By WILL WHATLEY, Alabama Daily News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A first-in-the-nation partnership between the State of Alabama and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta aims to help Alabamians connect to careers.
The Dashboard for Alabamians to Visualize Income Determinations, DAVID, will help individuals understand which career pathways will help them achieve self-sufficiency and overcome the potential loss of public assistance based on their income, region, occupation and family dynamics, according to a press release.
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“We are the first state to take a benefits cliff calculator and merge it with a workforce development career path planner,” Gov. Kay Ivey said. “This is a significant milestone and we are proud to, once again, be leading the way with innovative workforce development solutions for the people of Alabama. We are grateful for the work of the Atlanta Fed in developing this resource that will help Alabama reach our Attainment Goal of adding 500,000 credentialed workers to the workforce by 2025.”
DAVID will utilize the goal of developing a “no-wrong-door” approach to the workforce development system. The tool will also be integrated into the Alabama College and Career Exploration Tool to assist case managers and career coaches in providing a continuum of services approach in workforce and education programs.
“I’m excited about this collaboration with the State of Alabama,” said Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President and CEO Raphael Bostic. “It is important to address the issue of increased marginal tax rates—or benefit cliffs—in a coordinated way, to make sure that the incentives are not sending the wrong signal to people, but rather are pushing and driving them to invest in themselves and get to a more stable place. This is one way we make sure that this economy works for everyone.”
Workforce efforts across Alabama have increased focus on quality job training, credentialed workers and upskilling. With these efforts, a main goal is to help individuals advance into higher paying careers and understand how higher income from new careers can establish a path towards self-sufficiency.
According to AlabamaWorks!, DAVID is the first workforce solution of its kind in the United States and will assist those in the workforce navigate the loss of public assistance as they move along a career pathway. The resource will help individuals understand how much money they will gain through paid employment and will help them cope with the loss of public assistance as they progress through their career pathways.
“DAVID helps workforce development professionals gain insight into what an actual career pathway looks like as a worker enters and moves up in a profession,” said David Altig, executive vice president and director of research at the Atlanta Fed. “It can help inform decisions, reduce uncertainty and ensure everyone has an opportunity to participate fully in our economy,”
DAVID was developed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta along with the Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation and the Governor’s Human Capital Development Task Force, chaired by Alabama Department of Human Resources Commissioner Nancy Buckner. More information on the DAVID tool can be found on the AlabamaWorks! website, https://alabamaworks.com/