RD24 - Council on Virginia's Future Annual Executive Summary - January 2016


Executive Summary:
This report was prepared pursuant to § 2.2-2686 of the Code of Virginia, which requires the Council on Virginia’s Future to provide an executive summary of the activities and work of the Council annually to the Governor and the General Assembly. Included is a discussion of recent accomplishments related to the continued evolution of Virginia Performs and development of special issues. More information is available on the Council’s website (future.virginia.gov).

The Council on Virginia’s Future, which is chaired by the Governor and includes government and citizen leaders, was established in 2004 and re-authorized twice through 2017. The Council advises Virginia’s leaders on the development and implementation of a long-range approach for measuring and improving the quality of life and the effectiveness of state government in Virginia. Its signature initiative is Virginia Performs, the state’s performance leadership and accountability system (VaPerforms.virginia.gov).

The Council made significant progress in 2015 in the continued evolution of Virginia Performs and development of special issues. Highlights include:

• We continue to make regular updates and enhancements to ensure that Virginia Performs stays fresh and relevant. Changes for 2015 include a major revision of the Scorecard’s Workforce Quality indicator and enhancements and new content to the Infrastructure Condition, Health Insurance, and Internet Access indicators. In addition, we are working with our partners at the Weldon Cooper Center at U.Va. to integrate better assessment data related to the competitiveness of Virginia’s economy and key health outcomes.

• Virginia Performs now includes a set of Enterprise Strategic Priorities developed by Governor McAuliffe and his team (page 5). These goals, priorities, and initiatives, which commonly transcend agency and other organizational boundaries, foster a more intense focus on those things leadership deems most critical and provided important input to agency plans completed in early 2015. Council staff are identifying key initiatives and other actions driving progress on the Enterprise Strategic Priorities.

• Significant enhancements were made to Virginia Performs’ three priority-focused report cards – Workforce System, Government Operations, and Innovation and Entrepreneurship. These report cards assess high-priority, multi-agency Scorecard-level outcomes and represent a vitally important and powerful step forward in the evolution of Virginia Performs by strengthening planning and execution across the enterprise.

• The Council continued its focus on the drivers of state and regional economic growth, working with its workforce partners to establish meaningful workforce targets and better align regional and statewide workforce programs with evolving employer needs. The Council is sponsoring and helping to lead the development of the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Research and Statistics (CCARS). This collaborative effort will capitalize on existing data resources to improve programmatic and strategic workforce decisionmaking.

• The Council continued to publish special reports, analyses, and other products that enhance our understanding of issues important to Virginia’s long-term future.