Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) has been leading a shared measures initiative in Detroit to help the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development and workforce development organizations in the city to establish a data and information sharing collaborative that would support the learning and continuous improvement efforts of all organizations working to improve the employment, educational, and economic outcomes for Detroit residents. This builds upon the national Workforce Benchmarking Network (WBN) activity in other cities to establish a collaborative approach for citywide data sharing about workforce programs and outcomes of value to multiple stakeholders. The presentation will briefly highlight the role that WBN’s national survey of workforce program participant demographics, services, and outcomes is playing in helping the field understand how certain characteristics correlate with results and in providing performance benchmarks to inform policy and continuous improvement.

The speaker will share lessons from working with cohorts of organizations at the city level to ensure that quality data about services and outcomes is available for predictive analytics and related program improvement work. They will also discuss what it takes to build organizational capacity to use data and information to create more effective service strategies. This includes describing what mix of resources and activities help develop a strong organizational culture, strategy, and team committed to service, action research, and learning. The speaker will also explore the potential costs and benefits of partner organizations sharing and working with the data in new and different ways across agencies and how that can inform the development of cross-sector partnerships that lead to better outcomes. Lastly, the presentation will share what it takes at the community level to build relationships and trust for data sharing that facilitates a deeper understanding of how well programs and services are working to increase equity in educational, employment, and economic outcomes.