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City’s New Workforce Legislation Promises Increased Coordination and Accountability
On November 20, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed legislation to centralize the City’s workforce development efforts under the oversight of the Department of Economic and Workforce Development. Sponsored by Supervisor Mirkarimi and propelled by a neg ative audit of the City’s workforce programs, backers of the legisl ation included a rare convergence of the Chamber of Commerce, the San Francisco Labor Council, and City College, as well as the Mayor and Supervisors. SF Works worked behind the scenes throughout the summer and fall to refine the legislation’s language and solicit support from the diverse stakeholders.
Spread between more than eleven city departments, “the City’s workforce development system is currently fragmented, with inconsistent planning and coordin ation of resources,” concluded the San Francisco Budget Analyst in an audit released in August of this year. As a result, continued the report, there is “inadequate policy and management oversight, and inefficient delivery of services, with resulting deficient measurement of performance effectiveness.” Although the City spent an estimated $29.1 million directly from the general fund and upward of $30 million more from state and federal funding on workforce development in fiscal year 2006-07, the audit could confirm that only 4,300 San Franciscans obtained employment – and further stressed that there was no reliable evidence of how many of those jobs were permanent or self-sustaining.
The new legislation is intended to address these problems. In addition to unifying the oversight of all workforce programs and policy with the Department of Economic and Workforce Development, it requires tracking all money San Francisco distributes for workforce programs, and it mandates inclusion of performance and outcome measurements in a comprehensive annual spending plan that would have to be approved by the Board of Supervisors.
According to Terri Feeley, SF Works’ senior advisor, “Employers, workers and jobseekers will all benefit from the increased accountability. By centralizing oversight, the new legislation should help reduce redundancies and fill gaps that currently exist in the system.” Rob Black, director of public policy for the Chamber of Commerce confirms the value of the reforms, pointing out that “having a functioning and effective workforce development system is essential to maintaining a strong local economy.” To ensure the alignment of workforce and economic development, the legislation requires the Department of Economic and Workforce Development create a five-year strategic plan for workforce development consistent with the Strategic Plan for Economic Development approved by the Board of Supervisors.
Although the legislation is a big step in the right direction, there are still many details to be hammered out, not least of which, says Terri Feeley, are the goals and standards to which the City will hold the system accountable. “This isn’t just about counting the number of people getting jobs. We need to figure out how to assess whether our efforts result in businesses having access to the skilled and supported workforce they need and whether the residents get jobs that put them on a p athway to self-sufficiency.”
Proposal Seeks to Revive Workforce Plan,
The San Francisco Examiner
Supes Must Fix Botched Jobs Program,
The San Francisco Examiner
New SF Agency to Coordinate Employment Programs, San Francisco Chronicle
Best and Worst of City Hall, San Francisco Chronicle
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