The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) has published a series of short, action-focused memos outlining how states, local areas, advocates, and service providers can leverage opportunities to serve low-income youth and adults through state and local plans and policies under WIOA. Below are links to the memos relating to Career Pathways.
Career Pathways: State Plan & Policy
States should determine whether partners have built career pathway programs that meet the definition in WIOA and offer infrastructure and guidance on defining and tracking participants who are on a "state-recognized" career pathway.
Career Pathways: Local Planning
The local plan will outline the strategic and operational functions local boards undertake with WIOA and required one-stop partners in the development and implementation of a career pathway program or programs that serve local employers and local residents.
Career Pathways: Using the State Eligible Training Provider List to Support Quality & Coordination
State plans should include robust quality standards for the range of programs on the ETPL, including career pathway programs.
WIOA and Job Quality
Through WIOA, states and local areas can leverage workforce training funds to improve the quality of front-line jobs. WIOA’s increased emphasis on work-based learning models, incumbent worker training, and on-the-job training grants—coupled with state and local options under the law to set standards for employer participation in such programs—create new partnership opportunities with high-road employers, enabling workers to earn while they learn as well as promoting improved job quality.
Transitional Jobs: Expanding Opportunities for Low-Income Workers
WIOA allows local areas to allocate up to 10 percent of Title I - Adult and Dislocated Worker funds to transitional jobs for individuals with barriers to employment. The explicit inclusion of transitional jobs in WIOA will allow more local areas to add this model to their portfolio of services.