About the Academy

In the summer of 2017, Virginia's State Workforce partner agencies joined together to create a Sector Strategy and Career Pathways Academy. The collaborators in this work include:

6 Regions for the Sector Strategies and Career Pathways Academy. Region 1 - Northern Virginia (from Prince William and Loudon to Alexandria). Region 2 - Eastern & Hampton Roads (from Stafford and Spotsylvania to James City, Southampton, and Virginia Beach). Region 3 - Shenandoah Valley & Charlottesville (from Frederick and Louisa to Bath and Nelson). Region 4 - Richmond & Southside (from Buckingham and Halifax to Surry and Greensville). Region 5 - Roanoke Valley (from Allegheny, Craig, and Patrick to Amherst, Appomattox, and Pittsylvania). Region 6 - Southwest (from Buchanan and Tazwell to Lee and Scott counties).
  • The Virginia Community College System and Colleges
  • The Virginia Career Works Centers and Local Workforce Development Boards
  • The Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services;
  • The Virginia Department for the Blind and Vision Impaired;
  • The Virginia Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education;
  • The Virginia Department of Social Services;
  • The Virginia Department of Veterans Services;
  • The Virginia Economic Development Partnership
  • The Virginia Employment Commission; and
  • The Virginia Association of Workforce Directors.

A primary emphasis of this effort is the operationalizing of sector strategies and career pathways in service delivery so that these approaches become the way of conducting business throughout Virginia's workforce system. This is an endeavor for the entire system that seeks to apply more demand-driven approaches to serving both business and student/job seeker/worker customers. A key aim is to strengthen the ability of workforce system partners and practitioners to incorporate sector partnership and career pathway strategies and thinking as integral components in every Virginia region, and to meet the Virginia Career Works brand promise.

Accordingly, the Academy is composed of two primary components:

  1. The Academy consists of developing and delivering curriculum that is built on evidence-based practices and goes beyond the why and what of sector strategies and career pathways and into the how-to of effective implementation.

    Curriculum will be delivered through a blended set of solutions, including both classroom-based and online.

  2. The online Community of Practice will provide a means for system stakeholders to share practical experiences, tools, and established and emerging promising practices to address recurring or new issues.

    It will build community engagement, provide a powerful engine for sharing knowledge, and link to learning assets developed in the Academy.

The Academy consists of a three-phase approach to a blended Learning Pathway. It is designed to build on the great work already developed within the Commonwealth, and further expand the capacity of Virginias Workforce Development System and its workforce partners in every region to support the operationalizing of Sector Strategies and Career Pathways in service delivery.

The Learning Pathway for the Virginia Sector Strategies and Career Pathways Academy consists of three phases. Phase 1: Understanding. Phase 2: Skill Building. Phase 3: Implementation and Continuous Improvement.

The Learning Pathway consists of three phases:

  • Phase 1: Understanding - Participants enhance their understanding of Sector Strategies and Career Pathways in a classroom-based Foundations course prefaced with pre-work hosted on the Academy. Resources and discussions will be accessible online on the Academy to add clarity at any time before, during, and post the Foundations course.

  • Phase 2: Skill Building - After successful completion of the Foundations course, participants will complete in-depth, self-paced Career Pathways and Sector Strategies courses focused on implementation. These courses will be hosted on the online Academy and participants will attend the courses with others from their region. Upon completion of Phases 1 and 2, participants will receive a SSCPA Certificate of Completion.

  • Phase 3: Implementation and Continuous Improvement - Participants will form regional Peer Workgroups, which are inter-agency and include staff at a variety of occupational levels. They will begin to implement strategies learned in Phase 2, and focus on continuous improvement related to problem-solving, action planning, and best practices around Career Pathways and Sector Strategies service delivery.

To hear from your colleagues about their experience with the Academy, please view this video: