An interview with Brian Richard, CGS Associate Director and Team Leader for Workforce Development and Economic Analysis
To start out, can you tell us: what is the Workforce Policy Lab and what does it do?
While still part of the Center for Governmental Studies, we recently began branding our workforce development work under the name Workforce Policy Lab. The Workforce Policy Lab helps mainly state agencies develop and improve their workforce development programs. These workforce development programs are primarily focused on people who are struggling to find a job or a career, either because of lack of experience or preparation or because they’ve lost a job, say in a declining industry where jobs have become scarce.
What’s the history of the Workforce Policy Lab (WPL)?
Within the Center for Governmental Studies, which has been around for more than five decades, we’ve traditionally done economic development with the occasional focus on a workforce development issue. For example, over the past couple of decades we’ve completed student labor force outcome studies about every five years for the Illinois Community College Board. Then, about ten years ago an opportunity came our way with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. In the beginning, mainly we helped them with program development and policy analysis. We’d look at specific issues, such as how to improve the delivery of specific programs at the local level or how to better spend the funds that they received from the federal government.
Then WPL grew from there. We started doing more analysis, and applied research and evaluation work, occasionally working with other state agencies in Illinois, the Community College Board or individual community colleges to help them improve the programs they offer. About six or seven years ago, we began working with the State of Colorado doing applied research and evaluation work, and we’re now also working with the State of Wyoming.
Can you describe your process and approach to program evaluation?
I like to describe our work as a research-practitioner partnership. We don’t come in as the ivory tower, saying, “We’re going to tell you how to improve your programs or what’s wrong with your programs.” Instead, we really try to learn as much from the clients as they learn from us. They’re the subject matter experts, and learning from them makes our work more successful.
I think all leaders – this isn’t workforce specific – are naturally a bit resistant to change and skeptical of outside evaluation. So we’ve developed an approach that brings folks along slowly. We’re good about educating them that we’re here to help work with you, to help improve your programs, not to monitor or judge you. We talk about the difference between monitoring and evaluation. We’re not about monitoring – checking to make sure you follow all the rules. We’re interested in the experience and outcomes of the participants – are they successfully completing the program and transitioning into careers?
I’d love to hear an example of one the local programs that you might evaluate or provide support for!
The Illinois Department of Commerce has what they call the Illinois Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program. It’s designed to help prepare people to enter and succeed in construction apprenticeships. There are program providers across the state who deliver the training, teaching people the basic skills that you might need to succeed in either employment or a full apprenticeship.
Our role is to analyze how successful the program is and identify areas for improvement. They give us access to the individual participant level data, and we analyze that data to look at patterns in the outcomes, to see what’s impacting the participants’ success both within the program and in their transition to employment or a fully registered apprenticeship program.
We’ll generally begin with quantitative analysis of the program data and then follow up with qualitative work where we’re interviewing the program staff to learn about conditions on the ground and to better understand the data. We really value the expertise and knowledge of front-line staff, and we aim to listen and learn from them.
In addition to construction, what are some of the industries most in need of this sort of workforce development assistance, especially in the Midwest?
Some of the other programs we work on are focused on training people for industries that are expanding right now, such as programs funded by the Illinois Climate and Equitable Jobs Act. This act supports workforce training programs in wind and solar energy or energy efficiency jobs. That includes training for solar installers, HVAC professionals and other tradespeople who work to help make more efficient use of energy.
What else would you like folks to know about the Workforce Policy Lab, especially considering that many of our readers work in local governments and nonprofits?
Local government does important work on economic development, trying to bring jobs into their communities. It benefits them to understand the role of workforce in economic development. Both the state agencies we help and the training providers who put workforce development into action are helping to improve the workforce climate for local businesses and governments. So I think there’s a really important role in helping workforce development programs understand and respond to the needs of local communities and businesses.
To have an effective workforce policy response, who needs to be involved?
State policymakers set the direction of the workforce policy response, and the funding for many of the programs comes from the state. Local colleges, training providers and nonprofits are critical because they recruit participants and deliver the workforce development programs in the local context.
How does the state identify workforce needs?
There’s a planning process that goes on every four years, with the workforce plan updated at the two-year mark. State policymakers look at employment data trends and talk to employers about what they need and what changes they anticipate. For example, hospitals might say, we have a lot of nurses retiring in the next five years, so the state will know to prepare for that.
What’s something you’ve learned from your work in this area?
What we’ve found is that it’s really the people on the ground doing the work who make a workforce program successful. Success depends on their ability to build relationships with the participants. These programs are generally designed to serve people who have been unemployed a long time, who live in poverty or have been laid off. There are usually a lot of resources available, but people might not know about the resources or be reluctant to seek them out. The case manager’s ability to work with the participant as they move through the process, to build a relationship and help the participant overcome barriers makes a huge difference – both for the participant’s ability to complete the program, and their ability to enter the labor force. We’ve found it’s finding the right people on the ground that are best suited and best trained to do that kind of work that matters most.
Can you tell us more about the demographics of the people the workforce development programs tend to serve?
There are a few different areas of focus. One is youth-focused programs, which primarily serve youth ages 16 to 24 who are not in school and not working.
Another niche some programs serve is folks known as “dislocated workers.” These are people who recently lost a job or who worked in an industry that’s shrinking, and they may need job retraining.
Finally, other programs serve people who are low income, and who have been unemployed for a long period of time for various reasons. These programs often serve people who are homeless, who have recently returned from prison, or who have other barriers to employment and need help finding and preparing for a career.
Is there a success story that you would like to share, or any work you’ve been particularly proud of?
I’m proud of our work both in Colorado and here in Illinois. In Colorado, the state can point to a number of program improvements that have happened because of the evaluation and capacity building work we’ve done with them.
Here in Illinois, I’m really proud of our work on the clean energy program, which we’ve been involved with from the legislation stage. The legislation comes to you – maybe two pages – and then you have to build a multimillion-dollar program out of that. It’s a massive undertaking, and it’s been exciting to be a partner in that from the start.
Learn more about the Center for Governmental Studies workforce and economic development services on the CGS website. Browse our staff directory to learn more about Brian and the team of CGS researchers.
