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Subject:

Form Letter Blank Letter

speaking points

Message:

I’m writing today to urge Congress to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act this year. In 2007 alone, more than 180,000 people were referred to Goodwill for employ¬ment services through the WIA and state vocational rehabilitation agencies. In the midst of the most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression, Goodwill Industries urges Congress to include provisions in the WIA reauthorization bill that would allow local Goodwill agencies to do more.

As you know, funding for WIA has steadily eroded for several years, leaving the workforce system underfunding, putting a strain on WIA’s mandatory partners, and leaving funding training is critically scarce. Goodwill Industries, therefore, recommends creating a separate line item for infrastructure in order to direct more funding toward training. However, Goodwill believes that funding for training should come in addition to, rather than at the expense of, WIA’s already inadequate existing funding streams. In addition, Goodwill believes that Congress should create a separate funding stream in the Vocational Rehabilitation Act to support the transition of youth with disabilities from special education into adult life.

Goodwill also strongly encourage you to ensure that community-based organizations remain a vital component in the development of the future workforce system, particularly in the delivery of services through our nation’s array of One Stop Career Centers. Community-based organizations are deeply rooted in their localities and provide quality services, often at a lower cost than other alternatives. Many Good¬will agencies operate one-stop centers to provide skills training, job placement and job retention services to people with disabilities, welfare recipients and other job seekers. Many local Goodwill agencies are lead one-stop operators, or operators in association with other service providers, and are active on state and local workforce boards.

Lastly, Goodwill Industries International believes that universal outcomes measures should be evaluated and realigned to focus efforts on results desired in local communities. In addition, WIA’s performance measures should incentivize the provision of quality services to individuals among harder-to-serve populations such as individuals with disabilities, chronically unemployed persons, welfare recipients, ex-offenders and returning prisoners, and those with limited English proficiency. The establishment of stratified or weighted outcomes metrics that encourage inclusion of people with barriers to employment in services would recognize and accommodate populations that require extended and more costly services to ensure success.

Goodwill Industries looks forward to working with Congress and the new Administration toward developing a bi-partisan WIA/VR reauthorization bill that invests in the future of our workforce while assisting individuals with barriers to employment to obtain the job skills necessary to become self-sufficient and meet the needs of our nation’s businesses. Thank you for taking the time to consider my concerns.

Sincerely,
[First Name] [Last Name]