the above recommendations would result in 
improvements to the U.S. workforce development system--to ensure a 
future where all people can build the skills they need to find quality 
jobs and advance economically and where all employers can hire the 
talent they need to help their businesses thrive, Congress must invest 
in skills development for workers and in needed transformations in the 
Nation's workforce development system. The U.S. spends far less on 
workforce development than other OECD countries. If funding for adult, 
dislocated worker, and youth programs kept up with inflation over the 
years, these programs would be funded at a minimum of $35 billion 
today--more in line with funding for degree-bound students under Pell.

    Siloed policy development for U.S. workforce, higher education, 
career and technical education, poverty alleviation, and economic 
development systems can no longer be accepted. These systems must all 
be considered--and transformed--so they can work together to form the 
critical workforce preparation ecosystem needed today and in the 
future. JFF's complete analysis, Recommendations for a Fully Funded and 
Transformed Workforce Development System, can be found at https://
www.jff.org/idea/recommendations-for-a-fully-funded-and-transformed-
workforce-development-system/.
                               Conclusion

    Now is the time to transform this country's workforce development 
system. To do this, Congress must invest and make bold changes in the 
country's education, workforce development, and economic development 
systems that are necessary to ensure that the U.S. economy remains 
strong and that workers of all backgrounds have the skills they need to 
succeed.

    By increasing resources for skills development, modernizing career 
navigation and training services, providing necessary transition 
assistance for learners and workers, involving employers in the design 
and implementation of workforce development programs, and ensuring that 
individuals facing barriers to employment have access to high-quality 
services, we will make sure that all individuals, including members of 
populations that have long been underserved by existing systems, can 
achieve their full potential and drive our economy forward.

    JFF urges leaders in Congress to act and create a workforce system 
that works for all, where there are no dead ends to economic 
opportunity.
                                 ______
                                 
                  [summary statement of david bradley]
    Good morning Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, and Members 
of the Senate HELP Committee. My name is David Bradley. I am a Senior 
Director for Workforce Policy at Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national, 
nonprofit organization that has worked for over 40 years to drive 
change in America's workforce and education systems.

    The backbone of America's economy is its workforce. Workforce 
development has become a lifelong mandate for every worker. Upskilling, 
reskilling, transition assistance, and career navigation services, are 
essential to help every individual create and sustain a career that 
will enable them to support themselves and their loved ones. Employers 
must also be able to readily access the talent they need to compete. 
The nation's workforce development ecosystem--programs authorized under 
WIOA and its related partner programs--must work collaboratively to 
meet these needs.

    However, without focused investments and updates in workforce 
development, the country will miss the opportunity to promote U.S. 
competitiveness and economic advancement for all. In today's economy, 
most quality jobs require at least some postsecondary education and 
training. However, opportunities to acquire the skills and credentials 
that lead to quality jobs and economic advancement haven't been equally 
accessible to all workers. It's time to close the longstanding gaps 
that have limited opportunities for people based on race, ethnicity, 
and socioeconomic status--and to address a long-standing problem 
challenging U.S. employers--America's skills gap.

    WIOA was designed to be demand-driven. It emphasizes the alignment 
of workforce and partner programs. It is centered on the principles of 
local control and in meeting the needs of dual customers--workers and 
employers. It provides services through a One-stop delivery system; 
provides training through individual training grants; emphasizes 
customer choice in the selection of training services; and provides 
career navigation and support services for individuals in need. WIOA 
programs are held accountable through a performance measurement system 
that looks at job placement, wages attained, job retention, credential 
attainment, and educational progress as appropriate. The WIOA system 
also provides services to local employers including skill matching, 
employee recruitment, assistance with layoff aversion, and other 
business services. Local workforce development boards play pivotal 
strategic roles in the design of comprehensive workforce development 
systems; engage with regional employers; lead initiatives including 
career pathways and sector strategies; and leverage additional 
resources.

    Even with these elements, the WIOA system has not fully realized 
all its goals. A major problem is that the system is underfunded. In 
fiscal year 2023, programs and activities for adults, dislocated 
workers, and youth under WIOA's formula grants to states and local 
workforce areas were funded at just $3.2 billion--a level that has been 
stagnant since fiscal year 2000, and a decline of nearly 50 percent in 
inflation-adjusted terms.

    JFF recommends the following changes to make the workforce system 
more agile and responsive to the needs of America's workers and 
employers: increase investments in the workforce; modernize the 
delivery of skills training; develop a robust career navigation system; 
create a lifelong learning system; protect workers during times of 
transition; strengthen verification measures for program quality; 
improve employer engagement; focus investments on placement in quality 
jobs; improve outcomes for people with barriers; and increase 
investments in and programming for ``opportunity youth.''
                                 ______
                                 

    The Chair. Thank you. Senator Cassidy, do you want to 
introduce your witness?

    Senator Cassidy. Yes. I will introduce a good friend and 
someone I've learned a lot with, Dr. Monty Sullivan, who has 
served as the president of Louisiana Community and Technical 
College Systems since 2014. Before then, Chancellor of Delgado 
Community College in New Orleans, and a fierce leader for 
Louisiana's 12 community colleges and the 150,000 students who 
flow through their doors. Their mantra is, ``Start here, go 
anywhere.'' A fitting theme for today's hearing.

    Dr. Sullivan.

STATEMENT OF MONTY SULLIVAN, PH.D., SYSTEM PRESIDENT, LOUISIANA 
     COMMUNITY AND TECHNICAL COLLEGE SYSTEM BATON ROUGE, LA

    Dr. Sullivan. Thank you, Senator. Good morning, Chairman 
Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, Members of the HELP Committee. 
I'm Monty Sullivan, president of the Louisiana Community and 
Technical College System. I also serve as president of the 
Rebuilding America's Middle Class, which is a coalition of 
community colleges from across the Nation. I appreciate the 
opportunity to address the Committee this morning.

    Our Country's facing significant challenge in educating and 
training our workforce. Our talent development system, largely 
funded by WIOA and Pell Programs, is simply not keeping pace 
with the modern economy and the needs of our employers.

    Today, we have over 80 million, 1 in 3 working-age 
Americans with a high school diploma or less. Imagine, a high 
school diploma or less. Today's jobs and the jobs of the future 
require more than a high school diploma. Very simply, without a 
significant overhaul of the Nation's workforce system, these 80 
million working-age adults are doomed to be frozen out of the 
American middle class.

    Two data points. 1 in 3 working age Americans are not 
participating in the labor force. As you heard previously, in 
Louisiana, 40 percent of our working-age adults are not engaged 
in the workforce. Point two, a decreasing share of the American 
population is part of the middle class. That's part of what we 
believe is the American dream.

    61 percent of Americans were considered part of the middle 
class in 1971. In 2023, that number dropped to 51 percent. This 
sobering data demonstrates that millions of Americans lack the 
education, training they need to punch their ticket to the 
middle class. Now's the time for the Committee to lead the way 
in strengthening and reforming WIOA, and other Federal 
education and training programs.

    The current WIOA system is simply not meeting the needs of 
employers seeking to find workers with industry-based specific 
skills. This is evidenced by the fact that there are 8.1 
million jobs that are vacant today.

    Building an effective workforce system requires our 
business partners to be at the table. I'm especially proud to 
be with you today alongside Mr. Matthew Dickerson, an 
incredible industry partner, committed to the long-term success 
of our people. WIOA is largely failing to meet the needs of 
many of our workers who have families, or single parents', or 
others' responsibilities, including going to school.

    Even with wraparound support services, however, these 
students need flexible classes and programs that allow them to 
complete. Very few have the time to complete an associate 
degree. Most instead, need to get into the college, complete a 
short-term certification and industry-based certification, get 
out and go to work. That's when the role of the employer 
becomes really important to help bring them into the future of 
the economy.

    While the data is stark, we're ready for change in 
Louisiana. Governor Jeff Landry recently established the 
Workforce and Social Services Reform Task Force. We're already 
seeing momentum build behind the notion of eliminating silos 
and fostering collaboration.

    But for these efforts to really work, we're going to need 
your help. The integration of our colleges into the wheel 
structure has already taken place with institutions like South 
Louisiana Community College that house the one-stops on their 
campuses across eight parishes in South Central Louisiana.

    In addition to that, you also have relationships with our 
Louisiana Workforce Commission and institutions that extend 
workforce services into communities that would not have those 
services under different circumstances. The Committee has an 
awesome opportunity before you to reauthorize and change the 
path of America.

    First recommendation, WIOA must fund more training. You've 
heard that before. In 2022, less than 200,000 individuals 
received direct training as a result of WIOA. Imagine the 
numbers. 8 million vacancies, 200,000 people trained. The 
appropriations for WIOA programs must be increased, no doubt, 
but a much greater portion of those funds must be used for 
training services. Herein is an opportunity to leverage the 
Nation's more than 1,000 community colleges and the local 
workforce boards to create more accessible and effective 
workforce training systems.

    Second, adult education serves more people than all of the 
other titles of WIOA combined. Adult Education; we must fund 
Adult Education. This is a forgotten population for many of us. 
But the solution is not simply more money. Adult education 
should be integrated with training and allows individuals to 
gain a sustained career. Yes, young people are important, but 
if we don't train their parents, what happens to the young 
person when they go home?

    Third, we need to empower workers with information about 
which post-secondary education training options that are best 
for them. In Louisiana, we developed a star rating system that 
looks at demand for the occupation as well as income that helps 
individuals to make decisions about their future and their 
career. I also urge the Committee to require the use of 
earnings and employment data in determining providers programs 
that are available to the people of our area.

    Last, thanks to the Committee for your keen focus on both 
of the Nation's talent development funds, WIOA, and the Federal 
Pell Program. I would be remiss if I did not urge the Committee 
to give consideration to the passage of workforce Pell, expand 
Pell to allow America the opportunity to be trained and 
educated to go to work and be productive as a part of this 
economy. Even with all of the WIOA improvements that we've 
discussed that I've outlined here today, WIOA alone simply will 
not get it done.

    In closing, I'd like to ask that to imagine the countless 
Americans trapped on the outside of this economy seeing the 
successes of others. The erosion of the middle class has far-
reaching implications for the people, our communities, and our 
democracy. The Committee has a chance to change lives this 
Congress by re-imagining market-responsive, customer-focused 
workforce training system. I cannot wait to see what we will 
build together.

    Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today.

    [The prepared statement of Dr. Sullivan follows.]
                  prepared statement of monty sullivan
    Good morning. I am Monty Sullivan, President of the Louisiana 
Community and Technical College System, a market-aligned system of 12 
public 2-year colleges graduating over 30,000 students annually. I also 
serve as President of Rebuilding America's Middle Class, a Coalition of 
Community Colleges that aims to rebuild America's middle class by 
enhancing student success and by promoting the vital role of community 
colleges. I appreciate the opportunity to address the Committee today 
on ways to strengthen the broader workforce system by improving the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

    Our Country is facing a significant challenge in educating and 
training our Nation's workforce, both to meet the demands of employers, 
but also to meet the dual challenges facing today's workers of time and 
economics. Today, we have over 80 million working age adults in our 
Nation that have only a high school diploma, or less. This means that 
80 million or one in three of our working age adults do not have the 
postsecondary education and training they need to acquire career 
sustaining employment. Today's jobs and the jobs of the near and 
distant future all require more than a high school diploma. Without 
postsecondary education and training, these 80 million working age 
adults are doomed to career tracks that lead to low-paying jobs that 
often lead to a lifetime of struggle to provide for themselves and 
their families.

    We also just learned from a recent National Student Clearinghouse 
report that 32 million Americans have attended some college and have 
not earned a degree. Millions of Americans have sought a postsecondary 
education but failed to complete the certificate or degree that 
provides them a path to a better paying job and fulfilling career.

    Moving to the employment data picture, our Nation has experienced 
some of its lowest unemployment rates in history. However, that metric 
fails to capture the real story behind the data. The Bureau of Labor 
Statistics calculates the Labor Force Participation Rate, or the number 
of people in the labor force as a percentage of the civilian 
noninstitutional population 16 years old and over. In other words, it 
is the percentage of the population that is either working or actively 
seeking work. In May 2024, the Labor Force Participation Rate was cited 
at 62.5 percent--meaning more than one in three American working age 
adults are not participating in the labor force. In Louisiana, the 
Labor Force Participation Rate lags the Nation at 58.6 percent. 
Meanwhile, there are thousands of available jobs that require skills 
and education beyond a high school diploma.

    This is sobering data that demonstrates that millions of Americans 
are being left behind economically by lacking the post high school 
education and training they need to punch their ticket to the middle 
class. For these millions of Americans and our Nation's economic 
vitality, now is the time to improve how the Federal Government 
supports education and training. This Committee can lead the way in 
that effort by passing legislation that strengthens and reforms WIOA 
and other Federal education and training programs.

    At the outset of my remarks, I mentioned challenges facing 
employers and workers. Employers consistently are challenged to find 
employees with the education and training they need for specific 
occupations. Even with what is historically low unemployment nationally 
and some progress on reducing unfilled job openings in the past year, 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that there are 8.1 million 
unfilled jobs in this country right now. Employers have openings for 
high-paying jobs that they cannot fill.

    When I mention the challenges facing workers, I cited both economic 
and time challenges. The economic challenge I am referring to is the 
need for a worker to secure employment that provides them with the 
earnings needed to support themselves and their family. Unfortunately, 
we have had a drop in the percentage of Americans that are considered 
``middle-class'' since 1971. According to an analysis by the Pew 
Research Center, 61 percent of Americans were considered part of the 
middle class in 1971. In 2023, just 51 percent of Americans are 
considered middle class. We need to rebuild our middle class in this 
country, and the single best way to do that is to ensure our Nation's 
workers have the education and training they need to obtain and 
maintain career sustaining employment.

    The time challenge facing American workers is directly related to 
the fact that 80 million working age Americans have a high school 
diploma or less. Many of these individuals have families, are single 
parents, and/or must work while trying to acquire a postsecondary 
credential or degree. These complexities in their lives mean these 
individuals need wraparound services that allow them to have any chance 
of completing education and training programs. These essential services 
include child care, nutrition assistance, reliable and affordable 
transportation and even housing aid.

    Even with these wraparound supports, however, education and 
training providers need to meet these students where they are in their 
lives. They need classes that take place online or around their work 
schedules. They need certificate or degree programs options that can be 
completed over months and not years, especially as many working age 
adults need to attend a postsecondary institution part time due to work 
and family obligations. An education and training program structure 
that meets these needs can help bring the 80 million working age adults 
with a high school degree back into the system and back on the path to 
the middle class. The same applies to the 32 million adults without a 
postsecondary credential or degree--these supports can help them 
succeed at what they started. This is simply an imperative--for the 
economic betterment of our Nation, and most importantly, to reestablish 
a dominant middle class in America.

    In Louisiana, we are ready for change. Right now, we are embarking 
on an ambitious program to improve the functioning of our workforce and 
social services systems, aimed directly at lessening the generational 
poverty that so profoundly hinders our people from achieving the 
American Dream. Governor Jeff Landry established the Workforce and 
Social Services Reform Task Force a few weeks ago through executive 
order. We are already seeing momentum build behind its mission of 
eliminating siloes and fostering collaboration, with the consolidation 
of WIOA and Wagner-Peyser services into two rural campuses of our 
community colleges. We have a long history of delivering SNAP 
Employment and Training programs through our community colleges, and we 
are expanding those collaborations to the programs administered by the 
Louisiana Workforce Commission. We are embarking on new partnerships 
between industry associations and state entities to address critical 
needs in healthcare and industrial construction. We are working across 
all levels of the education system, and with the administrators of all 
social safety net programs, to get our people what they need to truly 
prosper. And with the signing of the Louisiana Legislature's Act 330 
just last week, we ensured that the Secretary of the Louisiana 
Workforce Commission not only has the accountability, but the clear 
authority, to direct the state's collective workforce strategy to drive 
economic growth and move our people from dependence to independence. We 
are ready to go, but for these efforts to really work, we are going to 
need your help.

    The Committee has an awesome opportunity before the end of this 
Congress to begin to address these challenges by reauthorizing and 
improving the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. WIOA was last 
reauthorized in 2014, a decade ago. Our economy and the needs of 
workers and employers have not stood still over that time. From our 
perspective in Louisiana, several critical improvements to WIOA are 
needed to meet the needs of a 2024 employer and worker.

    First, WIOA must fund more training services than it presently 
does. Only 175,831 individuals received training services under WIOA in 
program year 2022. This is a drop in the bucket for what is supposed to 
be the Federal Government's premier training program. As a point of 
contrast, six million Pell grants were provided to students under the 
Higher Education Act for the 2022-2023 academic year; these grants have 
led to far more training opportunities for qualified individuals, are 
far easier to access and provide much more significant support. The 
appropriations for WIOA formula programs should be increased, but a 
much greater share of those funds should be used for training services 
in conjunction with the critical wraparound services that make it 
possible to utilize such training services. One specific example of 
provisions that should be reconsidered to allow for greater flexibility 
for training more Americans is to use a broadened definition and 
approach to the dislocated worker programs. The economic and social 
implications of the COVID-19 pandemic should serve as a reminder that 
the current guidelines fall short of serving the needs of our 
communities, our people and our employers.

    Second, WIOA requires Governors to identify eligible training 
providers to provide training services under WIOA. For too long, 
becoming an eligible training provider has not focused enough on what 
we know is critical--that education and training programs provide 
pathways to high wage jobs that economically sustain individuals and 
families and that meet the needs of employers and local economies. The 
Committee has an opportunity to require the use of earnings and other 
outcomes data to be more selective about which providers and programs 
are eligible to provide WIOA training services. The American community 
college is the entity best suited to solve the workforce challenges of 
our Nation. Yet, historically public community colleges are an under-
utilized resource by the WIOA training enterprise. Fundamentally, we 
should encourage strong integrated partnerships between workforce 
boards and their local community colleges. At the same time, as we are 
increasing our reliance on data, the selection of eligible training 
providers should not be an exercise in red tape and bureaucracy.

    Third, we must put Adult Education programs front and center in how 
we support and fund WIOA programs. The 80 million working age adults 
that I mentioned earlier often need adult education services to put 
themselves into a position to benefit from career and training services 
under WIOA. Adult education programs in our Nation service more people 
than all other WIOA titles combined. Very simply, funding for Adult 
Education programs under WIOA should reflect this fact.

    Fourth, we need to empower workers with information about which 
postsecondary education and training options work best for them. In 
Louisiana, we use a star system that lets individuals know whether a 
training program leads to an in-demand and high-paying job. Five stars 
means that the program is both high demand and high wage as compared to 
other jobs in the economy. Louisiana is home to a vast number of 
manufacturing facilities along the Mississippi River. A key job in 
nearly all of these facilities is the Process Operator--an individual 
responsible for keeping production going. That occupation is highest 
demand and highest wage. Two stars might mean that it is in-demand but 
does not provide high wages. An example of a high demand occupation 
with marginal earnings is Early Childhood Education Teacher and both 
positions are jobs that an individual can be prepared for at a public 
community college. Establishing a simple way for individuals to gain 
actionable information and understand whether a program leads to 
multiple high-paying job opportunities empowers them to meet their 
economic and employment needs. This concept of the star rating system 
would be useful for the Committee to incorporate into changes in 
determining eligible training providers. It is important, however, that 
tools like this and their assessment of what is in demand and high 
paying be locally controlled and designed to reflect local and regional 
economies in states and communities.

    Fifth, individuals seeking services through the WIOA system should 
expect that this system will provide options that work for them. There 
should not be a ``wrong door to enter'' within the WIOA system; rather, 
the options provided should lead individuals to the careers, training 
and/or wraparound services needed for success. I would urge the 
Committee to ensure that the eligibility for career, training and/or 
wraparound services under WIOA are harmonized across one-stop partner 
programs with an eye toward bringing in other Federal means tested 
programs in the future.

    The Committee truly has a chance to change lives this Congress by 
improving WIOA. In closing, I ask each of you to pause for a moment and 
imagine the young child born this year in some of the poorest parts of 
America-in the Mississippi River Delta or in Appalachia or those on 
tribal lands. How will we, as a Nation, ensure those children can grow 
up with the opportunity to live the American Dream each of us has been 
part of throughout our lives. Without an effective education and 
training enterprise, the future for those children is even more bleak 
as adults than the struggles they will feel as children. The erosion of 
the American Middle Class has far-reaching implications for our people, 
our communities and our Nation. Time is of the essence. Thank you for 
the opportunity to testify and I am happy to respond to any questions 
that you might have.
                                 ______
                                 
                 [summary statement of monty sullivan]

    Our Country is facing a significant challenge in educating and 
training our Nation's workforce to meet the demands of employers, but 
also to meet the dual challenges facing today's workers of time and 
economics. Over 80 million working age adults in our Nation have only a 
high school diploma, or less. Today's jobs and the jobs of the near and 
distant future all require more than a high school diploma.

    This lack of postsecondary education is coupled with low labor 
participation rates. The current Labor Force Participation Rate tells 
us that more than one in three American working age adults are not 
participating in the labor force. In Louisiana, this is 58.6 percent. 
There are currently 8.1 million unfilled jobs in this country, but many 
require more than a high school diploma.

    The percentage of Americans that are considered ``middle-class'' 
has dropped since 1971. 61 percent of Americans were considered part of 
the middle class in 1971 and in 2023 it was just 51 percent. Millions 
of Americans lack the post high school education and training they need 
to punch their ticket to the middle class. Education and training 
leading to career sustaining employment is the solution to rebuild our 
middle class.

    American workers are facing a time challenge in that they have 
families, are single parents, and/or must work while trying to acquire 
a postsecondary credential or degree. These complexities require 
wraparound services and education, and training providers need to meet 
these students where they are with certificate and degree programs 
options that can be completed over months rather than years.

    In Louisiana, we are embarking on an ambitious program to improve 
the functioning of our workforce and social services systems, aimed 
directly at lessening generational poverty. Governor Jeff Landry 
established the Workforce and Social Services Reform Task Force, and we 
are embarking on new health care and industrial construction 
partnerships between industry associations and state entities. We are 
working across all levels of the education system, and all social 
safety net programs, to get people what they need to truly prosper. We 
are ready to go, but for these efforts to really work, we are going to 
need your help.

    The Committee can begin to address these challenges by 
reauthorizing and improving WIOA.

    First, WIOA must fund more training services. Only 175,831 
individuals received training services under WIOA in 2022 compared to 6 
million Pell grants provided to students under the Higher Education Act 
for the 2022-2023 year. The appropriations for WIOA formula programs 
should be increased, with a greater share used for training services in 
conjunction with wraparound services.

    Second, the Committee has an opportunity to require the use of 
earnings and other outcomes data in order to be more selective about 
which providers and programs are eligible to provide WIOA training 
services. This should be done while minimizing red tape, an all-too-
common problem with the current system.

    Third, adult education programs in our Nation service more people 
than all other WIOA titles combined. Funding for Adult Education 
programs under WIOA should reflect this fact.

    Fourth, we need to empower workers with information about which 
postsecondary education and training options work best for them. In 
Louisiana, we use a star system that lets individuals know whether a 
program leads to an in-demand and high-paying job. Individuals need a 
simple way to gain actionable information about whether a program leads 
to multiple high-paying job opportunities and any such system should be 
locally controlled and designed to reflect local and regional 
economies.

    Fifth, individuals seeking services through the WIOA system should 
expect that this system will provide options that work for them. There 
should not be a ``wrong door to enter'' within the WIOA system; rather, 
the options provided should lead individuals to the careers, training 
and/or wraparound services needed for success.
                                 ______
                                 

    The Chair. Thank you, Dr. Sullivan.

    Our next witness is Dr. Lisa Bly-Jones, the CEO of the 
Chicago Jobs Council, where she leads the organization's 
capacity building, member engagement and policy advocacy work. 
She has previously led workforce development projects for 
public and private entities by developing occupational and 
sectoral training programs that convene partners from across 
the workforce system.

    Dr. Jones, thanks for being with us.

 STATEMENT OF LISA BLY-JONES, PH.D., CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, 
            CHICAGO JOBS COUNCIL (CJC), CHICAGO, IL

    Dr. Bly-Jones. Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, 
and Members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to 
testify today on the importance of upgrading our public 
workforce system.

    My name is Dr. Lisa Bly-Jones, and I am CEO of the Chicago 
Jobs Council, a workforce development intermediary in Chicago, 
Illinois, that develops tools, resources, and offers training 
to build capacity for workforce organizations, and set 
priorities for policy advocacy and member engagement.

    I am honored to be here today to contribute to the 
conversation. Our work at CJC prioritizes policies that build 
transformative relationships between people and systems, 
focusing on equitable access, providing quality jobs, and 
removing funding obstacles that inhibit progress. WIOA 
reauthorization offers a critical opportunity to scale what is 
working in Illinois and supplement the work we are doing to 
ensure that workers can access the skills they need for the 
jobs which businesses are hiring for.

    First, Congress should fund WIOA commiserate with need when 
factoring inflation. Congress has steadily cut investments in 
workforce programs over the past 20 years. While I recognize 
this Committee does not appropriate funding, it plays a key 
role in advocating for the funding levels that should be set. 
In recent polling commissioned by National Skills Coalition, 82 
percent of voters indicated support for increasing government 
funding for skills training.

    Given the public support for increasing funding and growing 
demand, WIOA should include authorized funding levels that 
match current and future needs. This Committee can also support 
expanding Pell Grant eligibility to students enrolled in short-
term, high-quality training programs. Many students enrolled in 
these programs would qualify for Federal higher education grant 
aid based on income, if not for program eligibility 
limitations.

    Second, Congress should support industry or sector 
partnerships that help businesses engage in the public 
workforce system and career pathways that ensure worker and 
student success. WIOA requires a stronger connection to 
employers. Each local community has a local economy, and 
employers in those communities are best able to identify 
industry trends, and skills, and training needs.

    It's critical to involve employers on the front end and 
establish industry or sector partnerships that bring together 
local businesses and other stakeholders to develop workforce 
strategies and provide training and services that supports area 
demand. This is especially valuable for small and medium-sized 
businesses.

    Industry partnerships can also support access to career 
pathways that connect progressive levels of education, 
training, supportive services, and credentials throughout an 
individual's career.

    Although WIOA require states and local workforce boards to 
support partnerships, it does not contain targeted funding. 
WIOA reauthorization should establish grants to develop and 
maintain industry and sector partnerships and separately 
support career pathways development.

    Additionally, Congress should support participant needs to 
ensure they can enter, succeed in, and become employed after 
quality training programs. The House-passed ASWA requires that 
50 percent of funding be allocated to training, presenting two 
challenges for Illinois. First, it prioritizes cost over 
participants. If there is a minimum measure to ensure more 
workers are getting training, then the proposal should include 
the flexibility. States need to define what that measurement 
is.

    Second, it neglects support services and career navigation 
for workers with the greatest economic need. The distinction 
between entering training and completing is usually unexpected 
costs associated with childcare, transportation, or challenge 
with career navigation.

    Career coaching and navigation services are increasingly 
important for advancing equity and addressing barriers. 2021 
CJC report identified that 6 months or a year is not enough 
time for people who have experienced trauma such as mental 
illness, homelessness, or incarceration to seamlessly 
transition back into the workforce.

    Congress should focus on ensuring that there are sufficient 
resources to support training expenditures, including all 
related cost, support services, and staff assistance. CJC also 
partners with reentry organizations working on behalf of 
justice-involved individuals to ensure that they do not face 
permanent punishments because of criminal records. WIOA must 
similarly connect justice-impacted individuals to work because 
we know there's dignity in work.

    Finally, Congress should capture data on participant 
outcomes and success in the future. WIOA should disaggregate 
training performance outcomes by race, ethnicity, gender, and 
other demographic or socioeconomic factors, and expand 
performance indicators to include quality credential 
attainment, longer employment and wage outcomes, occupation-
specific job placement, and measures on job quality.

    I am grateful for the opportunity to provide testimony 
today, and I look forward to answering any questions you may 
have.

    [The prepared statement of Dr. Jones follows.]
                  prepared statement of lisa bly-jones
                              Introduction
    Chairman Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy and Members of the 
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today on the 
importance of upgrading our public workforce system. My name is Dr. 
Lisa Bly-Jones, and I am CEO of the Chicago Jobs Council (CJC), a 
workforce development intermediary in Chicago, Illinois. I lead an 
organization that develops tools, resources and offers training to 
build capacity for workforce organizations and set priorities for an 
annual policy advocacy and member engagement. Prior to this role, I was 
the executive director of The Workforce Connection, a local workforce 
board in Rockford, Illinois, where I was responsible for leadership and 
implementation of strategic workforce development initiatives in 
partnership with the mayor and other elected officials. Over the more 
than 20 years I have worked in workforce development and held a variety 
of roles across the spectrum of organizations and community colleges 
that help workers access skills necessary to enter good jobs.

    I am also a beneficiary of our workforce development system myself. 
When I graduated high school, my family wasn't able to afford college. 
I got my first job through the Mayor's office of workforce development. 
I interviewed and landed a quality job that offered tuition 
reimbursement as a benefit. I took general educational courses at Loop 
College and completed my course work and graduated from Moraine Valley 
Community College. I will always remember the care and concern from 
faculty who understood the complexities of students who work full-time 
while pursuing their education. Their commitment to student success set 
me on a career path that fit my strengths and established a good 
foundation for me to pursue all of my educational and professional 
goals. These include a terminal degree and being the CEO of an 
organization that allows me to advocate for others who I understand, 
because I've had some similar experiences along the way to arriving 
here. I'm humbled and honored to be here and contribute to today's 
conversation to help this Committee better understand what workers, 
businesses, communities and our Country's needs.

    My organization, Chicago Jobs Council keeps jobseekers at the 
center of all we do. CJC is keenly focused on honoring the full 
humanity of workers who are seeking economic security and we facilitate 
transformative relationships to address the larger economic system. To 
do this, we bring together workforce leaders from public agencies, 
businesses, community and technical colleges, workforce boards and 
community based organizations.

    We convene a state-wide coalition every year, the Illinois Skills 
for Good Jobs Coalition that advocates for legislation that embodies 4 
Workforce Policy Pillars:

        (1) Dedicate state funding for workforce training using a 
        racial and gender equity lens,

        (2) Promote policies that eliminate structural employment 
        barriers disproportionately faced by people of color, foreign-
        born workers, and women in Illinois,

        (3) Ensure that no Illinoisan--regardless of race, gender, age, 
        or nationality--lives in poverty by promoting good jobs and a 
        strong safety net and

        (4) Increase research, data sharing, and transparency across 
        state agencies that touch education and workforce training to 
        identify and address equity gaps in our public investments.
                      Illinois Workforce Overview
    Illinois has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country 
overall and the unemployment rate for Black men and women is nearly 
double that of the state's overall unemployment rate standing at around 
9.5 percent. \1\ And yet, Illinois has 385,000 job openings in March 
and one of the highest job openings rates in the country. \2\ These 
measures usually run in opposing directions. The fact that both the 
unemployment rate and the job openings rate run high relative to the 
rest of the Nation suggests a sizable skills mismatch between the 
skills that workers currently have and those that employers require for 
the jobs that they are working to fill.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm; https://
www.bls.gov/lau/ptable14full23.pdf.
    \2\  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jltst.t01.htm; https://
www.bls.gov/charts/state-job-openings-and-labor-turnover/state-job-
openings-rates.htm#.

    On top of that, generation defining investments in clean energy, 
semiconductors and building and infrastructure has put an even more 
intense demand on workers and businesses. These investments are 
expected to create 3 million jobs each year and nearly 70 percent of 
these jobs will be available to workers without a bachelor's degree. 
However, additional training beyond a high school diploma will be 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
essential for workers to access these opportunities. \3\

    \3\  National Skills Coalition, Unprecedented Opportunity: Meeting 
the Workforce Demands of New Clean Energy, Manufacturing, and 
Infrastructure Investments-National Skills Coalition.

    In the State of Illinois, as a member of the Illinois Clean Jobs 
Coalition, CJC was a key partner in helping to pass the Climate and 
Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) which aims to invest in Illinois to mitigate 
the impacts of climate change, move to clean power sources, reduce 
energy costs, and support communities and workers. The law importantly 
provides over $80 million annually for workforce development and 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
contractor programs in disadvantaged communities.

    Investments in infrastructure and energy present an immense 
opportunity for workers in Illinois and nationwide. Paired with the 
employment picture there is a growing need to support workforce 
training and supportive services through our workforce system in order 
to effectively seize these opportunities. States and localities are 
working to address growing training demands but a much larger Federal 
commitment is required.
           What CJC/IL Have Done to Address These Challenges
    Chicago Jobs Council collaborates with partners across the state to 
ensure that, as our economy adapts to a changing climate and both state 
and Federal investments are implemented, groups who have traditionally 
been economically disadvantaged are now able to benefit from these 
efforts and gain access to the newly created jobs.

    In 2020, we released a report entitled Building Pathways to Clean 
Energy Jobs in Illinois, which highlights the importance of investing 
in the future clean energy workforce as part of public investments in 
clean energy infrastructure. The report is informed by interviews with 
clean energy employers, workforce development practitioners, policy 
experts, and uses publicly available labor market and job posting 
information to illustrate how the state can effectively invest in 
workforce development so that people marginalized by racism, sexism, 
and environmental injustice can directly access [clean energy] jobs, 
advance within green industries, and benefit from public investments in 
clean energy. \4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/
63a0838721aff66b22dd2598/t/63a0986c2f41ed099d83a59c/1671469164785/
Building-Pathways-to-Clean-Energy-Jobs-in-Illinois-March-2021.pdf.

    Clean energy continues to be an area of focus for CJC due to the 
immense opportunity it poses, At the same time, we are working closely 
with partners to improve the workforce system, increase funding into 
the system, expand pathways for job seekers and eliminate barriers to 
accessing good jobs.
                  What Still Needs to be Done on WIOA
    While Illinois has worked to address the needs of our workers and 
businesses as best we can, we rely on Federal policy and investments. 
WIOA reauthorization offers a critical opportunity to scale what is 
working in Illinois to other states and to supplement the work we are 
doing to ensure that Illinois workers--and workers across the country--
can access the skills they need and for which businesses need to hire.

    The workforce system should prioritize every worker's future 
financial stability, career pathway, and economic security. It must 
honor the humanity of all people, be inclusive and address the larger 
economic system. Our work prioritizes policies that build 
transformative relationships between people and systems, focusing on 
equitable access, providing quality jobs, and removing funding 
obstacles that inhibit progress.

    Congress should fund WIOA commensurate with need.

    Structuring funding at the Federal and state level that is 
consistent, adaptable and relevant to the changing needs of the economy 
safeguards everyone's professional progress, no matter what situational 
changes they encounter during their careers. Yet, one of the most 
consistent calls we hear from partners is the need for more funding for 
the programs under WIOA to better meet demand.

    Indeed, underlying many of the opportunities to improve WIOA so 
that it better serves all stakeholders is the need for Congress to 
consistently invest more in programs that support skills and supportive 
services so that more people can access training programs that lead to 
family sustaining wages, and more businesses can hire skilled workers 
for in-demand jobs. When factoring inflation, Congress has steadily cut 
investments in workforce programs, Career and Technical Education, and 
adult education programs over the past 20 years. \5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\  https://nationalskillscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/
05/NSC-LegislativeAgenda-118Congress.pdf.

    While I recognize this Committee does not appropriate funding, as 
the authorizing committee, the Health Education Labor, and Pensions 
Committee plays a key role in advocating for the funding levels that 
should be set each year. Levels proposed in the House passed A Stronger 
Workforce for America Act continue this troubling trend of under-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
investment.

    This Committee can also support investments in training by 
expanding Pell Grant eligibility to students enrolled in short-term 
high-quality training programs that help businesses fill open jobs and 
help workers access career pathways. Many students enrolled in these 
programs would qualify for Federal higher education grant aid based on 
income if not for program eligibility limitations. The Jobs Act has the 
capacity to allow for rapid upskilling of workers by lowering the time 
threshold for Pell Grant eligibility to programs that are at least 150 
clock hours and 8 weeks in length. The JOBS Act would also institute a 
number of accountability standards that tie programmatic eligibility 
for these shorter-term programs to quality metrics.

    Investing in skills training is popular with the public. In recent 
polling, 82 percent of voters indicated support increasing government 
funding for skills training in America. \6\ Given the public's strong 
support for increasing government funding and the growing need lifted 
up by our partners, this Committee should demonstrate a stronger 
commitment to WIOA programs as you work to craft legislation to ensure 
that authorized funding levels match current and future demand.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\  https://nationalskillscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/
05/NSC-PublicPerspectives-TopFindings-Brief.pdf.

    Congress should support industry or sector partnerships that help 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
businesses engage in the public workforce system.

    With WIOA there is a lot of emphasis on individuals, but we are 
responsible to local employers and there needs to be an increase in 
funding to better support business-related activities, like sector 
strategies and sector partnerships. Each local community has a local 
economy and employers in those communities are best able to identify 
what skills and training are needed and what trends are emerging in a 
given industry. We never want to train people for jobs that no longer 
exist or have declined while we're working on developing training 
programs. It's critical to involve employers on the front end to ensure 
that does not happen. Industry or sector partnerships bring together 
local businesses, unions and worker organizations, community colleges, 
training providers, and community organizations to develop industry-
specific workforce strategies and provide training that supports local 
and regional demand.

    These sector partnerships also allow us to become educated about 
the industry, the numerous occupations that may exist within a sector 
and better positions the community to create progressive pathways that 
lead to sustainable careers. Established sector partnerships provide 
real-time conversations and innovation to pivot where needed based on 
emerging needs and keeping pace with technological advances. Localized 
collaboration supports employers in their recruitment and retention 
efforts to build a diverse workforce within their industry. Such 
partnerships are especially valuable for small and medium-sized 
businesses, which often lack the resources to develop independent 
programs. Instead, they can collaborate with other local employers to 
leverage collective strengths. These partnerships also provide an entry 
point for employers to engage with the workforce system in a role that 
goes beyond placing workers into jobs.

    Although the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires 
states and local workforce boards to support sector partnerships as a 
method of workforce improvement at both the state and local levels, 
this policy does not contain targeted funding critical to realizing the 
impact these partnerships can have on businesses, workers and 
communities. Legislative provisions that provide dedicated grant 
funding to establish industry and sector partnerships and support 
ongoing convening as well as activities including training and 
supportive services for works should be included in a WIOA 
reauthorization. Legislative texts such as the Promoting 
Apprenticeships through Regional Training Networks for Employers 
Required Skills (PARTNERS) Act and Building U.S. Infrastructure by 
Leveraging Support for Skills (BUILDS) Act could serve as models for a 
reauthorization package. Both bills establish grant programs that 
support partnership convening and maintenance activities and support 
training and workers access to training, education, and supportive 
services.

    Congress should support robust career pathways that ensure student 
and worker success.

    One of the key benefits of industry partnerships discussed above is 
providing workers with access to career pathways. Thoughtful design 
around career pathways can help ensure that all workers, no matter 
where they start, have the opportunity to advance to good jobs. Career 
pathways connect progressive levels of education, training, supportive 
services and credentials throughout an individual's career. Career 
pathways should include high quality industry recognized credentials 
that are stackable--they articulate toward a higher level of 
certificate or degree-and portable so that they are recognized beyond a 
single employer if individuals change jobs.

    Career pathways strategies developed in tandem with industry and 
sector partnerships can provide a systemic approach to expanding 
training opportunities that can increase economic mobility for large 
numbers of workers in a sector.

    The Gateways to Careers Act includes language that helps develop 
the systemic connection between education providers and industry sector 
partnerships through grant funding that can be used to develop or 
expand programs that support career pathways, support services, and the 
acquisition of equipment. Similar language could be included in a WIOA 
reauthorization to provide dedicated support to career pathways.

    Congress should support needs of participants to ensure they can 
enter, succeed in and become employed after quality training programs.

    CJC works to improve the policies in workforce development that 
increase job access, provide wraparound workforce and employment 
benefit services, improve skill-building programs, and foster quality 
job creation that benefits those who need it the most.

    Demand for training continues to increase and will be impacted 
further by increasing the need for workers in the clean energy and 
infrastructure sectors. Despite growing demand, funding for training 
programs is not increasing. Private and philanthropic which is often 
the most flexible funding for workforce programs is inconsistent which 
makes reliable, robust funding for WIOA critical. \7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/
63a0838721aff66b22dd2598/t/63a0987639ba57582d347355/1671469174913/
Supportive-Services-Summary-Report-Sept-2021-FINAL.pdf.

    One way the House passed ASWA addressed this challenge is to 
require 50 percent of funding to be spent on training. This proposal 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
creates two challenges in a state like Illinois.

    First, it prioritizes costs over participants. If there is a 
minimum measure to ensure more workers are getting quality training 
that leads to good jobs, then the proposal should include the 
flexibility states need to define what that measurement is. Second, the 
proposal excludes things like support services or career navigation 
from the calculation. For workers with the greatest economic need, the 
difference between entering training and actually being able to 
complete it is usually unexpected costs associated with childcare, 
transportation or challenge with career navigation. Restricting funds 
used on those strategies will not lead to more people getting to 
training, it will lead to more people being unable to complete 
training.

    Instead, the Congress should focus on ensuring that training 
expenditures include all training related costs in the calculation, 
including wrap-around supportive services and staff assistance costs to 
meet the needs of jobseekers and businesses.

    Technology is increasingly prevalent at all career levels and 
across industries. Indeed, recent research shows that 92 percent of 
jobs require digital skills and that number is expected to increase. At 
the same time, only two-thirds of workers have the foundational digital 
skills necessary to enter and thrive in today's jobs. \8\ Workers and 
businesses require digital skills support especially related to 
upskilling opportunities for workers who are on the job and reskilling 
opportunities for those who have lost jobs. A reauthorization of WIOA 
should include language similar to the Digital Skills for Today's 
Workforce Act which would establish a formula grant program for states 
to develop digital skills training programs as well as provide funding 
to support digital equity among individuals who face barriers to 
employment and who have been historically underrepresented.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\  https://nationalskillscoalition.org/news/press-releases/new-
report-92-of-jobs-require-digital-skills-one-third-of-workers-have-low-
or-no-digital-skills-due-to-historic-underinvestment-structural-
inequities/.

    While training is crucial for workers to secure good jobs, it's 
often equally or more important to address and remove the barriers that 
hinder individuals from completing their training or retaining 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
employment.

    In 2021, the Chicago Jobs Council released Supportive Services: 
Lessons Learned from the Field which outlines the importance of 
expanding and enhancing supportive services within workforce 
development programs to address systemic barriers to employment, 
particularly for groups that have been marginalized. This includes 
childcare, housing, and transportation, which are essential for 
securing and maintaining employment as well as mental health services 
which have become increasingly important following the pandemic.

    In that report, contributors identified that ``six months or a year 
is not enough time for people who have experienced trauma, such as 
mental illness, homelessness, or incarceration, to seamlessly 
transition back into the workforce'' and that ``losing supportive 
services during the gap of time between when a client becomes employed 
and gets their first paycheck can make it hard for participants to meet 
their own needs.'' \9\ Congress can ensure that there are sufficient 
resources to allow supportive services to extend past probationary 
employment periods in order to help give participants more time to 
adjust and settle into jobs. Language in the BUILDS Act could serve as 
a model for these efforts as the legislative text includes provisions 
to provide support to workers in the pre-employment stage and for as 
much as a year into a job.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/
63a0838721aff66b22dd2598/t/63a0987639ba57582d347355/1671469174913/
Supportive-Services-Summary-Report-Sept-2021-FINAL.pdf.


    Reliable transportation is a frequent barrier for individuals that 
is important to highlight. While this includes financial support for 
bus passes, it can also include support for those who have had their 
licenses suspended due to parking ticket debt, based on excessive fines 
and fees. Chicago Jobs Council was a critical voice in a campaign in 
Illinois ensure that individuals are able to drive to work regardless 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
of their ability to pay tickets and traffic fines.

    America needs a dynamic and inclusive workforce system equipped to 
address long-standing structural inequities in our labor market. 
Chicago Jobs Council works with partners to appeal to the workforce 
communities mostly accessing services, which are largely Black and 
Brown workers. We want to ensure that service providers are aware of 
the barriers these communities face and are creating a path forward for 
individuals with these barriers in mind.

    Career coaching and navigation services are increasingly important 
services for equity-advancing career navigation. Congress should 
increase support for frontline workforce development professionals to 
provide career navigation and services including asset-based 
approaches, assessments to determine strengths and needs, awareness of 
the impact of trauma and structural barriers on behavior and 
performance, culturally sensitive programming and targeted services for 
workers of color to support better outcomes. \10\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \10\  https://nationalskillscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/
05/FinalWIOARecs.pdf.

    CJC also partners with re-entry organizations working on behalf of 
justice involved individuals to ensure that they do not face permanent 
punishments because of criminal records. An example of this is our role 
in influencing the policy in CEJA that addressed returning residents 
and our work to connect Equity Eligible Contractors who employ these 
returning residents. We brought together organizations to connect and 
understand how best utilize and leverage funding opportunities they 
were eligible to receive and we will continue to work with these 
organizations throughout implementation of CEJA. Congress should codify 
the Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) program to ensure that 
justice involved workers have access to industry connected skills 
training programs. If we're truly interested in reducing recidivism, we 
must connect justice impacted individuals to work, because we know 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
there's dignity in work.

    Congress should capture data on participants outcomes and success 
into the future.

    Access to workforce data enhances our ability to advocate for 
workforce equity. By receiving comprehensive data on the state's 
workforce, we can better identify areas of improvement, advocate for 
policies that benefit all residents and measure our progress.

    Under WIOA, local areas are required, currently, to measure short-
term employment and earnings outcomes for workers at six and 12 months 
after exit. These short-term outcomes do not sufficiently capture how 
people progress from entry-level jobs, experience wage and skill 
advancement with an employer, and continue their education to progress 
along a quality career pathway.

    To measure if workforce programs are leading to long-term economic 
gains for workers and businesses, WIOA performance indicators should be 
expanded to include measures on quality credential attainment, 
employment and wage outcomes for at least 2-years after program 
completion, occupation specific job placement and measures on job 
quality, such as hourly wages and hours worked.

    WIOA should also disaggregate all training performance outcomes by 
race, ethnicity, gender, and other important demographic or 
socioeconomic factors like English language proficiency, income, and 
geography, in order effectively evaluate progress toward equitable 
outcomes and the efficacy of the public workforce system for all 
workers, including workers of color who are the majority of those 
accessing these services.

    This Committee has a tremendous opportunity to innovate and enhance 
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to meet the demands and 
specialized needs of all stakeholders. I am grateful for the 
opportunity to provide testimony today, and I look forward to answering 
any questions that you may have.
                                 ______
                                 
                 [summary statement of lisa bly-jones]
    My name is Dr. Lisa Bly-Jones, and I am CEO of the Chicago Jobs 
Council (CJC), a workforce development intermediary in Chicago, 
Illinois. I lead an organization that develops tools, resources and 
offers training to build capacity for workforce organizations and set 
priorities for an annual policy advocacy and member engagement. Prior 
to this role, I was the executive director of The Workforce Connection, 
a local workforce board in Rockford, Illinois.

    Illinois has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country 
overall and the unemployment rate for Black men and women is nearly 
double that of the state's overall unemployment rate standing at around 
9.5 percent. \1\ And yet, Illinois has 385,000 job openings in March 
and one of the highest job openings rates in the country. \2\ These 
measures usually run in opposing directions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  https://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm; https://
www.bls.gov/lau/ptable14full23.pdf.
    \2\  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jltst.t01.htm; https://
www.bls.gov/charts/state-job-openings-and-labor-turnover/state-job-
openings-rates.htm#.

    While Illinois has worked to address the needs of our workers and 
businesses as best we can, we rely on Federal policy and investments. 
WIOA reauthorization offers a critical opportunity to scale what is 
working in Illinois to other states and to supplement the work we are 
doing to ensure that Illinois workers--and workers across the country--
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
can access the skills they need and for which businesses need to hire.

        1. Congress should fund WIOA commensurate with need. Indeed, 
        underlying many of the opportunities to improve WIOA so that it 
        better serves all stakeholders is the need for Congress to 
        consistently invest more in programs that support skills and 
        supportive services so that more people can access training 
        programs that lead to family sustaining wages, and more 
        businesses can hire skilled workers for in-demand jobs. When 
        factoring inflation, Congress has steadily cut investments in 
        workforce programs, Career and Technical Education, and adult 
        education programs over the past 20 years.

        2. Congress should support industry or sector partnerships that 
        help businesses engage in the public workforce system. 
        Established sector partnerships provide real-time conversations 
        and innovation to pivot where needed based on emerging needs 
        and keeping pace with technological advances. Localized 
        collaboration supports employers in their recruitment and 
        retention efforts to build a diverse workforce within their 
        industry. Such partnerships are especially valuable for small 
        and medium-sized businesses, which often lack the resources to 
        develop independent programs. Instead, they can collaborate 
        with other local employers to leverage collective strengths. 
        These partnerships also provide an entry point for employers to 
        engage with the workforce system in a role that goes beyond 
        placing workers into jobs.

        3. Congress should support robust career pathways that ensure 
        student and worker success. A 2023 CJC report finds, ``six 
        months or a year is not enough time for people who have 
        experienced trauma, such as mental illness, homelessness, or 
        incarceration, to seamlessly transition back into the 
        workforce'' and that ``losing supportive services during the 
        gap of time between when a client becomes employed and gets 
        their first paycheck can make it hard for participants to meet 
        their own needs.'' \3\ Congress can ensure that there are 
        sufficient resources to allow supportive services to extend 
        past probationary employment periods in order to help give 
        participants more time to adjust and settle into jobs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \3\  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/
63a0838721aff66b22dd2598/t/63a0987639ba57582d347355/1671469174913/
Supportive-Services-Summary-Report-Sept-2021-FINAL.pdf.

        4.Congress should capture data on participants outcomes and 
        success into the future. Access to workforce data enhances our 
        ability to advocate for workforce equity. By receiving 
        comprehensive data on the state's workforce, we can better 
        identify areas of improvement, advocate for policies that 
        benefit all residents and measure our progress.
                                 ______
                                 

    The Chair. Thank you very much. Senator Cassidy, do you 
want to introduce your next panelist?

    Senator Cassidy. Yes. I'm really privileged to represent to 
introduce Mr. Matthew Dickerson, who represents all aspects of 
what we're discussing. He's the business development and 
strategy officer for Mid South Extrusion, a growing employer in 
northeast Louisiana, so the employee side.

    He's with associations, for example, specifically the 
Monroe Louisiana Chamber of Commerce in the Northeast and the 
Northeast Louisiana Manufacturing Alliance and Consortium. And 
last, he's been a teacher bringing classroom experience from 
career teaching, and developing career, and technical education 
in the Monroe City schools.

    Mr. Dickerson, thanks for being here.

   STATEMENT OF MATTHEW DICKERSON, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND 
       STRATEGY OFFICER, MID SOUTH EXTRUSION, MONROE, LA

    Mr. Dickerson. Chair Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, 
Members of the Committee, and my fellow panelists, I'm grateful 
for the opportunity to speak with you today about the pressing 
need to build a strong and adaptable workforce in our Nation. 
I'm Matthew Dickerson, business development and strategy 
officer for Mid South Extrusion in Monroe, Louisiana.

    I've been deeply involved in workforce development and have 
over a decade of experience in various roles such as educator, 
career and technical education supervisor, small business 
owner, and now executive of a rapidly expanding and innovative 
plastics manufacturing company in Monroe.

    I'm also honored to serve on the Louisiana Workforce and 
Social Services Reform Task Force appointed by the Governor. We 
aim to create a plan enabling individuals to transition from 
poverty to prosperity by coordinating our workforce and social 
service systems more effectively.

    Like many industries, one of our challenges is recruiting 
and employing individuals with the necessary and essential 
skills in reading, writing, math, and then the specialized 
skills to run our production facility. Our goal is to deliver 
high quality products to our customers, which requires a 
skilled workforce.

    Our projected growth and the expansion of our production 
capabilities hinge on our ability to not only develop our 
current workforce, but also recruit individuals who can produce 
that high quality product. I'm pleased to report significant 
progress in this effort in northeast Louisiana, despite being 
one of the most impoverished regions in our Country through two 
sector partnerships in healthcare and manufacturing.

    As chair of the Northeast Louisiana Manufacturers Alliance 
and Consortium, I'm proud to say that business and industry 
leaders are taking real action to break the cycle of 
generational poverty through the development of education and 
workforce programs that align with our region's available 
careers.

    I believe it's time for industry to take the lead in 
discussions on workforce development. We must stop being 
passive consumers of the workforce system and complaining about 
the quality of the product. This is our opportunity to lead the 
discussion and produce ideal candidates for our available 
positions.

    We have dedicated extensive time to collaborating with our 
K-12 partners, the community and technical college system, our 
local universities, our local workforce boards, and various 
community organizations to address the constantly evolving 
needs of industry.

    Collaboration with industry leaders is crucial to 
developing a partnership-driven process for enhancing workforce 
development and addressing public and private sector needs. 
There's been a shift where businesses increasingly shoulder the 
burden of training, a role traditionally filled by community 
partners who now struggle with adapting to industry changes due 
to policy and resource limitations.

    I believe the sector partnership model is a practical 
accountability framework with industry partners at its core 
expressing their challenges and the needs of the community 
partners collaborating on how to leverage dollars to address 
those needs successfully. However, significant challenge has 
been the disorganization of resources leading to inefficiencies 
in funding allocation and service provision, and failing to 
effectively meet employers' needs.

    By increasing investment in training and optimizing the 
utilization of existing supportive services, we can enhance the 
ability of individuals to move from poverty to prosperity more 
efficiently. Local and state control over funding for workforce 
development programs is crucial to enhancing strategic 
effectiveness and ensuring successful outcomes.

    These agencies possess a deep understanding of their 
region's distinct challenges and opportunities, granting them 
the ability to customize workforce development programs that 
precisely cater to the unique needs of both employers and 
employees. This level of control offers the adaptability and 
agility needed to keep up with new industry trends and changes 
in the job market where a universal Federal approach is just 
not practical.

    Through this targeted and localized investment approach, we 
can cultivate a more robust, resilient workforce that can 
uphold our Nation's economic growth and competitiveness with 
confidence and optimism.

    In conclusion, as we stand at the crossroads of essential 
economic and social reform, our collective action or inaction 
will determine the future of workforce development in our 
Nation. Our advancements in the Northeast and Northeast 
Louisiana showcase the tangible benefits of industry led 
initiatives, and the power of collaboration with educational 
and community partners.

    We must recognize that the prosperity of our industries and 
the well-being of our communities are inseparably linked. I 
urge Congress to consider directing significant investments to 
industry-led partnership, driven workforce development 
strategies that realistically address the skills gap, and 
effectively utilize resources to empower individuals toward 
economic prosperity.

    Thank you for your attention, and for considering this 
important step toward building a strong and sustainable 
workforce.

    [The prepared statement of Mr. Dickerson follows.]
                prepared statement of matthew dickerson
    Chair Sanders, Ranking Member Cassidy, Members of the Committee, 
and my fellow panelists, I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak with 
you today about the pressing need to build a strong and adaptable 
workforce in our Nation. I am Matthew Dickerson, Business Development 
and Strategy Officer at Mid South Extrusion. I have been deeply 
involved in workforce development and have over a decade of experience 
in various roles, such as educator, career and technical education 
supervisor, small business owner, and executive at a rapidly expanding 
and innovative plastics manufacturing company in Monroe, LA. I'm also 
honored to serve on the Louisiana Workforce and Social Services Reform 
Task Force, appointed by the Governor. We aim to create a plan enabling 
individuals to transition from poverty to prosperity by coordinating 
our workforce and social services systems more effectively.

    Like many industries, one of our challenges is recruiting and 
employing individuals with essential reading, writing, and math skills 
and the specialized skills required to operate our production lines. 
Our goal is to deliver high-quality products to our customers, which 
requires a skilled workforce. Our projected growth and the expansion of 
our production capabilities hinge on our ability to not only develop 
our current workforce but also recruit individuals who can produce that 
high-quality product.

    I'm pleased to report significant progress in this effort in 
northeast Louisiana--despite being one of the most impoverished regions 
in the country--through two sector partnerships in healthcare and 
manufacturing. As Chair of the Northeast Louisiana Manufacturers 
Alliance and Consortium, I am proud to say that business and industry 
leaders are taking real action to break the cycle of generational 
poverty through the development of education and workforce programs 
that align with our region's available careers. These leaders work with 
our local workforce boards, chambers of commerce, K-12 systems, and 
higher education institutions to create a pipeline that leads to real 
careers, not just a certificate. I believe it's time for the industry 
to take the lead in discussions on workforce development. We must stop 
being passive consumers of the workforce system and complaining about 
the quality of the product. This is our opportunity to lead the 
discussion and produce the ideal candidates for our available 
positions. We have dedicated extensive time to collaborating with our 
K12 partners, the Community and Technical College System, local 
universities, and various community organizations to address the 
constantly evolving needs of our regional industry.

    Collaboration with industry leaders is crucial to developing a 
partnership-driven process for enhancing workforce development and 
addressing public and private sector needs. There's been a shift where 
businesses increasingly shoulder the burden of training, a role 
traditionally filled by community partners, who now struggle with 
adapting to industry changes due to policy and resource limitations. I 
believe the sector partnership model is a practical accountability 
framework, with industry partners at its core expressing their 
challenges and needs while community partners collaborate on how to 
address those needs effectively. However, a significant obstacle has 
been the fragmentation of resources, which leads to inefficiencies in 
funding distribution and service support and fails to meet employers' 
needs effectively. By increasing investment in training and optimizing 
the utilization of existing supportive services, we can enhance the 
ability of individuals to move from poverty to prosperity more 
effectively.

    Emphasizing the importance of local and state control over funding 
for workforce development programs is crucial to enhancing strategic 
effectiveness and ensuring successful outcomes. Local and state 
agencies possess a deep understanding of their regions' distinct 
challenges and opportunities, granting them the ability to customize 
workforce development programs that precisely cater to the unique needs 
of both employers and employees. This level of control offers the 
adaptability and agility needed to keep up with new industry trends and 
changes in the job market, where a universal Federal approach is not 
practical. By increasing the flexibility of the distribution of funds 
while collaborating with industry partners and seeking their input on 
spending decisions, we can guarantee that investments are explicitly 
directed toward programs catering to the distinct needs of local 
industries and workers. Through this targeted and localized investment 
approach, we can cultivate a more robust, resilient workforce that can 
uphold our Nation's economic growth and competitiveness with confidence 
and optimism.

    In conclusion, as we stand at the crossroads of essential economic 
and social reform, our collective action or inaction will determine the 
future of workforce development in our Nation. Our advancements in 
northeast Louisiana showcase the tangible benefits of industry-led 
initiatives and the power of collaboration with educational and 
community partners. We must recognize that the prosperity of our 
industries and the well-being of our communities are inseparably 
linked. I urge Congress to consider directing significant investments 
to industry-led, partnership-driven workforce development strategies 
that realistically address the skill gaps and efficiently utilize 
resources to empower individuals toward economic prosperity. Together, 
let us commit to fostering an environment where every citizen can 
contribute meaningfully to our economy, ensuring the United States 
remains a beacon of innovation and prosperity. Thank you for your 
attention and for considering this pivotal step toward securing our 
Nation's future.

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                                 ______
                                 
                [summary statement of matthew dickerson]
          I am grateful for the chance to discuss the need for 
        a strong, adaptable workforce system in our Nation.

          My experience spans both industry and the workforce 
        development apparatus, and I currently serve on Governor 
        Landry's Louisiana Workforce and Social Services Reform Task 
        Force.

          We face challenges in recruiting skilled individuals 
        necessary for producing high-quality products in our plastics 
        manufacturing sector.

          I am proud of the significant strides we've made in 
        northeast Louisiana, especially through sector strategies in 
        healthcare and manufacturing.

          As industry leaders, we must lead workforce 
        development discussions and be proactive in shaping our 
        workforce pipeline.
          I emphasize collaboration with local educational 
        institutions and community organizations to meet the evolving 
        needs of our industry.

          I advocate for increased local and state control over 
        workforce development funds to better address specific regional 
        needs.

          In conclusion, I urge Congress to support industry-
        led workforce development strategies to effectively and 
        efficiently utilize resources and fill skill gaps, ensuring our 
        economic prosperity.
                                 ______
                                 

    The Chair. Thank you, Mr. Dickerson.

    This is an area I am not all that knowledgeable about, so 
I'm going to ask you some dumb bunny questions. All right? What 
I do know is that the recidivism rate for people in prison is 
absurdly high. People go to jail without the skills. They need 
to earn a good living in the workforce, and too often, they 
come out without those skills, without the education.

    What are you doing with regard to that so that people come 
out ready to be integrated into the economy so they don't go 
back to jail? What should we be doing? Who wants to take a shot 
at that one?

    Dr. Sullivan. I'll certainly jump in. Thank you for the 
question. I think it's an incredibly important one. One of the 
keys here is recidivism. In Louisiana, at least, we see about 
two-thirds of the people that have been incarcerated come back 
in some form or fashion.

    What we learned over the last six or 8 years in programs 
that specifically aimed at recidivism was we could reduce that 
recidivism rate to about one-third by ensuring that an 
individual that walks out of that facility has the skills when 
they leave to make a good living. It is a game changer for this 
population.

    The Chair. All right. Let me ask you this.

    Dr. Sullivan. Yes, sir.

    The Chair. What you're saying is obvious. It is common 
sense. Nobody in the world would disagree.

    Dr. Sullivan. Sure.

    The Chair. I don't think the rates are much different in 
Vermont than they are in Louisiana.

    Dr. Sullivan. Sure.

    The Chair. What are we doing about it? I mean, do we have 
in this country--I mean, you help me, I don't know the answer 
to this. Are prisons providing the education and the job 
training that inmates need in order to live productive lives 
after prison? I mean, help me out on that one. Who wants to 
jump in? Dr. Dickinson, did you want to----

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I'll jump in. I'll say a couple of things. 
One, I'll say that I think across the country there are 
relationships with community colleges that actually deliver 
programming in prisons across the country. So, that's one 
aspect of getting the training.

    The Chair. Are they working well, do you think?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I think there's always a need for more 
resources. Are they getting the skills that they deliver at 
that time? I would say yes. Are those the skills that employers 
actually need when the individual is released? Depending on 
where that individual is released to the community, that 
individual returns to the additional supportive services that 
are needed to keep the individual working, secure housing, the 
supportive services to get back and forth to their place of 
employment. It's the entire wraparound service. We're talking 
about systemic issues, so.

    The Chair. Right. I would trust that we are all in 
agreement that it is insane to spend whatever it is, $60,000, 
$80,000 a year locking somebody up when for less money, we can 
try to educate them, give them the training they need to become 
productive citizens. All right? Let's work on that together.

    Our second issue, in a broad sense, young person graduates 
high school, gets training, becomes an electrician, becomes a 
plumber. Probably makes a higher income than somebody with a BA 
in today's economy. All right? You've got millions of kids 
sitting in school right now who are not academic for whatever 
reason, not academically inclined, bored.

    What are we doing, and give me good examples of what we are 
doing, to say to those kids you can go out and earn a living, 
get the training you need to do enormously important work. We 
desperately need plumbers, electricians, carpenters, you name 
it. We need them.

    Give me some success stories about what we're doing to 
address the workforce needs of America and provide decent 
income for our workers. Who wants to jump in on that one? Ms. 
White?

    Ms. White. I'm happy to respond to that, Senator Sanders, 
thank you. So, your question started by asserting that the 
young person in the example has graduated from high school. And 
one of the things I'll note really quickly about WIOA is that 
the requirement that 75 percent of youth funds go to out-of-
school youth. So, there's a smaller portion in WIOA funding 
that would go to your enrolled high school student for these 
programs.

    Nonetheless, some of the recommendations that have been 
given about aligning systems, I think, matters here. Many of 
the youth apprenticeship programs that we support around the 
country are combining paid work experience, CTE coursework at 
community colleges, and other training providers, as well with 
mentorship so that young people are getting a head start on 
their training while they're in high school, much like the 
program that you mentioned at the beginning of your remarks.

    These are programs that currently can receive funding 
through the Department of Labor if they are registered and 
compete for grants. There are also a number of states that have 
adopted definitions and funding streams that leverage WIOA and 
public education funding to support the growth and expansion of 
these programs.

    It's early days for a lot of them. We don't have a system 
around it. There are a few states that do have well-developed 
systems of exactly what you're talking about. I would point to 
Wisconsin as one that has had a really robust youth 
apprenticeship system for about 30 years. There's a lot of 
demand for these programs, I would say, from young people.

    One thing I would love to see is more folks like Mr. 
Dickerson who are willing and interested in collaborating with 
these systems and taking a chance on young people.

    The Chair. Good. Thank you.

    Senator Cassidy.

    Senator Cassidy. I'll start with Dr. Sullivan. Dr. 
Sullivan, keep your answers tight because I got a bunch of 
questions.

    Dr. Sullivan. Sure.

    Senator Cassidy. Okay. No wrong door. Can you elaborate--I 
know it started in Utah, but we can't do it unless we get 
additional authorities. And by the way, for the record, I'd 
like to enter a letter from my Governor, Jeff Landry. I'm 
asking unanimous consent to enter this letter expressing 
support for the one-door option in the reauthorizations.

    [The following information can be found on page 89 in 
Additional Material:]

    The Chair. Without objection.

    Senator Cassidy. Describe that for the audience and why 
it's important?

    Dr. Sullivan. Sure. The one-door approach really brings 
together all of the resources to ensure that the employer, the 
individual that needs to be trained, whoever the participant 
might be enters one door has one opportunity, resources are 
pulled together. You heard Mr. Dickerson talk about the array 
of resources that are there, but they are not aligned in a way 
that really pinpoint and solve the problem.

    The one-door approach attempts to take all of those 
services. Yes, the part that's from WIOA, but also portions 
from our Department of Family and Child Services or from our 
Department of Health to ensure an individual has a broad array 
of services for themselves while they're being trained. That 
one door approach----

    Senator Cassidy. I understand that Utah did this. They've 
had the best program.

    Dr. Sullivan. Yes.

    Senator Cassidy. It was grandfathered in, but everybody 
else needs authorization specific to allow us to do what Utah 
does.

    Dr. Sullivan. Absolutely. Utah's is a classic example. I 
think every state in the Nation should be looking at Utah for 
this reason.

    Senator Cassidy. Yes. Mitt Romney thinks so too, but, 
that's Romney. Mr. Dickerson, we're attempting to modernize 
this program. I understand that even in Northeast Louisiana, 
relatively small in terms of population, there's multiple 
boards you have to work with.

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes.

    Senator Cassidy. Can you kind of speak--because this seems 
to be an area where some of the dollars go instead of the 
training.

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes.

    Senator Cassidy. You as an employer, can you describe the 
difficulties in working with these multiple boards?

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes. Well, first of all, thank you for the 
question. Second, there is a real challenge when it comes to 
utilizing the funds that are available to employers. And it's 
to the approach of there's a lot of different agencies, there 
are a lot of different organizations, and they all have a 
little bit of money. But when it comes to employer needs, and 
specifically trying to train a large amount of employees at one 
time, there's not enough funding with one individual 
organization to be able to support that.

    We have two local workforce boards in our region, one for 
our rural representation and one in Washington Parish, and they 
have to work together, which they do. But it does create 
challenges when you start trying to move money and work with 
within funding streams for those----

    Senator Cassidy. Are you proposing that if they were 
combined, there'd be more money to provide the training?

    Mr. Dickerson. I think a coordination of funding is a 
strong recommendation from business and industry.

    Senator Cassidy. Is it difficult for the small business to 
navigate interacting with more than one board, or is it no, 
once you've figured out one board, you've figured out all 
boards?

    Mr. Dickerson. Not necessarily. They're all unique in some 
of their ways. Obviously, the structure's the same, but there's 
a lot of business leaders that I've met with that had no idea 
the resources that were available to them through public 
funding until they started coming to our sector partnership 
meetings and other events.

    Senator Cassidy. In a sense, just like there should be no 
wrong door for the prospective employee, there should be no 
wrong door for the employer----

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, sir.

    Senator Cassidy [continuing]. But that's not worked out as 
well.

    Mr. Dickerson. That's right. But that is the work of the 
task force at the state level that we're looking at, is to 
coordinate those resources.

    Senator Cassidy. Dr. Sullivan, currently the eligible 
training provider list, it's difficult to navigate for workers 
and providers who want to provide training. And I get a sense 
that red tape is keeping good providers out and workers not 
getting the tools they need.

    In a sense, how much is this going to cost? What's the 
financial aid, and most importantly, their expected earnings. 
Please discuss the current challenges of the eligible training 
provider list.

    Dr. Sullivan. Yes. Thank you for the question. Eligible 
training provider list really should be developed based upon 
the question of what then can the provider bring to people and 
to business partners. If we start with that in mind, I think we 
can certainly make use of the data that we have from years 
looking back at that provider, the training programs, and make 
sure that we're maximizing value for people.

    Senator Cassidy. Got you. With that, I yield.

    The Chair. Senator Hassan.

    Senator Hassan. Well, thank you, Mr. Chair, and Ranking 
Member Cassidy. And thank you to the witnesses for joining us 
today.

    Investing in workers' skills and training is an investment 
in our Country's economy and our global competitiveness. So, 
I'm pleased that this Committee is engaging in a bipartisan 
reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 
Act, and I look forward to continuing to collaborate with my 
colleagues on this important effort.

    To Dr. Bradley, Senators Young, Collins, Kaine, and I co-
lead the bipartisan Gateway to Careers Act, which would invest 
in career pathway partnerships. These partnerships bring 
together businesses, workforce development organizations, and 
higher education programs to ensure that training services are 
meeting the real-time needs of their employers.

    Dr. Bradley, can you speak to the strength of the career 
pathway partnership model and why it should be a focus of WIOA 
reauthorization?

    Dr. Bradley. Yes. Thank you very much, Senator. You've hit 
on an incredibly important component of workforce development 
that we feel is necessary to both maintain its role in WIOA and 
increase its role in WIOA.

    Career pathways, as you know, clearly articulate the 
education and training required for each occupation. Each 
occupational level in a given industry delivers training in 
combination with academic and non-academic supportive services, 
and career pathways intentionally allow earners to exit and 
reenter the program as needed.

    Now, to your point about why is it important. There's 
strong evidence that shows that programs that employ these 
tenets of career pathways result in a strong, positive impacts 
on credential completion rates, employment, long-term earnings, 
when you're talking about a system that is not exactly flush 
with resources. Any programs that deliver evidence-based 
results are a vital component in WIOA.

    Senator Hassan. Thank you so much. Dr. Sullivan. Community 
colleges are also critical partners in the workforce 
development system. For example, the Community College System 
of New Hampshire does important work to help Granite Staters 
earn high quality credentials through its Early College at Your 
High School Program, which has dual enrollment programming at 
more than a hundred high schools across our state.

    We should support community colleges in WIOA 
reauthorization by one codifying the Strengthening Community 
Colleges grants program, and also by encouraging the co-
location of American Job centers on community college campuses. 
Dr. Sullivan, how else can we support community colleges 
through this reauthorization effort?

    Dr. Sullivan. Look, I think you've named two that are 
incredibly important. I want to build upon the career pathways 
notion because I think there's an opportunity here to redefine 
what many of us think about community colleges.

    Much of what we have developed in Louisiana has been this 
model and notion that students need to complete the initial 
industry-based certification, the initial certificate, in order 
to be able to go to work. The rest of their education is 
largely driven by an employer who is willing to provide tuition 
reimbursement.

    Instead of an employer hiring someone at the completion of 
an associate degree, now they're hiring someone with skills, 
and allowing that individual to be trained across time. That's 
what creates the long-term pull of more Americans into the 
economy. I think that's the role of the future of the American 
community college.

    Senator Hassan. Well, and obviously, as technology moves at 
such a rapid pace, people are going to also need to know how, 
along with their employers, to keep learning new skills over 
the course of their career. Right? So, this is kind of 
foundational to that as well.

    Dr. Sullivan. Without a doubt. I think some of you are 
aware of the workforce Pell proposal. I would encourage you to 
think about workforce Pell as not only being just for adults 
without an education, but imagine the person with a 
baccalaureate degree who was displaced as a result of AI. At 
some point, they will need to come back and be re-skilled and 
reeducated to be able to continue in the economy.

    Senator Hassan. Well, thank you. And to both you, Dr. 
Bradley, and Dr. Sullivan, I've heard from some stakeholders 
who say WIOA reporting requirements are overly burdensome. 
State and local leaders devote significant resources to writing 
lengthy plans, which in some cases end up acting as more of a 
compliance exercise than a strategic project management tool.

    I've also heard that community partners are sometimes 
dissuaded from becoming eligible training providers because of 
WIOA's performance reporting requirements. So, that can 
unintentionally, obviously, stifle innovation and the 
diversification of providers.

    How do we strike the right balance between performance 
accountability and non-burdensome reporting requirements? And 
are the current performance indicators the right ones? And if 
not, what should we do? And we have about 20 seconds left, so 
we'll start with Dr. Bradley and Dr. Sullivan, and then we can 
follow-up in writing.

    Dr. Bradley. Yes. I'd be glad to work with your staff on 
this. I'll just point out one thing on the performance 
accountability, for example, because of your question about 
career pathways. One, the performance accountability measures 
in WIOA are based on exiting the system. Changing one of those 
or more indicators to keep track of the person as they go to 
give credit to the providers that are following people, not 
just a one and done. So, that would be one example, but glad to 
discuss further.

    Senator Hassan. Okay, thank you.

    Dr. Sullivan. I think the only thing I would add is people 
attend our colleges, not for the credential, but for the 
paycheck.

    Senator Hassan. Right.

    Dr. Sullivan. I think it's really important that we use 
those metrics that look at earnings and employment.

    Senator Hassan. Thank you very much. Thanks, Mr. Chair.

    The Chair. Senator Smith.

    Senator Smith. Thank you, Chair Sanders. And thanks to all 
of you for being here. It's a very interesting and important 
and timely conversation.

    Chair Sanders, I was thinking about your comments about 
going into this school in Vermont and having that palpable 
sense of energy, and kind of connectedness, and engagement. And 
it made me think about so many examples that I've seen in 
Minnesota of how those kinds of youth programs are really 
working.

    I'm thinking, for example, of the Career Academy in 
Moorhead, Minnesota. They literally, the school district, took 
an old big box store and they retrofitted it to be a career 
training facility, and focused on kids at the high school level 
and connected with community colleges, and also with employers 
in the region. And it had such a completely different feel, 
energy, excitement, lots of hands-on learning, lots of 
connections to local employers.

    I think this is so important for us to keep in mind. And as 
I said, I've seen some really strong programs. And one of the 
things that I've noted also is that there is just this hunger 
for young people to understand what their options are. They 
don't even really know--like, you don't know what you don't 
know about what you might be able to do.

    That's really the value behind a piece of legislation that 
I've been working on. It's bipartisan. It's called the Youth 
Workforce Readiness Act. And what it would do is actively 
support partnerships between community-based after-school 
programs, out-of-school programs.

    Think like what the boys' and girls' clubs do, for example, 
connecting those programs with schools and with employers to 
provide some opportunities for young people to get some real-
world experience. This could be career exploration or it could 
be mentoring or even opportunities for young folks to earn some 
credentials for their first job.

    Ms. White, my question is for you, can you talk about these 
kinds of after-school or out-of-school programs, and what role 
they can play in connecting youth at the high school level, or 
even younger, potentially to what their opportunities are?

    Ms. White. Absolutely. Thank you for the question. I think 
what you've pointed out here is the importance of early 
exposure into the career pathways that many of us have 
mentioned. I think that out-of-school time providers, after-
school time providers can play a critical role in providing 
these exposure experiences. Not just to high school students, 
but to students as early as middle school.

    Part of the reason that's important is because young people 
make a series of decisions very early on in high school that 
shape the trajectory that they take through high school whether 
or not they complete high school. And even if they do complete 
high school, what options are available to them within the 
secondary school curriculum.

    One thing I would say that I think is really important--and 
I've had a chance to look at the Act, and I think it's a 
wonderful idea. But one of the things we've talked--I think 
many folks here have mentioned today, we often think about the 
public workforce system as distinct from our education system.

    Senator Smith. Right.

    Ms. White. We think about our high schools as distinct from 
our colleges. That does young people a disservice. They mature 
and they learn at very different rates. They have interests 
that develop at very different times. And so, the more we can 
create bridges across these systems, whether that's out-of-
school directly into K-12 education, K-12 education, the CTE 
system, into work experiences, the better we'll be able to 
serve young people and allow them to earn credentials, gain 
exposure----

    Senator Smith. I think that's correct.

    Ms. White [continuing]. Over the course of their lives and 
post-secondary experiences. Dual enrollment has been mentioned. 
That's critically important, right?

    Senator Smith. This is what's happening in this facility, 
this great program in Moorhead where you have dual enrollment. 
I know this is happening all over the place.

    I think, Chair Sanders, what we need to figure out is how 
to do--is to make sure that our WIOA programs are reinforcing 
this kind of innovation that's happening at the local level, 
rather than creating sort of a bureaucratic maze for 
organizations, or students, or educators, or employers that 
want to participate to kind of their way through.

    Ms. White. Right. Absolutely. The one thing I would add to 
it too, is that so much of this momentum that you're 
referencing is happening in schools, led by schools, or out-of-
school providers that work with public education.

    The WIOA system primarily serves students who are 
disconnected from that system. And one challenge that I think 
this population will have as programs--these in-school programs 
explode really, and I do think they will, is that those are not 
necessarily the young people that employers look to first.

    We need to ensure that WIOA remains strong, and continues 
to support programs for the students who face the greatest 
barriers to employment and may not have access to or maybe 
overlooked as some of these really excellent school-based 
programs evolve, keeping them connected to those programs, 
using them as strategies for re-engagement, and ensuring that 
there are incentives in place for employers to work with these 
hard-to-serve kids, is going to be a really important step to 
ensure that we can create these opportunities and really expand 
their benefit for all.

    Senator Smith. Thank you so much, Chair Sanders. And I'll 
just say this to Ranking Member Cassidy as well. This is a bill 
I have with Senator Collins, and Senator Graham, and Senator 
Wyden, and I'm going to be hoping that we can get this included 
in our bill.

    I have another question, which I will provide in writing, 
focused on supportive services. And just what a big deal it is 
if you don't have access to transportation, or childcare, or a 
little bit of extra training. What a big barrier that is to 
being able to keep or get a job. So, I'll follow-up with that 
in writing. Thank you.

    The Chair. Thank you.

    Senator Marshall.

    Senator Marshall. Well, thank you, Chairman Sanders. I want 
to start by offering a letter on behalf of Senator Budd. It's 
from the North Carolina Chamber regarding Pell Grant 
eligibility. So, on behalf of Senator Budd, I'd like to ask 
unanimous consent to enter to the record a letter of support 
for his bill, the Promoting Employment and Lifelong Learning 
Act from the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce.

    [The following information can be found on page 96 in 
Additional Material:]

    The Chair. Without objection.

    Senator Marshall. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And again, 
welcome to all of our panel and making the efforts to give us 
some advice here.

    I'm going to start with Ms. White. When it comes to youth 
apprenticeships we grew up in an era where we all had summer 
jobs and part-time jobs. And when I go back home, employers 
tell me they have a hard time getting through the barriers of 
apprenticeships coming on board.

    Instead of adding more regulations, are there some 
regulations we could tweak to maybe give those youth and other 
people more of an opportunity for apprenticeships?

    Ms. White. Sure. I'm happy to take that. Thank you for the 
question, Senator. So, I think to some extent, the complaints 
from employers around registration for apprenticeships they're 
legitimate. I'm actually trying to register my very own 
apprenticeship right now. We are hiring one at my place of 
employment, and it can be challenging.

    I think many states have invested in state-level 
intermediaries that have provided really significant guidance 
to employers to expedite that process. They take on a lot of 
the administrative burden to sort of expedite kind of the 
creation of the program and the registration from start to 
finish.

    I think there are a number of ways that registration could 
be simplified and expedited. One thing, I think, could go a 
long way toward the expansion of these programs at the local 
and state level are program standards that develop through 
things like sector partnerships.

    Often, the hardest part of building these programs is 
employers saying; I don't know how to put the pieces together. 
I don't know what a work process schedule is. I don't know how 
to specify the skills and competencies that these folks need. I 
can tell you what they should do, but I don't know how to write 
it.

    To the extent that we can create shared resources to help 
expedite that process for youth and for adults, I think we'll 
see greater uptake.

    Senator Marshall. Okay. I'll go to Dr. Bradley next. One of 
my sayings, ``If you can't measure it, you can't manage it.'' 
And if you don't have the data timely, it doesn't do me any 
good.

    As we work through this WIOA authorization, we have a bill 
that would require the Department of Labor to implement 
performance indicators within 6 months of enactment and provide 
monthly technical assistance to local workforce boards. Can you 
just give me your perspective on the importance of those timely 
reports and implementations?

    Dr. Bradley. Thank you, Senator. That's an excellent 
question. And that's been one of the issues in the system; it's 
data lag. The reason that up-to-date, more real-time data is so 
important is because things change quickly. And you want 
training providers and workforce boards to be able to respond 
to what's happening now, not describing a situation 6 months 
ago.

    Also, in terms of understanding training providers that 
have positive outcomes. If there's a year or 2 years lag of 
that, and they're not a good training provider, they're not 
getting good results. You want to know that sooner rather than 
later because of the good stewardship of public dollars in the 
WIOA system. So, it's really important both from an agility 
standpoint, but also to know what's working.

    Senator Marshall. Thank you. Mr. Dickerson, my wife and I 
are community college graduates. So, proud of my community 
colleges and technical colleges and their ability to flex from 
moment to moment. In a rural community where there's 
agriculture, one community college as the Diesel Mechanic 
School. Maybe where the wind energy is popping up, a community 
college quickly offers a 2-year degree in wind energy, and 
where there's manufacturing, maybe it's a focus on welding and 
other skills like that.

    How do you see the opportunity for short-term Pell Grants 
in those types of programs? Is that something that would be a 
good idea, short-term Pell Grants?

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, sir. I absolutely believe that'd be a 
great opportunity for our adult population to get into the 
workforce faster through certified programs. Now, the other 
part of that is, yes, the funding's available, but do you have 
industry leading those discussions and developing those 
programs on the other side of it? And I think that's a critical 
aspect that can't be overlooked.

    I'm proud to say Louisiana Delta Community College, which 
is our community college in Monroe and the northeast side of 
the state, work with industry often and become flexible in the 
short-term programs that we need. So, I know that'd be a 
positive step for this relationship.

    Senator Marshall. Thank you. Appreciate that.

    The Chair. Thank you.

    Senator Kaine.

    Senator Kaine. Thank you, Chair Sanders, and thanks to all 
the witnesses.

    I'll just begin with you, Dr. Bradley. I'm only now 
starting to find a spirit of forgiveness in my heart for you, 
for hiring Karishma Merchant away from my Senate staff. She's 
sitting there in the front row, but I am finding a sense of 
forgiveness after----

    Dr. Bradley. Please forgive me.

    Senator Kaine.--8 months.

    [Laughter.]

    Senator Kaine. I want to talk to Dr. Sullivan and really 
builds on Senator Marshall's questions about the importance of 
training services. Not everybody can access a 4-year degree or 
even a 2-year degree. But we also know that by 2031, more than 
70 percent of jobs will require some form of post-secondary 
education or training beyond high school. And that's why I have 
long been a champion of expanding Pell Grant to include high 
quality short-term education and training programs.

    One of the real virtues of the Pell program is how we've 
made it flexible over the years, full-time students, part-time 
students. I'm really happy that we recently, within the last 2 
years, went back to an original part of Pell, which was folks 
who were incarcerated, who are trying to gain college and 
skills so that they can be successful. Once they're released, 
they can now qualify for Pell, and that's leading to some 
significant pickup and offering courses to those individuals.

    But I do believe the next expansion and flexibility of Pell 
should be for high quality, short-term education, and training 
programs. Senator Braun on the Committee, he and I have 
introduced the JOBS Act. We have over 45 bipartisan co-
sponsors, including 10 on this Committee. I want to thank Chair 
Sanders for agreeing that this will be marked up later this 
summer.

    Different community colleges have kind of embraced this 
notion in tandem with their own state legislatures and 
Governors. Virginia Community College has a FastForward program 
to focus on state funding for these short-term, high-quality 
programs, and the results have been pretty strong given your 
experience both in Virginia and Louisiana.

    Can you speak to the value of these programs, sort of 
picking up on what Mr. Dickerson just said?

    Dr. Sullivan. Certainly. Thank you for the question, and 
thank you for your leadership around this issue. I know, 
personally, you have understood career and technical education 
for many years. Personally, you invested your own time in that 
space.

    Workforce Pell, I think, is a huge part of the solution of 
educating and skilling American people. The American worker 
today, the biggest issue they face is time. And so, when we say 
to them, go get an associate degree, and they say, I don't have 
the time.

    What we should be offering them is an opportunity that gets 
them the skills to get to work, but that's not the end. That's 
the beginning, and ensuring that workforce Pell allows those 
programs high quality, high value for that individual that gets 
them into the work.

    But then we have our employer partners who we need help to 
pull people through that economy to make sure that as the jobs 
change, they're able to be educated and skilled and stay on top 
of that economy.

    Senator Kaine. I do acknowledge what Senator Marshall said. 
Our community colleges are often really flexible. So, Central 
Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, they offer different 
programs than J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College in 
Richmond, because they're pretty attuned to the dynamics of the 
local economy and local workforce needs.

    The last thing I'll just say on this is I really celebrate 
work that we've done in the last couple years to do an 
Infrastructure bill. And I really celebrate work that we've 
done to do a Manufacturing bill, but who's going to build it? 
Who's going to make it? This is a challenge that I'm hearing 
from all my employers, so I look forward to working more on 
this.

    Ms. Taylor White, a question about youth unemployment. Just 
one more question. Young people who are disconnected from both 
school and work represent a critical pool of untapped talent 
and opportunity for economic mobility in this country.

    Some call this group of people disconnected youth, but I 
think the term that I've heard my colleague Bobby Scott use is 
Opportunity Youth, which I like, and I have what would be 
similar to legislation he's promoted on the House, the Opening 
Doors for Youth Act to expand employment opportunities for 
these young people who do not have a current connection either 
to school or employment.

    According to a recent report from the Center for American 
Progress, while the post-pandemic labor market has seen 
increased participation from young people ages 16 to 19, 
there's still millions that do face barriers to employment. How 
can WIOA better support young people to reconnect to both 
education and the economy?

    Ms. White. Thank you for the question, Senator. I mean, I 
think the easiest answer through WIOA is the expansion of 
access to work experiences. They have been proven to yield 
results in the short-and long-term for young people's outcome, 
labor market outcomes.

    I think to the extent that WIOA can be leveraged to create 
more of those paid work opportunities for young people and to 
create incentives for employers to hire these young people who 
pay face significant barriers to entry to the labor market, 
that's one way to make sure that young people that are served 
by WIOA have access to these jobs. You're right, youth 
unemployment is at 9, almost 9.5 percent right now, which is 
pretty high.

    Senator Kaine. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well I'm going 
to keep going since they're talking about----

    [Laughter.]

    Senator Kaine. Does anybody else just want to say something 
about this youth employment and kind of the opportunity to 
better connect young people either to school or work with WIOA.

    Mr. Dickerson. From an employer standpoint, in our 
conversations, we acknowledge work experience is valuable, 
apprenticeships are valuable. One challenge and one question I 
would ask our panelists and this Committee to consider is there 
needs to be an education for business and industry leaders on 
how to effectively do that. Because we have some real 
challenges of bringing young people into our manufacturing 
facility.

    But we have opportunities. Like we have a business academy 
in Northeast Louisiana that allow students to go into the 
business office setting, which is a much safer environment than 
a manufacturing facility. And so, considering some of those 
resources and those conversations, I think, would be 
beneficial.

    Senator Kaine. Great. Please, Dr. Bly-Jones.

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I just want to build on that because I think 
we've talked a lot about adding additional funds for 
individuals. I want to accentuate the point that Mr. Dickerson 
just made in terms of resources to work with local employers. I 
think that's an important component.

    Oftentimes, local workforce boards are tasked with working 
with employers and don't necessarily have the additional 
resources to convene for those sector partnerships to educate 
employers on the best way to work with youth in those work-
based learning experiences. And so, I would elevate the point 
that was mentioned before, that we need the resources to 
actually help with some of those sector partnerships as well.

    Senator Kaine. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

    The Chair. Senator Marshall.

    Senator Marshall. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Bly-
Jones. If we were to start a program like yours in Kansas City, 
Wichita, bigger city, what would be the most important advice 
you'd give us? What would be the things to not do, perhaps?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. Thank you for the question and considering 
creating a jobs council in Kansas City.

    [Laughter.]

    Senator Marshall. We probably have something like it, but 
I'm still just trying--I think that lessons learned are always 
good to go over.

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I love the sound of it because it really is 
about systemic change and it is about coalition building. And 
so, a lot of the work we do is in partnership. One of the 
things I want to echo, we've heard a lot of how separate our 
systems are. Really, WIOA is about integrating all of these 
systems.

    We've talked about K-12, we've talked about adult Ed, we've 
talked about individuals with disabilities. We talked about the 
stigmas that are attached to individuals that have criminal 
records. We've talked about the need for educators to be 
employed to be educated employers, to be educated about how the 
system works, and how they can best leverage this system for 
talent acquisition.

    I would say to get the partners that are required in the 
workforce ecosystem, all of the partners that I've mentioned, 
and then think about your local economy and what skills are 
needed to actually fill those jobs. We heard that there are a 
lot of jobs and there are a lot of people who are unemployed. 
And so, making sure that we're skilling them up for the jobs 
that actually exist.

    Senator Marshall. What would you say are the impediments to 
success? What is the most common reasons people drop out of 
this program you're outlining?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I think we talk about getting individuals 
jobs. I think we have to be mindful about quality jobs. I think 
we have to think about the benefits that come with employment, 
and what it costs to maintain employment. We talked about the 
supportive services that are needed, whether that is the 
transportation or whether that is affordable childcare.

    Another crisis we have in the country now is mental health. 
And so, even including that when we talk about our youth, and 
we talk about our adults, and the trauma that individuals have 
endured, I think mental health is another component that needs 
to be included when we think about supportive services as well.

    It's those wraparound services from the point of the person 
actually getting the job, to actually keeping the job. The 
retention component.

    The Chair. Thank you. Let me ask kind of a simple question 
here. What has been brought up by a number of Senators is the 
fact that we put many, many, many billions of dollars into 
rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and yet we don't have 
the kind of skilled workforce that we need in order to move 
that as rapidly as we would like.

    What I've heard in Vermont, and I would like you to comment 
on this, is it's one thing to talk about giving people the 
skills, but to give people the skills you need to have. 
Somebody knows the profession. I can't teach them to be a 
plumber unless I'm a good plumber, or an electrician, or 
whatever.

    What I've heard in Vermont is, especially in the schools, 
to get somebody who has the skills out of the workforce to 
become a teacher becomes a whole project unto itself. Not to 
mention if he's making $100,000 dollars as a plumber, and I'm 
going to pay him $50,000 as a teacher, he isn't going to do it. 
Is that an issue that we're running into around the country? 
Who wants to speak to that?

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, sir.

    The Chair. Dr. Sullivan.

    Mr. Dickerson. I'll give an example. In Northeast 
Louisiana, we have manufacturing companies and other companies 
that are partnering with those school districts where they 
actually allow employees to take a couple of hours a day and go 
teach at a certain school district in that area. And that's 
what's happening at the----

    The Chair. Paid by the employer----

    Mr. Dickerson. The employer----

    The Chair.--As part of their job in a sense.

    Mr. Dickerson.--That's right.

    The Chair. That's interesting.

    Mr. Dickerson. I think that's the model of partnership at 
the local level that we're seeing that I hope can be seen at 
the Federal level is the work and the success is going to 
happen at the local level. The more of these conversations from 
local----

    The Chair. Let me get it straight. So, you're working for 
me, you're a skilled worker. I'm going to pay you to go to a 
local school. You'll get your salary.

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, sir.

    The Chair. What about the teaching skills? I mean, you 
could be a great worker and not necessarily a great teacher. 
How do you deal with that one?

    Dr. Sullivan. Transition largely for us is aimed at 
retiring individuals, maybe plumbers, maybe process operators 
as they retire out, we're bringing them into the college and it 
takes time. We need to spend time with them to help them 
understand pedagogy, how to teach.

    The Chair. Exactly. All right. So, you could be a great 
plumber, but not a great teacher.

    Dr. Sullivan. Yes.

    The Chair. All right.

    Dr. Jones.

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I was just going to point to the gap in pay 
in terms of bringing a professional in, and it is best to 
actually recruit from those who are actually looking to retire 
soon.

    The Chair. If you have sympathetic employers, does his idea 
makes sense to you, having an employer pay?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I think at the local community, that level 
of engagement is what I think you saw when you walked into that 
high school. The excitement that a young person or any person 
has when they're contributing to their local economy. So, being 
able to work as a local employer and be able to contribute in 
K-12 or even the community college, that's what we're looking 
for in community investment.

    The Chair. I have the sense that at least in some school 
districts what you are suggesting, which kind of makes common 
sense, somebody may say, well, you don't have the teaching 
certificates that you need or qualifications. Are we running 
in--is that a bureaucratic problem, or who wants to speak to 
that one?

    Mr. Dickerson. Go ahead. Well, I know while I was in the 
school district we had the certifications to train up those 
teachers that would transition. But what I'm specifically 
talking to is more of a collaboration approach of--it might not 
be a person moving out of their career and into a career in 
education. As much as it is, we're going to teach this class 
because we have a shortage, and that's really the relationship 
at the local level.

    The Chair. Senator Romney.

    Senator Romney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When I was serving 
as Governor of Massachusetts, I would hear occasionally some 
stories that gave me some concern. Let's say that a lumper in 
Massachusetts--by the way, you probably don't know what a 
lumper is, but this is a person who unloads a fishing boat and 
works in a canning factory, a fishing factory.

    This person lost their job because of overfishing, or 
regulation, or whatever--I'm not getting into that--but if they 
lost their job, they then were overwhelmed with the process of 
trying to get unemployment and maybe some housing vouchers and 
perhaps TANF. And then they needed job training because those 
lumping jobs are not going to come back.

    I looked at how many Federal job training programs there 
were. There were 49 at the time. And I would hear that a person 
that had lost their job was overwhelmed with the complexity of 
getting help. And I mean, is that a real problem? Do people who 
are in one profession that maybe is going away and need help, 
do they have a hard time figuring out how to access various 
government programs that might be available to them? Dr. Bly-
Jones, do you have any thoughts on that?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. Usually what happens--thank you for the 
question--usually what happens is it's a rapid response team 
that goes out and they are notified at the state level when an 
employer is actually facing a layoff of individuals. And so, a 
rapid response team is sent out to that employer to talk to 
individuals about the resources that exist. So, it's at that 
time that they may learn about the different Federal services 
that you mentioned.

    In theory, it would be seamless and that is the intention. 
And then they go from there into what is referred to as 
American Jobs Centers that are located in most local 
communities, again, to be able to actually access resource----

    Senator Romney. But the job centers are not going to have 
TANF, or housing vouchers, or unemployment insurance. Right?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. No. They would have an individual you would 
talk to, and they would have all of those services there. It is 
considered a one-stop center.

    Senator Romney. Not at the job center. The one-stop center, 
that's what I'm getting to, which is, a Governor smarter than 
me, Mike Leavitt of Utah had an idea, which instead of having 
all these offices separate, the job training, and the TANF, and 
the Housing and so forth, let's have one office and let that 
one office help an individual that became unemployed. And that 
worked extremely well for the State of Utah.

    That, unfortunately, is prohibited under law at the Federal 
level. We can't put those offices together. And only one state 
was grandfathered to allow that to occur. And that was the 
State of Utah. I have introduced a piece of legislation which 
is known as the One Door to Work Act, which would allow as many 
as five other states to be able to also do what Utah does, 
which is have a one-stop place where individuals can go to get 
help with unemployment Housing, TANF, food stamps, as well as 
job training.

    Mr. Dickerson, you come from Louisiana. Louisiana is one of 
the states that said we would love to be able to do that. And 
I'm delighted that for instance, the Ranking Member and other 
Members of this Committee support this idea. Is that something 
that you believe would be helpful in your state?

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, sir. That's the work of our Louisiana 
Workforce and Social Service Reform Task Force that was put 
together by the Governor and our Secretary of Workforce and 
Department of Child and Family Services as well.

    It's both sides of it. It's not only for the employee, but 
also for the employer. But to your point one challenge that 
we've heard in our conversations at the local level around the 
one-door policy is to make sure that those one-stop centers are 
appropriately staffed to accommodate all of those services, and 
that those staff members are educated so that when that 
individual does come in, they not only get access to the 
services, but the service delivery mechanism is there to meet 
them. And that's something we would support.

    Senator Romney. Yes. Excellent. I would just note one more 
thing, which is that Governor Leavitt, and the Utah program, 
assigns a caseworker. As soon as someone becomes unemployed, 
they get a caseworker who begins helping them with everything 
from the support they need for safety net services at the same 
time, to laying out a plan for getting them back into the 
workforce and training.

    It's an extraordinary program working well in the State of 
Utah, and I'm delighted that the Ranking Member and others in 
this Committee support this idea of letting at least five other 
states get the chance to try this on a temporary basis and see 
if it's working well for them. I know Louisiana, Texas, other 
states have said, please let us do this. Thank you so much, Mr. 
Chairman.

    The Chair. Yes.

    Senator Marshall. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to 
enter into the record a letter from 46 business groups and 
think tanks expressing support for Senate Bill S. 3825, Senator 
Romney's One Door to Work Act.

    [The following information can be found on page 90 in 
Additional Material:]

    The Chair. Without objection.

    Senator Murray.

    Senator Murray. Well, thank you very much, Chairman 
Sanders, for having this really critical hearing. When I was a 
young teenager, my dad got MS. We have seven kids in our 
family, and the only reason we were able to get back on our 
feet was a workforce training job that gave my mom some skills 
to get a job. It really saved our family. So, these are really 
important.

    Now today, because Democrats passed laws that made 
generational investments in American manufacturing and 
infrastructure and clean energy, we are seeing historic job 
growth. And in every corner of my State of Washington, I hear 
from businesses who need more skilled workers to grow and 
compete. Workers who want to learn new skills and start new 
careers so they can set themselves and their families up for a 
success.

    Investing in workforce training doesn't just help build a 
strong economy from some statistical level. It really changes 
lives and it helps people working parents like my mom. That is 
exactly why I'm so passionate about doing a strong bipartisan 
reauthorization of our Federal workforce programs.

    Mr. Chairman, 10 years ago, I worked alongside my 
Republican colleagues, the late Senator Isakson to pass the 
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act back then. Just like 
now, we had a divided Congress with a Democratic Senate and a 
Republican House. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but we 
also knew it was going to be worth it, and that we could make a 
real progress if we listened to each other and listened to 
folks back home, and focused on where we could agree and what 
could actually make a difference for people.

    Now, no one got everything they wanted at that time, but in 
the end, we all got a bill that we were very proud of, and a 
bill that was really helpful for workers and businesses and the 
economy. So, there's no question in my mind that we can do that 
again, and it is way past time to build on that progress so we 
can keep our economy strong and put the American worker first, 
which is why this conversation is so important today. So, I 
really appreciate us having this hearing.

    Ms. White, according to the National Center for Educational 
Statistics, just over one in 10 young people are neither 
enrolled in school or are working. Currently, WIOA requires 75 
percent of funding for youth be set aside for out-of-school 
youth to get connected to the critical employment and training 
resources services they need. But we have a lot more work to 
do. Can you talk to us about the importance of reaching out-of-
school youth in the WIOA funding?

    Ms. White. Absolutely. Thank you for the question, Senator 
Murray. For the out-of-school youth who have disconnected, the 
public workforce system is often their place of last resort. 
It's really their last lifeline to reconnect to training, to 
education into the labor market.

    Under the current version of the bill, 75 percent, as you 
said, is required to go toward that population of Opportunity 
Youth. That introduction in 2014 has allowed for WIOA to serve 
more vulnerable youth than was previously possible under the 
prior bill.

    I think the legislation must retain a requirement that a 
majority of funds be devoted to the most vulnerable young 
people. At the same time, I don't know that there is a perfect 
flat number that works in every single community. There are 
communities that would like to and have found ways to dedicate 
resources to keep students connected to school rather than 
reaching them after they withdraw.

    There are lots of interesting ideas out there around 
assigning priority for service frameworks that could help local 
workforce boards make decisions about how and when to 
intervene, and how and when to serve young people that I think 
could be really effective and reflect the expertise of local 
workforce professionals.

    That said, I do think it's critical that we retain a very 
clear requirement on the percentage of funds that must go to 
that population.

    Senator Murray. Very good. Thank you. I appreciate that.

    Dr. Bradley, we work to strengthen the quality guardrails 
in the 2024 reauthorization, and the last several years have 
really shown us that we've got more work to do. So, as we work 
on this lot 10 years later, what more can we do to strengthen 
the quality of the training provided, including through 
stronger requirements for eligible training providers in their 
programs?

    Dr. Bradley. Thank you, Senator. You're right. There's 
always work to be done on this issue. And I think that one of 
the things at JFF that we've learned, we talked to a lot of 
state practitioners, and I think there's some really good state 
examples. New Jersey is doing some great work in this area, 
Alabama, Minnesota, to kind of build in quality measures. 
They're doing this at the state level, but lessons could be 
learned at the Federal level.

    I think that regular ETPL update more regular than exists 
now, which is part of the House bill, I think something akin to 
having states do like a college scorecard, but for the 
workforce system. And I also think that there are other steps 
you can take to allowing locals, for example, to have more say 
about providers in their area. Right now, the eligible training 
provider list is set at the state level.

    Another thing that the House bill does that may improve 
qualities, they have this contingent eligibility mechanism that 
would allow maybe training providers that have a promising 
practice. And it could be high quality, but may not have been 
around for a long time to sort of receive payment in a 
structured way, sort of as they meet performance outcomes.

    Senator Murray. Is there a way to track those outcomes so 
we know that somebody got a quality training at a program?

    Dr. Bradley. There are. And one of the things that I think 
can help on that is that a lot of times wage records are used 
to track outcomes. And one of the things specifying that 
there's a specific state agency that's sort of responsible for 
the backend work on tracking outcomes because they have access 
to the wage record data. That would be another improvement. 
Glad to discuss further.

    Senator Murray. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. 
Chairman.

    The Chair. Senator Tuberville.

    Senator Tuberville. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Whenever I 
hear from my folks back in Alabama workforces, top of their 
mind--we're struggling right now in our state. Struggling to 
fill jobs, struggling to match up the right people with the 
right job, struggling to keep businesses open, struggling to 
keep cost affordable. It's a huge problem. Reauthorization of 
the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act will be a huge step in 
the right direction. I think we all agree with that.

    Now, I know my colleagues on both sides, they all have been 
hearing a lot about this issue. We've all discussed it, and 
people across the country have been speaking up offering 
solutions. A lot of my colleagues have spoken up and presented 
their ideas. And I have, one, myself, introduced a Workforce 
Data Act yesterday. This bill is simple. It was developed in 
coordination with stakeholders across the WIOA system, and it 
would help ensure these Federal dollars are getting to the 
right folks.

    My bill would improve data sharing within the WIOA's 
system, and allow local boards and providers access to wage 
data from the unemployment insurance system. This would allow 
them to measure performance with better and more accurate 
measures of success. We will be able to determine which 
training is working and which folks are being helped by these 
programs. Pretty straight forward and simple. Hopefully we can 
do something with this.

    Mr. Dickerson you started your career as a high school 
coach, I think we have a little bit in common. And thank you 
for your service, because teaching is a service, coaching is a 
service. Can you tell us about what employers are looking at 
from the WIOA system?

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, sir. Thank you for the question. And 
some of my fondest memories were as a high school coach, and 
there's a lot of lessons that can be applied in the business as 
well.

    But from an industry standpoint, I think a partnership in 
our workforce development is what we're looking for. And I made 
a statement in my testimony that it's our time to really step 
up and help bridge that gap. But for too long and for too many 
years, especially since Covid, I think business and industries 
are spending more internal dollars on developing their own 
workforce because of the lack of participation from the 
external. And that's just sustainable for a business and our 
budget.

    Considering a strong partnership with our community 
partners, our local workforce boards, our community technical 
college system is what we'd really be looking forward to.

    Senator Tuberville. Is the current system working?

    Mr. Dickerson. I think there's challenges with the current 
system that make it difficult to be successful. I think we have 
some spotlights in Northeast Louisiana that I'm proud of to say 
that we are working, but not to scale and not to meet the 
demand of employers in our areas.

    Senator Tuberville. Yes. Education is the opportunity for 
our kids in the country. And I heard even earlier about people 
that have lost their jobs, which is rightly so. Education, all 
my life, our education system has abandoned us in some degree. 
We need to do a lot more work with that.

    I know I have two huge manufacturing plants in Mobile. We 
make commercial jets, we make ships and submarines, and they 
have gone out recruiting in McDonald's and Walmart to train 
people how to weld and how to do plumbing and electricity. Some 
of the best workers. We can't sustain our Country like that. We 
can't do it. It's got to be done through the educational 
system.

    Too many of our kids go to 4-year schools that they don't 
need to go. I've watched that. I was part of that. And so, kids 
that come and get a degree in something that they could never 
get a job and had to go work at Walmart. So, Mr. Sullivan, why 
is WIOA funding having such a minimum impact on our broader 
workforce needs?

    Dr. Sullivan. Thank you for the question. I think it's 
important to note the funding level of WIOA. I think it was 
referenced at about $3 billion. Just for a sake of reference, 
the Federal Pell Program is about $30 billion. So, just let 
that sink in for a second about the scope and scale.

    Think about the number of colleges that are available and 
the ability to be able to scale, as you heard Mr. Dickerson say 
a few minutes ago, to ensure that everyone has that 
opportunity. I think that's where we've got to find a way. But 
the reality is, there are very few people out of the 150,000 
that we have educated every year in Louisiana's community and 
technical colleges that are funded via WIOA. That number is 
likely very similar to the number that you have in Alabama, 
somewhere around the 1,100 or 1,200 range.

    Senator Tuberville. Yes. We're in a tough situation. I'm 
all for Pell Grants. I dealt with them for years with football 
players and all that. The problem is, I think they're misused, 
but we could use Pell Grant more for workforce development, for 
kids that just want to specify on something. I think that 
junior colleges, obviously, there's a lot of things that we can 
do to help, but we just don't do it. We talk about it. We don't 
do it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    The Chair. Senator Markey.

    Senator Markey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We cannot solve 
our current significant overdose crisis without programs that 
support workers. This is why the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act demonstration grants funding workforce 
development programs in states, counties, and towns with 
widespread opioid use are so important.

    In New Bedford, Massachusetts, for example, this funding 
enabled 140 formerly incarcerated individuals to get training 
for high-demand jobs with a living wage in the maritime trade 
industry.

    As the public health crisis evolves with rising 
polysubstance use disorder and substances like xylazine finding 
its way into fentanyl, we have to fund these programs 
permanently.

    Mr. Bradley, in your testimony, you state that workforce 
development is essential to help every individual create and 
sustain a career that will enable them to support themselves 
and their loved ones. Why is it important for WIOA to fund 
programs that allow people impacted by substance use disorder 
to find meaningful, dignified, and well-paid work?

    Dr. Bradley. Thank you, Senator. Yes, it's important. I 
think you've hit on a key point here, which is that people who 
interact with the workforce development system are coming from 
all different circumstances, all different sets of needs, 
different sets of backgrounds, different sets of challenges and 
barriers.

    In one of the programs that you're talking about, the DOL 
did a couple of pilot programs, demonstration programs, through 
the authority of WIOA in sort of 2018, 2019, related to the 
opioid crisis. And because of the flexibility that they had 
under the demonstration authority, they were able to move into 
this area.

    I don't think opioids is like mentioned in the statute of 
WIOA, but when crises happen, DOL is able to direct some of its 
resources at the national level toward these. So, I guess, I 
would say that it's important to remember that not everybody 
coming into the system has similar challenges, similar needs. 
There needs to be some flexibility about the type of 
programming to meet them where they are.

    Senator Markey. Senator Romney was talking about the 
fishing industry in Massachusetts earlier, and New Bedford is 
the largest port in the United States' fishing ports. And so, 
this is the kind of program that is working to help people to 
be able to make a new life for themselves.

    YouthBuild is a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 
program that serves over 5,000 16-to 24-year-olds who are not 
working and are not in school. The young people enrolled in 
YouthBuild obtain a high school degree, learn trades by 
building affordable housing in their community, and gain 
fundamental jobs skills. These programs help kids get 
opportunities they were previously denied and give them the 
tools to build the pathway to their future.

    My YouthBuild for the Future Act would support this crucial 
work by providing more funding. That programs can use more 
flexibly. This program works, which is why we need to provide 
enough funding for it by allowing Department of Labor funds to 
match AmeriCorps funds.

    YouthBuild will also need flexibility in spending funds 
such as being able to provide meals to participants. We cannot 
expect young people to learn while they're hungry. So, Ms. 
White, why is it important to fully and flexibly fund 
YouthBuild?

    Ms. White. Thank you for the question, Senator, from my 
home state. So, as you mentioned, YouthBuild provides critical 
training opportunities for young people who face really 
significant barriers to employment. And they provide a really 
important service to the communities where they're working in, 
in building homes.

    A big part of the flexibility that you mentioned, I think 
is important because as we've seen in YouthBuild, there are 
really positive short-term outcomes for young people. There's 
less evidence that over time those positive benefits are 
retained.

    Many of the programs that are having really strong results 
today have been able to forge partnerships with community 
colleges, with AmeriCorps, with other organizations, so that 
young people who complete those programs have a warm handoff to 
a clear next step.

    Flexible resources for YouthBuild programs to continue 
developing strong partnerships with employers in their 
communities connecting to apprenticeship programs and forging 
partnerships with community colleges in other education 
programs so those young people have a very clear and supported 
transition. When the program ends, we'll help ensure that 
YouthBuild continues to be successful and increases the long-
term benefits for its participants as well.

    Senator Markey. Thank you. Thank you for your work. And Dr. 
Bly-Jones, could you talk about why it's important to have 
workforce training in the clean energy sector, this growth 
sector for our economy?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. Thank you for the question. And so, it's 
important, and I have to say under the leadership of my 
Governor, J.B. Pritzker, he signed into legislation. So, we are 
actually using state funds for the Clean Energy Jobs Act. And 
it is really about making sure that we have renewable energy.

    It's also comprehensive. It's an example of the sector 
partnership that I talked about when I talked about working 
with contractors, talking about the communities that have been 
affected by pollution, and making sure those individuals are a 
part of the skills development for those clean energy jobs that 
we will have in Illinois.

    In addition to that, we've also included the population 
that we referenced earlier; those returning citizens. So, we 
are being intentional about the population. We are being 
intentional working on both sides of the equation with the job 
training program, but also with the contractors, and 
subcontractors, and the employment piece to make sure that we 
are not training individuals for jobs that don't exist, but 
that we are doing the match on the front end and ensuring that 
the employers are engaged with us throughout the entire 
process, and that's a true sector partnership.

    Senator Markey. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    The Chair. Senator Braun.

    Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I come from a place 
in Southern Indiana, where I live in a town in a county that's 
got one of the lowest unemployment rates, both town and county. 
And our state, we're the biggest manufacturing state per 
capita. We've got a place called Ivy Tech, that's that bridge 
between what should be done in high school. Like, it used to be 
done to where you don't need a bridge on basic skills. Sue 
Ellspermann, who runs Ivy Tech gave me some disturbing news 
that they've got a labor participation rate of 86 percent, want 
to take a crack at our 63. So, they do what I remember years 
ago to where every high school was emphasizing career and 
technical education, the pathway there I think has been 
oversold. It's also too darn expensive to boot.

    I'm interested. Have we really changed the dynamic? So, you 
don't need as much participation here. We definitely need that 
flexibility to where Pell money can be used for that. But let's 
go back to the source of the issue.

    I was on our school board and found out the guidance 
counselors were stigmatizing against stuff we're talking about. 
And that's where it's got to start with transparency. Maybe a 
portal here, at least in every state, what are the high-demand, 
high-wage jobs so parents and kids can clearly see it and then 
get establishment education behind it to where they're telling 
kids and parents what makes more sense, especially when you 
look at what the cost of a college education was 40 years ago 
compared to what it is now.

    A lot of times the end result is you get exported out of 
state to find a job with a bad degree or back into the 
basement. So, I'd like each one of you to comment on, if we do 
all of this, we put more programs behind it.

    When I was in our state legislature seven, 8 years ago, we 
were spending $1 billion on 19 different programs, and none of 
them are really doing that much good. And the true solution is 
maybe not K through 6, but it's middle school through high 
school when it's a bargain for education and getting everything 
lined up with transparency and proper guidance.

    We'll start with Ms. White, and try to keep it to 30 
seconds or so, so I can hear everybody's opinion.

    Ms. White. Thank you for the question, Senator. So, I mean, 
I think your point about alignment is spot on. I think that's 
something that has to happen between our middle schools, or 
high schools, and post-secondary training and education 
options.

    One thing I would emphasize, I had a chance to travel last 
year with the delegation from Indiana to the institute in 
Switzerland, where there's a team right now. One thing I want 
to underscore about what's so different about that system is 
the employer leadership and the employer coordination. That's a 
really big difference. The employers are not just playing a 
role in hiring students for work-based learning. They are 
working hand in hand with educators to define that curriculum. 
And we need mechanisms in place to make that happen stronger 
and more rapidly.

    Senator Braun. Good point, because they were detached in 
Indiana from that equation. They just thought the system was 
going to produce it automatically.

    Dr. Bradley.

    Dr. Bradley. Thank you, Senator. Yes, one, I agree with you 
that there needs to be some connectivity and continuity, and I 
think one of the ways of looking at successful dual enrollment 
programs.

    When you're in high school being dually enrolled in an 
institute of higher education, and people can start--students 
can start to understand what they might want to go into and 
start building the skills and abilities to do that. But you're 
introduced at a younger age, and there's a clear path forward 
just out. The idea is it doesn't just stop in 12th grade. You 
can see the future.

    Senator Braun. Dr. Sullivan.

    Dr. Sullivan. Senator, thank you for your leadership, 
certainly on the JOBS Act. but I'll tell you, I think a lot of 
what we've heard today is about blending what we have 
traditionally thought of in different frames of education. 
Things are different today. Even dual enrollment is effectively 
a blending of K-12 in post-secondary.

    What I would urge is a much less of a siloed approach, and 
an approach that allows individuals to have dollars to be able 
to go out and find the training that has the greatest value for 
them, but not to limit that to a one-shot deal.

    A final point, do not drop benefits just because an 
individual gets a job. What we know is that there's a benefits 
cliff that is happening in this country that needs to be 
smoothed out, that allows an individual to get a job and keep 
those benefits.

    Dr. Bly-Jones. Thank you, Senator. I have three words that 
I'm going to use. I'm going to use awareness, coordination, and 
alignment.

    Aware of the actual occupations that exist in that local 
community, local economy. Alignment with the actual systems 
that we've talked about. So, talking about the employer, 
talking about the schools, the jobs, and all of those 
supportive services. And coordination, everything has to be 
coordinated. We've talked about this. We've talked about 
needing more resources, but the way to best utilize and 
leverage resources is to make sure they're properly 
coordinated. Thank you,

    Senator Braun. Mr. Dickerson.

    Mr. Dickerson. Yes, Senator. I want to talk about a couple 
of things that are, I would say, actionable that are happening 
in Northeast Louisiana. One, one conversation you talked about 
the stigma between college-bound and career-bound education. 
And our belief and our message is that every student is a 
career-bound student, whether that's immediately after high 
school, 4 years, or 16 years. When they complete high school, 
they're going to end up in our workplaces. And so, we want to 
celebrate working in our area.

    The second thing is our sector partnership. The Northeast 
Louisiana Manufacturers Alliance and Consortium is developing a 
website. Because you talked about awareness about careers in 
our area, but the manufacturing, and really branding, and 
marketing manufacturing in Northeast Louisiana that's going to 
go live here in the next couple of months.

    But in that, I want to share one way that we're getting 
into the classrooms is through virtual 360 tours where a 
student will have a library, teachers have a library of videos, 
they can tour our manufacturing facility and a dozen others 
without ever leaving their classroom, just to bring that 
awareness piece in.

    Senator Braun. Thank you. Very good.

    The Chair. Senator Murkowski.

    Senator Murkowski. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just following-
up on that, and I wish that I had been there for the full scope 
of that question. But to the comments that you had made, Mr. 
Dickerson, I was reading an article from The Wall Street 
Journal just yesterday, and it's entitled, Gen Z Plumbers and 
Construction Workers are Making #Blue Collar Cool. So, I mean, 
doesn't that get your attention?

    We spend a lot of money trying to figure out, all right, 
how are we going to attract young people into the trades? And 
the article goes on about a young woman who is an electrician 
in Cornwall, New York, and she's on TikTok, Instagram, and 
Facebook. Did you see her recently atop a bucket truck, adding 
utility outlets to power poles, or fixing an electric panel in 
a water damaged basement. And then, we've got a plumber, 23-
year-old guy out of California who has a TikTok video of 
himself removing a water heater with a dolly.

    By the time he woke the next morning, it had 470,000 views. 
So, all right, people, let's pay attention to our young people, 
how they are communicating this. And they're looking at this 
and they're seeing these are good jobs. These are not only jobs 
that can take care of a 23-year-old young person, but it's 
really good wages. And they point that out in this article and 
how these young people are kind of blowing out the stereotypes.

    They talk about one young woman who wants to show that it's 
Okay to be feminine in a male-dominated industry of welding. 
So, she's in full makeup and mascara, whatever it is that 
takes. But I think these are good reminders to us that how we 
are able to reach young people about these career opportunities 
and why they truly are careers.

    This is not just a detour on your way to a college degree. 
These are jobs that everybody needs. You've got great people 
that want to be doctors and lawyers, but every one of them 
needs to have their toilet worked on in their house. They need 
to have their lights go on, they need their electricians. So, 
how we make this real, I think, is so much of what we're trying 
to do with workforce development.

    I just came from a meeting with the Alaska Home Builders 
Association and we're talking about really the housing crisis 
within our state. And it comes down to one thing. You've got 
builders, but they can't get the framers, they can't get the 
electricians, they can't get what they need. It's all 
workforce, workforce, workforce.

    As we are looking to focus on the Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act, I'm one who's looking to make sure that we're 
advancing our legislation for that next generation. Not 
thinking what it is that we think they should have, but what it 
is that is going to attract them that's going to be able to 
provide for those jobs.

    I want to make sure that we're incorporating flexibility 
into these programs because I come from a big state with big 
geography, low population, super high costs. Your 
transportation costs just are killers. But I'll tell you one of 
the things that has been an impediment to our workforce 
training programs is they're all located in your cities, in 
your larger population centers.

    But I've got 80 percent of the State of Alaska. Our 
communities are not connected by roads. So, people have got to 
fly in. So, it's not like they can go take a training class and 
then be at home dealing with their kids, or spouse, or whatever 
it is. So, for us, what they're looking for are childcare, 
transportation costs.

    How we can incorporate flexibility into these programs is 
something that I hope that you would all share, is going to be 
a positive. That also is an attraction when it comes to young 
people looking to these training opportunities.

    I've talked, haven't allowed you more than 40 seconds now 
to say anything, but can any of you speak to how important it 
is to how flexibility----

    The Chair. I'm going to give you an extra minute. How's 
that?

    [Laughter.]

    Senator Murkowski. Oh, thank you. Thank you, Chairman. 
Flexibility.

    Dr. Bradley. Thank you, Senator. That's a great question. I 
did not know. Did you say 80 percent of Alaskan towns are not 
connected by roads?

    Senator Murkowski. That is correct. It's either by water or 
by air.

    Dr. Bradley. Oh, interesting.

    Senator Murkowski. Interesting and very costly.

    Dr. Bradley. Yes, indeed. I would say, and just to go back 
to Senator Markey's questions about the flexibility, that 
people come to the workforce system with very different 
backgrounds, very different needs.

    We had a panel recently where workforce leaders from 
different cities came in and they were talking about the 
workforce system being a barrier reduction system. And so, 
meaning that people are going to come in with different 
barriers and have different needs and that there has to be some 
flexibility. Everyone doesn't get the same treatment 
essentially.

    I would say that's the importance. You'd see diverse 
populations coming in with very different needs and 
backgrounds.

    Dr. Sullivan. I would just add that it's not only a diverse 
population, but it's also Federal regulations that we're all 
expected to follow with populations that are diverse, with 
goals that are diverse, and with timeframes that are diverse. 
And so, it is absolutely necessary that we have the 
flexibility.

    The final point is we all expect these programs and the 
training to be aligned with the regional economy. Federal 
guidelines to align with the regional economy. So, you can 
imagine that's threading a needle. So, looking for that 
flexibility is going to be key.

    Senator Murkowski. Do you think that the way things are 
structured currently that we do have that flexibility, 
government programs by their very nature are not inherently 
built to be flexible?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. I'll jump in. Thanks for that question and 
expanding upon that. One of the areas of advocacy that the 
Chicago Jobs Council continues to advance is making sure there 
are barrier reduction funds, and that the definition of 
supportive services is more expansive. So, you talked about----

    Senator Murkowski. Would that include like childcare, 
transportation?

    Dr. Bly-Jones. Yes. I was just going to say you talked 
about childcare, you talked about transportation. We talk a lot 
about supplies for individuals, what they need to actually get 
to work. You talked a lot about construction. A lot of the 
equipment that individuals need can be very costly.

    Then, the other component I mentioned earlier is even 
adding in the mental health piece. So, expanding the definition 
of what supportive services actually are, and then making sure 
you have those funds allocated to actually reduce the barriers 
for individuals to be able to get to work.

    We talked a lot about fines and fees that keep people away 
from work too. A lot of work that we do at CJC is eliminating 
some of those barriers related to fines and fees that can 
inhibit someone from--they can have a suspended driver's 
license and can't get to work. So, being able to address all of 
those things with a much more expansive definition is what we 
look to advocate for in terms of reducing barriers.

    Senator Murkowski. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

    The Chair. Thank you, Senator. I think you've had almost 
every Member of the Committee here which tells you how 
important this issue is to people from all over the country. 
And I thank all of you for being here today.

    This is the end of our hearing. For any Senators who wish 
to ask additional questions, questions for the record will be 
due in 10 business days, June 27th by 5 p.m.

    The Chair. I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record 
four statements in support of workforce development. Without 
objection.

    [The following information can be found on page 74 in 
Additional Material:]

    The Chair. The Committee stands adjourned. Thank you.

                          ADDITIONAL MATERIAL


    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]


                        QUESTIONS FOR THE RECORD

  Response by David Bradley to Questions of Senator Lujan and Senator 
                                 Hassan
                             senator lujan
    Question 1. Based on your extensive knowledge of WIOA, could 
efforts to increase flexibility for program administration allow WIOA 
programming to better serve Native communities?

    Answer 1. Yes. In recognition of the need to reduce costs and time 
for administering workforce development programs for federally 
recognized tribes and tribal organizations, Congress enacted P.L. 102-
477 (often referred to as ``477'') in 1992. In brief, P.L. 102-477 
allows federally recognized tribes to submit ``477 Plans'' to the 
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that allow for the consolidation of 
multiple Federal funding streams and reporting requirements, which 
allows for more funding to be spent on support for job placements and 
case management activities. The law, which has been amended twice since 
its enactment, has resulted in significant, but incomplete 
consolidation. As of 2024, there are 78 Plans approved across 38 
individual Federal programs, which represent 298 federally recognized 
tribes. While this consolidation has resulted in cost savings through 
consolidated administration, the 298 tribes with 477 plans currently 
represent just over half of the 574 federally recognized tribes. 
Additional efforts to incentivize more tribes to participate in 477 
plans would provide greater flexibility and reduced administrative 
costs, thus allowing more individuals to participate in employment and 
training programs.

    Question 2. In your understanding, does the funding allocated to 
WIOA Section 166 adequately meet the need for employment and training 
services currently experienced by Native communities?

    Answer 2. Funding for programs authorized under Section 166 of WIOA 
and its corresponding predecessor programs under previous versions of 
WIOA--the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) and the Workforce 
Innovation Act (WIA)--has declined significantly in the past several 
decades. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2024, programs authorized under Section 
166 of WIOA received $60 million. Compared to funding for similar 
programs under JTPA in its first year (1984), this is a small drop of 
$2.2 million in nominal terms (-3.6 percent) but a steep decline of 
$127.6 million in inflation-adjusted terms (-68.0 percent). If WIOA 
programs for Native Americans were funded at the same level (inflation-
adjusted) in 1984, Section 166 would now be funded at $188 million, 
rather than the current $60 million. Given the relatively higher rates 
of unemployment and poverty among Native Americans, this significant 
decline in funding makes it more difficult to provide adequate 
employment and training services to Native communities.
                             senator hassan
    Question 1. I've heard from some stakeholders who say WIOA 
reporting requirements are overly burdensome. State and local leaders 
devote significant resources to writing lengthy plans which--in some 
cases--end up acting as more of a compliance exercise than a strategic, 
project management tool. I've also heard that community partners are 
sometimes dissuaded from becoming eligible training providers due to 
WIOA's performance reporting requirements. This can unintentionally 
stifle innovation and the diversification of providers.

    How do we strike the right balance between performance 
accountability and nonburdensome reporting requirements? Are the 
current performance indicators the right ones? If not, what should be 
added or taken away?

    Answer 1. In enacting WIOA in 2014, Congress adopted a set of 6 
common performance metrics that would apply across all titles of WIOA. 
This was an effort to streamline data collection and reporting and to 
allow for easier comparison of performance across all WIOA programs. 
While streamlining performance indicators was a step in the right 
direction, there are additional measures that Congress could take to 
reduce the administrative burdens associated with collecting and 
reporting data. For example, a designated state agency should be 
required to assist training providers by performing all ``back end'' 
data operations, such as matching program participants with wage 
records. In addition, automatic eligibility for certain providers, such 
as community colleges, would reduce barriers to entry for some training 
providers. Current WIOA performance indicators center on outcomes that 
occur after exiting a WIOA program. While these indicators provide 
important information about employment placements, credential 
attainment, and wage gains, this may lead to a focus on short-term 
results for an outcome to count. Adding an indicator that captures 
career progression could encourage system providers to focus on career 
pathways and other strategies that are effective over a period beyond 
just placement in employment.

    Question 2. Students in rural communities often struggle to find 
post-secondary educational opportunities that align with the needs of 
businesses in their communities. This results in many young people 
leaving their communities or not pursuing post-secondary education.

    What improvements should we make to WIOA so that rural communities 
can develop and sustain strong workforce development systems?

    Answer 2. Rural communities often face challenges unique from urban 
or suburban settings, such as a lack of training providers, unreliable 
internet service, a lack of public transportation, and limited options 
for career advancement. Starting in 2019, DOL is currently funding its 
sixth round of grants under the Workforce Opportunity for Rural 
Communities (WORC) Initiative, which is designed to provide grants to 
help address persistent economic challenges through aligning community-
led economic and workforce development strategies and activities. 
Building on the lessons learned and best practices from WORC grantees, 
Congress could codify the WORC Initiative in WIOA (currently it is 
authorized under the demonstration authority in WIOA and thus not 
directly in statute). Codifying the WORC Initiative would allow 
Congress to set program parameters and priorities, authorize funding 
levels, and create a more stable program rather than relying on 
demonstration authority.

    Question 3. Competency-based assessments can help individuals 
bypass unnecessary course or training requirements if they're able to 
demonstrate that they already have the desired knowledge for a given 
role or credential.

    How can we improve and expand the use of competency-based 
assessments in the workforce system?

    Answer 3. Competency-based assessments have a critical role in the 
larger ecosystem of skills-based employment practices, which focuses on 
documenting and translating skills and competencies, regardless of 
where they were obtained, into signals of qualification in the labor 
market. Congress could encourage the expansion of competency-based 
assessments by supporting the development and implementation of a 
common skills language used by employers, learners, jobseekers, and 
education providers. This also includes the development and deployment 
of digital credential wallets that are recognized and accepted across 
education systems, workforce systems, and employers. These wallets 
would serve as repositories of easily shareable and verifiable digital 
records of people's work and learning histories and would facilitate 
seamless transitions across learning and employment opportunities. 
Federal support for efforts to develop and scale digital credentials 
wallets could include funding pilots that use innovative technologies 
such as blockchain to ensure portability and verification, convening 
key stakeholders, and supporting research and development.
                                 ______
                                 
 Response by Dr. Lisa Bly-Jones to Questions of Senator Lujan, Senator 
                        Hassan and Senator Smith
                             senator lujan
    Question 1. Thanks to the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure 
Law and Inflation Reduction Act, we've seen an investment of Federal 
dollars across the country that will allow us to build infrastructure 
that meets the needs of the 21st century. In additional to Federal 
dollars though, we need a skilled workforce that is ready to begin 
construction on these infrastructure projects.

    What can we do here at the Federal level to ensure WIOA programs 
are nimble enough to meet the demand of sectors such as broadband or 
clean energy that require skilled workers?

    Answer 1. Although WIOA requires states and local workforce boards 
to support industry partnerships, WIOA does not supply targeted 
funding. To ensure WIOA programs are nimble enough to meet the demand 
of sectors such as broadband or clean energy, WIOA reauthorization 
should include dedicated funding to establish and maintain industry and 
sector partnerships. With WIOA there is a lot of emphasis on 
individuals, but there is also a need for stronger ties to employers 
that provide access to career pathways for workers with progressive 
levels of education, training, supportive services and credentials 
throughout an individual's career.

    Each local community has a local economy and employers in those 
communities are best able to identify emerging industry trends, 
recommend training needs based on the skills required for the 
occupations that exist. It's critical to involve employers on the front 
end and establish industry or sector partnerships that bring together 
local businesses, and other stakeholders, to develop workforce 
strategies and provide training that supports area demand. This is 
especially valuable for small and medium-sized businesses.

    A reauthorization of WIOA should include language similar to the 
Digital Skills for Today's Workforce Act which would establish a 
formula grant program for states to develop digital skills training 
programs as well as provide funding to support digital equity among 
individuals who face barriers to employment and who have been 
historically underrepresented. Digital Skills Building is necessary in 
today's labor market to keep up with technological advancements. 
Technology is increasingly prevalent at all career levels and across 
industries. According to a NSC report, ``Recent research shows that 92 
percent of jobs require digital skills and that number is expected to 
increase. At the same time, only two-thirds of workers have the 
foundational digital skills necessary to enter and thrive in today's 
jobs.'' Workers and businesses require digital skills support 
especially related to upskilling opportunities for workers who are on 
the job and reskilling opportunities for those who have lost jobs.
                             senator hassan
    Question 1. I've heard from some stakeholders who say WIOA 
reporting requirements are overly burdensome. State and local leaders 
devote significant resources to writing lengthy plans which--in some 
cases--end up acting as more of a compliance exercise than a strategic, 
project management tool. I've also heard that community partners are 
sometimes dissuaded from becoming eligible training providers due to 
WIOA's performance reporting requirements. This can unintentionally 
stifle innovation and the diversification of providers.

    How do we strike the right balance between performance 
accountability and nonburdensome reporting requirements? Are the 
current performance indicators the right ones? If not, what should be 
added or taken away?

    Answer 1. Striking the right balance between performance 
accountability and nonburdensome reporting requirements are accurately 
described as a challenge and concern.

    With funding not keeping pace with inflation and wage increases, 
offices responsible for reporting requirements are short-staffed and 
stretched thin, which creates a burden when there is insufficient 
staffing to support the work.

    The current performance indicators are the right ones, but they do 
not go far enough to measure if workforce programs are leading to long-
term economic gains for workers and businesses. The current measures 
reflect short-term outcomes and do not adequately capture how people 
progress from entry-level jobs, experience wage and skill advancement 
with an employer, and continue their education to progress along a 
quality career pathway.

    WIOA performance indicators should be expanded to include measures 
on quality credential attainment, employment and wage outcomes for at 
least 2-years after program completion, occupation specific job 
placement and measures on job quality, such as hourly wages and hours 
worked.

    WIOA should also disaggregate all training performance outcomes by 
race, ethnicity, gender, and other important demographic or 
socioeconomic factors like English language proficiency, income, and 
geography, in order to effectively evaluate progress toward equitable 
outcomes and the efficacy of the public workforce system for all 
workers, including workers of color who are the majority of those 
accessing these services.

    Access to workforce data enhances our ability to advocate for 
workforce equity. By receiving comprehensive data on the state's 
workforce, we can better identify areas of improvement, advocate for 
policies that benefit all residents and measure programmatic progress.
                             senator smith
    Question 1. I frequently hear from people who are eager to go into 
high-quality, good-paying careers, but struggle to do so. These are 
people who want to work hard, contribute to their communities and 
support their families, but they face some tremendous barriers. It's my 
belief that some of the key things that help people get and keep jobs 
are transportation, training and childcare. Dr. Bly-Jones, some argue 
that providing supportive services through WIOA is not a good use of 
funds or that we should have stricter rules about how much should go 
toward training and limit what we can spend on supportive services. 
What do you think of that perspective, and what challenges have you 
encountered when facilitating access to supportive services?

    Answer 1. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA, P.L. 
113-128) programs appear to be reaching the at-risk populations the 
workforce system is intended to serve. Some customers, however, have 
greater barriers than others, and it is not clear that all customers 
get the services they need to succeed. WIOA programs do not provide 
sufficient supportive services to help customers overcome systemic 
barriers that disproportionately impact women, people of color, people 
with disabilities, and other groups.

    In 2021, the Chicago Jobs Council released Supportive Services: 
Lessons Learned from the Field which outlines the importance of 
expanding and enhancing supportive services within workforce 
development programs to address systemic barriers to employment, 
particularly for groups that have been marginalized. This includes 
childcare, housing, and transportation, which are essential for 
securing and maintaining employment as well as mental health services 
which have become increasingly important following the pandemic.

    In that report, contributors identified that ``six months or a year 
is not enough time for people who have experienced trauma, such as 
mental illness, homelessness, or incarceration, to seamlessly 
transition back into the workforce'' and that ``losing supportive 
services during the gap of time between when a client becomes employed 
and gets their first paycheck can make it hard for participants to meet 
their own needs.'' \1\ Congress can ensure that there are sufficient 
resources to bolster supportive services and have those services extend 
past probationary employment periods in order to help give participants 
more time to adjust and settle into jobs. Language in the BUILDS Act 
could serve as a model for these efforts as the legislative text 
includes provisions to provide support to workers in the pre-employment 
stage and for as much as a year into a job.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/
63a0838721aff66b22dd2598/t/63a0987639ba57582d347355/1671469174913/
Supportive-Services-Summary-Report-Sept-2021-FINAL.pdf.

    For people facing entrenched barriers to employment, particularly 
women and people of color, the process of finding a good-paying job 
along a career pathway can be especially challenging. These systemic 
and structural barriers can manifest as limited affordable childcare 
options, lack of transportation access, inadequate or unaffordable 
healthcare, and housing instability resulting from public disinvestment 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
in those services.

    Question 2. We have made record investments in critical sectors 
like manufacturing and clean energy through the Inflation Reduction Act 
and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Nationwide, we've 
already seen the creation of 800,000 new manufacturing jobs and 270,000 
clean energy jobs since the beginning of the Biden administration, 
including 1,100 clean energy jobs in Minnesota. We will need to 
continue to grow our workforce. Dr. Bly-Jones, how can we ensure that 
as we do so, all workers will have the opportunity to benefit?

    Answer 2. The ideal model for comprehensive inclusive strategies is 
local Sector Partnerships and Pathways. The workforce system is a dual-
customer system, serving the needs of both jobseekers and businesses. 
State and local workforce boards work directly with businesses and 
industries to understand and address their workforce needs and support 
economic development. In that role, both state and local boards have an 
opportunity to collaborate with businesses to increase the diversity of 
their workforce and increase the availability of quality jobs and the 
supports workers need to succeed in them. WIOA reauthorization should 
include dedicated funding to establish and maintain industry and sector 
partnerships.

    Many quality jobs with family sustaining wages require a 
postsecondary degree or credential. The Chicago Jobs Council (CJC) has 
been working with coalition partners and stakeholders to build a robust 
clean energy workforce in Illinois by fostering collaborations across 
the labor, education, and industry sectors.

    CJC was actively involved in the passage of the Illinois Climate 
Equity Jobs Act (CEJA), which could be a national model for clean 
energy and infrastructure jobs. CEJA prioritizes investments, job 
training, and business opportunities in communities disproportionately 
impacted by pollution and climate change. It funds training programs to 
prepare workers, including formerly incarcerated individuals, for clean 
energy jobs. CEJA establishes programs to assist both startup 
contractors in the solar industry as well as contractors looking to 
grow and become prime contractors for renewable energy projects. CEJA 
aims to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2050, phasing out fossil 
fuel plants by 2045. Requires 40 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 
50 percent by 2040--a major increase in clean energy deployment. 
Additionally, the act supports workers, creates new community grants, 
and promotes utility accountability and ethics reform. Overall, it 
establishes Illinois as a national leader in equitable climate policy 
by centering disadvantaged communities, driving major emissions 
reductions, and holding utilities accountable--all without raising 
taxes.

    Established sector partnerships provide real-time conversations and 
innovation to pivot where needed based on emerging needs and keeping 
pace with technological advances. Localized collaboration supports 
employers in their recruitment and retention efforts to create a 
pipeline and build a diverse workforce within their industry. Long-
standing relationships with employers happens at the local level. WIOA 
reauthorization should include dedicated funding to establish and 
maintain industry and sector partnerships.

    In 2020, CJC released a report entitled Building Pathways to Clean 
Energy Jobs in Illinois, which highlights the importance of investing 
in the future clean energy workforce as part of public investments in 
clean energy infrastructure. The report is informed by interviews with 
clean energy employers, workforce development practitioners, policy 
experts, and uses publicly available labor market and job posting 
information to illustrate how the state can effectively invest in 
workforce development so that people marginalized by racism, sexism, 
and environmental injustice can directly access [clean energy] jobs, 
advance within green industries, and benefit from public investments in 
clean energy. \2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/
63a0838721aff66b22dd2598/t/63a0986c2f41ed099d83a59c/1671469164785/
Building-Pathways-to-Clean-Energy-Jobs-in-Illinois-March-2021.pdf.

    Through collaboration and partnership with those closest to the 
issues. The Chicago Jobs Council (CJC) is a relentless advocate for 
economic equity and inclusion, working tirelessly to empower 
individuals from all walks of life to achieve financial stability and 
self-sufficiency.
                                 ______
                                 
      Response by Matthew Dickerson to Questions of Senator Hassan
                             senator hassan
    Question 1. Students in rural communities often struggle to find 
post-secondary educational opportunities that align with the needs of 
businesses in their communities. This results in many young people 
leaving their communities or not pursuing post-secondary education.

    What improvements should we make to WIOA so that rural communities 
can develop and sustain strong workforce development systems?

    Answer 1. Summary: It is no secret that rural communities are 
grappling with substantial challenges in establishing effective 
workforce development systems, primarily due to factors such as brain 
drain, sparse employer distribution over vast geographic areas, under-
resourced populations, and limited access to crucial skills training 
and employment opportunities. These obstacles are intensified by 
diminishing Federal support, which constrains the ability of local 
workforce boards to afford tuition and vital supportive services 
necessary for fostering workforce talent in economically disadvantaged 
regions. This situation forces many residents to migrate to urban areas 
in search of improved prospects, subsequently depriving rural areas of 
essential services like healthcare, affordable housing, and skills 
development facilities.

    The shortfall in funding complicates the implementation of 
customized skills training programs that could benefit both local 
employers and their prospective employees. Although the Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provides personalized guidance 
and case management important for participant success, the scarcity of 
supportive services in rural locales presents considerable challenges. 
Additionally, the establishment of industry and community partnerships 
and access to American Job Centers (AJCs) are hindered by the limited 
organizational presence and logistical constraints such as inadequate 
public transportation, high costs, or insufficient internet access for 
virtual services.

    A pressing need exists to augment WIOA funding tailored to rural 
local workforce development areas to rectify these issues and bolster 
support for rural districts. This increase in financial support would 
alleviate some of the economic pressures these areas face, enabling the 
realization of robust workforce development systems that empower 
marginalized individuals and contribute to rural communities' economic 
growth and sustainability. Revising transportation funding under WIOA 
and addressing employment within family run businesses are critical 
steps. Moreover, adapting the WIOA to enhance post-secondary education 
alignment with local business needs, expand workforce training for 
better economic mobility, modify performance metrics for more adaptable 
training provision, and incorporate Economic Development as a mandated 
resource-sharing partner can significantly aid these efforts.

    Narrative: Rural communities continue to experience challenges in 
their efforts to provide remote services and programs to both 
individual and employer customers. The ``brain-drain'' which widens 
prime-age employment gaps, and creates an unfair competition with large 
corporations in big cities for top talent continues to exist. 
Additionally, rural workforce systems operate differently from their 
urban and suburban counter parts, facing unique challenges such as 
having fewer employers spread across a larger geographic area and 
historically under-resourced populations when compared to their urban 
counterparts.

    In many instances, students in rural, poor areas lacking adequate 
access to necessary skills training; particularly skills training that 
may result in a full-time, unsubsidized employment opportunity in a 
demand occupation in a targeted industry. Likewise, employers encounter 
difficulties in sourcing affordable skills training that meets their 
workforce integration needs. From the viewpoint of a rural, local 
workforce board covering 6,500 square miles, and with a single 
community college operating three rural campuses, hosting economically 
viable training classes typically necessitates a minimum class size of 
10 or more. Given the specialized training needs of businesses, 
consortia of employers are impractical.

    A constant reduction in Federal funding has left local workforce 
boards unable to cover the demand for tuition costs and essential 
supportive services that are critical for significantly improving the 
workforce talent in rural, economically disadvantaged areas. As a 
result, both youth and adults are forced to relocate to larger urban 
centers in pursuit of education, skills training, and job prospects. 
This forced migration leaves those who remain, feeling trapped and 
abandoned; often forced into accepting low-wage jobs that fail to 
provide self-sufficient wages and perpetuates generational poverty in 
rural areas. Additionally, this migration of people seeking better 
opportunities elsewhere often results in limited access to healthcare, 
diminished affordable housing options, and restricted opportunities for 
skills development in rural American communities.

    Many times, local employers in rural communities can benefit from 
customized skills training which is a viable employer-based training 
service available under WIOA, to train prospective trainees prior to 
employment placement. However, the magnitude of training needs (i.e., 
classroom, employer-based) far exceeds the availability of funding. In 
addition, small businesses lack the employer match necessary to 
implement the Customized Training Agreement.

    A critical component of WIOA is the personalized guidance provided 
by the case management staff which is tailored to the specific needs 
and goals of each individual participant. This individualized approach 
fosters a deeper connection between the case manager and the 
participant, enhancing participant engagement and motivation to achieve 
successful program outcomes. Regular check-ins and progress assessments 
by case managers ensure that participants stay on track toward the 
achievement of their education and employment goals as jointly created 
and agreed upon by the individual and his/her case manager and made a 
part of the individual's program plan (IEP). This accountability 
fosters a sense of responsibility and ownership over their professional 
development, ultimately strengthening their human capital through 
consistent growth and improvement. While urban and suburban areas have 
many supportive service options available, rural areas do not, making 
it more expensive and cumbersome to provide support.

    Developing and maintaining industry and community partnerships are 
very important to the workforce system. However, finding partners in 
rural areas is challenging because many organizations do not exist in 
these communities, and those that do face similar challenges and 
frustrations as the AJCs.

    Accessing rural AJCs becomes equally challenging for individuals 
when public transportation is unavailable and they cannot afford 
private transport. Even when transportation is accessible, it often 
proves unreliable for reaching training or job opportunities located 
miles away from their residences. Additionally, while virtual services 
are an alternative, individuals face significant hurdles in areas where 
internet access is minimal, costs are prohibitive, or non-existent in 
rural communities.

    Without resources to maintain the level of services needed to 
support these marginalized individuals, rural areas will continue to 
suffer.

    Strategy: What improvements should we make to WIOA so that rural 
communities can develop and sustain strong workforce development 
systems?

    Improving the WIOA to better support rural communities involves 
several key strategies:

    1. Increase WIOA Funding to Rural Local Workforce Development 
Areas: Despite stagnant or reduced funding under WIOA, rural local 
areas are grappling with rising operational costs, stringent 
regulations, and set-asides earmarked for special programs; many of 
which ultimately send its program participant to the American Job 
Centers for additional services. Consequently, rural local areas 
struggle to meet the hiring demands of employers seeking candidates for 
high-demand, high-wage occupations who can be trained through employer-
based programs. Additional workforce development funding would support 
expanded efforts by employers to provide immediate employer-based 
training and classroom training that can help ensure sustainable wage 
earnings for individuals seeking job training and placement assistance. 
Furthermore, resources for offering tuition and supportive services to 
job seekers with certain barriers have been so inadequate that local 
boards in rural areas can no longer keep up with demand.

           Because of rising operational costs, it would be 
        beneficial if the WIOA funding would include an additional 
        allotment to directly support the infrastructure costs 
        associated with operating career centers. It is critical, now, 
        more than ever to maintain AJCs in rural communities. Because 
        of the barriers that exist for the population that we serve, we 
        do not want transportation to ever be a concern, or barrier. 
        While there are some available options to reach individuals 
        virtually, it is critical that we continue to provide intensive 
        case management and career development services, in-person to 
        individuals who have been determined to be the ``hardest to 
        serve'' populations in need of public assistance, as these 
        services can prove to be the lifeline needed for many people to 
        experience success.

    2. Formula Funding Adjustments: Modify the formula for distributing 
funds to account for the unique challenges and lower population 
densities of rural areas. This could involve allocating a minimum 
percentage of funds specifically designated for rural workforce 
development efforts. At the very least, the threshold utilized to 
determine unemployment and excessive underemployment should vary 
annually to correspond with the national unemployment rate, workforce 
participation rate, or the current dislocated worker formulary for all 
funds which equitably allocates funds to all parishes/counties.

           Over the past three funding cycles most states 
        experienced substantial decreases to their WIOA formula funding 
        in each of the Title I programs funded under WIOA while the 
        Federal allocations have remained constant. The allocation must 
        depend on the hold-harmless factors to avoid even deeper cuts 
        to states. A review of the allocation formula to ensure that 
        certain data variables do not have devastating effects leading 
        to these outcomes. Possible consideration can be to use the 
        Workforce Participation Rates over the Unemployment Rates, 
        giving a more accurate depiction of eligible adults who are not 
        engaged in the workforce. The formula should provide greater 
        sources of funds to rural area with large populations of 
        individuals who are not part of the state's current workforce, 
        and therefore not included in the Workforce Participation Rate 
        of the state.

    3. Flexibility in Fund Usage: Provide greater flexibility in how 
funds can be used in rural areas. This includes allowing funds to 
support innovative approaches, such as mobile training units, distance 
learning technologies, or partnerships with local industries, which may 
be more effective in rural settings. Expand the amount allowable for 
local incumbent worker training which is currently set at 20 percent of 
adult and dislocated worker allocations.

          Combine Adult and Dislocated Worker funds into a 
        single funding category to allow greater flexibility.

                Y  Currently, the transfer of funds can be cumbersome 
                and does not provide local areas with the level of 
                flexibility and nimbleness needed to respond quickly to 
                local demand shifts.

                Y  Dislocated Workers, under a combined funding 
                concept, can become a ``priority population'' like 
                others under current law.

    4. Capacity Building: Allocate resources for technical assistance 
and capacity building tailored to rural workforce development boards to 
mitigate unique challenges around skills training access and funding. 
This can help them effectively utilize funds, implement programs, and 
navigate regulatory requirements.

          Raise the allowable 20 percent percentage from Adult/
        Dislocated Worker program funding a local area can expend on 
        incumbent worker training. These opportunities would help meet 
        the demand of local employers' unique skill upgrade needs; 
        thereby opening new job opportunities for entry level 
        positions. Employers would then be able to provide upward 
        movement for established employees increasing retention rates 
        and experience modifiers.

          Rural areas often have difficulties finding partners 
        (foundations, chambers of commerce or other economic 
        development agencies) when many of the organizations do not 
        exist in rural communities; and when they do, these 
        organizations share the same challenges and frustrations AJCs 
        experience.

    5. Targeted Support for Priority Industries: Focus funding on 
priority industries for rural areas, such as agriculture, renewable 
energy, healthcare, and tourism. This ensures that workforce 
development efforts are aligned with local economic opportunities and 
demand.

    6. Flexible Training Delivery Models: Promote flexibility in 
training delivery models to accommodate the dispersed populations and 
geographic challenges of rural areas. This may include online learning 
options, mobile training units, or partnerships with local community 
colleges and businesses.

          Rural communities often have unique economic and 
        demographic characteristics that may not fit well with a 
        standardized One-Stop Operator requirement. Removing this 
        requirement allows communities to tailor their workforce 
        development strategies to better meet local needs and leverage 
        local resources.

          Removing the One-Stop Operator requirement can reduce 
        financial burdens and redirect resources to more effectively 
        support workforce development initiatives that directly benefit 
        employers and job seekers.

          Overall, removing the One-Stop Operator requirement 
        for rural communities aims to promote flexibility, reduce 
        barriers to effective service delivery, and empower local 
        stakeholders to design and implement workforce development 
        strategies that are responsive to their unique challenges and 
        opportunities.

    7. Integration of Wagner Peyser Services: Implementing the ``one 
door'' strategy for integrating service delivery of both WIOA Title 1 
and Title III at AJCs allowing local staff to provide employment 
services promises to enhance operational effectiveness, improve service 
delivery, optimize resources, and ultimately benefit both the limited 
staff at remote facilities and enhance outcomes for job seekers and 
employers alike.

          Cost-Effectiveness: Utilizing local staff can be more 
        cost-effective than deploying personnel from distant locations. 
        It minimizes travel expenses and allows resources to be 
        allocated more efficiently toward direct service delivery.

          Accessibility and Convenience: By having services 
        delivered locally, job seekers can access assistance more 
        conveniently. This reduces barriers such as transportation 
        costs and time constraints, making it easier for individuals to 
        seek and maintain employment.

    By implementing these improvements, WIOA can better support rural 
communities in developing and sustaining strong workforce systems that 
are responsive to local needs and conducive to long-term economic 
growth.
                                 ______
                                 
  Response by Monty Sullivan to Questions of Senator Hassan, Senator 
                        Smith, and Senator Budd
                             senator hassan
    Question 1. I've heard from some stakeholders who say WIOA 
reporting requirements are overly burdensome. State and local leaders 
devote significant resources to writing lengthy plans which--in some 
cases--end up acting as more of a compliance exercise than a strategic, 
project management tool. I've also heard that community partners are 
sometimes dissuaded from becoming eligible training providers due to 
WIOA's performance reporting requirements. This can unintentionally 
stifle innovation and the diversification of providers. How do we 
strike the right balance between performance accountability and 
nonburdensome reporting requirements? Are the current performance 
indicators the right ones? If not, what should be added or taken away?

    Answer 1. Accountability for Federal job training funds under WIOA 
is critical to ensuring that individuals are receiving the training 
that is most effective to obtain and maintain employment. The major 
indicators of performance that are essential to assess most job 
training programs are employment status post-training and earnings. 
Within the totality of the WIOA system, however, an indicator that 
assesses measurable skills gains is also important, especially when 
considering how adult education fits into the WIOA system.

    Question 2. Students in rural communities often struggle to find 
post-secondary educational opportunities that align with the needs of 
businesses in their communities. This results in many young people 
leaving their communities or not pursuing post-secondary education. 
What improvements should we make to WIOA so that rural communities can 
develop and sustain strong workforce development systems?

    Answer 2. Fostering stronger connections between educational 
institutions, such as community colleges, and businesses is critical. 
In Louisiana, the individual campus leaders within the Louisiana 
Community and Technical College System work closely with businesses in 
their local communities to understand the skills and knowledge 
businesses are seeking in potential employees. This guides campus 
leaders and our system to streamline educational opportunities and 
industry-specific skills and knowledge. WIOA should further encourage 
collaboration between businesses and community colleges.
                             senator smith
    Question 1. It's important to me that we prepare job seekers for 
high-quality, good-paying careers. However, these usually require a 
firm grasp of the English language, digital literacy and numeracy. In 
Minnesota and around the country, adult basic education programs are 
instructing people from a variety of backgrounds in these critical 
skills. What can Congress do to improve the delivery of these services, 
reduce the challenges that providers may face and better respond to the 
needs of adult learners?

    Answer 1. As I said in my testimony, adult education programs are 
essential to ensuring that our Nation's workforce can take advantage of 
job training opportunities as well as succeed in obtaining and 
retaining employment. Ensuring that we fund the Federal Adult Education 
State Grant program is critical to reaching all of the people who need 
adult education services to improve and strengthen their employability. 
Adult education providers in Louisiana are adept at delivering these 
services and are limited primarily by a lack of funding.
                              senator budd
    Question 1. Dr. Sullivan, I'd like to highlight Workforce Pell and 
how passing Workforce Pell this Congress will meet the needs of workers 
and employers. As you may know, I introduced the Promoting Employment 
for Lifelong Learning ( PELL) Act this Congress, which would allow low-
income students to use their Pell Grants at short-term, high-quality 
programs that prepare them for in-demand jobs. Unfortunately, students 
or workers looking to skill or re-skill do not have this option today 
because Federal policy has unfairly supported only degree programs 
instead of all postsecondary pathways. The PELL Act would allot short-
term programs at all institutions to be eligible while requiring these 
programs to meet a number of quality requirements, so both students and 
taxpayers can be assured that Pell Grant funds are supporting only 
high-quality programs. As Board President of Rebuilding America's 
Middle Class, you have expressed support for the PELL Act. Can you 
explain why you think this bill is important? Can you describe ways 
you've seen short-term program providers partner with employers to 
develop relevant high-quality skills that open up good opportunities 
for job seekers?

    Answer 1. Extending Pell Grant eligibility to short-term courses is 
essential if we are to meet American workers where they are. Many 
students who attend our colleges are single parents who are also 
working full-time. They simply do not have the time to spend multiple 
years pursuing an associate degree part-time; a short-term program 
resulting in a credential that leads directly to a good paying job with 
benefits is one of the only sustainable paths for them to pursue. When 
that person achieves their first credential, it puts them on a path to 
earn additional credentials and possibly degrees, widening their 
economic possibilities. Expanding Pell to cover these short-term 
credentials may be the most important tool that Congress can give 
Americans seeking a better economic future.

    Question 2. Dr. Sullivan, employers are often deterred by stiff 
requirements when considering whether to invest in training current or 
prospective employees. Employers face the choice of paying for this 
training or saving the money to allocate to other business-related 
costs. How could partial reimbursements to small and medium-sized 
businesses for job training accelerate worker opportunities and help 
close the skills gap? Specifically, how might this encourage employers 
to invest more in training and upskilling their workforce?

    Answer 2. Employers working closely with community colleges produce 
programs that are directly applicable to available jobs in a local 
community. Employers must be part of the discussion to identify 
education and training opportunities to fund with WIOA, state or local 
job training resources. Often, the work that small and medium-sized 
businesses do on the front end with community colleges ensures that the 
businesses get a return on their investment in time.

    Question 3. Dr. Sullivan, in your view, how critical are short-term 
credential programs to meeting the immediate needs of local employers 
and addressing skills gaps in the workforce? Can you provide examples 
of partnerships between your colleges and local businesses that could 
be strengthened by the availability of short-term Pell Grants?

    Answer 3. Short term credential programs are extremely critical to 
meeting both the needs of employers and the individuals they employ. 
For example, in the healthcare space, Baton Rouge Community College 
(BRCC) has partnered with local hospitals and healthcare providers to 
offer short-term nursing and medical assistant programs. These programs 
are designed to quickly produce qualified healthcare professionals to 
meet the growing demand in the region. Short-term Pell Grants could 
expand these programs, enabling more students to enroll and complete 
their training, thus alleviating the critical shortage of healthcare 
workers. Additionally, South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) 
collaborates with Ochsner Health to provide fast-track certifications 
for emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and paramedics. Increased 
funding through short-term Pell Grants would allow for more extensive 
training resources and potentially higher enrollment rates, directly 
impacting the availability of emergency services personnel. Further, 
Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) has a strong 
partnership with local trucking companies to offer CDL training 
programs. These programs are essential for producing qualified truck 
drivers needed to support the logistics and transportation sectors. 
Short-term Pell Grants would make these programs more accessible, 
helping to mitigate the driver shortage that many companies face. Last, 
Louisiana Delta Community College (LDCC) partners with 
telecommunications companies to provide short-term training programs in 
broadband installation and maintenance. These programs are crucial as 
the demand for broadband services continues to grow. Short-term Pell 
Grants could help increase the number of trained technicians, 
supporting the expansion of broadband infrastructure in rural and 
underserved areas.

    Question 4. What are the current barriers preventing students from 
enrolling in and completing short-term credential programs, and how 
could short-term Pell Grants help overcome these barriers? Are there 
specific financial, logistical, or informational obstacles that these 
grants could address?

    Answer 4. Expanding the eligibility of Pell Grants to cover short-
term credentials would cure the problem of allocating funding to pay 
for the program that provides the credential. Any single parent with a 
low to moderate income may struggle to come up with the funds to cover 
even a $500 short-term program. Pell Grant eligibility for such 
programs removes that financial barrier.

    Question 5. Dr. Sullivan, how can workforce development boards 
ensure that their services are closely aligned with the evolving needs 
of local employers? What mechanisms or partnerships would be most 
effective in achieving this alignment?

    Answer 5. Fostering strong connections between workforce boards and 
local employers is critical to ensuring that training programs financed 
with WIOA dollars actually relate to local available jobs. There is no 
substitute for ongoing and specific dialog between local boards and 
businesses about employer needs and the ways a local board can help 
respond. WIOA should encourage this sort of collaboration.

    Question 6. Dr. Sullivan, I believe that it's important for WIOA to 
have effective performance indicators that ensure trainees receive 
quality education and are well-prepared for employment. What metrics or 
indicators do you think are most crucial to evaluate the success of 
training programs?

    Answer 6. Among other indicators, employment post-training and 
earnings are key metrics that should be used to assess the success of a 
training program. Both are directly tied to the real-world challenges 
facing an individual who is seeking employment--whether employment can 
be maintained and if earnings are sufficient for the needs of the 
person and/or their family.
                                 ______
                                 
 Response by Taylor White to Questions of Senator Hassan, and Senator 
                                 Smith
                             senator hassan
    Question 1. Registered apprenticeships help address workforce 
shortages and help students earn while they learn. Like many states, 
New Hampshire is facing a shortage of highly qualified educators in 
secondary math and science, as well as special education. The New 
Hampshire National Education Association, Southern New Hampshire 
Services, New Hampshire colleges, and others are doing important work 
to make teaching a viable career pathway through a New Hampshire 
Registered Educator Apprenticeship Program. How is WIOA being utilized 
to support registered apprenticeships in critical shortage areas, and 
what more can be done?

    Answer 1. Funding available to state and local workforce boards 
through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) can support 
Registered Apprenticeship programs for new, incumbent, or dislocated 
workers, both youth and adult, in a number of ways, whether or not 
those programs are in critical shortage areas. For example, WIOA Title 
I funding can be used to support:

          Pre-Apprenticeship Programs: WIOA funding is 
        frequently used to support pre-apprenticeship programs that 
        provide basic skills development, work experiences, and other 
        supports designed to help participants qualify for entry into a 
        Registered Apprenticeship program.

          Instructional Costs: Individual Training Accounts 
        funded through WIOA can be used to cover the costs associated 
        with the classroom-based instruction (i.e. ``related 
        instruction'') that apprentices are required to complete, 
        including tuition, fees, books, and other costs, so long as the 
        training provider delivering the instruction is on the Eligible 
        Training Provider List (ETPL). Under WIOA, all sponsors of 
        Registered Apprenticeship are eligible for the ETPL.

          On-the-Job Training Costs: Under WIOA, on-the-job 
        training (OJT) contracts may be established with employers to 
        support the OJT component of Registered Apprenticeship 
        programs. Governors and local boards may choose to provide 
        reimbursement to employers of costs up to 75 percent of 
        apprentice wage rates under WIOA.

          Case Management and Supportive Services: Prior to 
        entry into a pre-or Registered Apprenticeship, WIOA-eligible 
        workers can receive screening assessments, basic skills and 
        language training, and career planning support through WIOA. In 
        some cases, WIOA dollars may be available to fund supportive 
        services like transportation or child care to assist 
        participants preparing for or enrolled in apprenticeship 
        programs. However, because Registered Apprentices are employed 
        and earn increasing wages over time, many will no longer 
        qualify for services through WIOA once the program is underway.

    Despite the many ways that WIOA funding can be used to support 
participation in Registered Apprenticeship, there are fewer connections 
than one might expect between the two systems, especially at the local 
program level. Research has shown that many local workforce personnel 
lack a deep understanding of the apprenticeship system, making it 
difficult for them to promote apprenticeship opportunities to employers 
or potential participants. \1\ Likewise, in our own experience working 
with place-based practitioners, we find that many local apprenticeship 
sponsors and program leaders lack connections to their local workforce 
boards and are unfamiliar with the process by which a pre-apprentice or 
Registered Apprentice might qualify for support through WIOA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\  Copson, E. et al., 2022. Challenges and Opportunities for 
Expanding Registered Apprenticeship with Workforce Innovation and 
Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I, Urban Institute. United States of 
America. https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText-Documents/ETAOP2022-
39-AAI-Brief-WIOA-Final-508-9-2022.pdf; Bergman, Terri and Deborah 
Kobes. 2017. The State of Apprenticeship among Workforce Boards. 
Boston, MA: Jobs for the Future. https://jfforg-prod-
new.s3.amazonaws.com/media/documents/NAWB-Apprenticeship-092717.pdf.

    Even for those who are very familiar with Registered 
Apprenticeship, however, there can be barriers to integrating more 
fully with that system. For example, some providers find the 
eligibility determination processes too cumbersome and opt not to 
pursue resources that might benefit their participants. Additionally, 
Registered Apprenticeship programs tend to have higher entry 
requirements (e.g. high school diploma or equivalency) than other types 
of training provided through the WIOA system. Many WIOA-eligible 
individuals simply do not meet these criteria at system entry. 
Registered Apprenticeships are typically longer than the short-term 
training programs funded through WIOA, too. Providing funding for 
multi-year programs can impose administrative complications on local 
workforce boards and can be more challenging to capture in performance 
reporting. Even more fundamentally, longer programs tend to be more 
expensive than shorter programs. For budget-constrained workforce 
boards, more expensive programs typically means serving fewer people 
overall--an unappealing prospect in our current system, which 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
incentivizes local actors to prioritize quantity over quality.

    For these reasons--and because many apprentices do not remain WIOA-
eligible once they are employed and earning good wages through a 
Registered Apprenticeship program--it is more common to see WIOA 
dollars supporting pre-apprentices rather than Registered Apprentices. 
Pre-apprenticeships can equip workers with the skills and knowledge 
they need to compete for Registered Apprenticeship opportunities, 
especially in many critical shortage occupations that require a high-
level of numeracy, literacy, or other foundational skills for entry. 
Pre-apprenticeships have been used effectively in many sectors to 
create pathways for disadvantaged workers--including workers of color, 
workers with disabilities, women, and youth--to access careers in 
fields where they are currently underrepresented. However, the quality 
of pre-apprenticeship programs can also vary considerably and many do 
not provide a true pathway to employment.

    As the public education system has experienced an acute labor 
shortage, pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship programs for 
teaching assistants, paraeducators, classroom teachers and even 
principals have developed. Over the past 3 years, the number of these 
programs has grown rapidly. Based on emerging research, WIOA does not 
appear to be a widely utilized source of funding for educator 
registered apprenticeship programs. \2\ Research conducted by the U.S. 
DOL-funded Educator Registered Apprenticeship Intermediary reveals that 
programs use a mix of one-time Federal funding (e.g., ARPA, SAE grants 
and ABA grants), state funding (e.g. recurring appropriations), and 
local funding (e.g. district allocations for staffing). \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \2\  Erica Mallett Moore, Dana Grayson, John Diaz, and Melissa 
Raspberry, Educator Registered Apprenticeships: Funding Profiles for 
Five Programs (Research Triangle, NC: Educator Registered 
Apprenticeship Intermediary, in press).
    \3\  Ibid.

    The programs that have leveraged WIOA (such as New Hampshire's 
program and the enrichEd Pathways model in Texas) are using Title I 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
funding to:

          Provide progressive wages

          Fund tuition costs (up to $6,000 per year for 3 
        years)

          Provide wraparound supports

          Cover certification costs

    In these programs and many others (including those outside of the 
education field), WIOA funding is braided with other funding sources to 
meet apprentices' needs. This is especially true when it comes to 
providing wraparound supports. Many programs leave it up to individual 
apprentices to connect with their local job centers to find out if they 
are eligible for support under WIOA. This likely leads to 
underutilization of available resources.

    To better support apprenticeship in critical shortage areas through 
WIOA, Congress should:

          Increase investment in WIOA Title I overall so that 
        state and local workforce boards receive funding that is 
        commensurate with the employment and training needs they are 
        facing. Additional resources can reduce budgetary pressure that 
        lead workforce leaders to prioritize short-term, often low-
        quality training programs that frequently fail to deliver 
        lasting benefits for workers or employers. Given cuts proposed 
        in the House of Representatives' most recent appropriations 
        proposals, WIOA legislation should authorize a funding level at 
        least twice the current spend and emphasize high-quality 
        training as a focus of new resources. Doing so would improve 
        but not eliminate the effects of years of underinvestment in 
        the public workforce system: Even if the U.S. doubled its 
        spending on workforce training programs, we would still rank 
        far behind international peers in the percentage of GDP 
        dedicated to similar programs. \4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \4\  For information on peer nation's investments in workforce 
training, navigation supports, hiring incentives, and other active 
labor market policies, see the Organization for Economic Cooperation 
and Development tables available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/
indicators/public-spending-on-labour-markets.html.

          Modify performance indicators to emphasize quality 
        employment outcomes as a primary goal of the public workforce 
        system. For example, WIOA should require measures of post-
        program earnings at least 1 year after program completion, and 
        require wages be compared to median earnings in metropolitan 
        statistical area (MSA) or the regional living wage. Indicators 
        should also be added to collect information on whether or not 
        program completers remain employed in occupations and 
        industries related to their field of training. Such changes can 
        drive local boards to prioritize higher quality training 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        options, including pre-and Registered Apprenticeship.

          Encourage the use of WIOA Governor's Reserve funding 
        for activities that provide staff training and develop stronger 
        linkages between local workforce boards and apprenticeship 
        agencies/sponsors in industries experiencing critical shortages 
        of workers in occupations that pay at least a living-wage. 
        Sector-specific strategies to forge such partnerships have been 
        effective in addressing critical shortage areas in some 
        industries and regions, especially when supportive services 
        (such as those offered through WIOA) are included alongside 
        targeted training. \5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \5\  Alyssa Ratledge, Cynthia Miller, and Kelsey Schaberg, 
``Meeting the Needs of Job Seekers and Employers,'' MDRC, September 
2020, https://www.mdrc.org/publication/meeting-needs-job-seekers-and-
employers.

          Expand access to high-quality work experiences 
        available to WIOA-eligible youth through a work experience fund 
        or grant program designed to support the development of new 
        programs aligned to a set of rigorous quality standards, 
        including pre-and Registered Apprenticeship model. The fund 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        could be used to:

                Y  Reimburse employers for up to 75 percent of wages 
                for providing work experiences to youth who are also 
                participating in an eligible education and training 
                program. Subsidies should be reserved for jobs that pay 
                at least $15 an hour and which include opportunities to 
                earn industry recognized credentials or credit, to 
                ensure public dollars are used to create paths to 
                prosperity rather than to poverty.

                Y  Offer incentives for local workforce boards to 
                create progressive work experiences that ``link'' to a 
                clear next step toward further training, a more 
                advanced work experience, or a full-time job. Youth-
                serving pre-apprenticeship programs that confer 
                preferential access to or advanced standing in 
                registered apprenticeship programs are just one 
                promising example.

                Y  Offer incentives to employers for hiring youth who 
                face the most significant barriers to employment. 
                Especially in a period when high schools are racing to 
                dramatically expand work-based learning programs for 
                students, WIOA must take steps to ensure the young 
                people it serves are not overlooked by employers 
                fielding multiple requests for partnership.

                Y  Build the capacity of workforce boards to 
                collaborate with education and apprenticeship partners 
                as well as employers to establish local or regional 
                career pathway systems that include different tiers of 
                work experiences and multiple paths to credentials that 
                lead to well-paying jobs and promising careers. \6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \6\  For more details on this proposed concept, see U.S. Senate 
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. ``The Workforce 
Innovation and Opportunity Act: Supporting Efforts to Meet the Needs of 
Youth, Workers, and Employers.'' Testimony by Taylor White, Director, 
Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship. June 12, 2024.

          Support research and evaluation activities to 
        identify effective practices and programs and tailor future 
        legislation and investment to replicate best practices, while 
        phasing out apprenticeship and other training programs that do 
        not reliably improve employment outcomes.
                             Senator Smith
    Question 1. Thank you so much for speaking during the hearing to 
the importance of exposing kids, especially underserved youth, to a 
variety of career options before they leave the school system. Could 
you expand on how you think Congress can more effectively facilitate 
connections between young people and career exploration or employment 
opportunities?

    Answer 1. Currently, Federal funding to support connections between 
young people and career exploration and employment opportunities comes 
primarily from two sources: the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. 
Department of Education. Congress funds these activities through three 
pieces of legislation:

          The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), 
        which includes dedicated funding for skills development, 
        training programs, work experiences, and other employment-
        related supports for youth (as well as adults);

          The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for 
        the 21st Century Act (Perkins V), which provides funding for 
        our Career and Technical Education (CTE) system; and,

          The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which provides 
        funding for a wide range of academic and enrichment activities 
        provided to students in our elementary, middle, and high 
        schools.

    WIOA funding supports both in-and out-of-school youth (ISY and OSY, 
respectively), though current legislation requires a greater share of 
resources be used to support OSY. Perkins and ESSA both focus on ISY. 
Whereas Perkins has an explicit focus on CTE, ESSA does not. However, 
resources provided through ESSA can be used to support career connected 
learning opportunities and often are. For example, a 2017 report led by 
Advance CTE and Education Strategy Group found that nearly three-
quarters of states' ESSA plans indicated they would use ESSA funding to 
support learning and activities related to career development. \7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \7\  For more information on how ESSA can support career education, 
read Advance CTE's.

    Within each of these pieces of legislation, myriad funding streams 
and programs support (or can be used to support) career exploration and 
employment. In addition, there are dozens of additional funding sources 
and streams scattered across other pieces of legislation, all designed 
to help young adults explore or prepare for careers. While these 
supports are valuable and necessary, they are siloed and often poorly 
connected. This reality contributes to a fragmented landscape of 
programs at the state and local level, and prevents the development of 
a truly systemic approach to preparing young people for careers. \8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \8\  For a more detailed discussion of the issues of budget siloes 
and fragmentation, ``How can Federal funding support systems alignment 
for career pathways? A blog series exploring lessons from three 
examples of flexibility'' available at https://www.newamerica.org/
education-policy/edcentral/how-can-Federal-funding-support-systems-
alignment-for-career-pathways/.

    Fortunately, Congress can address some of these challenges by 
taking steps to promote greater alignment between these major pieces of 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
legislation and the systems they support by, for example:

          Revisiting and aligning definitions, accountability 
        requirements, and eligibility requirements and determination 
        processes each time legislation is reauthorized. \9\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \9\  Congress should also ensure definitions and data priorities in 
WIOA, Perkins, and ESSA are aligned, to the greatest extent practicable 
to TANF, SNAP and other relevant social and human service programs.

          Incentivizing--not just permitting--greater 
        cooperation and coordination across state education and 
        workforce actors in mandatory planning processes, including 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        those required for WIOA and Perkins.

          Creating grant programs and other incentive 
        structures that emphasize cooperation across programs that 
        connect or span youth-serving systems, for example, by linking 
        high school CTE programs and pre-apprenticeships to re-engage 
        OSY, or by supporting the expansion of dual enrollment CTE 
        pathways for ISY;

          Supporting states to develop stronger career advising 
        infrastructure with middle and high schools;

          Supporting an ecosystem of intermediaries and out-of-
        school time providers to provide career exposure and education 
        opportunities that supplement and reinforce those provided 
        through the public education and workforce systems, with a 
        focus on students who face barriers in education and 
        employment;

          Investing in state and local data infrastructure to 
        better connect K-12 education data, higher education data, data 
        from the public workforce system, and employment data to 
        understand how early career exposure activities, work-based 
        learning, and various secondary and postsecondary education and 
        training paths affect employment outcomes.

          Supporting research and evaluation to develop an 
        evidence base for the many career exposure, work-based 
        learning, career training, and other related programs supported 
        in the ecosystem to identify best practices and target future 
        investment.

    It is worth pointing out that the resources the U.S. Federal 
Government dedicates to career exposure, career and technical 
education, and workforce training is very low relative to other 
nations' investments in similar infrastructure and programs, even 
despite the high number of Federal funding sources, streams, and 
programs. \10\ If policymakers are committed to creating opportunities 
for our Nation's future workers to gain career exposure, workplace 
experiences, and valuable education and training opportunities at 
scale, we must substantially increase our investment in the systems and 
programs that provide them.
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    \10\  OECD. See footnote 3 above.

    Finally, a persistent challenge in developing a coherent ecosystem 
of career exposure, experience and training opportunities for youth and 
adults is our fragmented approach to engaging employers, who are 
themselves a fragmented stakeholder group. Employers sit on local and 
state boards and are engaged in various advisory capacities by public 
economic development agencies, workforce boards, the CTE system and 
other training and education institutions. While there are some bright 
spots that demonstrate employers can play a more active, sustained role 
in talent development, many of these engagements are superficial. The 
U.S. lacks a robust, cross-system strategy for engaging employers in 
the development, evolution, and delivery of career-oriented training--
not only for youth, but for adult and incumbent workers, too. 
International examples can offer useful lessons, but our approach to 
solving this problem will need to be American made. Congress should 
encourage innovative strategies to organize and engage American 
employers as co-developers of tomorrow's workforce, rather than 
consumers or distant supporters of it.
                                 ______
                                 
    [Whereupon, at 12:01 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]

                                   [all]`