Mapping The Strengths Of The WIB

Every Workforce Investment Board (WIB) has its own charter, organization, and unique context. What they all share, however, is a set of central roles. Each WIB provides oversight for the Workforce Investment Act program, acts as a catalyst to provide seamless services among various workforce programs, and provides community leadership around workforce issues.

As community leader, there are five ways that WIBs can carry out their role, which are the focus of this toolkit. The list is intended to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive - each WIB in California will find that it incorporates most of these roles in varying degrees in all aspects of their work.

• CONVENER - Bringing together business, labor, education, and economic development to focus on community workforce issues
• WORKFORCE ANALYST - Developing, disseminating and understanding current labor market and economic information and trends
• BROKER - Bring together systems to solve common problems, or broker new relationships with businesses and workers
• COMMUNITY VOICE - Advocating for the importance of workforce policy, providing perspective about the need for skilled workers
• CAPACITY BUILDER - Enhancing the region's ability to meet the workforce needs of local employers

The case studies in this toolkit have been organized around these five roles, with pages illustrating how successful programs have leveraged their positions in the workforce community to foster change.