Metro Denver WIRED Initiative structure
- The Colorado Department of Labor is the grant recipient and monitors for compliance with federal laws and regulations.
- The City and County of Denver Office of Economic Development is the fiscal agent.
- The Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) administers programs.
- The Leadership Council is comprised of the two co-chairs from each of the demand-side and supply-side panels. The Council makes funding decisions.
Roles/Responsibilities of Industry (Demand-Side) Panels
Under the leadership of industry representatives, and staffed by an Industry Coordinator at the Metro Denver EDC, each industry panel:
- Assesses the workforce needs of the industry
- Communicates information to the supply-side panels
- Helps staff analyze gaps
- Makes funding recommendations to the Leadership Council for programs
Roles/Responsibilities of Delivery System (Supply-Side) Panels
Four panels assist with the asset-mapping and provide strategies to respond to the needs of businesses in the clusters. Some of these panels may be combined after the first year.
- The Workforce System Panel consists of the eight directors and eight WIB chairs of the workforce regions included in the grant and is staffed by the Metro WIB Director. The Panel assists with an inventory of workforce programs that trains individuals for cluster businesses, analyzes gaps in training, and develops the system’s response to regional employer needs.
- The K-12 Panel consists of experts in the area of K-12 education, particularly in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs and is staffed by the Colorado Children’s Campaign. The Panel identifies programs in the region’s school districts that are improving STEM skills for students, analyzes gaps, and develops strategies to increase the number of students who pursue post-secondary education and/or industry-approved certification.
- The Higher Education Panel includes academics and other experts from community and four-year colleges and universities and is convened by the Graduate School of Public Affairs of the University of Colorado. The Panel identifies the current number of higher education students in the pipeline for occupations in the targeted clusters, identifies programs that are meeting the needs of cluster employers, and analyzes gaps and develops action plans to address needs.
- The Small Business/Entrepreneurship Panel is convened by the Colorado Small Business Development Center Network and consists of small businesses in the industry clusters, entrepreneurship programs, associations that help small businesses, and tech transfer programs. The Panel identifies program capacity, analyzes gaps, and develops action plans to address needs of small businesses in the industry.
Success measures
Each of the eight panels are responsible for driving strategies to impact selected success measures. During the first six months, each panel was charged with establishing baseline data for its assigned measures and for bringing goals and programmatic strategies for achieving the goals to the Leadership Council for review and approval. The Leadership Council had the responsibility of constant review of the collective set of “dashboard indicators” and re-visiting strategies with appropriate panels as necessary to meet the goals.