March 2021
Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs
Minnesota Jobs Skills Partnership Board (MJSP) Meeting
Scheduled for March 8, 2021, 10:45AM – 3:00PM; open to the public.
WIOA Adult, WIOA DW and State DW
PY19 Funding will expire on 6/30/2021
- Submit any modification requests by May 31st to allow the team time to process.
- Submit any transfer requests by April 30th to allow the team time to process.
Monthly Financial Status Report (FSR) / Monthly Reimbursement Payment Request (RPR)
- Due 20 days after month end. For example, the June RPR (June 30 end date) is due July 20.
- Report accrued monthly expenditures.
- A monthly RPR/FSR is required even if no funds were expended.
Quarterly Progress Report (QPR)
Due 30 days after quarter end. For example, the Quarter 1 report (September 30 end date) is due October 30.
Areas of Substantial Unemployment (ASU) Data
- Labor Market Information (LMI) Office has provided the ASUs identified for PY 2021.
- This year we have 680 tracks in ASUs and 96,000 unemployed in these tracks. This is an improvement over last year when we had 214 ASU tracks and 24,600 unemployed in these tracks.
- Every WSA/WDA has at least one qualifying area, which is better than last year when 6 did not.
Procedures for Awarding Small Layoff Funding for Independent Grantees
Please review this policy: https://apps.deed.state.mn.us/ddp/PolicyDetail.aspx?pol=525
Federal Grant Submission
- Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) Phase II grant application was submitted on Feb. 16, 2021 for $19.8M over 4 years.
- RETAIN demonstration project tests the impact of early intervention strategies on the stay at work/return to work outcomes of workers who have recently incurred a new injury or illness, or who recently experienced an exacerbation of an existing injury/illness that affects their ability to work.
Staffing
- TAA, ACP have open positions
- There are additional MMB waiver forms and the hiring process may be longer
Adult Career Pathways (ACP)
Legislative Direct Appropriation Grants/ Competitive Grants SFY20/21
The ACP Team encourages providers to suggest ways to shift from provision of services in person to provision of remote services. Please contact your Program Coordinator to discuss suggestions on how you may deliver traditional in-person activities through an on-line service model and remain in line with your approved contract.
SNAP E&T 50/50
DEED has contracted with a total of eight SNAP E&T 50% Reimbursement Grantees for SFY21. This program offers 50% reimbursement (up to $200,000 this year) on expenses already incurred through ACP’s Pathways to Prosperity and Mn Family Resiliency Partnership programs.
Mn Family Resiliency Partnership (formerly known as Displaced Homemaker Program)
The team encourages everyone to review the Minnesota Family Resiliency Partnership program on DEED’s ACP webpage at https://mn.gov/deed/job-seekers/find-a-job/targeted-services/homemakers/ and refer participants you may feel eligible. Service providers are located throughout Minnesota; Mankato, Rochester, Brainerd, Minneapolis, St. Cloud, and Virginia in the Arrowhead region.
Workforce One Tips –
Workforce One User Guide
The ACP team is working to update the ACP Workforce One Guide to reflect updates and changes to programs in the past two years. Stay tuned for the updated guide to be ready soon!
Guidance on Workforce One use
Case notes must provide a complete, accurate, and concise explanation of frequency and type of contact with participants, as well as services provided, and the outcomes associated with those services. Case notes should be entered at minimum, once every 30 days (MN Family Resiliency Partnership: once every 60 days).
Enrollment summary/Preliminary case notes are required and must include:
- Participant current situation; including skills, barriers to gaining employment (i.e. lack of certification/training, unstable housing, dependent care, transportation), work history, current work situation (employer name, title, wage, number of hours worked per week), family status, justification for enrollment,
- Participant goals; including goals from IEP, steps participant will work towards to achieve those goals, and how training program will assist in meeting those goals
- Support Services and/or Referrals that program will provide to participants to assist in achieving employment goals
Case notes within WF1 should be limited to information pertinent to the program being enrolled. While health concerns may be relevant to a participant’s progress, sensitive information within WF1 case notes should be limited and addressed vaguely.
ACP Operations Guide
ACP’s Operations Guide is now available from the ACP home page. The Guide documents current practices for ACP. The ACP Team meets monthly to discuss suggested additions, updates, modifications, and other changes to the guide and update as necessary. It does NOT include measures implemented in response to COVID-19, which are listed separately.
ACP Team Message to Grantees
ACP will continue to conduct monitoring during this time. ACP monitors will conduct monitoring visits via Teams, Zoom or other electronic or telephonic mechanisms. If you have a grant or grants due for monitoring, a monitor will contact you to schedule a date and time for a virtual meeting and to request that documents be completed and/or collected and sent electronically. The monitor will review materials requested and provided. The monitor will review the guide with you and will be available to answer questions regarding the monitoring processes.
Grantees are strongly encouraged to utilize Workforce One’s Electronic Document Storage (EDS) to upload and maintain participant enrollment and eligibility documents, IEPs, support service documentation, and any other related documents. This will assist the monitor in the remote process and prevent additional requests to Grantees for information during this time and in the future.
ACP Grantee Spotlight
This month, the ACP team would like to spotlight Project for Pride in Living (PPL). This organization provides Office Specialist and Human Services Pathways training to low-income individuals. In this historic time, PPL has utilized Goggle Classroom to continue trainings and services and recently hosted an event to ensure participants lacking virtual setting tools were able to continue learning. Through contactless pick-up, participants stopped by and took home a bag stuffed with technology tools like headsets/microphones, a computer mouse, fidgets, notebook, water tumbler, and other items. As a result, classroom participants cheered each other virtually with the water tumblers and posed for pictures with their new swag. This connected participants to each other and the program, leading to a stronger investment in success.
Although the current State of Emergency has brought further challenges to this population and services, Project for Pride in Living was able to able to pivot communication and training with participants utilizing online platforms for distance learning. For more information about Project for Pride in Living, visit them online at: https://www.ppl-inc.org/
Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
Staffing Update
Crystal Nickles, TAA’s Outreach and Support Specialist, has accepted a position with the Department of Transportation. Crystal’s work is vast and you likely interacted with her if you called or emailed the general phone/email. Crystal’s last day with TAA is March 2.
Minnesota highlighted for OJT best practices in national webinar
Minnesota TAA is being highlighted as part of a national webinar on work-based learning. Margaret “Meg” Odanga and Claudette Parchment-Roehrich from Minnesota TAA will share best practices for On-the-Job Training (OJT). CMJTS partnered with TAA to discuss best practices they’ve incorporated. Everyone is invited to the webinar: Tuesday, March 16, 2021 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM CT. You can register at this link https://taa.workforcegps.org/sitecore/content/global/events/2021/02/09/18/07/Work-Based-Learning-State-Best-Practices
TAA Roundtables for Dislocated Worker Counselors
Minnesota TAA will host virtual Roundtables for Dislocated Worker Counselors April 13-15, 2021. All grantees should have at least one staff member attend. This is the anticipated schedule:
Tuesday, April 13
- 10:00am-11:00am: Final Rule implementation
- 1:00pm-2:00pm: *TAA overview
Wednesday, April 14
- 10:00am-11:00am: Waivers and TRA
- 1:00pm-2:00pm: *Training applications, Labor Market Information (LMI)
Thursday, April 15
- 10:00am-11:00am: “Other” training topics (*school justification, Training Progress Reports, Computers, Tools, *Transportation, TAA/DW/customer roles, etc.)
- 1:00pm-2:00pm: OJT, *Job Search Allowance, *Relocation Allowance
*Changes to existing process expected from Final Rule
Tax Time
While only Unemployment/TRA and RTAA are taxable income for TAA customers, some students may receive a 1098-T from their training institution. The national TAA office indicates, “The training provider is to report the total cost of the program in Box 1 and Box 5. These amounts should, in nearly all cases should be identical. As such, the amounts would cancel each other out. This would mean the participant is not able to claim any relevant tax credits when filing. It also means the filing individual would not report the amount as excessive income.”
Petitions
Check the status of petitions with U.S. Department of Labor
- Recently denied
- 95830 – Wayzata Home Products, Edina
- Pending DOL’s investigation
- 96651 -- DeCare Dental, LLC. a subsidiary of Anthem Companies, Inc. Eagan
- 95467 – Wisconsin Central LTD /Canadian National, Proctor
- 95764 – Landis Gyr, Pequot Lakes
- 96688 – Torax Medical, Saint Paul
Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL)
Why is a training pending on WIOA certification in the Career and Education Explorer?
This happens for 2 reasons:
- The training provider updated their training, and ETPL Administration has not yet had a moment to review the pending application for WIOA certification
- The training provider did not request WIOA certification for the training and is also not seeking a noncredentialled training designation.
How many trainings are there in Minnesota?
Credential Engine, one of DEED’s partners in aligning training to skills and employment, recently completed a national review of credentials (secondary, postsecondary, and postgraduate). They estimated 10,036 credentials offered by training providers based in Minnesota, including an estimated 5,518 degrees, 353 licenses, and 210 federally recognized apprenticeship programs. Their efforts utilized data from DEED and cross-referenced additional sources (e.g. CareerOnestop). Many of these Minnesota-based trainings can be found in DEED’s Career and Education Explorer.
ETPL Q&A Recap from the February MAWB Jobseeker Services Committee Meeting
- Can you share the presentation slides?
- For institutions/programs not tied to MOHE - what is the process for approving their trainings to the ETPL?
- MOHE (Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education) is the most common licensing agency for postsecondary training providers.
- Each of the state agencies that approves occupationally specific postsecondary training has a licensing team or board. Usually these agencies have a public directory of approved trainings. ETPL Administration reviews the appropriate public registry for the occupational training being considered for the ETPL. If the training provider is not on the public registry, ETPL Administration connects with the state agencies licensing team to confirm (e.g. if the training provider is newly licensed, and the webpage has not yet been updated).
- When a training vendor/institution is located out of state, and it's a type of institution that if located in MN would be exempt from OHE registration per MN statute, are we allowed to use that vendor/institution?
- Who WIOA-certifies a program, the board, or does that go through DEED? If I know of a program that would be a good fit for WIOA, what can I do to get it on the ETPL?
- TEGL 8-19 requires each state to keep a centralized ETPL; Minnesota’s ETPL is administered by DEED.
- Previous legislation allowed for provisional certification on disjointed lists, but this practice is no longer allowed. Boards may limit the ETPL to a subset of the state ETPL to prioritize in-demand industries and occupations in their local workforce area. DEED does not manage sub-lists of the ETPL, and encourages local areas to utilize the full ETPL to maximize informed customer choice.
- WIOA certification follows the federal definition of credentialled training.
- For expanding the list, DEED’s ETPL Administration welcomes recommendations and training provider contacts. ETPL Administration can facilitate WIOA certification of programs that meet the federal eligibility requirements for inclusion on the ETPL from all ETPL stakeholders (boards, career counselors, training providers self-referring). We follow-up on recommendations with invitations to the training providers to see if they are eligible and want to participate on the ETPL.
- If a prep course is considered non-credentialed, and a participant attends the prep course and then goes on to take the exam resulting in a credential – how do we capture this in WF1 (i.e. Kaplan College Real Estate courses is non-credentialed, but a person may go on to obtain their Real Estate license after passing the state exam which would result in industry recognized credential attainment)?
- The ETP team are experts on documentation questions. In this case, you would document a ‘noncredentialled training’ for the prep course, and then a ‘credential earned without training’ upon passage of the exam.
- WIOA certification designates a training that includes the recognized postsecondary credential.
- Noncredentialled training may be training that prepares a person for an occupation-specific licensing exam. In the case that an exam is required for employment, the exam must be included in the training for the training to be WIOA certified, else the training is listed as noncredentialled training.
- Adult Basic Education has received exemption from OHE to be on the ETPL.
- Yes! You can find ABE trainings offered throughout Minnesota on the Career and Education Explorer. Note that some of the ABE listings do not fit the federal definition of postsecondary training, so you may need to utilize non-training funds to support the learning experience your client needs.
Labor Market Information
By the Numbers
In downturns, we look to past recessions to try to guess what might happen next. Yet the economic fallout from COVID-19 has been unlike anything we’ve seen before. The uniquely targeted effect of the virus has led to unique economic conditions as well. To illustrate just how different today’s economic crisis is from the past, our Labor Market Information team built a new Comparing Recessions data tool for the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The tool underscores just how the pandemic recession is different from recent recessions in a number of important ways, and how it has had an unprecedented impact on employment in certain industries.
DEED’s Labor Market Information analyst Carson Gorecki relies on the DEED data tool to provide a visual comparison of our current downturn and previous recessions in the form of line charts, for both overall employment and broken out by key industries. The dramatic drop, quick recovery and subsequent late-in-the-year employment dip of the pandemic recession look very different in comparison to the Great Recession and the 2001 recession, when looking at change in employment over the year, by month, during each recession.
And the industries hardest hit this time around are decidedly different than those most impacted during our most recent recessions. The industries that were hit hardest by job loss in those last two recessions – such as Manufacturing, Construction and Retail Trade – are faring relatively better in the current COVID-19 economic crisis. Meanwhile employment in Leisure & Hospitality, which remained flat during the previous two recessions, was devastated in the current recession.
Because of the particularly dramatic employment loss in Leisure & Hospitality and in some parts of the Other Services industry, service industry workers are more at risk for prolonged job losses now than in the past. From Unemployment Insurance data, we know those particularly at risk are people who are Black, women, and those who have not earned a postsecondary credential. Part-time, low-wage workers are among the hardest hit.
Reskilling is necessary because employment opportunities in some of the most affected occupations will take years to return to pre-pandemic levels – and some of those jobs may never return due to automation and other changes. The good news is that service industry workers have transferrable skills to many in-demand occupations, particularly in health care, but they may need education and training to help with knowledge gaps.
Information about how this recession differs from others can help us as we move through recovery. It reinforces the fact that approaches that worked in previous recessions may not work as well during recovery from this recession. The dramatic differences between our current recession and those of the recent past highlight the unique moment the Minnesota economy is currently in.
The Shape of a Recession is published in the March edition of Minnesota Economic Trends, published quarterly by DEED’s LMI office.
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