*This report was replaced in its entirety by the Virginia Board of Workforce Development on April 1, 2026.

The Virginia Board of Workforce Development (Board) requested the VCU Center for Public Policy (CPP) conduct an independent evaluation of the operational and program objectives of the Department of Workforce Development and Advancement (Virginia Works), in compliance with Code of Virginia 2.2-2472.A.16. The evaluation is the first of the biennial evaluations for the newly established agency and focuses on gaining an understanding of the perceptions of the Virginia Works operational and program objectives using individual interviews and an electronic survey with key stakeholder groups.

Participation in the online survey was targeted towards Virginia Works staff, representatives of the Local Workforce Development Boards, and partners from other state agencies. Interviews were conducted with members of the Virginia Board of Workforce Development, including the Executive Director, as well as functional leaders within Virginia Works.

The findings of this assessment generally support the observation that the intended benefits of establishing Virginia Works are being achieved. Naturally there are “growing pains" with any newly formed agency and opportunities exist to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization as well as build upon the initial successes of the agency.

The most prominent themes emerging from survey and interview responses were:

• Perception of Virginia Works as a bridge to connect job seekers and employers.

• Creation of Virginia Works improved coordination across workforce development programs in the Commonwealth for some stakeholder groups.

• Data collection and tracking workforce metrics viewed as most successfully implemented mandate.

• Communication and marketing to the public regarded as needing improvement.

• Engagement with business customers seen as needing significant improvement.

Survey and interview participants praised Virginia Works as “eliminating existing silos" and utilizing tracking and performance outcomes to “pivot or scale Virginia’s workforce strategy." However, survey participants seemed to be split on whether Virginia Works reduced duplicative efforts across workforce development programs, with 46.1% agreeing the agency reduced duplicative efforts. While a slight majority of survey respondents agreed the creation of Virginia Works streamlined service delivery for job seekers, only 45.4% agreed the creation streamlined service delivery for employers.

When discussing challenges, survey participants expressed some concerns about staff having to spend significant time responding to unemployment questions. According to several survey participants, there still exists confusion within the public regarding the difference between Virginia Works and the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC). Additional challenges reported by survey respondents included key agency mandates being ambiguous and staffing shortages making implementation of mandates difficult.

Findings from the interviews generally supported those of the survey but a few insights contradicted some of the survey results. For example, the interview participants saw positive outcomes from internal and external communication while survey participants noted improvements were much needed. This difference is possibly due to the majority of survey respondents coming from Virginia Staff and the majority of interview responses coming from Board members.

The following summary of recommendations was developed based upon the themes from the participants and, where applicable, are correlated with the Virginia Works Strategic Plan Commitments (see Appendix C).

• Ensure a clear separation (outreach, training, signage, etc.) for the support and handling unemployment functions

• Invest in field staffing for outreach and employer engagement (2B Fall 2025-Fall 2030)

• Diversify funding sources to expand impact (5G Fall 2025-Fall 2030)

• Improve internal communication to support execution of the agency mandates (5K In Progress-Fall 2030)

• Increase efforts (staffing, funding, etc.) to support a comprehensive outreach, branding and marketing for Virginia Works services targeting both job seekers and employers. (5H Fall 2025- Fall 2026)

• Support investments in dashboards to enable data driven decisions for both state and regional programs, services, etc. Note this requires consistency in the data and data collection processes. (5A Fall 2025-Fall 2026)

• Increase efforts to connect with Virginia businesses; increase awareness of business services function (3A ,Fall 2025-Fall 2030, 3B In Progress-Fall 2026, 4A In Progress-Fall 2030, 4D, Fall 2025-Fall 2030, 5C Fall 2025-Fall 2030)