SOUTHERN ALLEGHENIES WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission Altoona, Pennsylvania ACTION SUMMARY The following are the major actions taken by the SAWIB Executive Committee at its regular meeting held on June 14, 2011 at Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission in Altoona, PA. 1. Approved the minutes of the SAWIB Executive Committee meeting held on April 12, 2011 as presented. 2. Approved the following recommendations from the Youth Council as presented regarding the Summer Program: Scale & Scope, Award of TANF Funds, Recapture Unspent WIA Allocations and to initiate the Request for Proposal process for Youth Services for PY12. 3. Approved the WIA Title I Budget to start contract July 1, 2011. 4. Approved to recapture unspent Adult and Dislocated Worker funds. 5. Approved to initiate a Request for Proposal for Adult and Dislocated Worker Title I Services for PY12.
SOUTHERN ALLEGHENIES WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission Altoona, Pennsylvania Members in Attendance Sharon Clapper Mickie Eberhart Bill Moulfair Dr. Lanny Ross Cathy Walter Tom Wojcicki Non-Members in Attendance Jim Coley Sherri Cutts Julie Ingram Cheryl Johnson Ed Silvetti Jim Walker Susan Whisler Clapper Industries CIS BWDP (Via conference call) GACTC JLG (Via conference call) Somerset County Tech Center PICCC CALL TO ORDER Vice Chair Ms. Sharon Clapper welcomed the Executive Committee members and called the meeting of the Southern Alleghenies Workforce Investment Board Executive Committee to order at 10:00 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM April 12, 2011 The motion to approve the meeting minutes as presented from the April 12, 2011 Executive Committee Meeting was made by Ms. Mickie Eberhart and seconded by Mr. Tom Wojcicki with unanimous approval. Fiscal Report ARRA/WIA Budget & Fiscal Position Review Ms. Whisler reported that she has been working very closely with the fiscal staff to ensure that the ARRA and old WIA money has been spent as all of these funds expire June 30, 2011. She continued that 99% of this money had been used for supporting Training requests. Ms. Whisler explained that during the last week, we were getting refunds from schools, we had individuals drop out of school, we were notified about PELL awards, which changed the dollar value of the ITA, and just as we were trying to expend the last dollar, more money was returned to us. She continued that as a result we had to re-class a number of expenditures but we do not anticipate returning any money to the state. Ms. Whisler reported that we will have training dollars available to take us to the end of this program year which ends June 30 th. She explained that we have had sporadic requests for training at this time. Ms. Whisler asked that the minutes reflect the stellar job that Ms. Julie Ingram and Ms. Michele Uveges have done in helping us make sure
that all of our expenditures are up to date. WIA Title I Expenditures (Red/Green Handout) Ms. Ingram referred to the Red/Green report that is included in the meeting packet. Ms. Ingram reported that with ten (10) months complete of the fiscal year, we should be approximately 83% spent, and the Red/Green report reflects that all of the providers are on track. She continued that Tableland has almost expended all of their Adult funds and they have informed Ms. Ingram that they will be moving some of their expenditures over to a Community Service Block Grant. Ms. Ingram explained that Tableland overspent their admin dollars by approximately $900.00 but they will be reclassifying that amount. She continued that each contractor does have a 10% cap to expend on their admin. Youth Council Recommendations Ms. Eberhart, Youth Council Chair reported out on various recommendations from the Youth Council at their last meeting on May 26, 2011 Summer Program: Scale & Scope Ms. Eberhart reported that the Youth Council is recommending to maintain a Summer Program in the size similar to the 2008 Summer Program while maintaining a robust year round program for Youth. In order to maximize the employment of youth, restrict supplemental services such as Crews, incentive payments, expensive ceremonies, etc. Ms. Eberhart continued that upon further discussion at the Youth Council meeting, it was decided to reemphasize that the summer program is not a stand alone program but is a component of a year round program under WIA and therefore youth should receive service follow up beyond the summer months. Award of TANF Funds Ms. Eberhart reported that the Youth Council is recommending to the Executive Committee the following: To use the past formula for distributing TANF funds which is used by the state to distribute funds to the local level (funding awards are based upon the number of TANF persons per county as a percentage of the region s entire TANF population). Utilize available TANF funds to first support the provision of the following services linked when possible to the state Career Education and Work Standards: Dropout Prevention, Work Readiness/Life Skills Instruction, Career Exploration, Job Shadowing, Adult Mentoring, and Career Awareness. Any excess funds will be utilized to support the summer program. Maintain the target of 20% of the TANF youth served during PY 11 would be members of TANF households. When necessary, redirect unused PY 10 TANF funds to allow TANF funded summer youth to begin employment in June. Recapture Unspent WIA Allocations Recapture unexpended PY 10 WIA Youth Program Services Funds for redistribution in PY 11 as needed.
Initiate RFP Process Release a Request for Proposal (RFP) for Youth Services for PY 12. The motion to approve the recommendations from the Youth Council as presented regarding the Summer Program: Scale & Scope, Award of TANF Funds, Recapture Unspent WIA Allocations and to initiate the Request for Proposal process for Youth Services was made by Mr. Tom Wojcicki and seconded by Dr. Lanny Ross with unanimous approval. WIA Title I Budget Ms. Whisler referred to the draft budget that she previously emailed to the Executive Committee. Ms. Whisler reported that this budget was drafted based on discussion that took place at the Budget Workshop meeting with the Executive Committee. She continued that we still have not received our notification of our final award but what we did see from the state was two scenarios and one was the worst case scenario at $167,000 less than what we received this year and scenario two was $80,000 more than what we currently operate with. Ms. Whisler explained that it comes down how much money the feds will allow the state to take off for local activities and how much has to be put out to local areas for service delivery. She continued that the worst-case scenario is roughly an 8% cut in our Adult money, 1% cut in our Youth and 5% cut in our Dislocated Worker funds. Ms. Whisler requested that the draft budget be reviewed today and that it is open for discussion and debate. She reported that one important element missing from the budget is our carryover and that in all likelihood it will not be as substantial as last year, which was in excess of $500,000. Ms. Whisler continued that we won t know the carryover numbers until mid to late August when we receive final invoices from the providers and she is suggesting that when our carryover is determined, that we revisit the budget in August. She explained that in August, if this Board wants to tweak the budget or fund initiatives and support other programs, we can do it at that time. Ms. Whisler reported that what this draft budget is intended to do is help us stay in business come July 1 st and allow us to go to contract, and allow us to continue to support ITA s. She explained that we do have training money available now but if we receive a training request that would start July 1 st, we can not fund that training out of our current money as July 1 is the next program year. Ms. Whisler referred to the allocation amount at the top of the page, which is $167,000 less than this year s allocation. The Training line includes the 2 nd year training commitment and is consistent on all of our budgets, these are individuals that have started training, we covered their first year cost, and pending on the availability of funds, we cover the 2 nd year to help the individual complete their training. This amount for 2 nd year training comes directly off the top. Under the Supportive Services line item we have $5,000 for youth and youth utilize the least amount of supportive services. Ms. Whisler explained that it would be a possibility to shift a few dollars from the Training line item to Supportive Services and this would be the only line item that we could shift funds from at this point. However, in the case of Dislocated Worker, we spent $35,000 this year and we ran out of money in November and had to shut down Supportive Services. Significant dollars were spent for Adult Supportive Services as well. She indicated that unless the Board intended to allocate significant funding for Supportive Services for Adult and Dislocated Worker, it was better not to fund the service at all since customers would come to rely on the funding which would run out before they completed their training. Ms. Whisler reported that the $5000.00 under Youth Supportive Service would be utilized during the summer program and that would be more than
enough to cover the summer and going forward in the year as we are working with fewer participants than we are with Adult and Dislocated Workers. She explained that the money would be used to buy appropriate clothing for those participating in the summer work experience program. Ms. Whisler continued that our CareerLink operating costs have increased this year due to programmatic changes in one CareerLink. She explained that in terms of Service Delivery, we take into account what had been previously awarded and with rough calculations, our providers will see anywhere from 3% to 7% cut overall in funds. Discussion ensued among the group. Ms. Whisler continued that this budget is contingent upon changes when our carryover dollars are known. The rmotion to approve the Title I Budget as presented was made by Dr. Lanny Ross and seconded by Ms. Mickie Eberhart with unanimous approval. The motion to recapture any unspent Adult and Dislocated Worker dollars to become a part of the general carryover for reallocation was made by Ms. Cathy Walter and seconded by Mr. Bill Moulfair with unanimous approval. The motion to release a general Request for Proposal for program year PY 12 for Adult and Dislocated Worker in addition to Youth was made by Ms. Mickie Eberhart and seconded by Mr. Tom Wojcicki with unanimous approval. News from Harrisburg & the Central Region Mr. Bill Moulfair, BWDP Regional Director and WIB member reported that at this point, the PA Conservation Corp will not be funded. He explained that there is still questions about funding for BWDP but also in some areas that will have impact on the CareerLinks funding for the senior workers and also literacy programs. Mr. Moulfair continued that at Labor & Industry, they are still waiting for the Deputy Secretary for Workforce Development position to be filled and Dan Kuba is still handling some other duties with the state WIB and some of the Deputy Secretary duties. He explained that the new Secretary visited a CareerLink in Harrisburg and was very impressed with what is going on in the CareerLinks. Mr. Moulfair continued that in the Central region with Williamsport and State College, etc. in a few weeks they will have the consolidation of two (2) CareerLinks that were in Shamokin and Sellingsgrove into Sunbury and that is moving along as planned. He continued that the Lancaster workforce area had two new contractors for the WIA Title I (Arbor) and EARN (EDSI) programs start contract effective July 1 and half of the staff that had been with the old agency applied for and was hired by the new contractors. Southcentral workforce area is exploring the development of a kiosk for outreach to customers in remote areas and they are looking at libraries to place the kiosk. The Bureau of Workforce Development Partnership has announced that Ms. Cathy Lilly has been hired as the new Site Administrator at the Somerset County CareerLink. Mr. Moulfair reported that last week a meeting was held with all the CareerLink administrators in the 26 CareerLinks throughout the central area and five different workforce areas. He continued that they viewed a demonstration of a feature in the CWDS system that will help CareerLink site administrators and supervisors to better manage staff and employer job order services in the system. Mr. Moulfair explained that it was discovered that there is a lot of job order activity on hold or pending in the system and in the Southern Alleghenies region, there was 133 employer requests for service that are currently pending staff action. He continued that this new system will be used all across the
region to better serve the employers that are already a part of the system. Mr. Moulfair reported that they also had discussion regarding marketing CareerLink participation to new potential partner s. He continued that some of the regular partners are experiencing funding difficulties, cutting back on staff or even leaving, they have to look at new alternatives and a brochure was developed to help market to new partners. Mr. Moulfair reported that as a result of his participation on the SAWIB and discussions with Mr. Alex Seltzer, Board member, he has been in touch with the Manpower corporate office in Michigan and Manpower will be increasing its participation within the CareerLinks all across the state but especially in the Southern Alleghenies region. Mr. Moulfair reported that Bedford County CareerLink successfully brought in a new partner, Skills for Central PA at the CareerLink in Bedford. He reported that the next site administrator meeting will be held in October at the Williamsport CareerLink and this meeting will focus on Marcellus Shale. Special Projects Update On-Line Training Ms. Whisler reported that this WIB has been very fortunate to be selected for special projects such as the On-Line Training initiative. To date we have supported 46 individuals through this on-line training and the students participating are enrolled in 50 courses in 22 different subjects. Ms. Whisler continued that 4 of these individuals have successfully completed their classes and we have obligated all of our $75,000 initial award and we requested an additional $32,000. Ms. Whisler reported that approximately a month ago, she had the initial call with Mr. Kuba requesting the additional funds, and a few weeks ago she received a call from the state controller s office requesting additional information as they were putting final paperwork together. Ms. Whisler explained that to date, we have not seen any of those funds and with two weeks left of this fiscal year, and unless this new money carries an end date beyond this fiscal year, she was concerned that we would not be able to expend the funds. She continued that we do have a few individuals that are waiting to be approved for this training if the money comes available in time prior to end of the fiscal year. Ms. Whisler will keep the Board apprised as to completion rates for this on-line training. NEG-OJT Ms. Whisler reported that this region is leading the state in terms of the numbers of long term unemployed workers that we are helping through this initiative. She continued that this is a twoyear initiative and we have enrolled 27 individuals to date, 10 of those individuals are receiving supportive services and 6 have already completed their training and are working full time at the location of the OJT site. Ms. Whisler explained that the average wage is in excess of $12.49 per hour. Ms. Whisler reported that we had a visit by the state as they went to all of the areas that are participating in this initiative and they were pleased with the way this program is working in our area. She explained that we will be on a conference call this week with staff to share the how to and why we have been so successful in our region when some WIB s are struggling to write a handful of contracts. Ms. Whisler continued that we are successful as we have a good relationship with the staff in the CareerLinks and in turn, the CareerLinks have a good relationship with the employers. Ms. Clapper asked that Ms. Whisler send out a memo on behalf of the Board to all of the staff in the CareerLinks that have been working with this initiative congratulating them for their work and success with NEG-OJT in our region.
Degree Completion Program Ms. Whisler reported that our region was only one of two that was selected to participate in a new, exciting initiative, a Degree Completion Program which is very new to the state and PA is being seen as the pilot for connecting the workforce system with adults that may have dropped out of college a few credits shy of graduation. She continued that this program not only includes the state but the Lumina Foundation, Rutgers University in New Jersey and their Center for Woman at Work, our local area and Fayette Westmoreland WIB. Ms. Whisler explained that they were looking at two areas that have good relationships with their CareerLinks and the two areas identified to participate have the strongest outcomes with the NEG-OJT initiative, SAWIB and Fayette Westmoreland. She reported the state has identified two schools, Westmoreland Community College for a two-year degree and St. Francis University for a four-year degree. Ms. Whisler explained that we will work together with our workforce system to identify and working with one of these two institutions to help them get their college degree with the expectation that the state will help cover the portion of tuition cost and there would be an approximate share provided by the participant. She continued that we will be looking yo our CareerLinks to help identify appropriate individuals to participate in this and also provide case management and support to help them ultimately complete their college degree. Ms. Whisler reported that the CareerLinks have already identified 10 individuals that could be eligible to participate in this program. She continued that at a time when our Title I funds are so stretched it s wonderful that the Commonwealth can look to our area and provide these opportunities to us. Ms. Whisler reported that the first meeting with St. Francis takes place next week with WIB staff, CareerLink staff as well as university leadership. The state will be sending attendees as well. One Stop Operator Consortium Report Ms. Cheryl Johnson reported that the One Stop Operator monthly meeting will be held this afternoon. She continued that the operator continues to discuss budget and looking at things on both the state and federal level that could impact the CareerLink directly with WIA funding or with the CareerLink partners and their funding. Ms. Johnson explained that they also have been discussing trying to bring in new partners to the CareerLinks. She continued that they have supported the Penn Highlands grant funding as well as the OJT and the on-line training. Ms. Johnson reported that they continue to work on WorkKeys and there will be changes with WorkKeys starting July 1 st due to funding. She explained the operator worked with the SAWIB Director to communicate and ensure the implementation of policy changes by the SAWIB related to Supportive Services and ITA s. The operator has been discussing the proposed Unemployment Compensation Law and they are preparing for the influx of customers. The Quality Reviews are finished and overall the OSO is pleased with the results. Other Business Ms. Clapper reported Mr. Ellis Griffith, long time Executive Committee and WIB member, will no longer be serving on the Executive Committee but will remain on the WIB. She explained that today would have been Mr. Griffith s last Executive meeting but he is on vacation. Ms. Clapper continued that as part of the Succession Planning we need to look at different members who have been on the Board for a number of years and replacing those leaving. She requested that something be sent to Mr. Ellis on behalf of the Executive Board thanking him for all the years of dedication and service.
Adjournment With no other business to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 11:17 a.m. The next meeting of the SAWIB Executive Committee will be held on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. at 3 Sheraton Drive, Altoona, PA.