Workforce Solutions launches strategic plan
Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area (WSRCA) introduced its Strategic Workforce Plan including specific goals and strategy for Hays County.
WSRCA is a nonprofit partnership that provides no-cost recruitment and employment services in the nine-county Rural Capital Area of Central Texas.
WSRCA's strategic plan is focused on enhancing community collaboration around workforce development to amplify the impact of workforce initiatives and programs across the region.
Each of the nine counties within the Rural Capital Area has a distinct economy and workforce that reflects their unique histories and environmental features, as well as natural resources and amenities.
“We believe it’s important to document the employer needs in each of our nine counties along with the skill sets of the labor force, to address the gaps between skills needed and skills available,” WSRCA CEO Paul Fletcher said. “Then by area, our Community Matters Coalitions can work to address those gaps, through various means such as education/ training and removal of barriers, such as transportation, access to high-quality child care, workforce housing, and access to broadband internet.”
The goals of the plan includes strengthening community collaborations at the regional and county level through the formation of Community Matters Coalitions, identifying solutions for workforce barriers, enhancing the area’s employer-led and demand-driven workforce system and creating pathways to self-sufficient employment and career advancement for Central Texans.
The overall strategy will guide WSRCA’s work over the next three years.
The WSRCA project team conducted a survey of stakeholders and held workshops and forums in each county from 2019 through 2020, to identify workforce issues and challenges within the communities. Through this process, common challenges and issues emerged, informing the goals and strategies of the plan.
The study found that high poverty, broadband access and a shortage of childcare capacity were significant workforce issues in the county.
The goal of the Workforce Matters Coalition is to work with local resources to identify potential issues with broadband and work with the local community resources to resolve those gaps.
“During the pandemic, we saw how critical it was for all to have good broadband access and just how many people did not have that access,” Fletcher said. “Many excellent solutions came out of the pandemic, such as the hotspot school buses positioned through many ISD’s to provide wireless access. The WSRCA Centers and many others boosted their public Wi-Fi signal to provide access from the parking lot. Broadband access is a complex topic that the public workforce system cannot solve alone, but we look forward to having these discussions with stakeholders in our counties to design community-led solutions.”
On childcare issues, once the Child Care Workforce Matters Coalition is established, the group will develop priorities to address the issues identified in the county plans.
Fletcher said they will consider finding resources to provide back-office support for smaller childcare centers and in-home providers to help create more operational efficiency; working with small business development organizations and subject matter experts to strengthen existing centers to support expanding child care availability in the county; looking at ways to improve teacher pay in early childhood settings by creating efficiencies; and determining ways to raise awareness of the importance of early care and education availability as an economic and labor market driver.
WSCRA also found that a young educated workforce and the presence of Texas State University are a strength for Hays County.
Strong community partnerships have helped strengthen public transportation, improve career and technical education opportunities and establish a more robust manufacturing pipeline.
Many strengths of the region included its location between two metropolitan areas, career and technical education program out of San Marcos Consolidated ISD, a manufacturing jobs connection program, its young population and relatively high labor force participation.
They also identified weaknesses and threats including housing affordability relative to wage, unemployment slower to recover during the COVID-19 pandemic, a median hourly wage lower than the Austin metropolitan area, the second highest poverty rate in the region and dependence on tourism and events in the northwestern side of the county.
Fletcher says access to affordable housing has been a long-term issue for the workforce and that the highest areas of employment also have the highest housing costs.
“This barrier causes Texans to have to live further away from where they work, increasing their commuting costs and taking additional time away from their families,” Fletcher said. “We will work on this issue as a community to determine the best potential options to address the costs associated with workforce housing. So that some of our region’s critical roles, such as teachers, healthcare workers, and first responders, can afford to live where they work and be better engaged in their community.”
The Workforce Matters Coalitions will help create a forum for business leaders, elected officials, and other community leaders to discuss how to prioritize resources to help in these situations. WSRCA will also rely on local economic development agencies, chambers and other small business resources to support companies in their growth and help them improve access to career opportunities with higher wages.
The plan recognizes retaining college graduates and college-educated residents while attracting or developing more high-wage and high skill jobs as a key opportunity.
One key priority is to increase the awareness of high-demand careers and the opportunities to connect with Hays County employers while ensuring educational programs in the region are training for the right skills.
A key element to the mission of the plan is strengthening the region’s employer-driven workforce system. Employers play an active role by providing input on the skills and competencies they need and give feedback on the quality of workforce training programs and services.
“Major industries within our region will benefit from the plan, by having a steady talent supply chain that will not only meet the needs of current employers but will be ready to expand to meet the needs of future enterprises that will relocate to our area because of our highly skilled workforce,” WSRCA COO Diane Tackett said.
Another key element of the mission of the plan is self-sufficient employment. Achieving this goal starts with building greater career awareness and connections between job seekers and employers in the region. WSRCA will continue its work to ensure that training programs for high-demand careers are accessible to job seekers and will meet the needs of employers.
“We’re excited that the plan will help establish and strengthen well-defined pathways to help guide job seekers into high-demand career opportunities that provide family-supporting wages and opportunities for advancement,” Fletcher said.
“As we have seen during the coronavirus pandemic, it is critical that high-quality child care is available to allow parents to go to work,” Tackett added. “Quality child care not only ensures safe places for kids to be but creates excellent learning environments that ensure our kids are preparing for successful entry into school and beyond.” sgates
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Twitter: @StephJGates
