Guest blogger John Moore, Chief of the National Institute of Corrections Offender Workforce Development Division, contributed the information below. 

"Community Colleges and One-Stop Centers Collaborate to Meet 21st Century Workforce Needs" 

This report focuses on (1) how community colleges meet the workforce training needs of their communities; (2) what community colleges do to integrate with the nation's one-stop system; (3) the conditions or practices that enhance or impede these efforts; and (4) the actions the Departments of Labor and Education have taken to encourage linkages between community colleges and the workforce investment system, including one-stops.

In addition to providing good information on building collaboration between One-Stop Career Centers with Community Colleges and various funding initiatives, this report and a previous GAO report recommends the elimination of performance measures by the WIA that serve as disincentives to the DOL One-Stop System to serve clients with multiple barriers to employment.

This would hopefully pave the way for those with criminal histories to be served and may assist in bridging DOL One-Stop Career Centers to Corrections Career Resource Centers in the future much like exist between the Montgomery County Jail and the One-Stop Career System in Maryland.

This information would also be of value to Directors of Correctional Industries, who may be forging a working relationship with local Community Colleges in developing apprenticeship programs.