From 1997 through 2007, Workforce Innovation Networks (WINs) worked with local employer organizations across the country that are on the cutting edge of workforce development, testing the proposition that they can play a unique intermediary role in achieving a dual goal:
- Improving the economic prospects of disadvantaged job seekers and workers; and
- Meeting the needs of their member firms for employees at the entry level and above.
In 2008, WINs published four "how to" manuals (see yellow box on the left) that explain in detail how to replicate a successful intermediary strategy and tailor it to one's own local or regional needs.
In addition, WINs has prepared this guide, Organizing and Supporting the Employer Role inWorkforce Development, which has two purposes. One is to help employer organizations to understand why it is important to better organize and support the employer side of the employment equation and to engage employers more effectively in workforce development. The second is to show the leaders of employer and employer-serving organizations why and how they should become workforce development intermediaries.
