Item 09 - Biennial Modification to the PY 2021-24 Regional and Local Workforce Plan

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Orange RPU 2023 Biennial Modification to PY 2021-24 Regional Plan 35 VI. ALIGNING, COORDINATING, AND INTEGRATING PROGRAMS AND SERVICES Orange County’s three local boards have a long history of collaborating on sector strategies, and initiatives serving key groups and designing, developing, operating, and administrating successful workforce programs. WIOA’s focus on regional approaches and establishing RPUs in California have strengthened collaboration among the local boards. The boards within the region consistently strive to use limited resources as effectively as possible. The following is an overview of current and potential future efforts to achieve regional coordination and alignment of services, systems, and strategies. A. Regional Service Strategies The three local boards have executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to solidify their joint commitment to collaboration on workforce and economic development within the Orange County region through system alignment, integration of service delivery, and leveraging resources. Regional objectives include: • Improve and enhance customer experience by ensuring staff receives ongoing professional development training and cross-training • Meet the needs of employers by implementing and scaling career pathways • Improve the quality of workforce services by strengthening alignment and partner connections • Align investments in targeted populations and industry sectors • Expand opportunities for businesses and job seekers to engage in integrated learning and work experience activities • Share resources and braid funding to support regional goals and objectives. One of the clearest examples of the strong work relationship among the boards is its collaboration on not just this Regional Plan but on a Unified Local Plan. With the state’s establishment of RPUs under WIOA, Orange County’s local boards became responsible for developing a four-year Regional Plan as a companion to their WIOA-required Local Plans. However, given WIOA’s emphasis on regional collaboration, the Anaheim, Santa Ana, and Orange County WDBs elected to develop a Unified Local Plan to represent all three local workforce development areas. As described, to create greater recognition for their regional work, in 2023, the three boards that comprise the RPU adopted Orange Workforce Alliance (OWA) as a brand. The brand is used to promote regional partners, targeted training, labor market data, support for businesses, and workforce services for adult job seekers and youth. The primary mission of the OWA is to support the alignment of resources between the workforce, education, and industry to meet regional workforce needs. EXHIBIT 1