Department of Workforce Development

The United States Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration with National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) presented the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) and the Racine County Workforce Development Center (RCWDC) with two national customer service awards at the NASWA Annual Conference in Oklahoma City. These annual National Customer Service Awards honor achievements by state workforce agencies across the country.

"The dedication of DWD and its partners to serve job seekers and employers is an excellent example of the entire Workforce Development System," said DWD Secretary Jennifer Reinert. "DWD and the Racine County Workforce Development Center will be recognized for receiving two of the four national awards available to state agencies. This is a tremendous honor for the entire state."

DWD will be recognized with a $25,000 "Building a World-Class Workforce Award" for achieving professional development and capacity building efforts with their Resource Room Career Development and Training Project. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center on Education and Work (CEW) and DWDs Division of Workforce Solutions collaborated to create a three-day interactive curriculum designed to involve attendees in the training. To date, 10 three-day courses have trained over 400 attendees.

"This training helped prepare Job Center and Resource Room staff to better serve the customers they see on a daily basis," said Reinert. "Many staff had never received training on career information, job search strategies, or dealing with customers from different backgrounds. The waiting lists for these courses proves the program to be a very valuable tool in further developing our workforce delivery system in Wisconsin."

The Racine County Workforce Development Center (RCWDC) also received a $25,000 "Collaboration for Improved Customer Services" Award by integrating staff and resources to create a seamless and single employment and training system that meets all funding source needs while providing universal access. The award recognizes the One Stop Job Center concept that was developed in Wisconsin’s 76 Job Centers across the state.

"The blending of staff and fiscal resources from these organizations aimed at promoting the economic prosperity of the entire community has served each of the organizations well," said Reinert. "Without the collaboration of the state, the local agencies, the Workforce Development Board -- none of them alone could have accomplished this level of service, but together have been able to transform the performance and reputation of publicly funded employment and training efforts."

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