Building Career Pathways for County Residents
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The Career Success Logic Model and Action Planning Template are tools for the planning phase of a career pathways initiative or program.
Tools to Jumpstart a Career Pathways Initiative
Counties play an important role in building pathways to good jobs and supporting residents in their career development.
The Career Success Logic Model and Action Planning Template are tools for the planning phase of a career pathways initiative or program. Though planning processes will vary based on a county’s unique needs, communities in NACo’s Counties for Career Success (C4CS) initiative generally adhered to the following planning stages:
- Assemble relevant stakeholders
- Design a SMART goal
- Identify evidence-based strategies
- Create a detailed action plan
Assemble relevant stakeholders
No single department can facilitate all necessary supports for the best outcomes for residents. County elected officials can harness their convening power to foster cross-sector partnerships of relevant organizations and departments.
As such, the first step in the planning process is for county officials to identify decision makers from education, workforce development and human services systems who are willing to work collaboratively on streamlining career pathways for county residents. Together, these decision makers will act as the core planning team for the effort.
Example job titles
Example job titles for core planning team members from these systems
Workforce Development | Human Services | Post-Secondary Education |
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Design a SMART goal
Once assembled, the core planning team can establish a shared vision and develop a SMART goal related to county residents’ education and employment achievement. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Including all five elements ensures that the team is accountable to its completion and has a clear benchmark for success.
Example of a SMART Goal
See below for an example of a SMART goal from Warren County, Ohio and a breakdown of what makes it "SMART":
Five local TANF-eligible, high school-aged youth from shared cohort are employed in a highly skilled job (e.g., advanced manufacturing) paying a competitive and living wage of $21.59 by 2028.
A goal that is specific defines the exact target population and desired outcome:
- "local, TANF eligible, high school-aged youth"
- "competitive and living wage of $21.59"
A goal that is measurable describes the desired outcome such that it can be tracked and evaluated for success:
- "Five...youth"
- "are employed"
- "wage of $21.59"
A goal that is achievable chooses a feasible target given historical work and county context:
- "Five...youth"
- "living wage of $21.59"
A goal that is relevant aligns with county and organizational priorities:
- "highly skilled job (e.g., advanced manufacturing)"
A goal that is time-bound sets an explicit deadline for measurement that will indicate success:
- "by 2028"
Crafting a SMART Goal
To kickstart the development of a SMART goal, the team can determine the county’s most pressing challenge and its corresponding career pathway approach.
Goals around creating career pathways from the C4CS communities, for example, generally coalesced around addressing one of three challenges – population-specific barriers to education and employment, workforce shortages or inefficiencies in existing career pathways.
Below are examples of the challenges these communities faced, potential approaches and actual SMART goals created by C4CS members.
Career pathway approach: By population
Does the county have a specific population or community that could benefit from an education or work program with holistic support?
County leaders might consider…
- Piloting a small cohort of students from a target community facing multiple barriers to education and employment (e.g., justice-impacted, SNAP/TANF recipients, etc.)
- Identifying a local human services agency from which a number of referred clients will receive high-touch, individualized career support
SMART Goal Example
LANCASTER COUNTY, NEB.
Connect 30 juvenile justice-involved youth engaged in diversion processes to the Lincoln / Lancaster County American Job Center each year.
Career pathway approach: By industry or employer
Does the county have a specific industry or employer with vacancies that can be filled by county residents?
County leaders might consider…
- Designing a career pathway that reduces vacancies for a local employer or industry partner by teaching relevant skills to eligible residents
- Creating a tailored course or credential series that creates a pipeline of individuals who meet education and skill requirements for specific industry positions
SMART Goal Example
CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU, HAWAI'I
Prepare and place 30 individuals into City and County of Honolulu positions by end-of-year 2027.
Career pathway approach: By process efficiency
Does the county already have education and workforce development services where efficiency could be improved with increased collaboration around organizational lines?
County leaders might consider…
- Stretching available grant funding by shifting allowable expenditures onto more rigid, but evergreen funding streams (e.g., WIOA, TANF)
- Hosting cross-trainings for direct service provider staff on services available through different organizations or agencies
- Integrating or sharing data systems across multiple agencies
- Hiring full-time staff shared by multiple organizations dedicated to improving collaboration across sectors
SMART Goal Example
MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZ.
Achieve 50 clients who are enrolled in both Maricopa Community Colleges' ARPA-funded Route to Relief stipend program and county WIOA services by end-of-year 2025.
Identify evidence-based strategies
While a SMART goal provides the overall framework for a county’s efforts, identifying best practice strategies illuminates the steps required to achieve the desired results.
Planning teams can consult the Career Success Logic Model of evidence-based strategies to determine the most appropriate strategies, outputs and measures of success for the previously identified career pathway approach and SMART goal(s).
View Logic Module in new window
To facilitate county efforts in building career pathways, the Career Success Action Planning Template and associated Logic Model synthesizes best practices in increasing equity in access to higher education and employment, a common north star for county workforce development efforts.
The Career Success Logic Model describes the flow of logic to achieve that north star – how implementing evidence-based strategies can lead to the tangible outputs that improve measures of success like credential attainment or employment rates.
Strategies in the logic model are organized under five levers that county officials can push and pull to achieve desired results.
- Cross-sector communication and collaboration
Strategies that build relationships across different agencies that serve shared communities - Aligned data systems
Strategies that increase data integration and efficiency of data collection and analysis - Program and practice changes
Strategies that improve service delivery for clients of discreet programs or organizations - Systems and policy changes
Strategies that change institutional guidelines or regulations, often across multiple systems - Funding, resources and staff capacity
Strategies that increase the capacity of counties to collaborate and support residents more effectively
To use the logic model in planning efforts, county leaders canrefer to their chosen career pathway approach -- by population, by industry or employer or by process efficiency -- and its associated levers in the logic model. Within each of these levers are the relevant evidence-based strategies that may guide planning efforts.
For the "By Population Approach"
Associated Levers:
- Cross-sector communication and collaboration
- Program and practice changes
Strategies that work best for this approach:
- Provide holistic services and resources (e.g., nutrition, behavioral health, rent/utility assistance, etc.) in support of learners pursuing higher education or employment
- Reserve a regular, recurring meeting time for a core group of cross-sector partners
- Ensure that involved partners are at a decision-making level, so new ideas face minimal friction ahead of implementation
For the “By Industry Or Employer” Approach
Associated Levers
- Cross-sector communication and collaboration
- Program and practice changes
- Funding, resources and staff capacity
Strategies that work best for this approach
- Involve local employers as equal partners in career pathway or apprenticeship planning efforts
- Engaging high school aged youth and K-12 systems early for interest in post-secondary credentialing pathways
- Intentionally building trust with county residents and community leaders
For the “By Process Efficiency” Approach
Associated Levers
- Aligned data systems
- Systems and policy changes
- Funding, resources and staff capacity
Strategies that work best for this approach
- Choose members of core planning group who have existing working relationships and/or strong passion and commitment to improving career pathways
- Task individual external to core planning group with promoting accountability on achieving process improvement goals
Create detailed action plan
With the SMART goal, career pathway approach and guiding strategies in place, teams are well-positioned to begin convening regularly and scoping out the action steps required to work collaboratively toward the shared goal.
County teams may consider nominating a team lead to promote regular meetings and completion of the action plan. This person may be:
- An external technical assistance provider
- An internal staff member fully dedicated to systems integration
- A core planning team member who is passionate about fostering collaboration
Having a documented action plan promotes transparency, visibility and accountability for county goals in increasing access to education and employment. The Career Success Action Planning Template can help teams identify interim implementation steps, responsible parties, measurement goals, data sources and plans for both sustainability and scaling successes beyond the county level.
Program Spotlight
NACo’s Counties for Career Success Initiative
Counties play an important role in building pathways to good jobs and supporting residents in their career development.
In 2023, NACo launched a time-limited intensive learning community for eight counties that met virtually and in person over 12 months to identify opportunities and reduce barriers in career pathways for county residents. Each of the communities in the Counties for Career Success (C4CS) initiative created a team of three leaders representing workforce development, human services and post-secondary education systems. The team worked with NACo staff and other subject-matter experts to develop a shared action plan to help students and jobseekers overcome barriers to education and employment.
This tool offers insights from the experiences and achievements of those communities and key resources for all counties to build career pathways for our residents.
Additional Resources
Developing America's Workforce
Counties play a critical role in our nation’s workforce development system. As community representatives and employers to one in 50 Americans, county governments have a vested interest in, and understand the importance of, building career paths for residents.
NACo Workforce Network
Counties offer competitive benefits and enriching careers but face a nationwide workforce shortage of 100,000 jobs. The NACo Workforce Network provides a platform to share resources, best practices, and learning opportunities in human resources and benefits, aiming to attract and retain a talented public service workforce.
WIOA 101: Counties and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Funded through the Labor, Health and Human Services (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill, WIOA programs provide essential financial and other resources to support a demand-driven workforce development system.
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