2 Nuts and Bolts Spreading Innovation across Departments through Collaboration The Administration, with the leadership of DOL, is working at an unprecedented level to align resources, activities, and strategy to break down silos and develop a job-driven workforce system across federal programs. Building and Piloting Comprehensive Training Programs into Transportation Careers. The Department of Transportation is kicking off a multi-stage strategy to help the transportation industry better train workers that can meet industry needs. Transportation is collaborating with ED and DOL as well as Jobs for the Future to understand demands for specific types of transportation careers, including regional hot spots for transportation demand. Based on this information, this fall, these partners will convene a meeting with industry leaders, small-to medium-sized enterprises, and top state and local training programs to identify existing challenges and to develop best practices and strategies moving forward. They will then implement a pilot program with five to six state DOTs to demonstrate how comprehensive workforce programs can align funding sources, including DOT highway funding, and forge partnerships to create training programs related to transportation related careers. Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Workforce Development Program. FTA’s Workforce Development Program has, to date, provided some $10 million in funding to transit agencies and other entities that have implemented innovative solutions to pressing workforce development issues. The funding has been used to upgrade the skills of existing workers and to attract new entrants into the profession, especially those engaged in the maintenance and operation of green technology vehicles and equipment. In FY 2014, FTA hopes to appropriate $7 million for workforce development projects in collaboration with DOL, aimed at creating new Ladders of Opportunity, with special emphasis on training programs, outreach to increase minority and female employment in transit, and training for minority business opportunities. For instance, the Regional Transportation District of Denver, Colorado has leveraged $486,465 in FTA funding to create its Workforce Initiative Now (WIN) program that provides career guidance, job training, coaching and support services for members of the local community, many of them unemployed or veterans, hoping to exercise skilled trades. As a result, WIN has placed some 160 new hires in living wage jobs paying over $16 per hour, and provided a career ladder to professional advancement to over 80 current workers. The Curb Cuts to the Middle Class Initiative. A cross-agency group, including DOL, ED, DOJ, HHS VA, SSA, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, National Council on Disability, and Office of Personnel Management will work together to improve shared mechanisms that will help people with disabilities obtain and retain good jobs. In its pilot year, the group will focus on people with significant disabilities and the affirmative action and nondiscrimination obligations of federal contractors under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act. Working together, these agencies will help people with disabilities prepare to qualify for the array of jobs offered by federal contractors; connect federal contractors with jobs to qualified job seekers with disabilities; and provide federal contractors with the tools and resources they need to recruit, retain and promote people with disabilities. Improving SNAP Employment & Training. DOL and USDA have formed a collaborative partnership to strengthen the relationship between the SNAP E&T program and the WIA workforce development 54