STATEMENT OF CORPORATE CAPABILITIES
National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP)

The National Association of Workforce Development Professionals, Inc. (NAWDP) is a professional association for individuals working in employment and training and related workforce development programs. It is dedicated to enhancing the professionalism of the field and developing the professional skills of practitioners. NAWDP, with 501(c)6 tax status, often works in partnership with the Partnership Education Fund, its educational arm, which has 501(c)3 status.

NAWDP was created in 1989 by the National Job Training Partnership (now the Partnership Education Fund), with start-up funding from the U.S. Department of Labor. NAWDP was founded to provide professional development and representation to the individuals who work in the workforce development field, with a special emphasis on front-line staff. NAWDP now has over 4,500 members across the United States. Because its membership base is individual instead of organizational, NAWDP works to encourage peer exchanges and information, and to advance issues of system change, cross-training, and program collaboration.

NAWDP has two full-time programmatic staff.  NAWDP uses volunteers extensively and employs specialized consultants for services such as technical training and publications.

NAWDP has endorsed and administered the Certified Workforce Development Professional (CWDP) credential since February 6, 1999.

NAWDP conducts a wide range of professional development services, including an annual conference averaging 900 to 1000 people, as well as cosponsoring regional conferences.

NAWDP publishes information of interest to workforce development professionals, including a monthly newsletter (The NAWDP Advantage); a journal (Journal of Workforce Development) books and professional manuals and skills kits.  NAWDP is the exclusive distributor of two specialized manuals on calculating ROI of social programs and running job fairs.

NAWDP administers an annual Award program for the Advancement of the Profession.

NAWDP works to identify and disseminate capacity building resources. It compiles and distributes materials on forming training institutes, state capacity building efforts, and staff development activities.

NAWDP supports strongly supports other state and regional workforce associations that can address the unique regional needs of professionals and their customers.