COA - Council On Accreditation

Workforce Development and Support Services; and Financial Asset Building Services are community-based services that provide information and referral; educational opportunities; job training, placement, and follow-up; and financial literacy and planning to facilitate personal job acquisition and economic mobility.

Interpretation: Job seekers receiving workforce development services include, but are not limited to, any of the following populations:

individuals receiving public assistance;
adolescents and adults without a high school diploma;
adolescents and adults involved with the justice system;
migrant and seasonal workers;
resettled immigrants and refugees;
older adults returning to the workforce after retirement;
dislocated or low-wage incumbent workers; and
veterans of the military looking for civilian work.

Note: Workforce development programs must adopt a dual-customer approach by providing services that address the needs of both employers and job seekers.

Note: Please see Self-Paced_Training: Workforce Development and Support Services; Financial Asset Building Services (WDS) in the Tools Index for additional assistance with this standard.

Research Note: The field of workforce development is relatively new, and much of the research comes from case studies, program evaluations, and anecdotal information from experienced practitioners. Research could be strengthened with more empirical studies examining aspects of workforce development services that contribute to positive program outcomes.


	PURPOSE: Job seekers who receive workforce development, support, and financial asset building services achieve increased economic self-sufficiency through the attainment and retention of jobs in the community and the promotion of asset accumulation.

RELATED FILES

WDS Private Template.doc
NA Request.doc
WDS Reference List.pdf


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	TRAINING Instruction so as to make fit, qualified, or proficient in a skill or body of knowledge.


	PLANNING The process of specifying objectives, evaluating the means for their achievement, and exercising deliberate decision making about appropriate courses of action.


	IMMIGRANT An individual not born in the United States, Puerto Rico, or an outlying US territory, who migrates from his/her country of nationality or any country in which they last habitually resided and chooses to seek a better economic, social or religious life abroad. Immigrants, and children of immigrants, can be citizens, Legal Permanent Residents "a step toward naturalization as a US citizen" or non-citizens, either legal or undocumented without legal status.


	REFUGEE Those who flee their home country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion and are unable or unwilling to return to, or avail themselves of, their home country.


	PROGRAM A system of services offered by an organization. For example, an organization providing a mental health service may offer several mental health programs to different populations, e.g., a mental health program for adolescent teens. The word "program" can be used interchangeably with the word "service" or to describe specific programs.


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	EVALUATION The review and assessment of organizational operations, programs and services.