Building a Workforce Future: The Strategic Vision of the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board
Aligning education, engaging employers, and expanding opportunities to power Kentucky’s economic growth.
The Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board (KWIB), the Commonwealth’s state workforce development board, has a strong vision—to create a workforce development system that is value-driven for employers, aligns education with industry demands, prepares Kentuckians for the future of work, and drives economic development.
KWIB engaged AIR to facilitate development of its 2025-2028 strategic plan to deliver on this vision. To lay the foundation for a robust and actionable plan, AIR began by analyzing Kentucky’s workforce and economic landscape and identifying national best practices aligned with the board’s priorities. We then gathered input from KWIB members through a virtual session to surface key challenges and opportunities.
This feedback informed a two-day, in-person strategic planning session that brought together KWIB members and executive staff, the Kentucky Education and Workforce Collaborative, and local workforce development board chairs. Together, these leaders assessed progress under the current plan, explored emerging issues, and worked collaboratively to define KWIB’s priorities and strategies in the coming years.
The Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board Framework
AIR synthesized this output and developed the framework for KWIB’s new strategic plan, which focuses on four critical areas:
- Employer Engagement: Actively engage employers to drive Kentucky’s workforce development system.
- Educational Attainment: Align pre-K-12, adult education, and postsecondary education to provide lifelong opportunities for Kentuckians that prepare them for the rapidly shifting realities of work.
- Workforce Participation: Increase Kentucky's workforce participation by creating opportunities, incentivizing workforce participation, and removing employment barriers for Kentuckians.
- Organization and Resource Alignment: Focus resources on the most effective initiatives and improve the return on workforce investment, utilizing data to constantly improve workforce development in Kentucky.
Across these four pillars, KWIB prioritized cross-cutting opportunity areas for the workforce system, including expanding work-based learning, addressing barriers like affordable housing and childcare shortages, and enhancing outreach and communication. Through its strategic committee structure, KWIB is now implementing and tracking progress against its new strategic plan.
