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Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Task Force
Chairman’s Prepared Remarks
April 29, 2015
WELCOME and OPENING REMARKS
Good morning and thanks to each of you for joining today’s first meeting — via webinar
— of Florida’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Task Force.
I’m Chris Hart, president and CEO of CareerSource Florida, and chairman of the task
force. This task force is being created to support Florida’s implementation of WIOA, which
received wide bipartisan support in Congress, was signed into law by the president last
July, and takes effect on July 1, 2015, replacing the current Workforce Investment Act.
The state legislation that formally creates this task force has been approved by both the
Florida House and Senate and is now headed to the Governor for action. However, given
the timeline within which this task force will need to work, we wanted to proceed this week
with a short briefing webinar to review the charge and goals, discuss the series of
upcoming face-to-face meetings, and seek your feedback in order to support of our
preparation and planning. This will help to ensure that once we formally launch with the
Governor’s action, we can proceed in a focused and timely direction toward developing
this task force’s recommendations. Please know, we have briefed the Executive Office of
the Governor and legislative staff members on this approach.
The work we are undertaking collectively will play a significant role in how Florida
implements this new federal law. The law is intended to – and this is a quote – “help job
seekers and workers access employment, education, training and support services to
succeed in the labor market and match employers with the skilled workers they need to
compete in the global economy.”
As a task force, our focus is Florida’s implementation of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act. “Innovation” and “Opportunity” must be the driving forces behind our
discussions and recommendations for what Florida needs to do to position our state for
success in the global economy and ensure that Florida will be the global leader for talent!
What you may not know is that Florida played an active role in policy discussions that led
to the new federal law. Florida’s workforce system is recognized as a national model and
the Congressional writers looked very closely at how our state developed its businessled, demand-driven system in response to the 1998 Workforce Investment Act. In fact,
several Florida leaders had the honor of testifying before congressional committees
during WIA reauthorization deliberations.
Florida has always been a state driven by innovation and imagination. Now, we have an
opportunity to innovate again to build a 21st century workforce development system that
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responds to demands in a dynamic, global economy and leverages our individual and
collective outcomes as we forge collaborations to take us to the next level of excellence.
Embedded in the mission and work of each organization or entity represented here is a
focus on employment, education and training to support economic opportunities, growth
and prosperity for the Floridians we serve and, ultimately, Florida businesses.
Together, each of the 20 organizations, agencies and entities called to serve and
contribute on this task force collectively represent a broadly redefined Florida Workforce
Development System where, by working together, we can connect employers with
qualified, skilled talent and Floridians with employment and career development
opportunities to achieve economic prosperity.
As we get started, I think it’s important to emphasize that this task force’s work will be
conducted through a transparent and inclusive process.
Over the course of the next four months that this task force is developing its
recommendations, we want to hear not only from task force members, but other critical
stakeholders, including Florida businesses, job seekers and workers, and any additional
members of the public who wish to share perspective on WIOA implementation.
Yes, we have a very compressed timeline, but I believe this leadership group is up to the
task ahead. In each of your respective areas — and through new efforts underway across
the state focused on collaboration, performance and accountability — we have a firm
foundation on which to build as we implement WIOA.
Some examples include: The Employment First initiative with the Agency for Persons with
Disabilities, Department of Economic Opportunity, CareerSource Florida, and the
Department Of Education’s Divisions of Blind Services and Vocational Rehabilitation,
among many others; the CareerSource Florida network regional workforce boards and
their enhanced focus on expanding business engagement; and the State University
System and Florida College System and their performance funding models.
Before we call the roll, allow me to quickly walk through today’s agenda:

After the roll call, I will review the WIOA vision, our charge and WIOA goals and
expected outcomes for this task force.

Next, Michelle Dennard, who is serving as CareerSource Florida’s Lead and Key
Contact for the WIOA Task Force, will provide us with an overview of our collective
role as Florida’s Workforce Development System, the process and timeline to
conduct and complete our work, and then preview what’s ahead.

Following a quick review of Florida’s Sunshine Law Requirements, which govern
our work, I will open the floor to task force members for discussion and feedback
on what our team has outlined regarding the WIOA vision, our charge and goals.
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We want to hear from task force members (and anyone from the general public)
about what you would like to see in our upcoming series of face-to-face meetings
in Tallahassee.
By way of short introduction, Michelle Dennard is CareerSource Florida’s VP of Policy.
Many of you have spoken with her directly as we began preparing for WIOA
implementation following passage of the new law. As stated previously, Michelle is also
serving as the lead member of CareerSource Florida’s professional team in working with
this task force.
WIOA VISION, TASK FORCE CHARGE and EXPECTED OUTCOMES
The public workforce system is a federal-state-local system. Each of these components
has an important role and each is reliant on the other two for overall success. The federal
vision for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act is to achieve and maintain an
integrated, job-driven public workforce system that links diverse talent to businesses by
ensuring:



The Needs of Business for skilled workers must drive workforce solutions and the
Needs of Workers must drive workforce solutions.
One-Stop Career Centers provide excellent customer service to job seekers,
workers and employers and focus on continuous improvement.
The workforce system supports strong regional economies.
Within this vision, each of us can see that we have something to contribute to improve
the outcomes for Florida’s Workforce Development System.
As I noted earlier, this task force is responsible for developing recommendations for WIOA
implementation. That responsibility, which is outlined in the state legislation that creates
this panel and forms the basis for this task force’s charge: That charge is to develop WIOA
implementation recommendations by providing counsel and support to the CareerSource
Florida Team, as that team prepares a draft Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Implementation Plan that is to be reviewed, finalized and approved by the CareerSource
Florida Board of Directors.
These recommendations should include, but are not limited to:
 a review of current workforce service delivery and recommendations for the
inclusion of programs;
 regional planning design;
 one-stop service delivery design;
 the integration of economic development, workforce development and Florida’s
education system; and
 development of sector strategies and career pathways.
In fact — importantly — at a recent CareerSource Florida Executive Committee meeting,
the executives who represent business, education and labor, discussed the state board’s
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expectations of this task force’s work. These leaders asked that I point out that this task
force’s recommendations should not just focus on its report, or even the state plan for
Florida’s WIOA implementation that will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Labor
next year, but on the overarching goals that we will collectively need to achieve and the
strategies that will help us to do so.
I agree with these leaders … and I hope you do too.
We must take notice, and remember, that the recommendations that will form this task
force’s report to CareerSource Florida’s board, is an expected outcome of our work, but
it is not the ultimate outcome.
Ultimately, we want Florida’s entire effort, beginning with this task force’s contributions,
to produce positive outcomes that achieve the following six goals of WIOA, as outlined in
the beginning of the law:
1. Increase access to employment, education, training and support services
particularly for people with barriers to employment.
2. Create a comprehensive, high-quality workforce development system by aligning
workforce investment, education and economic development.
3. Improve the quality and labor market relevance of workforce investment, education
and economic development efforts. (This is essential to ensure Florida’s workforce
has the skills and credentials to succeed in the global economy and can secure
and advance in employment that merits “economic self-sufficiency.”)
4. Promote improvement in the structure and delivery of workforce services.
5. Increase the prosperity of workers and employers.
6. Reduce welfare dependency, increase economic self-sufficiency, meet employer
needs and enhance the productivity and competitiveness of our regions, state and
nation.
If we start with those six goals in mind, we will position Florida for implementation that
offers a new, improved and high-quality workforce development system that aligns
workforce investment to education and economic development, while simultaneously
promoting continuous improvement in the structure and delivery of services to better
address the employment and skill needs of job seekers, workers and employers.
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