MEETS Portfolio of Responses
 

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 Illustrative MEETS Documents

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	1.  Local Growth Industry Profile for the Universities at Shady Grove, Maryland
	2.  Sector Hiring & Earning Profile: Citrus-Levy-Marion, Florida
	3.  Biotechnology Employment Opportunity: San Diego County, California
	4.  Summer Youth Hiring Profile: Pike’s Peak, Colorado
	5.  Healthcare Employment Opportunity: North Valley (NOVA) Workforce Area, California
	6.  Industry Retention Profile, Pasco-Hernando, Florida
	7.  Manufacturing Impact Profile: Boone-Winnebago, Illinois.

MEETS Aligning Regional Education & Training Services with Business Needs to Take Advantage of Local Growth Opportunities
	A Portfolio of Responses to Local Questions using Census Bureau Local Employment Dynamics Program Quarterly Workforce indicators MARCH 2006

INTRODUCTION 

            The Market-responsive Education & Employment Training System (MEETS) staff partnered with ten local workforce development teams in five states to design, deliver and encourage proper use of new customized information using Census Bureau Local Employment Dynamics (LED) Program Quarterly Workforce Indicator (QWI) series data.

             The MEETS pilot-stage priorities and activities have been defined and carried out in collaboration with the Census Bureau LED Program management team, each state’s labor market information unit and other state and regional organizations.

             The portfolio of seven customized documents presented here illustrates how MEETS extends what can be done in a self-service mode using the Census Bureau Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Web site http://lehd.dsd.census.gov.

             The High-Growth Job Training Initiative, Community-Based Job Training Grants, Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development awards, and anticipated Career Advancement Accounts place a heavy burden on traditional sources of labor market information; a test of decision-making relevance that challenges the best of the state and local partnerships.

             The MEETS staff is poised to respond to new opportunities, serving as a ‘bridge’ between the Census Bureau LED Program Web site and state and local education and training providers who, without help, will overlook many of the valuable insights to be gleaned from the new information.

 NEXT STEPS

Contingent upon level of renewed funding and ETA
selection of priorities to be addressed, the MEETS staff can:

• Refine current partnerships with state teams in California, Colorado and Florida—each having been partners in the pilot stage of MEETS—to  deliver technical assistance for the California Coast, Denver Metro Region and Florida Panhandle recipients of WIRED funds.  The technical assistance content will then be broadcast among the other recipients of WIRED and Community-Based Job Training Grant funds for adoption or adaptation to their own needs.
   
• Collaborate with the American Association of Community Colleges and selected state AACC affiliates to design and make available customized LED QWI information templates and case-studies of applications that can be adopted by state and local community college systems wanting to answer questions beyond the response capacity of the Census Bureau LED Program Web site.  Jay Pfeiffer and David Stevens' on-going involvement in the U.S. Department of Education Data Quality Institute will permit rapid startup of and widespread interest in this module.
   
• Work with the Business Relations Group, designees from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education and selected individuals from organizations interested in non-traditional employment issues to prepare and disseminate a guide to proper uses of the new age/gender information available in the Census Bureau LED Program Quarterly Workforce Indicator series.  There is an urgent need to ‘get out in front’ of this public policy issue.
   
• Partner with two or more states to demonstrate how Census Bureau LED QWI series data can be used in the negotiation of performance targets for occupational education and skill training programs, including community college occupational programs in the proposed coverage.