NORTH CENTRAL WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD 651 Montmorenci Road º Ridgway, PA fax

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1 NORTH CENTRAL WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD 651 Montmorenci Road º Ridgway, PA fax North Central Workforce Investment Board January 21, 2009 North Central Teleconference Room Ridgway, PA Meeting Minutes WIB Members Present Randy Newell Cathy Grove Greg Lezanic Sharon Drukenbrod Eric Bridges Robert Esch Cindy Gelnette Autumn Wolfe Ron King Marla Keck Jennifer Macey Jeffrey Miller James O Mara Paul Timbrook WIB Members Absent Robert Cardamone George Heigel David Cornelius Courtney Cole Catherine Farr Larry Sessions Mark Moore Sandra Romanowski Anthony Viglione Bob Tami Dan Burfield Anita McDonald Lois Richards Donald Masisak Hugh Daly John Sutika Kelly Okerlund Victor Marquez WIB Staff Jim Nelson Barbara McKnight Pamela Streich WIA Staff Larry Horning Peggy Shilk Jim Chorney Others Tom Werstler, Rapid Response Coordination Services Kris Kronenwetter, Community Education Council Mike Roche, McKean County Tom Bogacki, PA CareerLinks (Elk, Cameron, & Jefferson) Todd Vanderburgh, PA CareerLinks (DuBois & Clearfield) Elaine Davis, PA CareerLink McKean Co. Joe DeMott, McKean Co. Commissioner Lisa Kweder, Coca-Cola Enterprises Terry Cole, PA CareerLink Potter Co. Call to Order Chairman Robert Esch called the meeting of the North Central Workforce Investment Board Meeting to order at 10:04 AM. Pledge The Pledge of Allegiance was given. Minutes Chairman Esch asked for the approval of the minutes from the December 10, 2008 meeting. With no corrections, amendments, or additions to the December 10, 2008 meeting minutes Eric Bridges moved to accept the minutes, seconded by Jeff Miller. Motion passed.

2 Bob introduced Commissioner Joe DeMott and Mike Roche. Introductions were made. Correspondence Pam Streich noted that there was no correspondence to review. Presentation Rapid Response Tom Werstler Tom Werstler with the Rapid Response Coordination Services (RRCS) gave a very informative presentation regarding their services. Tom covers 20 counties in Pennsylvania and that area includes the entire North Central region. RRCS Unit provides assistance with companies/businesses facing layoff and/or closings. They can help workers find new jobs or receive training for new careers. When confronted with a layoff, or closing, the sooner employers and employees begin to manage change, the better chance they have to diminish adverse effects caused by the event. Sometimes RRCS can help employers avoid layoffs and closings entirely by helping connect businesses with other commonwealth agencies and assistance. With nine RRCS Field Representatives around the commonwealth, employers, labor organizations, and employees will be assisted by professionals who are familiar with their needs, their community, and their region s business and employment outlook. When contacted, the regional RRCS Field Representative will work to create a customized program of services to meet the needs of employers and their employees. They coordinate services with the Pennsylvania CareerLinks. Tom distributed information and gave examples of how they help employers and employees. This is a free service. For more information Tom can be contacted by phone ((814) ext. 205), cell phone ((814) ) or (twerstler@state.pa.us). Extensive discussion ensued. State and National Update Pam noted that Susan is attending a Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Directors meeting in Harrisburg today. Topic for their meeting is the Economic Stimulus Plan. Pam then reported that Richard Coyler, CareerLink Oversight Coordination Services with the PA Department of Labor and Industry Bureau of Workforce Development Partnership (BWDP), conducted the Fiscal WIB Review last week. We have not received a report from the review but will review it at the next WIB meeting in March. Pam asked WIB members if they are receiving the PA WIB Update via . Members noted that they are not receiving this update. Pam noted that there is a lot of good information in this report and that we would forward it to them. Pam reviewed the following highlights: Update of the Economic Stimulus Package that will be proposed by the US House Democrats to be included in the American Recovery and Investment Bill of They will consider this within the next two (2) weeks. Being considered are the following: o Training and Employment Services - $4 billion for training including formula grants for adult, dislocated worker, and youth services (including $1.2 billion to create up to one million summer jobs for youth). o Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants - $500 million for state formula grants for construction and rehabilitation of facilities to help persons with disabilities prepare for gainful employment. o Employment Services Grants - $500 million to match unemployed individuals to job openings through state employment service agencies and allow states to provide customized services (funds are targeted to states with the greatest need, based on: labor force, unemployment, and long-term unemployment rates). o Community Service Employment for Older Americans - $120 million to provide subsidized community service jobs to an additional 24,000 low-income older Americans. An article: Avoiding the Ax: Where the Jobs Are. It states that while the employment landscape looks sparse right now, the outlook for 2009 isn t uniformly bleak it is downright bright in some recession-resistant industries. Employers that provide necessary products and services hospitals and insurers, for example, tend to always need recruits. And areas employers deem critical to their survival, like accounting and information technology, rarely get cut. What s more,

3 some fields, such as bankruptcy law and crisis management consulting, are thriving because of the downturn. Pam noted that we will keep WIB members updated and that we should have some additional information from the WIB Directors meeting that Susan is attending today. Committee Reports Audit & Finance Committee Bob noted that the Audit and Finance Committee did not meet. CareerLink Committee Marla Keck noted that the CareerLink Committee met this morning prior to the WIB meeting. Prior to CareerLinks, a person (job seeker) looking for employment would go to Job Centers. They would sit down to talk one on one with a Job Center Employment Specialist that got to know their interests and skills. The Job Center Employment Specialist also knew the employers and how to match job seekers with the employers. With the creation of CareerLinks the job seeker sits down with a computer and no longer receives that individual attention. Employers are telling us that our referrals are not what they used to be and not appropriate. In order to get employers to use our system we have redefined the CRC (computers in the CareerLinks). Just like with the changing economy, we need to make sure that we know what the jobs are or will be and help job seekers apply for those jobs. We also need to do one-onone assessments with job seekers. We have finalized the first part of the process the assessment process when the customer walks into the CareerLink. The job seeker s skills and needs will be assessed and they will be referred to or directed to the service or services needed. Larry noted that the CareerLink Operator is meeting with each CareerLink and at least one County Commissioner from that area/county in the North Central Local Workforce Investment Area (LWIA). They are discussing potential development in each CareerLink and CareerLink sites along with arrangements with the partners. In regards to the State Monitoring of the North Central WIB Larry noted that the PA CareerLink Administrators procured the required signatures for each CareerLink for their Resource Sharing Agreements (RSAs). Those signature pages with original signatures are required to be on file with the North Central WIB and each CareerLink. The Site Administrators are ensuring that the signature pages are in place as required. Sharon Drukenbrod made a motion to accept the CareerLink Committee Report, seconded by Jeff Miller. Motion passed. Executive Committee Bob noted that the Executive Committee did not meet. Futures Committee Jim Nelson gave an Industry Partnership update although the committee did not meet. Jim noted that the North Central WIB is the administrative entity for the following four (4) of the partnerships that we operate: Manufacturing (now Advanced Materials and Diversified Manufacturing); Lumber, Wood and Paper; Heath Care; and, Oil and Gas Industry. The Oil and Gas Industry Partnership met in November Current trainings and trainings that will occur in the near future include: Wild Well Training; Oil Field Commercial Drivers License (this is a customized CDL program for the Oil Field Industry and will conducted by the Center of Transportations and Safety); Oil Field Core Compliance Regulation Program (this is a safety program customized just for the oil field industry and to be conducted by the Indiana Technology Center); Oil and Gas Operations Basics; and, Oil and Gas Production Supervisory for Drilling Operations. We also support an associates degree program called Petroleum Technology conducted by Pitt at Bradford. Penn Tech from Williamsport did a presentation at the November

4 2008 meeting regarding training that they will conduct for Marcellus Shale Exploration. Bob Esch commented that the Marcellus Shale will create a lot of activity and job growth opportunity in the coming years once we get past the recession. Regarding Health Care Partnership Jim noted that the Health Care Career Awareness Week was held in November It was very successful with a lot of demonstrations and representation from health care professionals (hospitals and clinics, etc.) regarding health care opportunities in the region. We are looking at doing scholarships that will allow CNAs to move up to the LPN level and LPNs to the RN level, etc. This will in turn create vacancies when those people move up the ladder. We currently have CNA training going on within our region. The Partnership has recognized doing Medical Assistance, Medical Lab Technician, and Medical Technologist trainings within the next several months. Regarding the Wood, Lumber, and Paper Partnership just completed some NHLA Lumber Inspection training and is looking to do some other training (Saw Filing, Hardwood Optimization, Combustible Dust Training, and Supervisory and Management) within the near future. The Advanced Materials and Diversified Manufacturing Partnership has a group of approximately 48 industries in the region. They have a meeting planned for next week and AutoCAD training is set to begin in the DuBois Area. There are two pots of monies for these partnerships (one for training and the other for the sustainability of the partnerships). We do not know year to year if the funding will be there but we hope that the State continues to see their value. Jim noted anyone wishing to be part of the partnership or has a referral should please contact him in this regard. Pam noted that yearly we hear that they are not going to extend the funding past June 30 th and we have received that same message this year. Our goal is to ensure that those funds are spent on good training by the end of June. Jennifer Macey made a motion to accept the Futures Committee Report, seconded by Jeff Miller. Motion passed. LMC Regarding the LMC Update Greg Lezanic reported, as of December 31, 2008), that for the current Program Year we are serving 609 clients in EARN (Employment and Advancement Retention Network) program we served 1020 last program year this means that we are well ahead of our pace last year. The EARN has two (2) programs the Career Development Component (CEC) and the Work Support Component (WSC). Regarding Performance Standards for the first six (6) months of the current program year we are meeting 3 of the 4 standards for CEC and 2 of the 5 standards for WSC. Results from last program year s performance standards yielded no deficiencies for the North Central region and we expect the same for the current program year. Training for the EARN program are ongoing for the North Central region. North Central has instituted, as required by the State, self-monitoring by their Case Managers. Cathy Grove made a motion to accept the LMC Report, seconded by Jennifer Macey. Motion passed. Youth Council Pam reported the December 10, 2008 Youth Council Meeting minutes were included in the /mailing for today s WIB meeting. Currently the Youth Council is concentrating on implementing its Strategic Plan. We are identifying a contact person within each school district in our six-county region so we (the WIB) will be able to get opportunities or career related information to them right away. We are also involving the local contacts with this. We have reached out to all three (3) of the Intermediate Units (IUs) that serve the North Central region and set up a contact with them so that they can also disseminate information to all of the schools. Along with this we put a questionnaire/survey together for all of the schools to complete and return to see what they are already doing. Once we have the completed questionnaires/surveys we will set up appointments to meet and talk to them about the Youth Council

5 and the Regional Career Education Partnership (RCEP) and what we might be able to help them with. We have nine (9) to ten (10) completed questionnaires/surveys so far. Based on the feedback that we have received we are implementing the Business and Industry Connection to Schools. We are trying to put together one working document that will be sent to all of the schools in the North Central s six-county region so that if they need someone to talk about a specific topic, to participate in a Career Fair, to set up mock interviews, etc. will be able to contact someone on the list. We are hoping to have the document completed by February. We will get this document out to all of the schools and we will encourage them to reach out to the employers, etc. We also plan to share some BEST Practices in this document regarding activities that schools have been doing for several years. The Youth Council RCEP has also discussed the STEM network. This is a slow moving process but North Central WIB is the point of contact for the Central Pennsylvania STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Initiative. We are doing some asset mapping trying to find out about some STEM related activities in our area and we are working on a website to make this information available. We are doing some gap analysis that should help with the CareerLinks and the efforts to get dislocated workers into jobs that are in demand. In relation to STEM we distributed an article Letter: Collaboration of educators, businesses will boost STEM initiative from the Central Penn Business Journal. This article discusses what we are trying to do with this initiative. Jim O Mara made a motion to accept the Youth Council Report, seconded by Greg Lezanic. Motion passed. Workforce Operations Activity Report Larry noted that activities since the last WIB meeting within Operations include: assigning staff duties and reviewing current assessment tools and looking at what can be made available for all of the programs. Larry noted that we became a partnering agency with the Junior Achievement Program as well as it is a program within the Youth Council. This program is currently active in Elk and Cameron counties. We have staff who volunteers their time to go into the schools and teach topics that are very much related to careers and labor market information. This program blends very well with the Youth Council Strategic Plan. Larry noted that County Commissioners and/or their staff also participate in teaching. Volunteers who teach go on line or attend workshop training for orientation prior to teaching these students. Clearfield and McKean counties are also trying to get the word out to these young people regarding careers that are available and will be available to them in the future. Larry noted that we are expanding our Work Readiness Skills Standards (WRSS) program within the Regional Career Education Partnership (RCEP) to five (5) additional school districts Larry noted that the National Emergency Grant (NEG) is currently underway. Elk County represents approximately 40% of the activity that is serving Dislocated Workers under these special funds. This money is targeted towards staff service time. This helps to free up $69,000 in Dislocated Worker money and allows us to use of these funds for training. We are looking at the role of Workforce Operations and funding. Jennifer Macey made a motion to accept the Workforce Operations Activity Report, seconded by Randy Newell. Motion passed. Other Business Marla Keck noted that due to high unemployment rates within the State in regard to infrastructure and being unable to keep up with the demand of processing these workers that the State is bringing in annuitants (retired State staff) to help with the demand.

6 Adjourn Sharon Drukenbrod made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Randy Newell. The meeting adjourned at 11:32 am. The next North Central WIB meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 11, 2009, beginning at 10:00 am at North Central in Ridgway, PA.