Workforce Development is about economic prosperity, but what makes this approach unique is that it focuses on people rather than businesses. It can typically be classified as place-based whereby strategies address the needs of people living in a particular area, or sector-based with strategies focusing on skills and matching those to employment in the region.
On a Community of Practice call for Municipal and Regional Government Representatives, we heard from Oxford County, a Cities Reducing Poverty member, about its model of workforce development. Oxford Workforce Development Partnership (OWDP) has been recognized as a best practice on the provincial level, with concepts being implemented across and beyond the economic region.