As to the make-up of the board, Mr. Price explained that the legislation mandates that 51% of the board comes from the business sector.

"Those partners who receive federal funding must be represented on the board. And for every mandated partner, you have to have one business member, plus one... so you have a majority of business." As a point of interest, the CDO WIB has 36 members and the FMS WIB has 33.

Arguably, the most tangible impact of the Workforce Investment Act has been the creation and establishment of "One Stop" service centers.

"In a full-service One Stop" states Ms. Breen, "you get everything you need when you walk through the door, or a referral to where to go. If it's work force related, you ought to be able to do interest inventories, career assessment, labor market information, resume development, workshops on work readiness skills... everything should be available to you there."

Mr. Price adds, "When the general public comes in looking for a job, looking for information on how to improve their career opportunities, to learn about training programs that are out there, have their resumes spruced... for a whole variety of reasons they may come through the door... [they] can come in and seek the services from various agencies from within the community. If those services aren't readily available right there at the center, we can also help them through referral process to reach out to those other agencies." In the four-county area (Chenango, Delaware, Otsego and Schoharie) there are several full-service One Stop locations, including Cobleskill, Oneonta and Norwich as well as "affiliate" sites located in Delhi and Sidney. (For more information about the One Stops and how they can help you, click here.)

Both Ms. Breen and Mr. Price referenced the crucial role of young people - "the emerging workers" - in the continuing vitality of the local workforce.

Mr. Price put it in perspective. "The population is aging, and starting in this decade we are going to have large numbers of individuals retiring out of the workforce. The challenge that we face as an economy, here locally as well as nationally, is who is going to back-fill those positions? That leaves two questions for employers. Do they reach out to our local youth and encourage them to achieve the educational level they will need and stay locally? ...Reach out to those who were from this area, who have spent some time away from the area, and get them to come back? Or do they try to keep some of those older workers working a little bit longer?"

 

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