About Lane Workforce Partnership

Workforce Development for Lane County

Lane Workforce Partnership is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization and one of Oregon’s nine local workforce development boards. Lane Workforce Partnership, the designated local Workforce Development Board for Lane County, Oregon, funds and delivers programs that empower job seekers to meet the current and future workforce needs of employers in Lane County.  Programs and services are delivered through a network of local partners including employers, labor groups, government, community colleges, high schools, community-based organizations, and economic development.

Building a Strong Workforce

In collaboration with community partners, Lane Workforce Partnership offers targeted employment services tailored to empower eligible adult job seekers in discovering or re-establishing a career path that will promote their success. The WorkSource Career Centers provide employment services, including career assessment, job training programs, and job search assistance. Whether individuals find themselves currently unemployed or already employed, they can access the WorkSource Career Centers to receive the necessary guidance and tools to achieve success.

Training Our Future Workforce

Lane Workforce Partnership is dedicated to empowering the next generation by funding and implementing comprehensive programs that equip youth and young adults, aged 14 to 24, with essential skills and experiences. Our initiatives are designed to support opportunity youth who are currently not engaged in either work or school. Through a range of offerings, including work-readiness training, valuable work experiences, and other opportunities, we aim to cultivate a strong foundation for these individuals. Our goal is to prepare them for successful high school graduation, facilitate their transition to post-secondary education, and ultimately guide them towards a career. Through our initiatives, we are committed to fostering a brighter future for our youth by providing them with the tools and support they need to succeed.

Mission

Meet the workforce needs of employers and individuals through partnerships and innovation.

Vision

Lane County will have a trained workforce and individuals will have the knowledge and skills for career success.

Lane Workforce Partnership’s Role

Catalyzer, Convener, Analyzer, Broker, Community Voice, Capacity Builder/Investor.

Goals & Strategic Objectives

Goal 1:  Prepare workers for self-sufficiency employment in a new and changing economy.

Strategic Objectives:

  • Analyze worker self-sufficiency data driven by systemic challenges [e.g., housing, childcare, legislative policy].
  • Be the community voice for individual workers seeking self-sufficiency employment.
  • Broker relationships to create solutions to address identified systemic challenges.
  • Build capacity to support innovative solutions by seeking incremental funds for investment.
Goal 2:  Connect individuals to education, skill-building and employment opportunities in occupations most impacted. [aging workforce, technology impacts]

Strategic Objectives:

  • Invest in training programs, including on-the-job training, apprenticeship and customized training focused on replacement opportunities for youth/young adults in jobs most impacted by retirement and other types of projected worker shortages.
  • Analyze the impact of AI/technology on worker displacement.
  • Invest in career pathway models.
Goal 3:  Prepare our youth for future employment.

Strategic Objectives:

  • Invest in proven strategies and partner with successful youth programs [e.g., Connected Lane County, Chamber Work Ready initiatives, High School CTE programs] to better align industry and education to increase student access to work opportunities.
  • Be the community voice to improve policy makers understanding/willingness to remove apprenticeship pipeline barriers.
Goal 4:  Catalyze the community around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) to expand workforce leadership and participation opportunities for all.

Strategic Objectives:

  • Be a catalyst for systemic change that raises DEI to the level of sector strategy.
  • Convene an advisory board as a model of DEI leadership.
    • Research and evaluate DEI “state of workforce.”
    • Gather and disseminate learning.
  • Invest in workforce board training to understand unconscious bias and to lead by example.
  • Embed DEI in all LWP policies.
Goal 5:  Align strategic partnerships to expand our collective capacity to address systemic workforce challenges. [housing, childcare, legislative policies]

Strategic Objectives:

  • Continue to invest in sector strategy work.
  • Analyze impacts of technology on industry employment and on workforce training.
  • Identify and share job skills with current and emerging workforce.
  • Analyze, gather, and disseminate projected data about job evolution/changes/growth.
  • Be the voice to create understanding of self-sufficient wages in our community.