The recent articles in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution raised urgent concerns about the effectiveness of the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency (AWDA) to manage and administer federal on-the-job training grant funds.
The City of Atlanta recognizes these concerns, which is exactly why my administration took swift and decisive action when these issues were brought to my attention almost 18 months ago by the City of Atlanta’s internal auditor.
At the request of my administration and City Council, the auditor’s office completed a performance audit of the Atlanta AWDA in January 2013. The audit included reviews of prior audits and reviews of the agency.
Reading the recent coverage of this agency, one would be led to believe the AJC uncovered unknown issues when, in fact, the opposite is true.
Among its findings the audit, which was released to the public, noted deficiencies in the agency’s data and ability to document and reconcile financial and employer information accurately.
The findings raised a number of issues that we took seriously. As a result, the city hired Maher & Maher, a leading organizational and change management firm with vast experience in the public and private sectors, to develop a comprehensive workforce development strategy that included a top-to-bottom review of AWDA. This work continues today.
Maher & Maher’s final report will advise the City on best practices in the workforce development industry and offer recommendations on structural changes to AWDA necessary to turn around operations, performance and outcomes. Furthermore, this analysis will identify industries and clusters where the job skills gap can be bridged to match the city’s labor pool with job growth and emerging industries.
AWDA has a well-documented history of workforce development, funded primarily through external grants. At no cost to Atlanta taxpayers, in the last four years, AWDA has served over 103,000 adults, dislocated workers, and youth customers with employment and training activities at the agency’s One Stop Center. In 2010 alone, 1,679 youth ages 14 to 21 were placed in paid summer work experience jobs, academic enrichment activities, and occupational skills training at over 267 public and private sector worksites around the City of Atlanta.
Simply stated, it has done good and important work. That’s why I have sent Michael Sterling, a man of unquestioned integrity, to act as the interim executive director of AWDA until we can conduct a national search for a permanent director. Sterling is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney in Chicago.
Moving forward, economic and workforce development initiatives must be aligned in a way that results in maximum, cost-efficient impact. We must ensure that we do not just create jobs, but also careers that lift up families. Maher & Maher’s work continues, as we include our multiple stakeholders in an ongoing, community-driven process to move our workforce development strategy forward to serve those most in need. Clearly, AWDA requires an operational and management reorganization, which is forthcoming. Its mission of providing job training, skills and opportunities to our citizens is too important to get wrong.
Should we have acted faster? Perhaps. That is a fair criticism, but in the last four years, we were addressing a $1.5 billion pension challenge, balancing four budgets, closing a $48 million budget shortfall, increasing our reserves to more than $137 million, growing our police department to 2,000 officers, guiding the city through the worst recession in 80 years and reforming a 9,000-person organization.
We have moved the city of Atlanta in the right direction in my first term, and we have carried that positive momentum into my second term.
The city of Atlanta has seen a level of construction activity not seen in years, which means jobs are being created and maintained. According to the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, the value of construction investments in 2013 was $1.9 billion; compare that to $477 million in 2009 – the year before I took office.
We will soon celebrate the groundbreakings or openings of a new Falcons stadium, the College Football Hall of Fame and the Center for Civil and Human Rights. We currently have several proposals on the table to purchase Turner Field, which we will transform once the Braves complete their move. Meanwhile, the Atlanta BeltLine and Atlanta Streetcar projects continue to drive unprecedented economic development opportunities along their paths. Companies are relocating jobs into the city.
The bottom line is that businesses are voting with their feet as they move into the city of Atlanta at a pace rarely seen in recent memory. We must have a workforce development training agency to provide our employers with a work-ready labor force that leaves no one behind during this emerging wave of prosperity.
