Operationalizing Changes to the Title I Youth Program Under WIOA

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 included multiple provisions to strengthen service quality, access, accountability, and alignment across many programs. This report focuses on implementation of WIOA’s changes to the Title I youth program, administered at the Federal level by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) of the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL). The report covers changes regarding funding, service delivery approaches, performance accountability, and program elements.

Data for this report are drawn primarily from site visit interviews, conducted in early 2019, with administrators, board chairs and members, employer and agency partners, and frontline staff in 14 states and 28 local areas. Other sources of information include administrative data and relevant state and local documents. The site visit locations were purposively selected to assure diversity geographically and in size, among other criteria. The findings here, based on those interviews, should therefore be viewed as suggestive of common experiences and not assumed to be nationally representative. Also, it should be noted that, subsequent to the site visits, ETA provided additional guidance and technical assistance that covered some of the issues and concerns identified by study respondents.