Philadelphia’s Stimulus Funds Implementation Plan

Posted by on June 2, 2009

City offers plan for workforce stimulus funds

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (usually referred to as the federal stimulus bill) was signed into law on February 17th with the intent to preserve and create jobs and promote the nation’s economic recovery through an investment of nearly $800 billion.   Of that, approximately $14.1 million in new resources are available for workforce development activities in Philadelphia ($3.2m for adults, $3.5m for dislocated workers, and 7.4m for youth).

The Philadelphia Workforce Investment Board is charged to establish priorities to invest and oversee the use of these resources.  PWIB says that the city will strive to fully leverage the multiple resources invested to prepare residents for family sustaining employment in high demand industries and occupations

The city intends to invest Philadelphia’s ARRA workforce funds to reemploy workers displaced in the recession, and to increase the employability of displaced workers and other Philadelphians who require training, retraining, or work experience to thrive in the labor force.  The city’s plan also seeks to
— focus workforce development programs and activities provided to youth and adults on high priority industries and emerging sectors (e.g., alternative energy and the green jobs sector)
— increase the number of individuals and businesses served by public workforce investment funds
— offer a preference for investing in education and training programs that yield college credit or provide industry recognized certificate that articulates or links to a credit-bearing institution, and
— responsibly invest, manage and report related outcomes of ARRA-funded workforce development programs in an accurate and transparent manner.

Additionally, the state has required local communities to implement workforce development programs and activities supported by ARRA to promote the state’s long-term economic growth by improving the quality of the state’s workforce and the competitiveness of its employers, to transform the state’s workforce development system so that all Pennsylvanians and all employers have access to a coordinated, transparent, and effective system of workforce services, to promote coordination, cooperation and information sharing about Recovery Act funds with all state and local agencies, education and economic development partners and community organizations and to require accountability, accurate reporting, and continuous Improvement.

To download the latest draft of the plan, click here.

http://www.pwib.org/