LIBERTY, Ohio – The Assembly for Workforce Solutions committee met Monday at Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries’ main offices to celebrate the one-year milestone of its Steering Committee.
Committee members reflected on a year defined by action, collaboration and progress toward reducing barriers to workforce participation across the Mahoning Valley.
AWS was launched to strengthen alignment across workforce, health and human service systems, bringing employers, workforce providers, behavioral health organizations, community-based agencies and systems leaders together to focus on barriers to employment.
AWS spent its first year moving beyond conversation and into coordinated implementation, a news release states.
“AWS was intentionally designed to be a coalition of action,” said Carol Holmes-Chambers, community solutions director at Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries. “This work is about solving real challenges for real people by working together differently.”
AWS continues to advance several strategic priorities through focused subcommittees that address key drivers of workforce participation and long-standing service fragmentation. These include transportation access, childcare availability, behavioral health supports and reentry services for individuals involved in the justice system. Each subcommittee brings together cross-sector partners to identify barriers, test solutions and scale what works.
A distinguishing feature of AWS’ approach is its ongoing commitment to centering community voice and lived expertise, the release states. The Community Advisors group plays a critical role in shaping priorities, informing design and ensuring that initiatives reflect the realities of individuals and families most impacted by system barriers.
Progress also continues on the Community Solutions Campus of the Valley, a collaborative effort aimed at better aligning workforce development, health care and human services within one coordinated, place-based ecosystem. The model is designed to reduce complexity for residents while improving system efficiency through intentional co-location and coordination.
AWS partners are expanding the Social Information Exchange Network through the Unite Us platform. This expansion strengthens cross-sector coordination by enabling shared referrals, closed-loop feedback and real-time collaboration among providers, helping reduce duplication of effort and improve outcomes for individuals navigating multiple systems, the release states.
Throughout Monday’s meeting, members reinforced a shared belief that the Valley already possesses the resources, expertise and innovative leadership needed to meet its workforce challenges. The goal of AWS is to bring those assets together and move from parallel efforts to true alignment.
“This isn’t just about workforce participation,” Holmes-Chambers said. “It’s about community well-being. When systems align and barriers are reduced, the entire Mahoning Valley benefits.”