In 1998, California passed into law The Regional Workforce Preparation and Economic Development Act (RWPEDA), a measure to encourage education, workforce preparation, human services, and economic development partners to work together to develop a comprehensive workforce development system. The Act had three principal components:
- The Act required four State agencies, Health and Human Services, Trade and Commerce, the Department of Education, and the California Community Colleges, to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to develop a unified workforce development strategy for the state. To ensure the proper implementation of RWPEDA and the MOU, representatives from each of the partner agencies were brought together to form a Joint Management Team (JMT).
- The JMT funded six local/regional partnerships to facilitate delivery of services to clients in a more responsive, integrated and effective manner. Each collaborative developed their own unique strategy for improving the delivery of workforce development services.
- The act also required that the four state agencies create an integrated state workforce development plan. The JMT solicited input from an Advisory Group and the six collaboratives to create California Workforce Development: A Policy Framework for Economic Growth.
BPA's evaluation of RWPEDA reviewed and assessed the effectiveness of the JMT, regional collaboratives, and policy framework document as they contributed toward the creation of a more integrated and effective workforce development system in California. The evaluation focused on the activities undertaken by the project partners, as well as on the partners' efforts to collaborate as an activity in and of itself. Both process and outcomes analyses were included in the evaluation. We employed the use of comparison counties to examine the specific contribution of RWPEDA to the outcome of regional collaboration. Findings from our analysis have assisted with improving, sustaining, and replicating state, regional, and local collaboration in the area of workforce development.

Publications:

Evaluation of the Regional Workforce Preparation and Economic Development Act, Final Report (Jun, 2002) (PDF:508KB)
This evaluation report provides the historical and political context in which RWPEDA was created and implemented; evaluates the efforts of the six regional collaboratives funded by RWPEDA; describes and assesses the efforts of the JMT in implementing RWPEDA, including state-level collaboration, creation of the MOU, and funding of the regional collaboratives; examines the development of the policy framework document and its impact on collaboration and system-building around workforce development; and presents a series of recommendations intended to guide state and regional stakeholders in creating an integrated workforce development system.