On February 16, 2016, three members of SDWP’s Rapid Re-employment for Dislocated Workers customer-centered design (CCD) team attended a Learning Exchange and Celebration at the White House with 10 other selected teams from across the country.
During the four-hour meeting, the CCD team — made up of Kelley Ring, Katrina Meredith and Linda Weber — heard from other teams about implementing customer-focused projects and programs, and the challenges and successes with implementation. SDWP’s CCD team shared their experience, including engaging with employers as the main customer, and how the team could put employer needs at the center of SDWP’s business programs.
Representatives from a number of federal agencies, including the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Science and Technology Policy and more, listened to the experiences of the CCD teams in hopes of learning how to implement CCD programs across the federal government.
Teams also participated in rapid exercises where they used Play-Doh, pipe cleaners, toy soldiers and other arts and craft supplies to create prototypes of their ideas to disseminate CCD best practices across the workforce development system.
SDWP’s CCD team came away from the meeting filled with inspiration and excitement, and will be working to implement customer-focused design across SDWP programs in the future.
The team will also be presenting their project and the CCD process at a workshop at the California Workforce Association Spring Conference on March 30 at the San Diego Marriott Marquis.
To learn more about SDWP’s CCD project or the CCD process in program design, contact Kelley@workforce.org.