STRATEGIC FIVE-YEAR STATE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT PLAN FOR TITLE I OF THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT OF 1998 (WORKFORCE INVESTMENT SYSTEM) AND THE WAGNER-PEYSER ACT STATE OF CONNECTICUT for the period of July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017 1 State of Connecticut Strategic Five-Year State Workforce Investment Plan July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2017 Table of Contents I. State Workforce Strategic Plan II. State Operational Plan III. Integrated Workforce Plan Assurances and Attachments 2 I. State Workforce Strategic Plan 3 WIA Strategic Five-Year State Workforce Investment Plan Section I. A. Governor’s Vision: This portion of the Integrated Workforce Plan must describe the governor’s strategic vision for the state’s economy and overarching goals for the state’s workforce system. This vision should provide the strategic direction for the state workforce system and guide investments in workforce preparation, skill development, education and training, and major initiatives supporting the governor’s vision. The plan also must specifically address the governor’s vision for aligning efforts among workforce development partners to achieve accessible, seamless, integrated, and comprehensive service, and how programs and activities described in the plan will support the state’s economic development needs and the employment and training needs of all working-age youth and adults in the state. The plan must include a description of the methods used for joint planning, and coordination of the programs and activities included in the plan. Shortly after taking office in January 2011 Governor Malloy asserted as a priority his expectation that, building on a proud heritage, CT would create and sustain the global economy‘s best-educated, most-skilled, most-productive workforce. The Governor embraced the fundamental importance of talent as the essential resource in state efforts to grow the economy and shared prosperity for all. In ensuing months, under the Governor‘s leadership, the General Assembly adopted several major, inter-connected, innovative, structural policy initiatives that, taken together, create the strong and necessary foundation in order to pursue the Governor‘s vision. Governor Malloy has provided essential leadership in championing several key policy initiatives to grow the economy and create new jobs, align higher education with economic priorities, prepare an educated future workforce, and integrate state efforts. These include: Passage of a $600,000,000 Jobs Bill which includes a comprehensive package of focused job growth/economic development investments intended to incentivize/stimulate job growth in several targeted industry sectors. Consolidation of previously disparate public higher-education institutions (community colleges and state universities) under a new Board of Regents for Higher Education/ConnSCU structure to align higher education policies, strategies, investments with State‘s economic development priorities, policies, strategies, investments. Reform of the state‘s K-12 public schools system, with a new emphasis on career exposure for all students as a core element of their total academic learning experience, and making high school diploma true credential for college and career readiness. In addition to these significant policy initiatives, the Governor has established through executive leadership and administrative action the expectation that the key state agencies significantly involved in developing and sustaining the talent of CT‘s people will cooperate and collaborate effectively to better align and integrate economic development, 4 education, human services and workforce development policy, investments, programs and services into a coherent state talent strategy. The Governor‘s key vehicle to accomplish this purposeful collaboration is the CT Employment and Training Commission (CETC). Under Governor Malloy‘s leadership CETC has been rebuilt and re-energized, charged to play the lead role in promoting efforts across multiple state agencies, programs, strategies and investments to meet the broad goal of developing and sustaining the best-educated, most-skilled, most-productive workforce in the world. CETC Planning Role and Focus Governor Malloy reorganized the Connecticut Employment and Training Commission (CETC) in 2011 to play a lead role in coordinating state efforts to meet the Governor‘s vision of building and sustaining in CT the global economy‘s best-educated, most-skilled, most-productive workforce. CETC membership includes leaders of each of the major agencies/institutions that collectively comprise the state‘s workforce/talent-development system. Overarching Goals To bring focus to that broad vision, CETC adopted four overarching goals as a broad framework for proposed policy and strategy, in each of four broad categories: Business Growth (Industry Sectors) – Connecticut businesses – particularly those in key industry sectors – will have access to the human resources and talent they need to compete effectively, prosper in Connecticut and create new jobs for Connecticut workers. Current Workforce – All Connecticut workers will have the skills and credentials they need to prosper and advance in careers that pay well and provide good benefits to support their families. Future Talent – All Connecticut youth will be ready for career and postsecondary success as productive contributors to a vibrant and competitive state economy. System Transformation – Connecticut‘s workforce/talent-development system will support a world-class workforce and competitive economy through aligned and integrated goals, strategies, policies, services and infrastructure whose performance is regularly monitored and results evaluated. For each of these goals CETC identified a set of indicators to monitor and assess how well CT is doing in comparison to relevant competitors. We need useful indicators to review on a regular basis to determine how well we are doing as a State in meeting these ambitious goals. What trends we see over time, the past 5-10 years, and what the trends suggest about future strategy. How we fare in comparison to other states, regions and nations against whom we compete. How well different segments of our population are doing, to ensure that we understand accurately the important underlying stories, to inform effective policy and strategy development. Performance Indicators CETC will use the following indicators to monitor and report on Connecticut‘s status in pursuing these overarching goals. 5 Business Growth (Industry Sectors): Readiness for the ―new economy‖. Competitive ranking in the New Economy Index. State per capita GDP State rate/ranking of fastest growing businesses Current Workforce: Percent of young adults (recent HS grads) that advance to post-secondary education Completion rate of post-secondary degree/credential programs by young adults (define) Percent (and number) of middle-skill job openings going unfilled Talent Pipeline: Percent of 4th graders reaching proficiency in reading on the NAEP1 Percent of 8th graders taking high school level math (beginning algebra) On-time high school graduation rate (4 years) Students - recent HS grads - able to qualify for credit-bearing college-level courses without requiring remediation or developmental instruction System Transformation: Number and percent of agencies linking data to provide strategic insight for public policy Timeliness of refreshing data for CT‘s workforce dashboard Percent of workers earning a living wage ($40,000 a year or more) As a general proposition, CETC believes that: CT must be ranked in the top 10% on each of these indicators in comparison to relevant national/international competition. If already in that top echelon, the trajectory in our performance should be upward, our performance must continue to advance. Stability or decline is unacceptable. The performance of all segments of our population is critical. Broad, seemingly positive statewide results that mask underlying challenges among certain groups must be understood and addressed. Section I.B. Economic and Workforce Information Analysis: The Integrated Workforce Plan must describe the labor market and economic context in which the state's workforce system (including all the programs in the Integrated Workforce Plan) is operating, based on accurate and timely labor-market, demographic, and economic information, with particular attention given to high-need, under-served, under- employed, and/or low-skilled subpopulations. (WIA Sections 112(b)(4), 112(b)(17)(A)(iv), 112(b)(18), W-P Sections 8(b) and 15.) This description should include an assessment of the needs of constituents within the state who will become, or currently comprise, the state’s workforce, particularly those needs which can be addressed by the programs included in the Integrated Workforce Plan. The state’s analysis of the current economy and future trends of the economy forms the foundation for strategic planning. For its analysis, the state may use the workforce information produced by the state workforce agency as well as other data available 1 National Assessment of Educational Progress, administered by the US Department of Education 6 from Federal, State, and Private sector sources, and informed by the business representatives of the State Workforce Investment Board (SWIB). Section I.B. i. An assessment of the current situation and projected trends of the state’s economy, industries and occupations, including major economic regions and industrial and occupational sectors Current makeup and projected demand for