Front Range Workforce Funding Collaborative

The Front Range Workforce Funding Collaborative (FRWFC) is a collective of philanthropy, business, economic, and workforce development entities with funding authority in the foothills communities that comprise the Denver metropolitan area—the “Front Range” of the Rocky Mountains.

The FRWFC plans to join efforts initiated by the Colorado Department of Labor and the Colorado Workforce Development Council to connect organizations across the state that are working to improve industry sector partnerships. A statewide strategic plan is being crafted to further align the efforts of economic development, education, and workforce in ensuring the state has the skilled workers needed for the 21st century.

Funding Collaborative

The current membership of the FRWFC includes: Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Colorado Workforce Development Council, Construction and Design Alliance, Rose Community Foundation, Mile High United Way, Pikes Peak Workforce Center, City of Denver Division of Workforce Development, Denver Health and Jefferson County Workforce Center. Additionally, the Metro Denver WIRED Initiative is aligning its strategy with the funding collaborative.

The collaborative has two permanent committees and a stakeholder advisory group. The Steering Committee is responsible for strategic vision and priorities, relationship cultivation and resource alignment, oversight of the Funding Committee, and establishing ad hoc committees as needed.

The Funding Committee is responsible for implementing grant strategies and designing an RFP process with input from the Steering Committee and the Stakeholder Advisory Group. It also oversees investment and management of funds through the grants manager, a non-voting member of the Funding Committee. The Stakeholder Advisory Group convenes quarterly. This is a non- voting entity to provide input from stakeholders and to communicate with the community.

Key Strategies and Interventions

In the first year, the FRWFC concentrates its efforts on the construction/trades industry. The health care and energy sectors will be developed at the end of this period as FRWFC develops the resources.

The FRWFC supports workforce partnerships that demonstrate strategies that address the specific employment advancement barriers for the target population, including:

• Enabling unemployed and under-employed individuals and incumbent workers who are not accessing employment or advancing in their employment to enter and progress through formal education and training to achieve career advancement;
• Reaching out to various underrepresented populations and communities; and
• Utilizing and increasing options for combined training and employment that results in rapid employment (e.g., job placement in the targeted occupation for unemployed workers or wage or job progressions for incumbent workers.

FRWFC workforce partnerships must engage employers as both customers and partners to address their specific challenges related to hiring, training, retaining, and advancing lower-skilled adults.

The FRWFC also focuses on strategies that address system issues, such as: paths between training levels and across training organizations; work across multiple organizations; and monitoring of progress through evidence/data.

Labor Market Analysis

The following powerpoint provides an analysis of the Denver regional labor market.  The analysis is intended to provide a picture into overall employment conditions and structural changes in this local economy, focusing on the period from 2001-2007.  Though this data does not capture changes associated with the  recent 2008 recession, it should still provide useful insights into medium-term demographic and employment changes.

The data analyzed here comes from two major sources:  The American Community Survey 2007 (and 1990 & 2000 Decennial Census for some charts) from the U.S. Census Bureau (http://www.census.gov/acs/www/) ; and the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.bls.gov/cew/).

For a full guide to the data content, structure, and how it might be used, please listen to the June 16, 2009, recorded webinar available here: http://www.nfwsolutions.org/elearning.html

downloads/tools/Denver_Counties.ppt

downloads/tools/Denver_Notes.xls

downloads/tools/Denver_Data.zip

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