Seriously Behind

It's been two weeks since my last post, but I really have accomplished a lot. I have been having some neck and back problems that make me not want to be on the computer in the evening, and that's when I usually update this blog.

In the last two week I have compiled the results of the awards redesign survey and sent a summary and initial recommendations to the awards redesign team. I am waiting for their feedback before proceeding on. I also finished my research on the NASWA Web site looking for significant events from the last 10 years in the workforce development arena. I made an initial pass at updating the History of Workforce Development module of the WPDP. I still have a ways to go. I also looked up the duties of the IAWP Legislative Steering Committee and made some proposed changes that came out of the board meeting in St. Louis. I have sent the revisions off to the officers and board liaison to review.

So you can see, I have been busy, just not busy blogging.

Researching

I have spent many hours this last week researching workforce system legislation and programs over the past 10 years. I am updating Module 4 of the retooled WPDP History of Workforce Development studyguide. Sadly the last entry was the passage of WIA from 1998, so it's about time for an update. I started with reviewing the NASWA Bulletins from the last 10 years to see what's happened the last 10 years. That's been very time consuming because each bulletin is several pages long and reports on all proposed legislation and since I only want to include those programs that actually came about, it's a lot of reading and clicking. In the course of reviewing the material I had almost forgot about many things such as Y2K, the 2000 census, the recession in 2001 and the low employment (under 5%) in the mid 2000's. It was like a walk down memory lane. The common denominator...the workforce system was always there to help people. I hope to reflect that in this latest update to the WPDP.

Survey Says!

Sent out the survey today to 40+ people asking for input on the awards. I hope this format (Survey Monkey) is user friendly and give us a bunch of input to start redesigning the IAWP awards. I am optimistic that people will respond and we can get started with the membership awards by mid month. I looked before I left work today and only three people had responded...less than what I had hoped for...but maybe tomorrow we will have 50! If you happen to be reading this blog, click on the survey here and give me your input.