The Herald-Dispatch exchanged e-mails with Martin Simon, program director with the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, about other states' experiences in aligning their economic and workforce development programs. Here's what he had to say:

Question: Are there any success stories to speak of? How has that effort affected other states?

Answer: (There have been) various approaches to alignment of workforce and economic development, such as consolidation, coordination and segmentation of markets by industry and occupation. There are examples of success in each category. In each successful example, the alignment goes beyond simply moving the boxes or coordinated planning to actually programmatic changes.

• Oklahoma is a good example of a successful consolidation effort. The governor moved the workforce programs into the economic development agency and assigned a deputy to oversee the integration process. They quickly channeled their efforts to identify the skilled worker needs of their key industries and are supporting regional partnerships that target a specific industry, and bring together education, workforce programs, and economic development to address the skilled worker needs of that industry as well as the worker needs. This approach also fits into the segmentation of market category and is usually referred to as "sector strategy."
• Virginia is a good example of coordination where the governor created a subcabinet on workforce development that brings together all the agency heads with resources tied to developing the workforce. They have been successful in leading significant changes first in coordinated planning to the recent announcement by the governor that the "one stop centers" that are a key component of the workforce system will be operated through the community college system. In effect, assigning the community colleges the lead role in workforce development.
• There are multiple examples in the segmentation category where states are successfully implementing "sector strategies" that are industry-specific, regional approaches that address skill gaps. In Pennsylvania, through their Industry Partnerships initiative, they are aligning workforce and economic development to support 70 partnerships across the state in multiple industries.
• In Michigan, they have established 32 Regional Skill Alliances across the state that brings together workforce, economic development and education organizations with industry to address workforce needs. In Michigan the governor also consolidated their workforce programs into one new agency and also included many key education programs.
• In Washington State, they have established Industry Skill Panels and various Centers of Excellence based at community colleges to address specific industry needs.

Q: Any particular types of business or industry that have responded well when other states aligned their programs?

A: The health care industry is one key industry that has responded well in many states due to the shortage of workers in many occupations in almost all of the states. In several states, like Minnesota, Washington and Michigan, manufacturing also has responded well. They have a growing need for skilled workers and I think this is driving their favorable response.

Q: Is West Virginia behind the curve on this, and if so, any advice on what it can do to catch up? How long of a process has this been for other states, and are there any mistakes that West Virginia can learn from?

A: I think the governor's initiative is on target and fortunately they have the advantage of learning from the experience of other states. Most of the successful states have been at this for several years. This is a long-term process and it takes a strong commitment from the state's governor.

One lesson learned from other states is to understand the needs of industry -- what the gap is between the needs of industry and the skills of the workforce -- and the capacity of the education and workforce systems to fill those gaps. Involve industry and other key stakeholders up front. Be clear on the results the program is meant to achieve and make sure the initiative is adequately funded at the start.