May 2021

Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs

Overview of National Dislocated Worker Grants (DWGs):

• Opioids – The Minnesota Initiative (OMNI) Program
  • $800,000 initial award, approved for up to $1,368,421
  • The purpose of this Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant is to:
    • Provide employment and training services to dislocated workers who have been directly and indirectly impacted by the opioid crisis;
    • Provide training that builds skilled workforce in professions that could impact the causes and treatment of the opioid crisis;
• COVID-19 Disaster Recovery National Dislocated Worker Grant (DWG)
  • Awarded $2,535,795
  • The purpose of the COVID-19 DWG is to:
    • Provide training, career services and temporary employment to those unemployed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
    • Create disaster-relief employment positions that offer humanitarian assistance to those affected by COVID-19, which includes actions designed to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity in the immediate aftermath of disasters.

NEW Workforce One Questions:

• New Questions on WF1 – “Do you, family, friends have a history of opioid abuse?” this question is voluntary, but helpful for assessing if we need to scale the Opioid grant statewide.

WIOA DW, WIOA Adult, and State DW:

• PY21 WIOA Allocations:
  • TEGL 19-20 was released on April 27^th, 2021. WIOA Adult and WIOA DW preliminary allocations have been sent. Planning documents will be sent the week of May 10, 2021.
  • See attachments:
    • TEGL 19-20 (released on April 27, 2021)
    • WIOA Adult preliminary allocations
    • WIOA DW preliminary allocations
• State DW Formula Fund: Preliminary allocations will be available mid-late May
• PY21 planning documents will be sent out soon
• PY20 WIOA DW Re-allotment funds: Pending Notice of Award (NOA) from DOL before sending out final allocations

Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Board (MJSP) meeting: 

• Scheduled for Monday, June 14, 2021; supplemental funding requests are due by May 14, 2021.

Carry Forward Requests:

• Providers may request a waiver to carry forward more than 20% of their allocated PY20 funds into the next program year using the provided template (link below). Providers who expend or obligate at least 80% of their PY20 formula funds by the end of the 4^th quarter do not need a waiver.
• Please submit your waiver by June 7^th to allow enough time for leadership approval.

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.
• 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.

Resources:

• Unemployment Rates in Workforce Service Areas and Counties, Mar 2021
• Carry Forward Waiver Request Form

Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult Performance Updates:

Cases accessing Program Year (PY) 2019 Dislocated Worker (DW) and WIOA Adult (AD) Allocations

Reminder: PY2019 allocations will be expiring on June 30, 2021. All cases showing the following funding streams within an open activity will need your attention.

If the participant will continue receiving a service currently supported by PY2019 allocations after June 30, 2021, a new activity will need to be opened for each service the participant will continue.

Reminder: All Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult program year formula allocations (small layoff grants/WIOA Adult allotments) remain active for two years.

• PY2019 Allocation = July 1, 2019 – June 30, 2021
• PY2020 Allocation = July 1, 2020 – June 30, 2022
• PY2021 Allocation = July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2023

This means, the new activity will need a PY2020 or PY2021 formula grant selected within them depending on your agencies budget.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION TO KNOW

• All activities with a PY2019 allocation selected within them cannot have a start date after June 30, 2021 and must have an end date no later than June 30, 2021.
• If any participant will continue participating in an activity that is currently showing a PY2019 allocation supporting that service, that activity needs to be copied within their activity detail screen.
  • The new activity will need a start date of July 1, 2021
  • An active funding source (PY2020 or PY2021) will need to be selected within them.
• To help in this funding source transition
  
  • Amy Carlson will mass close all currently open PY2019 funded activities with an end date of June 30, 2021, which means you will only need to open/copy the old activities. If you want to close the old activities yourself, that is fine. If you choose not to close them yourself, it will be taken care of for you.
  • This mass activity closure will begin August 1, 2021.
  • If there are cases without other open activities on record showing a different funding source, this mass closure will not work for those cases. Any cases that show they cannot be included in the PY2019 funded activity closure will be emailed to the management team for the COFFR funding the case.
• Shortly after July 1, 2021, additional funding streams will be added to your dropdown lists for PY2021 allocations. The date these new funding streams will be available is dependent on when PY2021 contracts are in place. Your management teams will be alerted as soon as your agency’s PY2021 funding streams are available in WF1.

Guidance on specific scenarios

Question: What if training was fully funded by the PY19 grant but the participant will continue attending that training after 06/30/2021?

Answer: Make note of all cases that fall into this scenario.

• Copy all other activities that will be funded by a different grant after 06/30/2021. Do not copy the training activity since a different grant will not be supporting it after 06/30/2021.
• Once the mass closure of PY19 activities is completed (by 08/16/2021), the assigned staff will need to go back into each of the cases with this scenario and remove the end date from the training activity by clicking “edit” next to that activity within the WF1 record
• The training activity will later be closed with the last date the participant attends that training

Question: Are we supposed to copy Employed, Pending Exit and Pending Exit, Other activities for the PY19 closure?

Answer: No, do not copy these activities because after the 90 days of no service exhausts (holding period these activities represent), the activity end date and exit date will be retroactive to the start date of this activity, which will be during the PY19 grant period.

Reminder, whenever these activities are open, no other activities should be open at the same time since these activities represent no services being provided. (Any open activities would contradict this since all other activities represent services being provided.) If there are no other open activities on the case, Amy Carlson will not be able to close out these activities. It is likely that after the mass closure, cases with these activities will be on the spreadsheets emailed to local area management teams as cases where the mass closure could not close activities. (Hopefully, the only cases on those spreadsheets are cases with these activities)

Special situation: if the participant returns for a service other than a follow-up service you will then need to update data entry like normal in order to capture the new last date of service…

• Close the Employed, Pending Exit activity with the date of 06/30/2021
• Open an activity that best represents the service provided to the participant when they returned with the date of 07/01/2021 and the funding source used to support that service
• Open a new Employed Pending Exit activity with whatever the new last date of service is and the funding stream that supported that last service
• Close the activity that represents the last service provided with the same date as the new Employed, Pending Exit activity
• Follow the normal exiting procedure after 90 days exhausts from the new last date of service

IMPORTANT DATE: Program Year 2020 Data Freeze Date is scheduled for July 9, 2021. Please have all your data entry up to date including all Measurable Skill Gains achieved by your participants during the timeframe of 07/01/2020 – 06/30/2021 entered into Workforce One no later than close of business 07/9/2021.

Should you have any performance or data entry questions, please contact the Federal Adult Programs Performance Coordinator, Amy Carlson, at amy.carlson@state.mn.us.

Adult Career Pathways (ACP)

Legislative Direct Appropriation Grants/ Competitive Grants SFY20/21

• State Legislators have begun meeting and the ACP team is watching closely as the final budget will determine SFY22-23 program budgets. We expect RFPs to be released summer 2021.
• The ACP Team released a Tech Training Pilot Project RFP March 11^th, with a due date of Friday April 30^th. This is a new program within ACP serving adults 18-30 and targeting underrepresentation of BIPOC communities in the Technology field.
• Sign up to receive notices about open DEED RFPs at: https://mn.gov/deed/about/contracts/open-rfp.jsp
• Workforce One Connect is coming! The State of Minnesota created the WF1 Connect app to simplify communications and provide greater access to financial benefits and services for customers of employment and economic support programs.

SNAP E&T 50/50

The ACP team continues to work with our eight SNAP E&T 50% Reimbursement Grantees for SFY21 providing 50% reimbursement on expenses already incurred through ACP’s Pathways to Prosperity and MN Family Resiliency Partnership (DHP) programs.

MN Family Resiliency Partnership (formerly known as Displaced Homemaker Program)

What is a Displaced Homemaker?

“A displaced Homemaker is an individual who has spent a substantial number of years in the home providing homemaking services and

i) has been dependent upon the financial support of another; and now due to divorce, separation, death or disability of that person, must find employment to self-support,

or

ii) derived a substantial share of support from public assistance on account of dependents in the home and no longer receives such support.”

Participants must also meet Income guidelines (at or below 200% FPG.)

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. 

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!

Guidance on Workforce One use

User Access

A reminder that if a staff member with WF1 access leaves an organization, it is the responsibility of the organization to deactivate the departed staff’s access to WF1. Additionally, a staff member’s access to WF1 is unique to the permissions granted them and may not be used by other staff members. Each staff member who is responsible for entering data into WF1 MUST have their own access. These requirements are addressed within the:

1. WF1 Security Agreement – This is presented to the user during the first log in and then yearly after that. Staff must read and indicate that they understand and agree.
2. The Security Administrators must attend training. Deactivating access for staff who leave is included in their list of responsibilities.

Wage at Enrollment

The ACP Team wants to ensure all organization data is accurately represented. One of the most important data points that we collect is a participant’s wage increase. In order to obtain accurate information, it is important that participant’s Hourly Wage of Last Job is completed. This is the baseline to determine whether participation in your program had an impact on a participant’s life.

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, 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

The ACP team understands that programs are pivoting during this time. We would like to remind all Grantees that all trainings must be pre-approved by your Coordinator, listed within your contract, and OHE compliant. Please reach out to your program Coordinator if you have any questions.

ACP Grantee Spotlight

This month, the ACP team would like to spotlight Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council (PIC). The WISE Project provides services to 23 counties of Southwest and South Central Minnesota to low-income girls and women of color. The Project includes career awareness and exploration in non-traditional occupations and related on-the-job training/work experience opportunities. Even during the state of emergency, SW Minnesota PIC was able to partner with the Lower Sioux Indian Community to create a construction career training, Cankuya Carpentry Program in Morton, MN.

Within the first semester, students built four sheds for the community elders’ duplexes. By the end of the training program, students will have achieved their 19 credit Carpentry Certificate from Minnesota West Community & Technical College.  Several students commented on the rewarding feeling derived from coming to class and gaining skills they can use to benefit their communities, families, and themselves.

Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)

TAA Roundtables

Minnesota TAA hosted virtual Roundtables for Dislocated Worker Counselors April 13-15, 2021.

• TAA will send a survey soon via email; survey responses help TAA plan for future Roundtables.
• PowerPoint presentations are available at this link on the Presentations tab https://mn.gov/deed/programs-services/dislocated-worker/counselors/training/

Final Rule: Updated regulations for the TAA program

Major changes for Minnesota related to Subpart F: Training 20 CFR 618.600

1. Determine if customer needs training
   1. If not, refer to other TAA services such as Job Search, Relocation Allowances, RTAA
   2. If so, complete comprehensive assessments
      1. Compare training with the soonest training end date, then cost, then location
   3. The Final Rule provides guidelines on determining reasonable cost
      1. Consider the priorities based on Department of Labor’s (DOL) guidance (see section above)
      2. Good faith estimate includes ALL associated costs (tuition, internet, tools, etc.)  
   4. Allows for training that will lead to self-employment 
      1. Employment goal can be self-employment, but training must be occupational (i.e. hair salon owner; TAA could pay for cosmetology training)
   5. Benchmark (Training Progress Report) failures:
      1. 1^st failure: TAA must send a warning to the customer
      2. 2^nd failure: Customer must amend plan or forfeit Completion TRA
   6. Transportation is paid only for miles that exceed local commuting area

Job Search Allowance

Please remind customers, especially Spring graduates, about the Job Search Allowance benefit available for interviews that are 15 miles or more from the customer’s home. The customer should fill out and submit the application prior to interviews. There is an updated Job Search Allowance application on the Counselor Portal that incorporates the changes under the Final Rule.

Training applications with Fall 2021 Training Start

TAA updated the training application on May 5, 2021; please use this version for all applications not started. 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 as soon as possible, and at least two weeks before the training start date. TAA will do its best to review applications that come in with less time than that, but please send applications (with waivers, if applicable) as soon as they’re completed.

Mirroring TAA Activities

Due to recent reporting changes/updates for the DW program, please see updated guidance below. This guidance is current as of 4/29/21 and replaces all previous guidance provided by MN TAA regarding mirroring activities.

It is highly recommended that DW providers open a corresponding training activity when a TAA training activity is opened. For example, when a TAA Specialist opens an Occupational Skills Training activity, the DW counselor would open a Classroom Training activity with the same information in it as the Occupational Skills Training activity.

• If there is not a corresponding DW training activity on the case, the DW performance report will not count the participant in the credential measure
• If there is a corresponding DW training activity on the case, the DW performance report will count the participant in the credential measure

ETPL Administration and Monitoring

Credential Attainment

For credential attainment, WIOA certification is required to document a “recognized postsecondary credential” (defined in TEN 25-19). WIOA certification in the Career and Education Explorer is the flag indicating that a training includes a credential. There is NO EQUIVALENT for WIOA certification in documentation of credentials earned in services provided to WIOA clients.

A training must be WIOA certified in the Career and Education Explorer to be documented as credentialed training.

According to TEGL 8-19, WIOA training funds can fund credentialed and non-credentialed training. However, some local boards have policies restricting the state list, as boards are allowed to do in TEGL 8-19, to prioritize funding credentialed training.

Non-credentialed training is also a flag in the Career and Education Explorer. Non-credentialed training also follows a federal definition. Non-credentialed training is industry-specific, and offered by an eligible training provider, but does not include a credential (e.g. a prep course for a state licensure exam, where the licensing exam is not included in the training). Non-credentialed training does not count towards the credential attainment performance measure, because a non-credentialed training does not include a recognized postsecondary credential.

As for community support – DEED cannot and has never been able to recognize letters of support when determining whether a training is credentialed training. The elements for review of a training being considered for the ETPL are outlined in TEGL 8-19. Again, there is NO EQUIVALENT for WIOA certification for documenting credentials earned in WIOA’s programs. The WIOA certification flag in the Career and Education Explorer follows the federal definition of a “recognized postsecondary credential” as defined in applicable WIOA laws.

Labor Market Information

By The Numbers

Minnesota employers reported just over 127,300 job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2020, up 14% from the second quarter of 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and nearly equal to the number of vacancies posted in the state one year earlier, according to the Job Vacancy Survey.

After loosening up last summer when unemployment rates spiked, DEED’s biannual Job Vacancy Survey found that the state had 1.1 unemployed people for every job vacancy in the fourth quarter of 2020, once again indicating a tight labor market. (In comparison, the state had 0.7 unemployed workers for every job vacancy in the fourth quarter of 2019, so it was an even tighter job market then.)

Part of the reason for the quick return to a tight labor market is that some workers have dropped out of the labor force over the past year. To have a tight labor market during a recessionary period is unique.

The seven-county Twin Cities metro area had just over 75,725 job vacancies (59.5% of the statewide total), while Greater Minnesota had 51,585 vacancies. Job vacancies in the Twin Cities were up 15% compared to second quarter, while job vacancies in Greater Minnesota were up 12.4% since the second quarter. The Twin Cities had 0.9 unemployed people to every vacancy, while Greater Minnesota had 1.3 job seekers per vacancy.

Like in past surveys, the Health Care and Social Assistance industry had the most job vacancies overall with nearly 31,600 openings, but with increased demand, they now account for nearly 25% of total vacancies.

Retail Trade showed steady demand, accounting for 17% of vacancies. Job postings jumped above 13,000 in Wholesale Trade and were up to almost 11,000 in Manufacturing, but fell below 13,000 in Accommodation and Food Services, with each providing around 10% of total vacancies.

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