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WPTI is among the first workforce development-specific training and professional-development intermediaries at scale in the country. Similar efforts to create services like those offered through WPTI are under way in several areas of the country, notably: the Commonwealth Workforce Coalition in Boston, Massachusetts; the Denver Employment Alliance in Denver, Colorado; the Chicago Jobs Council in Chicago, Illinois; and Jewish Vocational Services in San Francisco. However, WPTI is the first stand-alone organization providing such services. In our efforts to better serve the field, we communicate regularly with these organizations and others to better understand the state of practice, and to bring the most updated trends and issues into our training programs.

We also have worked with two national intermediaries focused on the issue of field building in workforce development: Public/Private Ventures (P/PV), and Work, Achievement, Values, and Education (WAVE). P/PV was instrumental in helping found WPTI, and has worked with us as we engage in a national dialogue concerning the professional development of the field. WAVE is a national youth-training intermediary that for the past thirty years has worked to build youth service-delivery systems across the country. As we work with all of these organizations, we ask:

• What defines the workforce development field?
• What core competencies are necessary concerning its various components: systems, organizations, and individuals? Are these competencies standardized? Can they be? How can these competencies be measured?
• What theoretical base underpins our work? What is the nature of academic research and peer-reviewed literature that can inform our practice?
• What other disciplines influence and inform our practice? (Marketing, business management, economics, social work practice, adult education, etc.)
• Which core competencies of the various staff members are critical to effective workforce-development programs, and how can we better prepare/train staff to access career ladders within the field?

In addition, WPTI, with its 300-plus organization-customer base, works closely with the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, which provides services to a membership base of over 180 workforce-development organizations in New York City. NYCETC advocates for its membership and continuously monitors the field for changes concerning important polices and legislation so that the field can be as responsive and proactive as possible.

WPTI is working with several groups locally and nationally on this issue, and will be working with some of them to articulate a national convening to discuss these issues and to articulate a national action plan to support the important work of the field.

If you have further questions or comments on building the workforce development field, please contact Lou Miceli at lmiceli@workforceprofessionals.org.