New York State Department of Labor
Profiles of Promising Practices
ORANGE COUNTY WAREHOUSE DISTRIBUTION CLUSTER
Orange County Workforce Investment Board
July 2001 - Present

Purpose

• To enhance economic and workforce development by identifying skill shortages and ensuring that the necessary training is in place to provide these skills to the workforce community.

How It Works

• The Distribution Cluster is a strategic consortium of private and public sector, education and economic development leaders that formed to obtain input from businesses regarding their skill shortages.
• The Orange County Workforce Investment Board (OCWIB) Chairperson, Team Hudson Valley, The Orange County Partnership and the NYSDOL Division of Research and Statistics surveyed 1,600 companies to provide vital information to the OCWIB.
  • The group first researched the county to find similar surveys done in the past.
  • Following the research, they identified additional items needed to determine skills gaps information.
• Following the needs assessment, the Distribution Cluster, in coordination with the Orange County WIB created industry-specific, customized training programs.

Results

• More One-Stop customers are able to make informed career choices related to critical skills shortages.
• The Youth Council is able to coordinate employer-specific programs.
• The One-Stop staff is able to provide better, more appropriate services to employers and job-seekers.
• The Orange County Workforce Investment Board (OCWIB) is better enabled to establish regional partnerships and interstate channels of communication.
• An increased level of cooperation and communication between businesses, educators, unions and government officials.

How They Did It

• Through its 2000 Workforce Community Scan and from employer input, the OCWIB revealed severe skill shortages in the local economy.
• The OCWIB Chairperson, along with representatives from local colleges, the Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) and unions assembled the Distribution Cluster to deal directly with these skills shortages.

Operating Costs

• Businesses provide matching funds and professional consultants.
• ETA provides federal and state workforce development funds to ensure quality training for the industries.
• The WIB continues to seek out funding opportunities from grantor agencies to support the ongoing efforts of the system.

Funding

• WIA Title I
• Received a Strategic Training Alliance Program (STRAP) grant totaling $220,000.
• Received "Invest" dollars from New York State Department of Labor for training TANF populations.
• The Alliance has plans to integrate and leverage resources to apply for additional grants.

Lessons Learned

• Must be prepared to deal with the differing interests when working with union and non-union shops to develop training programs.
• It was an excellent prototype demonstrating that a Workforce Development Agency can be effective in designing local industry cluster training programs.
• With the STRAP funding, there were no income eligibility requirements, eliminating the need for businesses to provide wage information.