Community and Institutional Partnerships

State of Alabama

Key partners

• Alabama Workforce Council
• Alabama Department of Human Resources
• Alabama Department of Labor
• Alabama Department of Commerce
• Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services
• Alabama State Workforce Investment Board
• Governor's Office on Education and Workforce Transformation

Partnership announcement: October 21, 2020

The Atlanta Fed has partnered with the State of Alabama to create DAVID, the Dashboard for Alabamians to Visualize Income Determinations. Using the CLIFF technology, the Atlanta Fed is creating DAVID to map benefits cliffs and paths to self-sufficiency for in-demand occupations and industries in all Alabama workforce development regions.

"Self-sufficiency" data, which is county level instead of national normed data, is significant because the data more accurately represent the local cost of living, including five basic expenses: childcare, food, healthcare, housing, transportation, and other expenses like clothing. This allows us to create a "Self-Sufficiency Target" where individuals can earn enough after-tax income to pay for these expenses without public assistance.

DAVID is the first solution in the country that connects a self-sufficiency tool with a career pathways tool.

Video clips from opening event

• Remarks from Dave Altig, executive vice president and director of research, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• Demonstration of the Dashboard for Alabamians to Visualize Income Determinations (DAVID)
  With Alex Ruder, principal community and economy development adviser, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
• Panel discussion on the usability of DAVID in the public workforce system
  Moderated by Nicholas Moore, director of the Governor's Office of Education and Workforce Transformation, State of Alabama, with panelists Dave Altig; Julie Kornegay, outreach senior adviser, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta; and Alex Ruder
• Signing the DAVID memorandum of agreement
  With Dave Altig; Ed Castile, deputy secretary, AIDT, Alabama Division of Commerce; and Tonya Lee, LDS director for workforce, Alabama Department of Labor

DAVID will help Alabama achieve the following goals:

• Operationalize the goal of developing a no-wrong-door approach to the workforce development system
• Help counselors in workforce system centers, human services centers, and community nonprofits guide students and workers toward training for high-wage, high-demand career pathways
• Help stakeholders create paths to economic self-sufficiency through the Alabama College and Career Exploration Tool (ACCET) and identify how public assistance interacts with in-demand career pathways. These stakeholders will use this information to support workers and job seekers in their movement to economic self-sufficiency.
• Allow counselors and clients to plan for any potential loss of public assistance by identifying local resources available
• Inform policymakers about how benefits cliffs affect workforce development and human services. This information will be used to develop strategies like asset mappings that support underserved communities' economic stability and mobility.

Tools and resources

• Alabama DAVID Dashboard
• DAVID Focus Group Report 
• Training and resources developed, including a credential for workforce and human services staff trained to use DAVID: February 2021
• Integration of DAVID into ACCET: Mid-2021
• Asset mapping project to mitigate the impact of benefits cliffs: March 2021
• DAVID high school student tool: Date to be determined