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On April 23, the Departments of Labor (DOL), Education (DOEd), and Health and Human Services (HHS) jointly released a Request for Information (RFI) seeking information from a range of stakeholders on career pathways approaches for the delivery of education, training and employment, and human services.
Through the responses to the RFI, the agencies hope to learn more about existing career pathway models, including: how they are structured and utilized, how they can produce better outcomes for youth and adults, and how cross-agency collaboration can facilitate and support integrated career pathways systems. The agencies plan to then use that knowledge to (1) inform and coordinate policy development, strategic investments, and technical assistance activities, and (2) improve coordination of federal policy development with investments at the state, tribal and local levels.
The RFI is open to a broad range of stakeholders, including employers, training providers, community-based organizations, community and technical colleges, state and local governments, workforce investment boards, state and local educational agencies, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies, economic development agencies, and others. The agencies are asking respondents to address certain questions regarding career pathway approaches in their responses, including questions about which funding streams are currently used to support career pathways, the role of various partners within career pathways systems, responsiveness to labor market demand, and others.
Respondents must submit comments by June 9, 2014.
This RFI is a follow-up to a 2012 DOL-DOEd-HHS interagency letter promoting the use of career pathway approaches and encouraging states to leverage and align resources to support an integrated career pathways system. The letter also introduced a common definition for career pathways, in an effort to facilitate cross-agency partnerships to establish and develop career pathways systems.
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