Western States Building Energy & Controls Apprenticeship (BECA) Program

This chapter describes a nationally led approach to workforce development by analyzing three workforce development initiatives within the adult mental health and addiction sector in New Zealand. New Zealand has been on an important and critical journey with regards workforce development over the past 15 years, one which has significantly altered the way services are delivered. In order to understand this journey, some background information relevant to New Zealand will be provided covering the context of mental health, epidemiology of mental health illness, service delivery, use of evidence based treatments, as well as funding and investment in workforce development. The three workforce development initiatives are then described: 1) key knowledge, skills, values and attitudes for all people working in mental health and addiction services, 2) development of an outcomes culture, and 3) post graduate clinical training for nurses and allied health professionals.

The non-ferrous metal processing industry plays a crucial role in industrial growth, contributing significantly to economic development and employment generation. Western Odisha, known for its rich mineral reserves, has emerged as a key hub for non-ferrous metal industries, including aluminum, copper, and zinc processing. However, the sector faces challenges related to workforce skill gaps, outdated training methodologies, and limited industry-academia collaboration. This study critically examines the skill assessment and workforce development strategies employed in the non-ferrous metal processing industry in Western Odisha. The research focuses on assessing skill levels, training initiatives, and competency gaps among workers in both formal and informal sectors. A mixed-method approach, incorporating quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, has been employed to gather primary data from industrial units, vocational training centers, and policy stakeholders. The study identifies key areas where the existing workforce lacks proficiency, particularly in advanced metallurgical techniques, automation, safety compliance, and sustainability practices. Furthermore, it evaluates the role of skill development programs, government initiatives, and industry-led training efforts in bridging these gaps. A comparative analysis highlights the effectiveness of different training models, including on-the-job training (OJT), apprenticeship programs, and modular skill enhancement courses. The findings indicate that while several initiatives have been undertaken, there remains a gap between industry requirements and available skill sets. Companies often prefer semi-skilled or unskilled labor due to cost constraints, leading to limited investment in structured skill development programs. Moreover, the lack of standardized assessment frameworks affects the uniformity of skill accreditation, limiting career progression for workers. The study also examines the impact of technological advancements, such as Industry 4.0, automation, and digital manufacturing, on workforce skill requirements. While automation reduces manual labor dependency, it also creates a need for upskilling in process optimization, machine handling, and data-driven decision-making. The research explores how industries in Western Odisha are adapting to these changes and the extent to which their workforce is equipped for future industrial demands.

Unemployment can pose very serious public safety, public health, and mental health challenges to most, if not all, local jurisdictions throughout the United States. These problems clearly become heightened when a major recession or economic downturn plagues the country. The challenges associated with unemployment have been deemed so complex that the United Sates Department of Labor (DOL), through its Workforce Investment Act (WIA) program, has prescribed a highly integrated service delivery system which is designed to mitigate the challenges encountered by those individuals who become unemployed through no fault of their own. With their so-called One-Stop Centers, the DOL has theoretically positioned the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to work together in order to more effectively serve the unemployed. In this sense, the DOL’s One-Stop Center service delivery model specifically features the colocation of various workforce development and social services organizations at a single service site. The primary question addressed by this paper’s research concerns the extent to which the WIA program, through its One-Stop Service delivery system, has had an impact upon the plight of those who are unemployed. Accordingly, the study’s research questions are as follows: How does the WIA employment counseling intervention impact the successful implementation of the WIA program within the state of New Hampshire?

As behavioral health care policies evolve, based on shifting paradigms and a developing base of evidence, day-to-day practices at the direct service level must change. Workforce development initiatives are a critical component to effect such change yet may be overlooked, underfunded, or implemented in ways that are ineffective. This article highlights considerations for training focused on policy, for training issues relevant across recent policy initiatives, and components of effective workforce development initiatives. Sources include the personal experience of the authors and the available literature on education, training, and workforce development, as well as select references related to policy initiatives in psychiatric rehabilitation and behavioral health care. Until policy initiatives include the necessary funding for and guidance on evidence-based workforce development, they are unlikely to achieve their full promise. (PsycINFO Database Record

This case study highlights the partnership development between a large, urban, public, community-based behavioral health system and an academic program. Using principles of partnership building and facilitators that enhance partnership building, we describe the process of initiating, building, and sustaining the partnership. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) workforce development initiative was the primary catalyst for the partnership development. The public, community-based behavioral health system is located in an urban, medically underserved area and health care professional shortage area. The academic partner is a master in social work (MSW) program in Michigan. We assessed partnership development by using process and outcome measures that captured changes in the partnerships and in implementation of the HRSA workforce development grant. The goals of this partnership were to develop the infrastructure to support the training of MSW students, expand workforce skills in integrated behavioral health, and increase the number of MSW graduates who work with medically underserved populations. During 2018-2020, the partnership trained 70 field instructors, engaged 114 MSW students in HRSA field placements, and developed 35 community-based field sites (including 4 federally qualified health centers). The partnership provided training for field supervisors and for HRSA MSW students and developed new courses/trainings focusing on integrated behavioral health assessment/intervention practices, trauma-informed care, cultural awareness, and telebehavioral health practices. Of 57 HRSA MSW graduates who responded to a postgraduation survey, 38 (66.7%) were employed in medically underserved, high-need/high-demand urban areas. Partnership sustainability was helped by formal agreements, regular communication, and a collaborative decision-making approach.

Introduction: The objective of this observational, cross-sectional study was to identify, document, and assess the progress made to date in implementing various processes involved in statewide community health worker (CHW) workforce development initiatives.Methods: From September 2017 to December 2020, we developed and applied a conceptual model of processes involved in implementing statewide CHW initiatives. One or more outputs were identified for each model process and assessed across the 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico using peer-reviewed and gray literature available as of September 2020.Results: Twelve statewide CHW workforce development processes were identified, and 21 outputs were assessed. We found an average of eight processes implemented per state, with seven states implementing all 12 processes. As of September 2020, 45 states had a multi-stakeholder CHW coalition and 31 states had a statewide CHW organization. In 20 states CHWs were included in Medicaid Managed Care Organizations or Health Plans. We found routine monitoring of statewide CHW employment in six states.Discussion: Stakeholders have advanced statewide CHW workforce development initiatives using the processes reflected in our conceptual model. Our results could help to inform future CHW initiative design, measurement, monitoring, and evaluation efforts, especially at the state level.

One strategy aimed at resolving ongoing health workforce shortages in rural and remote settings has been to implement workforce development initiatives involving the early activation and development of health career aspirations and intentions among young people in these settings. This strategy aligns with the considerable evidence showing that rural background is a strong predictor of rural practice intentions and preferences. The Broken Hill Regional Health Career Academy Program (BHRHCAP) is an initiative aimed at addressing local health workforce challenges by helping young people in the region develop and further their health career aspirations and goals. This article reports the factors impacting on rural and remote youths' health career decision-making within the context of a health workforce development program. Data were collected using interviews and focus groups with a range of stakeholders involved in the BHRHCAP including local secondary school students, secondary school teachers, career advisors, school principals, parents, and pre-graduate health students undertaking a clinical placement in Broken Hill, and local clinicians. Data interpretation was informed by the theoretical constructs articulated within socio cognitive career theory. Young people's career decision-making in the context of a local health workforce development program was influenced by a range of personal, contextual and experiential factors. These included personal factors related to young people's career goals and motivations and their confidence to engage in career decision-making, contextual factors related to BHRHCAP program design and structure as well as the visibility and accessibility of health career pathways in a rural setting, and experiential factors related to the interaction and engagement between young people and role models or influential others in the health and education sectors. This study provided theoretical insight into the broader range of interrelating and complex personal, contextual and experiential factors impacting on rural and remote youths' career decision-making within a health workforce development initiative.

This monograph presents an integrated concept of workforce development strategy for the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. This concept is based on the strategizing methodology developed by Vladimir L. Kvint. The concept takes into account contemporary global, national, and regional development trends in workforce, employment, and labor market issues, including the active influence of information and communication technologies and the appearance of numerous novel forms of employment. The Russian Far East is a region of geostrategic importance for the whole world, rich in minerals that can be extracted provided that the region has the necessary—and correctly applied—workforce. This volume shows the uniqueness of the region’s workforce and factors that impact workforce development. The author identifies strategic factors influencing workforce development, namely, migration, education system, income sources, and business climate. The monograph identifies, with allowance made for global trends, the main components of workforce development strategy for the Far East: mission, vision, strategic advantages, and priorities. The measures proposed are evaluated in terms of public and economic efficiency. The conclusions and proposals in this work are built on the analysis of this wide range of analytical data. Workforce development programs, from the Tsarist era until the present, are analyzed in this work, and creative approaches to the workforce provision problems of the Russian Far East and appraisal criteria for the strategy’s public and economic efficiency are proposed. Applying the information provided in this book will help to improve efficiency of investments in the economy of the Russian Far East using its labor potential. This book belongs to the Strategy of the Russian Far East Library developed under the editorial supervision of Sergey Darkin and Vladimir Kvint.

One of the greatest challenges in the clinical research enterprise today is ensuring that a competent workforce is available to carry out its activities. The purpose of this article is to discuss how professionals can break into the clinical research associates (CRA) role, and to present models that can help transition the novice into an expert. CRAs and employers need to ensure that an appropriate career path exists with ongoing development opportunities. The Joint Task Force for Clinical Trial Competency has outlined competencies for the clinical research professional that can be translated into the CRA role and serve as the ultimate goal for professional development. By creating a workforce development program that addresses the challenges of CRAs with varying levels of experience, the end result is a qualified and skilled role that is vital to the clinical research industry.

Regional Public Health Training Centers: An Essential Partner in Workforce Development.

Insulation materials for commercial buildings in North America: An assessment of lifetime energy and environmental impacts

Energy efficiency and Building Energy Modeling are two successful approaches to architecture, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) programs. In recent year several education initiatives focusing on buildings energy management have been carried out to provide professional profiles with specific skills in technology, architecture, engineering, economics, management and environmental science. It enables them to plan, design, evaluate or research energy supply and design strategies aimed to reduce energy consumption according to sustainability concepts. Building energy performance optimization requires an integrated design approach to explore and evaluate different strategies for building energy saving and to assist in the decision making process along the life cycle including design, operation, management and decommission phases. Moreover, BEM (Building Energy Modeling) is increasingly being included into architecture and engineering curricula, introducing new methodologies and tools for architecture design to provide interdisciplinary profiles in the professional practice. The main objective of this contribution is to report the application of BIM technologies and BEM tools into the Environmental Design Lab training course at the School of Architecture at University of Florence, where the authors are involved into a cross-disciplinary teaching program which students undertake in the fourth year of their curriculum within the 5 years degree program.

Predictive modeling for US commercial building energy use: A comparison of existing statistical and machine learning algorithms using CBECS microdata

PurposeInvesting in Industry 4.0 is an important consideration for manufacturing firms who strive to remain competitive in this global economy, but the uncertainty and complexity of where to focus technology investments is a problem facing many manufacturers. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a region of manufacturing firms in the Midwest USA to investigate the role of firm size, access to funds and industry type on decision to invest in and deploy various Industry 4.0 technologies.Design/methodology/approachA survey was developed, piloted, and deployed to manufacturing companies located in the Midwest USA, specifically, Indiana, USA. A total of 138 manufacturing firms completed the full survey. The survey participants were requested to rank order the various technology categories with respect to previous historical spending, workforce capabilities and anticipated return on investment. The survey was supplemented with publically available data. Due to the use of rank-order data to identify Industry 4.0 priorities, a non-parametric analysis was completed using the Kruskall Wallis test.FindingsThe findings suggest that manufacturers with less than 20 employees and/or less access to funds (sales less than $10m) prioritize digital factory floor technologies (e.g. technology directly impacting productivity, quality and safety of manufacturing processes). Larger manufacturers with 20 or more employees and/or access to more funds (sales greater than or equal to $10m) prioritize enterprise support operations technologies.Originality/valueResearch studies and reports tend to lump manufacturing’s perspective of Industry 4.0 into one homogenous group, and rarely acknowledge the limited participation of “smaller” Small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for the far majority of manufacturing firms in the USA. The value of this study is on the “novelty of approach,” in that the data collection and analysis focuses on heterogeneity of manufacturing firms with respect to size, access to funds and industry type. The findings and recommendations are beneficial and relevant to organizations supporting Industry 4.0 efforts through workforce development and economic development initiatives.

Not Just Getting By chronicles groundbreaking thinking and research on new and innovative workforce development initiatives to create flexible and collaborative programs and policies. Author Mary Gatta builds on extensive interviews and focus groups with 128 women enrolled in a U.S. Department of Labor pilot program in New Jersey focusing on how they attain education through online courses while working, raising their children, and dealing with the many demands on their lives. The book addresses three main areas: It engages current policy debates demonstrating how online learning and other forms of flexible learning opportunities will reorganize the way federal and state governments deliver skills training, especially working poor single mothers, within the context of Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and other legislated workforce development programs in the 21st century. It explores the development of the program and qualitatively details the experiences of the women as they spend a year receiving online learning courses. It explores how to rethink workforce development so that online learning for low wage workers and other innovative programs can be successful. As both a piece of scholarship and a case study in successful policy development, this text will be a useful supplement for courses in the sociology of labor, women's studies, or adult education. It will also serve policymakers and others who are looking for a model of training and skills delivery that actually works.