Helping to create a well trained and globally competitive workforce–The Northwest Indiana Workforce Board 

What is the Northwest Indiana Workforce Board (NWIWB)?

The NWIWB is a board of business, education, labor, community, faith-based and economic development leaders responsible for the strategic vision of workforce development and governance of WorkOne in Northwest Indiana. They are also responsible for managing connections to key resources in the workforce and education arena as well as supporting efforts on programming that plant and nurture the seed of entrepreneur-ship. The board works to determine current and future skill needs together with economic developers, employers, and economists.

Counties the Board Represents:

Jasper, Lake, La Porte, Newton, Porter, Pulaski, and Starke

Vision:

A Northwest Indiana workforce that is highly skilled, motivated, and diverse, earning sustainable or higher wages, and actively engaged in skill advancement and life-long learning.

Mission:

To mobilize and integrate the leadership, services, and resources of the community to support workforce development.
This will be achieved by:
▪ Strategically planning and developing policy for workforce development;
▪ Overseeing regional workforce development system;
▪ Developing and allocating resources for workforce development; and
▪ Participating in related economic development activities

Goals:

▪ Increase skills of current workforce to align with economic development strategies and key industry clusters
▪ Improve employer access to qualified workers and awareness of training resources
▪ Ensure youth in NWI are positioned for continued education/learning and workforce success
▪ Encourage and support an entrepreneurial spirit
▪ Assure compliance and efficient operations of a workforce development system.

 

What Do They Do?

▪ Provide direction for regional workforce development
▪ Develop a regional plan to implement the state workforce plan in the region
▪ Coordinate plans with economic development
▪ Coordinate responsiveness of regional service and training providers to maximize “supply side” effectiveness
▪ Engage employers on a section by section basis – ideally a partnership with economic development
▪ Treat economic development leadership as a primary customer
▪ Competitively procure the staff to the Workforce Investment Board (WIB), the One-Stop (WorkOne) Operator and the Fiscal Agent
▪ Monitor competitive procurement of service providers
▪ Advise the One Stop Operator on functions normally part of WIB responsibilities under the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA)
▪ Monitor One-Stop (WorkOne) performance

Contact Us:

Northwest Indiana Workforce Board
c/o Center of Workforce Innovations
2804 Boilermaker Court, Ste. E.
Valparaiso, Indiana 46383
219-462-2940 Fax: 219-465-6860

Criteria of Board Membership Selection:

Chief Executive Officers, Operating Officers, Fiscal Officers, Human Resource Managers or Plant Managers. Individuals in key decision making roles within their corporations.

51% of private sector members must come from businesses with 50 or more employees. Other private sector members must come from businesses with at least five or more employees.

 

Frequency of Meetings:

The Northwest Indiana Workforce Board has set meeting dates for 2022. Northwest Indiana Workforce Board meetings are open to the general public and take place from 2-4 p.m. (CST). Meetings usually take place at the Center of Workforce Innovations office, 2804 Boilermaker Court, Valparaiso. As of March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings are being held via Zoom until further notice. For those that would like to attend, the Zoom meeting links are posted underneath the meeting dates below before each meeting. Please check back regularly for updates on future meetings.

 

2023 NWIWB Meeting Schedule:

Thursday, January 26, 2023
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Thursday, September 28, 2023
Thursday, November 16, 2023

 

Click for Board Roster & Meetings