About CWA

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CWA’S KEY MESSAGES

  • For the U.S. to remain competitive in the global marketplace, we must invest in our workforce; economic competitiveness begins and ends with worker training, education and deployment.
  • Workforce Development is an economic program that, in the process of helping businesses grow, can affect deeper societal issues.
  • Local Workforce Boards promote business growth and economic opportunity in America by expediting talent matching and providing access to training programs that address skill gaps.
  • Congressional and Administration proposals that increase funding for worker training initiatives will help business and economic growth, and decrease the human and economic cost of unemployment across the country.

Our Mission

Enhance and inspire California’s local workforce development boards and their partners through strategic advocacy, partnership convening, and capacity building

 

Our Vision

A prosperous California where thriving industries are sustained by a highly skilled, diverse and innovative workforce

OUR BACKGROUND

The California Workforce Association is a non-profit member association, which represents all 45 of the Workforce Development Boards in the State of California, as well as over 70 other affiliate members from labor, education, industry, Chambers of Commerce, government and community-based organizations.

 

LOCAL WORKFORCE SYSTEM PURPOSE

The Workforce Development Boards are the broker and convener of the workforce system on a local level in the state of California. They are business-led, governed and supported by local elected officials. They were established by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, and have seen their role increase through the passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act of 2014, which got through both houses of Congress with near-unanimous, bi-partisan support.

The Boards are charged with bringing together industry, education, labor, community, government, and other stakeholders in workforce to develop demand-driven strategies connected to regional economies and labor markets.

Over 60,000 people were employed or earned degrees or credentials through the one-stop system that is overseen by the Boards in the last year of tracking.