The WIOA Professional Development Committee, in collaboration with the Career Pathways for Targeted Populations (CPTP) Workgroup, would like to observe that October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). We are celebrating the contributions of America's workers with disabilities to showcase supportive, inclusive policies and practices that benefit employers and employees. We want to highlight the following Workforce Wednesday Webinar regarding hiring Individuals with Disabilities.

The One Stop partners in Lake County use an electronic referral system that they call Unify. Learn how this system has been used recently to assist the immigrants and refugees enrolled in English classes with ICCB partners. Hear examples of employment and training success for second-language learners. Panelists will share resources for immigrants and refugees.

After attending this webinar attendees will be able to:

•Expand awareness of personal identities within the context of local and global communities, and acquire, integrate, and apply the knowledge that supports their personal growth

•Have a fundamental understanding of the impact trauma has on the social, emotional, and physical development of people, workplace culture, and the communities they call home.

•Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of cultural and human differences and recognize their role in contributing to a positive work environment

•Communicate effectively orally and in writing

•Think critically and creatively to access, evaluate, and appropriately use information in various research and apply content without context distortion

Learn how the One Stop Operator for LWIA 1 convenes quarterly cross-training events and topical integration meetings to ensure that Job Center partners are knowledgeable about each others’ services and work together to offer events to shared customers. See a demonstration of the Unify webpage that partners use to refer customers to each other. Hear stories about how working together has led to career success for individuals.

The WIOA Interagency Technical Assistance Team will issue guidance for Program Year 2024 MOU and Budget negotiations and 2024 – 2028 Region and Local Plan development at this webinar. Both sets of guidance will inform local areas about requirements for MOU negotiation process for the 2024 Program Year new four-year region and local plans. This webinar will describe the final guidance and highlight where feedback from various stakeholder groups was incorporated into the guidance.

Service integration is a renewed area of focus for the workforce development system in Illinois. To help local workforce areas continue to tighten service integration, a new service integration self-assessment tool has been created. The tool focuses on how to make progress on application of service integration’s goals and outcomes in Illinois. The revision ties together 3 documents from the 2019 Self-Assessment Process into one tool to streamline the process. The new tool is a requirement for the WIOA Region and Local planning process that economic development regions and local workforce areas are undertaking. This webinar will walk through the new tool and provide direction on how to complete it.

For some time, economists have been projecting a shortage of workers with post-secondary education and training to meet business and industry needs. The arrival of educated immigrants (“brain gain”) in recent years has represented a positive development for the US economy. However, immigrants with postsecondary degrees from their home country often have limited employment options and remain either unemployed or underemployed – working in low-wage jobs unrelated to their academic training (“brain waste”).

Research indicates that "underemployment of immigrant college graduates results in tens of billions of dollars in forgone earnings and taxes annually, which in turn affects our economy at every level by lowering productivity and consumer demand." Additionally, "given that skills and education degrade over time if not put to productive use, brain waste can also have long-term detrimental effects on foreign-born workers." (Batalova et al, 2016).

In this workshop, we will briefly examine labor market outcomes for the college educated; discuss the factors linked to skill underutilization; identify the determinants of low-skilled employment among degreed immigrants; look at the economic impact that the underutilization of skills of educated immigrant populations imposes; and talk about opportunities to support immigrants ability to fully utilize their human capital in ways that contribute to economic growth and competitiveness.

After attending this webinar, attendees will be able to:

• List some of the factors that contribute to skill underutilization (brain waste) among degreed immigrants

• Identify the determinants of low-skilled employment among degreed immigrants

• Discuss the economic impact that the underutilization of skills of degreed immigrants imposes

• List some ways to support immigrants to fully utilize their talents and human capital

Federal law requires a new workforce development state plan for Illinois in 2024. This new plan offers an opportunity to continue a systemwide and inclusive process of implementing lessons learned from various efforts over the past several years. You are invited to participate in listening sessions happening throughout the state. Participants will be invited to openly discuss concepts for addressing challenges and opportunities for improving the system over the next four years. Each session is an opportunity to participate in a robust conversation about Illinois’s workforce system’s future. Please register for the session(s) that best fits your schedule.

​The Illinois Employment Business System is an economic landscape tool utilized by state and local workforce education specialists, and economic development specialists to view macro and micro-economic conditions in the state in order to make data driven decisions regarding self-sustaining jobs and long term business stability. Data from the system is utilized in state economic development and strategic planning.

The IEBS platform officially launched on November 30, 2020. The IEBS team is planning for new features in future releases and this page will be updated with additional content and resources as they become available.

Upcoming Webinars:

• Company Search | November 14, 2023 | 2 PM 

Want updates on the policy you can put into practice? Keep up with the latest information regarding the development of policy, identification of best practices, and setting parameters for continuous system improvement from The Illinois Workforce Innovation Board (IWIB) and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Office of Employment and Training (OET). 

These updates directly impact practical guidance for Local Workforce Innovation Boards (LWIB) to deliver to the workforce development adult, dislocated worker, and youth services and those offered under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act (TAA). The IWIB provides leadership to ensure the programs offered through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) assist in LWIB’s making evidence-based, data-driven investments that meet the needs of a skilled workforce for business. 

To receive these updates, subscribe to our email listserv here.

Kick-start your policy with weekly quick tips from the DCEO OET Team.

Staying updated with the frequent policy changes and advice from the U.S. Department of Labor is a priority. You can ensure your policies are always accurate with the right strategies and tools. View our weekly policy quick tips to help!

The U.S. Department of Labor has informed the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Office of Employment and Training that digital literacy is an allowable activity for WIOA Youth under program element 14 - Activities that help youth prepare for and transition to post-secondary education and training. Learn more about the WIOA Youth Program Elements.