Vocational education can contribute to the creation of new jobs through educational programs for employers or prospective employers and through collaborative efforts with community leaders. Local leadership is the most essential ingredient in successful job creation programs at the community level. Local leaders can work to obtain baseline information about the community relating to its economic health, the extent and character of its unemployment and underemployment, its available resources, and its education and training programs; identify the community goals and objectives to which vocational education can contribute; and define the joint responsibilities of civic, business, industry, and educational leaders. At the same time, state leaders need to work with local education and community leaders to implement programs. State leaders have several functions to perform: (1) planning with local leaders, (2) linking the efforts of others to build on prior successes, and (3) coordinating the various services and resources available at the state and local levels. State-level coordination provides a number of advantages over local education alone. These advantages are a minimum of lead time for training, more reading available start-up training, and wider program accessibility. (MN)