Requests for Proposals
The Office of Adult Career Pathways posted Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for grants for SFY20 and SFY21 on June 5. Applications for each grant program are due on the dates shown below.
If you submit a grant, be sure to complete all sections of the grant, provide and complete all requested forms, comply with formatting and length requirements, and submit your application on time. For more information, see “Competitive Grants” at https://mn.gov/deed/about/contracts/open-rfp.jsp.
Information at Enrollment
Documentation required to enroll participants in ACP grant programs is changing! Beginning in July, grantees will follow the new procedures, affecting Selective Service and Veteran Status.
Selective Service
Beginning July 1, Grantees need no longer ask whether prospective participants for programs that are solely state funded have complied with Selective Service requirements.
Any prospective participant in a program funded in whole or in part by federal funds, who was born male after December 31, 1959, must still be asked whether they have registered for Selective Service. Those who have not registered must be assisted to register or, if 26 or over, to obtain a status information letter.
Veteran Status
Under new program guidance, Veteran Status may be documented not only by a DD-214, but also by a letter from the Veteran’s Administration; or, for disabled veterans, a US Department of Veterans Affairs “VA Healthcare Enrollee Service Connected” Card, or a Disability Award Letter.
Participants who have documented their status as a veteran are given priority for services. A participant who claims veteran status but cannot document it is still eligible to enroll, but does not receive priority for services. If a participant already has a record in Workforce One, the Veteran Status field may be already populated. If the Veteran Status is checked “Veteran” from a previous record, but the participant cannot provide any of the acceptable proofs, enter a case note with enrollment stating that Veteran Status was pre-populated from a previous record and is not substantiated, but do not remove the original “Veteran” status.
If a participant already has a record in Workforce One, the Veteran Status field may be already populated. If the Veteran Status is checked “Veteran” from a previous record, and participant cannot provide any of the acceptable proofs, enter first case note with enrollment that Veteran Status was pre-populated from previous record and is not substantiated, but do not remove the original “Veteran” status.
Public Assistance
Grantees collect public assistance status from participants at the time of enrollment. Please remember that the only public assistance that should be documented is public assistance status at time of enrollment. That an applicant may have previously received public assistance should not be documented.
Pathways to Prosperity (P2P) – Financial Reconciliation
Beginning for the quarter that ended June 30, 2019 and moving forward, full financial reconciliation documentation will NOT be required with quarterly reports from P2P grantees. Grantees must complete the financial reconciliation process for previous quarters (e.g. the quarter ending Mach 31, 2019), if they have not already done so.
A DEED staff member may still request backup documentation as needed for invoices throughout the year and the financial reconciliation will still occur at grant monitoring.
TAA Updates
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Petitions
Pending DOL’s investigation
- 94699 – The Mosaic Company, Plymouth
- 94627 - Toppan Merrill, St Paul
- 94780 – Target Corporation, Minneapolis
- 94871 – Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Eagan
- 94930 – Trouw Nutrition USA, Willmar
- 94916 – United Healthcare, Minnetonka
- 94911 – Fidelity Information Services, Woodbury
- 94941 – Delta Air Lines, Inc., Atlanta, GA/Eagan, MN
- 94962 - X-Cel Optical Comany, Sauk Rapids
Certified by DOL
- 94202 – DLR Group a/k/a Epsilon/Catapult Marketing, Minneapolis
- 94663 – Assurant Inc., Assurant IT Help Desk, Woodbury
TAA Outreach: January 2016-present
TAA is launching an outreach project to TAA-eligible workers who did not use benefits from the past 3.5 years. We are mailing a letter to approximately 6,000 people the week of July 8th reminding them of the TAA training benefits and referring them to contact the DW provider of their choice. They are encouraged to contact TAA with questions and/or to confirm their eligibility. Please remember that if a person is not suitably employed, s/he can still apply for the TAA training benefit.
Training applications with Fall start dates
July and August are two of the busiest months for TAA staff because of the State fiscal year change on July 1, and because of so many students starting training Fall term. Please remember to submit applications at least two weeks before the training start date. We will do our best to review applications that come in with less time than that, but please send applications as soon as possible.
Topics you’d like addressed?
The Partner Express is a resource designed with you in mind. If you have suggestions on topics you’d like TAA to address, please let us know! We are here to help: deed.taa@state.mn.us or call 651-259-7543. Applications, news, resources, and forms are available on the Counselor Portal: https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/dislocated-worker/counselors/
Labor Market Information Updates
Wages and Inflation – by Luke Greiner
Central Minnesota employers have been posting record numbers of job openings the past few years, and the labor market has never looked better for job seekers. But the ability to get a job isn’t always the benchmark used by actual humans as it is in economic models. Instead many workers carefully assess factors like schedule, location, benefits, and work environment or management, among others. Yet the most important factor for typical job seekers (both employed and unemployed) is wages.
The current tight labor market has finally pushed median wage offers (the wage advertised for job openings) for all occupations higher in recent years, succumbing to the overwhelming demand for scarce labor. The most recent Job Vacancy Survey data indicate that through 2018, wage offers hovered around $14 per hour. That is not bad considering how low wage offers were during the recession – $9.23 per hour in 2009.
Recalling what things used to cost, or what jobs used to pay, does little to help understand price changes. To have a better grasp on what things used to cost or in this case, wage growth, the dollars need to be adjusted for inflation. Adjusting for inflation accounts for the deflationary effect that rising prices have on current dollars. For wage offers to actually rise, they need to increase faster than inflation. The Federal Reserve publicly targets 2 percent inflation per year, but monetary policy and controlling the supply of money can only do so much, leaving the actual rate of inflation a bit of a moving target.
 After accounting for inflation, it’s easy to see that much of the gain in wages has been eroded by inflation, though wage offers are slowly increasing. Slowly is the key word, since real median wage offers have risen just 29 cents since the pre-recession peak in 2004. The last recession was a serious setback for real median wage offer growth. The good news is the gap between real and nominal median wage offer growth is narrowing, or at least the trends suggest that real median wage offers could be catching up to nominal growth. Simply put, job seekers are benefiting from more buying power recently, but it would take faster wage growth to lure would-be workers off the sidelines and into the labor force.
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