Partner Express - June 2020

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Adult Career Pathways Updates

SFY20 Extension Modifications and SFY21 Planning Documents

As of May 25, 2020, 69 SFY20 grants overseen by Adult Career Pathways will be extended beyond the original June 30, 2020 expiration date.  Extensions are available to all grantees that request them.  Grantees may choose to extend either to September 30, 2020, or to December 31, 2020. Requests for extension modifications were due by April 30. If you did not request an extension, and now would like to extend, you must contact your ACP grant coordinator immediately.

Planning documents for SFY21 grants were also due to ACP by April 30. Any grantee that has not submitted planning documents should contact their ACP grant coordinator immediately.  SFY21 grants are being extended through September 31, 2021, absent a statement from the grantee that they do not want an extension.

SFY19 Pathways to Prosperity Grants

Absent legislative action in a special session, SFY19 Pathways to Prosperity Grants will be expiring on June 30, 2020. Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Section Once the grants expire, expect to see close-out documents from your ACP program coordinator.

ACP Operations Guide

An all new Operations Guide for Adult Career Pathways will soon be released on-line and will be accessible from the ACP home page. The Guide documents current practices for ACP. It is intended to be a living document and will be updated as procedures evolve.  The Guide does NOT include measures implemented in response to COVID-19, which are listed separately.

Displaced Homemaker Program (now Minnesota Family Resiliency Partnership)

The Displaced Homemaker Program for Minnesota has been re-named the Minnesota Family Resiliency Partnership. Governor Walz signed a bill amending Minnesota Statutes, Section 116.96 to rename the program on May 16, 2020.  The change is effective August 1, 2020.

The quarterly meeting of the Displaced Homemaker Program was conducted on May 22 via the web.  Jean Keenan from Life-Work Planning hosted the meeting.  The next meeting has been tentatively scheduled for September 25, 2020.

SNAP 50/50

Four of DEED’s current SNAP 50/50 Employment and Training (E&T) grantees have requested and received applications to continue their SNAP grants. The Pathways to Prosperity grants that serve as primary grants for the SNAP E&T grants are expiring. Applications will bring on SFY21 grants and thus allow the SNAP E&T grants to continue without a break.

Adult Career Pathways expects to send out a call for new SNAP E&T applications in July.

Workforce One Tip – Restricting Access to Case Notes

Confidentiality can be a big concern when entering a case note for participants. This tip explains how a user entering a case note can limit who can view that case note. Users who better understand how to restrict access to case notes are better prepared to protect participants’ privacy.

  • Note Viewable By dropdown definitions:
    • All Staff in Servicing Agency:
      • Only WF1 users with access to the specific agency/COFFR are able to view the case note(s)
    • All WF1 Staff:
      • All WF1 users are able to view the case note(s)
    • Private:
      • Only WF1 users assigned to that specific case and the DEED monitor are able to view the case note(s)
      • This setting should only be used when necessary to protect private or confidential information, or to protect the participant
      • This setting must be used for medical information
  • Questions and Answers
    • If a user can see case notes for a program outside of their agency/COFFR, can that agency see the user’s case notes?
      • The other program’s case notes are viewable because the other program’s case worker has chosen to set the “Note Viewable by” condition to “All WF1 Staff.” If the correct Viewable level is selected, then those case notes will not be available to others.
    • When a user enters a support service and checks the “Add as case note” box, is that case note viewable by all WF1 users?
      • No, the “Note Viewable By” defaults to “All Staff in Servicing Agency.”
      • NOTE: the case note does not give the details of the support service, such as amount. All the case note includes is the text in the note that the user writes.
    • If the “Add as a case note” box is not checked, is the type and amount of support service provided viewable by all WF1 users?
      • When the Support Service is created, a user would be able to see the SUMMARY page for Support Services. The summary will display the “Service,” but the “Amount” will be BLANK unless the user has that level of WF1 user access.
    • When DHP grantees exit a participant, do they currently have a default primary exit reason in place?
      • Displaced Homemaker Program defaults to “Attained Pre-employment Skills,” but it’s a dropdown so other choices can be make.