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Workforce Wonkery

Policy. Data. Practice. Decoded.

Practice · decoded

Find an approach you can put to work.

Borrow an example, work through a guide, or use a tool to move something forward. Start with the work in front of you, then choose a useful next step.

Start with a guide

Move a specific piece of work forward.

Quickstarts help you frame the question, find the right sources, and organize the next step. Confirm governing requirements and local choices before acting.

Guide · employer collaboration

Launch or Reset a Sector Partnership

Define the shared problem, build employer leadership, and give the partnership a useful purpose.

Use it to: plan the first conversations and clarify who should do what.

Open the sector partnership guide →
Guide · eligibility review

Determine Dislocated Worker Eligibility

Work through the eligibility pathway and the evidence needed to support it.

Use it to: organize a source-based review, not replace an eligibility decision.

Open the eligibility guide →
Guide · service priority

Determine Adult Priority of Service

Keep program eligibility and priority of service separate when reviewing a case.

Use it to: identify the priority question and the documentation to check.

Open the priority guide →

Browse all Quickstarts →

Use this Monday

Give the next task a clear starting point.

These are decision aids and working references. Each link tells you what you will find, rather than promising a download.

Decision aid

What can we decide locally?

Separate governing requirements from local discretion and questions that need to be escalated.

Use the decision aid →
Job aids and checklists

Review the work before it moves.

Find aids for checking documentation, controls, and common operating tasks.

Browse the job aids →
Operating reference

See what needs a place on the calendar.

Organize recurring board, fiscal, planning, and compliance work. Check current dates against official requirements.

Open the operating calendar →

Browse all Tools & References →

Borrow an approach

Ideas you can borrow. Approaches you can adapt.

Start with the problem a community is working on. Open the full example for its source, operating details, and questions to consider before adapting it.

Documented example · NOVAworks

Make training fit the workday.

A hotel-worker language-training pilot shifted toward paid training time after attendance suffered.

Idea to consider: examine time and lost wages before treating low participation as a lack of interest.

Read the paid-training example →
Documented example · Sacramento Works

Connect a layoff to employers that are hiring.

Sacramento paired its Blue Diamond layoff response with targeted employer connections and a manufacturing hiring opportunity.

Idea to consider: use workers’ existing skills to focus employer outreach, rather than start with a generic job fair.

Read the Rapid Response example →
Documented example · NOVAworks

Bring the front door closer to the community.

Connection Sites extend workforce access through libraries, education providers, and other trusted local places.

Idea to consider: share access and navigation without duplicating a full career center at every location.

Read the community-access example →

These examples describe approaches, not guarantees of results. Evidence and local fit vary.

Browse all California Workforce Board Examples →

Build a skill

Learn enough to use it.

Choose a course for shared knowledge or a short AI exercise for hands-on practice. The full lesson lists stay in the courses.

Applied learning

Workforce in Practice

Work through decisions about running the institution, delivering services, managing results, and leading partnerships.

Explore the Practice course →
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