MINUTES OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD MONTCOWORKS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE September 14, 2018 9:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. A meeting of the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, MontcoWorks, Executive Committee was held on Friday, September 14, 2018 at PECO Energy, 680 West Ridge Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. Members in attendance included Ms. Suzanne Ryan, Chair; Ms. Dorothy Miller, Secretary (via conference call); Mr. Kyle Longacre, Youth Committee Chair; Ms. Susan Clauser, Training and Performance Committee Chair and Mr. Lee Soltysiak (via conference call). Others in attendance included Ms. Jennifer Butler, Executive Director; Ms. Josette Walton, Executive Assistant; Ms. Catherine Lawrence, Deputy Director of Fiscal Operations; Ms. Jane Stein, Research & Performance Officer; Ms. Kathleen Candelore, Training and Education Coordinator; Ms. Melinda Onchitta, Project Coordinator and Ms. Terri Jones, Support Services Coordinator. Ms. Ryan called the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. with quorum. The first item to come before the Executive Committee was the approval of the minutes from June 8, 2018. As there were no comments or questions, Ms. Clauser motioned to approve the minutes, Mr. Longacre seconded the motion, all were in favor and none opposed. The next item on the agenda was the Executive Director s Report. Ms. Butler provided the report noting that it is the same report that will be submitted at the October Full Board meeting. Ms. Butler shared a couple of highlights starting with the Business Education Partnership grant (BEP) which kicked off in July. Ms. Butler noted that we have received funding in the amount of $64,318.00 and shared some of the plans for the grant. With that funding there will be at least 5 schools participating in the Dream it! Do It! What s So Cool About Manufacturing? contest and some of the money will go toward Manufest 2019. Manufest is scheduled for March 12, 2019 and will be held at the Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA. Ms. Onchitta was able to secure this location for a fee of $1.00. This Manufest will be held on a weekday and the focus is going to be on getting the teachers and guidance counselors out with the students. Ms. Butler stated that at the first planning meeting, the planning committee was reluctant to grow Manufest too fast, but the concept of Manufest and More will include both manufacturing and building trades. Ms. Ryan stated that there is a need for volunteer fire fighters and ask Ms. Butler if there is an opportunity for them to have a table. Ms. Butler expressed that she believes it is a great idea and they can make an effort to reach out to them, maybe someone from the county. 1430 DeKalb Street, Fifth Floor Norristown, PA 19401 Tel.: 610.278.5950 Fax: 610.278.1100 www.montcoworks.com
Ms. Butler noted that we have received a grant announcement with a deadline of October 31, 2018 for the BEP grant. This gives us time to look at what we are doing now and what can be added. Ms. Butler also informed the committee that the Building Bridges Workforce Partnerships in Action is being held on October 3, 2018 at the Norristown Pubic Library. We first held this event last October with a decent turnout but we are hoping for a better turn out this year. The objective is to bring the workforce stakeholders together so that they would know what services are available at the state and local level. Ms. Butler informed the members that all of South Eastern PA received $500,000.00 to run a pilot program through rapid response. Ms. Butler noted that Ms. Lawrence put together a request for our own separate rapid response funding. The hope is that by October Ms. Butler will be able to announce that we received our own rapid response funding which will be used specifically for the lower skilled workers, either for incumbent worker training to help them get promotions and keep their jobs or to help the retail workers that are being laid off move into skilled positions. If we receive the money, Ms. Butler stated that it would be used to increase funding to ITA s, OJT s, Incumbent Worker Training, Apprenticeship and Supportive Services. Ms. Butler noted that the 3 schools that received funding for Teacher in the Workplace will be looking to start that programming through the school year and we will be looking to hear the success stories that come from the funding. Ms. Butler mentioned that we have not received a grant announcement yet, but she has heard that there will be a second round of funding that will come out sometime in October or November and this will hopefully allow for a 6 week window to submit applications. The next item on the agenda was the Finance Committee report. Ms. Lawrence gave the report. There were several reports presented which included the reports from July and August and there was also a new report added to show carryover funds from 2017. The first report was as of the end of June which shows what was actually spent and what was left over. The other reports are new with the new funding. Ms. Lawrence noted that there are no changes to the reports because we are using the carryover funds first. The reports will change as of September when we begin to spend the PY18 money. Ms. Lawrence noted that the Finance Committee met and the reports were reviewed and approved. The next item on the agenda was the Youth Committee report. Mr. Longacre informed the members that the youth committee met on June 7, 2018. Mr. Longacre presented the minutes stating that it has been exciting to see the contributions that they have been making in both the supportive services for youth and young adults for workforce and TANF partners and adult literacy. Mr. Longacre highlighted a funding update. Mr. Longacre reminded the members that Team PA through the Pennsylvania Intermediate Unit awarded $30,000.00 in mini grants and 4 districts received funds and this year there is $20,000.00 available for the four county regions. Mr. Longacre noted that there has not been an official press release so this information is not included in his report, but there are three Montgomery County districts receiving the $5,000.00 mini grants. Mr. Longacre stated that they are the Norristown, Colonial and Souderton School Districts. There were eleven submissions and the key difference was the 2
involvement of the workforce office. Next, Mr. Longacre noted that there are four Youth Committee Meetings scheduled and the next meeting is on October 10, 2018 at the MCIU. Mr. Longacre stated that they are making an effort to have more involvement from the career and technical centers. In addition, they are aligning the four meetings with the Montgomery County Transition Coordinating Council meetings. Mr. Longacre explain that the reason for this is that within each of the school districts, there are Special Education Transition Representatives that are helping the students get into the workplace and if we see mutual interest between those meeting, we will try to overlap them so that the information can be shared. Mr. Longacre expressed to the members that his team has been making a specific effort to expand on Paid Work Experience and to work hard on improvement. Mr. Longacre noted the level of collaborations and went over some of the highlights listed on the MontcoWorks NOW update. The next item on the agenda was the Training and Performance Committee update. Ms. Clauser noted that the committee last met on August 15, 2018. Ms. Clauser briefly went over the update. Ms. Clauser stated that there was some discussion on the new Department of Labor grant for apprenticeships and noted that Jim Fox mentioned how difficult it is to get apprenticeships in the County. Ms. Clauser said that Jim Fox will be working with Philadelphia Community College on building more apprenticeships in Montgomery County. Ms. Clauser noted that none of the Title II providers are approved, but they are up and running. The way they operate in the meantime is on a line of credit until they are approved which is supported by the board of directors. Ms. Clauser stated that she will be attending a PA CareerLink staff meeting with Ronnie Cohen in October to train CareerLink staff on what Title II services are. Next, Ms. Stein gave the Performance updates. The first update was the WIOA Adult and Dislocated Worker Summary for the fourth quarter. Ms. Stein noted that we exceeded all measures and served 330 adult dislocated workers during the program years. Measurable skill gains are still very low. The state is looking at ways where they can assist statewide because that number is very low across the board. That number is based on the data entry of a specific outcome in the system. Next, Ms. Stein gave the Youth Performance Summary for the fourth quarter. Ms. Stein noted that all measures were met and that we exceeded 2 out of 3 that were set for us. Ms. Stein informed the members that we just went through the performance negotiation process and is waiting to hear on the approved negotiated level. For the dislocated worker, the numbers are high, but not as high as when we were under WIA. Next Ms. Stein gave the Employment and Retention Network (EARN) Performance Summary. Ms. Stein noted that we just received the list for June validations which will close out the program year and allow 3
us to begin receiving payments again for performance. Next Ms. Stein gave the ReEntry Update. Ms. Stein stated that after the report was done she received three verifications which bring the placement rate over 50%. Ms. Stein also noted that this program year the recidivism rate is 0%. The next report on the agenda was the PA CareerLink Activity Tracker. Ms. Stein stated that staff is doing an excellent job; there was no unmarked workshops or events. We have started using the customer satisfaction on Survey Monkey which also includes a Sorry We Missed You survey to find out why customers are not coming. To date, we have received 7 responses; 3 were sent the survey in error, 3 forgot, some had interview and 1 was misdirected. Ms. Stein stated that a new field was added on the Sorry We Missed You survey to find out if customers would like follow-up from a PA CareerLink staff member. Next, Ms. Stein went over the Montgomery County Employment Update which gives the unemployment rate for the boroughs, overall workforce performance metrics and a success story. The final performance update was the Labor Market Information update comparing other local areas to Montgomery County, the trend over the last year and the labor force information for the state and U.S. The next item on the agenda was the Local Management Committee Update. Ms. Jones gave the update informing the members that the committee last met on August 8, 2018. The guest speaker was Aariann Vaughn, J.D., Project Director from the Montgomery County OIC. Ms. Vaughn talked about recently becoming a Pearson VUE authorized test center for GED. The Montgomery County OIC also offers the HiSet exam in the paper version only in both English and Spanish. They have tested 63 students since April. Ms. Vaughn discussed testing hours and how customers can register for the exams. Next, Ms. Jones gave partner updates from the meeting which included some program reports for EARN, Work Ready, Keys and PA Workwear and the Human Services Agencies. Ms. Jones informed the members of some upcoming events which included Financial Stability Workshop series at PA CareerLink beginning in September, Building Bridges: Workforce Partnerships in Action which will be held on October 3, 2018 at the Norristown Public Library and the Disability Rights Network of PA Work Incentives Planning and Assistance Program (WIPA) meeting on October 25, 2018. Ms. Jones informed the committee that MontcoWorks will be hosting an event for the EARN customers and their families at the Elmwood Park Zoo. MontcoWorks will be partnering with the Greater Philadelphia Automobile Association Caring for Kids Foundation that will be donating new coats to the children of the EARN participants. The event will include free admission, lunch, door prizes and the Elmwood Zoo has donated feed the giraffe tickets to the first 25 customers that arrive. We will be receiving a donation of approximately 1,000 coats that we will distribute to some of our workforce partners including Keystone Opportunity Center, Montco OIC and several other partners. The next item on the agenda was Old and New Business. Ms. Butler noted that there are some items that may be presented at the October meeting that she wanted to bring to the members attention. 4
There are several policies that are pending approval from the State. They are updates to our oversight policy, the incentive policy, the incumbent worker training policy, the OJT policy and ITA policy which is the standard operation in writing so that they will be adopted policies. Ms. Butler noted that there are possibly 1-3 resolutions that will be on the agenda which will include a Budget Modification for EDSI. The reason for the modification is because, as the fiscal agent, we received funding for a manufacturing apprenticeship matching program through the NTNA that was set to end on June 30, 2018. At the time, the program was projected to hit 80 as the target for performance. As of June, only 12 candidates had been matched to employers. Because of this, we received an extension until the end of December. There is approximately $30,000.00 left that we have approval from the state to use to hire someone through EDSI part-time specifically to target the matching program. Ms. Butler noted that we have also received additional funding through the TANF Youth Development Fund. Ms. Butler stated that we typically receive our allotment and then find out there is more money available. The TANF Youth Development Fund providers include ACLAMO, Montco OIC, Big Brothers Big Sister and RESCARE. Ms. Butler stated that we have received some feedback from Montco OIC that they may need additional funding to add to their year round programming. If that is the case, we would bring that to the board as a possible modification. Ms. Butler explained that most of the additional funds would normally go to RESCARE, the Paid Work Experience provider, to be used for additional wages. Ms. Butler noted that there were some issues with the provider this summer. Ms. Butler said that she spoke with Ron Spangler and she is optimistic that RESCARE will move in a positive direction through the rest of the year. If RESCARE cannot fulfill the obligation of the existing grant, we would look to delegate the additional funding which will require us to RFP out the Paid Work Experience for TANF Youth. Next, Ms. Butler noted that she would like to proceed with an RFP for Virtual Workshops in January. Mr. Longacre asked where the funding would come from for the virtual workshops. Ms. Butler said that it would be from the Rapid Response request. The thought is that if we are catering to the lower skilled workers in Montgomery County, they do not always have access to an operating vehicle or public transportation. If we do not receive the money through Rapid Response, we could use EARN performance money. Ms. Butler noted that she had already told the state we would be using the money for online content. Ms. Ryan asked if there were any other questions. There being no questions or comments, a motion was made to adjourn the meeting by Mr. Longacre, seconded by Ms. Clauser, all were in favor, none opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 10:07 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Dorothy Miller Dorothy Miller Secretary 5