CI Brief: Investing in Opportunity

May 2015

 Greater New Orleans faces a sizable workforce deficit by 2020 without strategic intervention. While tens of thousands of new jobs are predicted to become available, an alarming proportion of the region’s 16-24 year-olds are opportunity youth, meaning they are currently neither working nor in school. The Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act has an increased focus on opportunity youth, and if the funds are used to prepare them for high growth industries, it offers the chance for the New Orleans region, and the state of Louisiana, to fill the potential employment gap with local workers. Aligning local, WIOA-funded programs with projected growth clusters and specific business needs will position the region and state for an equitable, sustainable, prosperous future.