Employees seeking to advance their employment status through BEST training typically require the support of their direct supervisors. In some instances the employees’ desire to advance may conflict with supervisors’ desire to retain good employees. This tension is inherent in the design of BEST and all demand-driven programs and beckons further reflection by the larger community of workforce practitioners.

Further, if a program is to be genuinely demand-driven, it needs to be responsive to changing employer needs and economic cycles. This requires flexibility on the part of sponsoring state agencies both at the programmatic level and in the way funds flow (e.g., what they can be used for; their shelf life).

Employer participation in education and training programs is easier to secure in tight labour markets; the economic downturn has resulted in some employers redefining the timeline of their original commitment to BEST.

Dr. Flynn’s comments raise important questions about the strengths and limitations of career ladder programs during a protracted economic downturn. Perhaps the operative image is less one of career ladders moving people upward in a linear fashion, and more one of a complex network of career lattices that increase an individual’s employment alternatives and chances for job success.

While more time is needed for the workforce partnerships to complete their work products and for the finalization of the BEST evaluation,(4) it is becoming clear that BEST constitutes more than a competitive grant program. It also signals the creation of an infrastructure capable of capturing and blending multiple funding streams for a strategically defined purpose, and the building of a model for locally-based collaboration in support of sector organization. A second round of funding for BEST utilizing federal funds and focused on older youth is currently being launched.

There is also dialogue in the state about how to use lessons learned from BEST, ECCLI, and other career ladder programs in support of the design of a large private-public workforce development initiative, led by private philanthropy.

Beyond BEST: Strengths and Limitations of Other Career Ladder Programs

As mentioned earlier, BEST is not the only promising initiative in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. One innovative example from the private sector is the Financial Services Academy and career/success pathway of the New England College of Finance. Another is the Fleet Charitable Trust career ladder initiative. On the public funding side, findings from the baseline and mid-point evaluations of the Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative provide preliminary evidence that career ladder development for workers in long-term care may have considerable payoffs for both the worker and facility involved. While a discussion of these initiatives is beyond the scope of this article, the chart in Figure 1 illustrates the promise of these programs. This chart is based on the plans of one ECCLI site to create a career pathway for long-term care workers.