The Workforce Investment Act created a new, comprehensive workforce investment system designed to change the way employment and training services are delivered. When WIA was enacted in 1998, it replaced the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) with three new programs—Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth—that allow for a broader range of services, including job search assistance, assessment, and training for eligible individuals. In addition to establishing three new programs, WIA requires that a number of employment-related services be provided through a one- stop system, designed to make accessing employment and training services easier for job seeker customers. WIA also requires that the one-stop system engage the employer customer by helping employers identify and recruit skilled workers. While WIA allows states and localities flexibility in implementing these requirements, the law emphasizes that the one-stop system should be a customer-focused and comprehensive system that increases the employment, retention, and earnings of participants. The major hallmark of WIA is the consolidation of services through the one-stop center system. About 17 categories of programs, totaling over $15 billion from four separate federal agencies, are required to provide services through the system. (See table 1.) WIA allows flexibility in the way these mandatory partners provide services through the one-stop system, allowing co-location, electronic linkages, or referrals to off-site partner programs. While WIA requires these mandatory partners to participate, WIA did not provide additional funds to operate one-stop systems and support one-stop partnerships. As a result, mandatory partners are expected to share the costs of developing and operating one-stop centers. However, several of the programs have limitations in the way the funds may be used, giving rise to one-stop funding challenges. Beyond the mandatory partners, one-stop centers have the flexibility to include other partners in the one-stop system. Labor suggests that these additional, or optional partners, may help one-stop systems better meet specific state and local workforce development needs. These optional partners may include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or local private organizations, for example. States have the option of mandating particular optional partners to participate in their one-stop systems. For example, in 2001, 28 states had formal agreements between TANF and WIA to involve TANF in the one-stop system. In addition, localities may partner with other programs to meet the specific needs of the community. One-stop centers serve two customers—job seekers and employers (see fig. 2). In serving job seekers, one-stop centers are encouraged to develop strategies to achieve a streamlined set of services. In past reports, we identified key areas critical to successfully integrating services under WIA, such as ensuring that job seekers have ready access to employment and program information, reducing job seekers’ confusion by providing them with a streamlined path from one program to another, providing job seeker services that are tailored and seamless, and helping job seekers identify and obtain needed program services without the burden of completing multiple intake and assessment procedures. One-Stop centers provide job seekers with job search and support services, while the job seekers act as an available labor pool for the one-stops’ employer customers. In serving employers, one-stops have the flexibility under WIA to provide a variety of tailored services, including hiring, assessments and training services that meet the specific needs of each employer. The degree to which the one- stop system engages and provides services to employers is left to the discretion of state and local officials. However, Labor suggests that employer involvement is critical for one-stop officials to better understand what skills are needed, what jobs are available, and what career fields are expanding. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the WIA programs, WIA requires that states and localities track performance and Labor holds states accountable for their performance. The measures gauge outcomes in the areas of job placement, employment retention, and earnings change, as well as skill attainment and customer satisfaction. In addition to the WIA programs, most of the 17 employment and training programs have their own performance measures. There are no overall one-stop performance measures. The one-stop centers we visited embraced the customer-focused provisions of WIA by streamlining one-stop services for job seekers. All 14 one-stop centers we visited used at least one of three different strategies to build a streamlined one-stop system—ensuring job seekers could readily access needed services, educating program staff about all of the one-stop services available to job seekers, and consolidating case management and intake procedures (see fig. 3). To ensure that job seekers could readily access needed services, one-stops we visited allocated staff to help job seekers navigate the one-stop system, expanded services for one-stop customers, and provided support to customers with transportation barriers. Ensuring access is designed to minimize confusion for job seekers as they navigate one-stop services. To educate program staff about one-stop services, centers used cross-training sessions in which partners informed one another about the range of services available at the one-stop. Finally, centers sought to reduce the duplication of effort across programs and the burden on job seekers navigating programs by consolidating case management and intake procedures across multiple programs through joint service plans for customers and shared computer networks. Nearly all of the one-stop centers we visited implemented specific strategies to ensure that job seekers had access to needed services. We previously reported that the range of services provided by multiple programs in the one-stop center caused confusion for job seekers. To minimize confusion, nearly all of the sites we visited looked for ways to ensure job seekers would have ready access to program information and a clear path from one program to another within the one-stop system. For example, when one-stop center staff in Killeen, Texas, and Clarksville, Tennessee, referred job seekers to another partner, the staff personally introduced the job seeker to the referred program staff to prevent job seekers from getting lost between programs. Similarly, officials in Erie, Pennsylvania, positioned a staff person at the entrance to the one-stop to help job seekers entering the center find needed services and to assist exiting job seekers if they did not receive the services they sought. (See app. II for more examples from each of the sites we visited.) In addition to improving access to one-stop center services on-site, some of the one-stops we visited found ways to serve job seekers who may have been unable to come into the one-stop center for services. For example, in Boston, Massachusetts, the one-stop placed staff in off-site locations, including family courts, correctional facilities, and welfare offices to give job seekers ready access to employment and program information. Specifically, Boston one-stop staff worked with an offender re-entry program that conducted job fairs inside the county prison to facilitate incarcerated offenders’ transition back into the workplace. One-stops also improved job seeker access to services by expanding partnerships to include optional service providers—those beyond the 17 program partners mandated by WIA. These optional partners ranged from federally funded programs, such as TANF, to community-based organizations providing services tailored to meet the needs of local job seekers. The one-stop in Dayton, Ohio, was particularly proactive in forming optional partnerships to meet job seekers’ service needs. At the time of our visit, the Dayton one-stop had over 30 optional partners on-site, including the Montgomery County Combined Health District, which operated a health clinic on-site; Clothes that Work!, which provides free business attire to low-income women; and an alternative high school. The most common optional partner at the one-stops we visited was the TANF program—which was an on-site partner at 13 of the 14 sites. One-stop managers in Clarksville told us that co-location with the Tennessee Department of Human Services, which administers TANF, benefited all job seekers because the department helped to fund various services, including computer classes, soft skills classes, and parenting classes that could be provided to those not eligible for TANF. Additionally, Killeen, Texas, one- stop staff told us that co-location with TANF helped welfare recipients address barriers to employment by facilitating easier access to other services, such as housing assistance and employment and training programs. Many one-stop centers, such as in Killeen, Texas, and Vineland, New Jersey, ensured access to one-stop services by addressing customers’ transportation challenges. Staff in Killeen partnered with the libraries in rural areas to provide computer access to one-stop resume writing and job search services and an on-line TANF orientation. In Kansas City, Missouri, the one-stop management decided to locate the one-stop center next to the bus company, the Area Transit Authority (ATA). This strategic decision meant that all bus routes passed by the one-stop center, thus ensuring that customers with transportation challenges could access one-stop center services. Additionally, the ATA partnered with the one-stop to create an Urban Employment Network program to assist job seekers with transportation to and from work. The ATA provided bus service 7 days a week from 5:00 in the morning until midnight and set up a van service to operate during off-peak hours. To help ensure that job seekers receive services tailored to meet their needs, nine of the one-stops we visited focused on educating all one-stop staff about the range of services available through the one-stop. In earlier work, we identified challenges for job seekers in receiving the right set of services to meet their needs. One-stop officials at the centers we visited reported that staff who were cross-trained could better assess the particular needs of job seekers, including identifying barriers to getting a job, and were able to provide job seekers with more appropriate referrals.