The U.S. Department of Education held “WIA Community Conversations with National Organizations†this morning to get input from stakeholders about WIA reauthorization. Brenda Dann-Messier, the Assistant Secretary of OVAE, and Martha Kanter, the Undersecretary of Education, opened the meeting by highlighting the need to better align workforce and education. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and the American Graduation Initiative are two areas where this could be done. Undersecretary Kanter also stressed that WIA reauthorization must be looked at in the context of Perkins and ESEA.
Attendees were then given five minutes each to present their recommendations to the panel. While many focused on Title II of WIA (Adult Education), there was some talk of integrating adult education with workforce training, as well as developing state career pathway grants. Several groups also suggested expanding the Title V incentive fund into more of an innovation grant program that would incentivize partner programs to collaborate on developing innovative programs. There was also some concern that there are barriers in place that discourage community colleges from participating in the WIA system, despite being well-established training providers.
Tags: community colleges, federal legislation, Job training, WIA