CCST presented a working draft of its online Workforce Investment Board (WIB) toolkit, "Racing for the future," at the Meeting of the Minds in Monterey annual conference of the California Workforce Association on September 5. It was met with a positive response.

The toolkit is part of a workforce development project funded by a $15 million U.S. Department of Labor initiative called "Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development", or WIRED. The California Space Authority (CSA) is the contract lead.

"The Racing for the Future website draft provided an ambitious model to make a great deal of valuable information available in an accessible, user-friendly format," said Virginia Hamilton, executive director of the California Workforce Association. "We look forward to seeing how this resource develops as the project moves toward completion."

CCST has been contracted to work on several areas of the WIRED project. This project, the toolkit, is designed to make a wide range of materials available to WIBs, regional associations designed to draw together partners from local industry and government to address workforce needs. The resources in the toolkit include examples of roles that WIBS can play to respond to local workforce needs, case studies of successful WIBs, overviews of key high-tech industries such as nanotechnology, and analyses of economic trends in California. The toolkit is scheduled to be completed later this year.

CCST will also be working on an online resource focusing on state assets that contribute to innovation and economic development. That project is to be completed in mid-2008. CCST is also involved in other projects to prepare a STEM education action plan.