U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Marty Walsh joined Community Renewal Co-Chairs Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson on Thursday, July 8, at the National Governors Association virtual summer meeting.
Governors Bryan and Parson led the discussion on workforce development in their state and territory, and they were joined by governors Dan McKee of Rhode Island, Jared Polis of Colorado and Tom Wolfe of Pennsylvania to discuss innovative executive branch, congressional and state-level policy solutions.
Gov. Bryan has said that workforce development begins in pre-kindergarten, and this week the Bryan-Roach Administration announced registration is opening for the Sugarapple pre-kindergarten program and hosted a ribbon-cutting for the new Charlotte Amalie High School Annex that will be used by 9th-grade students this school year.
Secretary Walsh said he is pushing Congress to make sure that job training dollars get into the infrastructure bill and plans to strengthen and expand JobCorps pathways into good jobs.
“If you can’t get into a trade or apprenticeship, Job Corps is a viable option,” Secretary Walsh told the governors. Walsh said the Biden Administration will help states and territories build capacity for near-term innovation and longer-term strategy to prepare their workforces for a post COVID-19 economy.
“Every vulnerable community is being addressed. Secretary Walsh gets it,” Bryan said. “Workforce Development is key and is the pathway out of poverty as JobCorps is brought deeper into the fold.”
Governors and the departments of Labor, Commerce and Education plan to target dropouts, devote integrated and specific attention to community colleges, advance digital access and skill development, and enhance equity and job quality for all workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically reshaped large segments of the U.S. economy. Governors are working to secure assistance for displaced workers and affected businesses, while building new frameworks and interventions to support a more equitable economic recovery.
Across the states and territories, they are focused on pre-kindergarten all the way up to high school, free college tuition for residents in the Virgin Islands, and at a few other colleges, alongside consideration for all the apprenticeships.
“Every student has a laptop, and we’ve started pre-kindergarten in the Virgin Islands,” Bryan told the National Governors Association Committee.
The territory has established the V.I. Department of Labor as a State Registered Apprenticeship Agency and held its first workforce summit focused on the development of apprenticeships in the Virgin Islands’ in-demand industries and occupations. There are currently three sponsors of RAPs covering six occupations.
The territory is using Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds through the “Skills for Today” initiative to build capacity in disaster recovery-related jobs, which builds resiliency in the local workforce by offering training and work-based learning opportunities that offer practical experience.
The Virgin Islands also has developed a holistic workforce plan that invests $12 million across two years to create workforce development infrastructure, programs and services that will increase access to opportunities for more V.I. residents and employer resources that support economic growth.
The American Rescue Plan is significant for governors, especially their rural and urban agendas, which go hand-in-hand with President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda. High-quality care for every family, home care for aging parents, and training and coaching for employees are at the nucleus of their strategic plans.
