In my experience, too many workforce partnerships are built on individual relationships and personalities that mesh, as opposed to being systematized and formalized, striving for shared outcomes. So what happens is one of the partners moves on, and the program between organizations falls apart. This hurts students and institutions. You start from scratch every time. The goal should be scaled sector-focused partnerships that deliver measurable returns. State workforce councils

Almost every state has a workforce council or governance body that is meant to oversee workforce development for the state, and ultimately reports to the Governor. That said, there is great divergence in how these councils—and these systems and operations—function state to state. To be frank, when talking to people, we understand that there is no perfect system. It is hard work to communicate, coordinate, and ultimately execute across multiple units and agencies across states