August 2023
Now Hiring!
The Monitoring Team is HIRING! We are hiring multiple Program Monitors!
Click here to apply: Workforce Development Specialist 3 - Program Monitor- Job ID 66485. Interviews will occur on a continuous basis until positions are filled. Final deadline to apply is August 11, 2023.
The ACP Team is HIRING! Check out our job posting here:
67877 | Workforce Development Specialist 3 - Adult Career Pathways Grant Program Coordinator or Apply Here
 Adult Career Pathways (ACP)
Team Updates
The ACP Team is excited to have SFY2024-2025 Requests for Proposals (RFPs) posted to the DEED Competitive Grants and Contracts page. We encourage Grantees and interested organizations to check them out. The site also posts all outgoing grants, and included with each solicitation, is a brief description of the work and a link to its Request for Proposals (RFP). Sign up to receive emails when new opportunities are listed.
- Southeast Asian Economic Disparities program
- Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA)
- On-Ramp to Career Pathways – Pathways to Prosperity (P2P)
- Bridge to Career Pathways – Pathways to Prosperity (P2P)
- Individualized Training Pathways – Pathways to Prosperity (P2P)
- Adult Support Services
- Getting to Work
As a reminder, the three Pathways to Prosperity RFPs have been released in DEED’s new Grants Management System. Be sure to review the information on the Competitive Grants and Contracts page for guidance on the new process. All other RFPs will be released and received in the same format as in previous years.
The COVID waivers put in to place in 2020 will end beginning July 1, 2023. The Operations Guide has been updated to reflect these changes.
The ACP Team is HIRING! Check out our job posting here: 67877 | Workforce Development Specialist 3 - Adult Career Pathways Grant Program Coordinator or Apply Here
Marketing ACP programs? A reminder to review the ACP Cost Category Guidance for allowable marketing and outreach costs and the disclaimer that must be included on ALL marketing material.
“The State of Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) funded (or funded in part) this training through a grant. The grant recipient created this training. DEED does not endorse this publicity or training or make guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability or ownership of the information herein or elsewhere.”
MN Family Resiliency Partnership (Federally known as Displaced Homemaker Program)
The MN Family Resiliency Partnership (MFRP) has been a staple program at DEED for over 20 years. It is unique in services and the populations they serve. Six providers across the State of Minnesota aid individuals seeking to re-enter or enter the workforce after providing homemaking services for a period of time:
- Central lakes College in Brainerd
- AVIVO in Minneapolis
- Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency in Virginia and Grand Rapids
- Tri-CAP in Waite Park
- Workforce Development Inc. in Rochester
- Lifework Planning Center in Mankato
We encourage a collaborative approach to serving participants to seamlessly meet the needs of participants and enhance a participant’s career goals. For more information about the Minnesota Family Resiliency Partnership program check out DEED’s ACP webpage.
SNAP E&T 50/50
The SNAP E&T project can provide additional, unrestricted funds to your organization when partnered with your ACP Grant. If you serve SNAP recipients within your ACP program(s) and are interested in more information about adding the SNAP E&T 50% Reimbursement program to your organization, please contact Ann Meyers at ann.meyers@state.mn.us.
Workforce One - ACP Programs
As a reminder, all participants enrolled in any SFY22-23 ACP program MUST be appropriately exited from Workforce One (WF1) upon the completion of the grant.
In order for your organization to capture outcomes for these participants, all participants must Exit from Workforce One (WF1) within 45 days from the expiration of the grant contract.
The Workforce One team has now posted 3 new virtual training videos; Case Notes, Activity, and Plan. Go to Resources – User How-to-Guides within Workforce One to check them out!
Please reach out to your Grant Coordinator with any questions
Adult Career Pathways Guides
The ACP Workforce One User Guide has been updated and posted to the ACP home page.
The ACP Operations Guide has been updated for June and posted to the ACP home page. If you have any suggestions for the guide, please submit those to your Grant Coordinator.
Please contact your Adult Career Pathways Grant Coordinator directly with any questions regarding Adult Career Pathways Programs.
 Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs
New DW Team Member
- We’re happy to announce that Meng Moua has joined the Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs team as Planner Principal State/ETPL Administrator. Please continue to use the ETPL Administrator contact email (ETPL.deed@state.mn.us) for assistance.
Dislocated Worker Program Web Pages for Partner Audience Redesigned
We are pleased to announce the launch of our updated website, which has been renamed Office of Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs. Dislocated Worker program partners can access the site through Minnesota Employment and Economic Development (MN DEED) website. Its primary audience include employment counselors and staff located across the state at CareerForce locations, partner organizations, and contracted independent organizations.
We worked with our internal communications team to streamline the site design to make it easier to find information and resources to help counselors and service providers administer the programs and serve clients better.
Program options include Dislocated Worker, WIOA Adult, Senior Community Service Employment, Special Initiatives and Grants, and MN RETAIN. Under each program, users can choose to explore resources, forms, policy and guidance, key contacts, news and events, and a list of providers.
We will continue to improve and update the site with relevant information in the coming weeks and on an ongoing basis. We hope that you will take some time to check out the newly redesigned Office of Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Programs website and contact us with any feedback.
Formula Funds – WIOA Adult, WIOA DW and State DW:
- PY23FY24 Workplans/Contracts
- Grantees should receive approved workplans for authorized signature soon. Please continue to serve participants as the contract allows you to start work July 1, 2023 (can backdate to start of the fiscal year).
- PY22 Carry Forward Request Requests
- List of WDAs
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List of SLIGs
- Check your June 2023 Request for Payment (RFP) or Financial Status Report (FSR) for the full amount of your waiver.
- Quarterly Progress Report
- Reports for quarter ending June 2023, was due on July 30. Please ensure all of your active grants have a QPR on file with DEED.
National Dislocated Worker Grants (DWGs)/ Disaster Relief Grants (COVID-19 and OMNI/Opioids):
- We are working on closing both DWGs grants, as they ended on June 30, 2023. We’re happy to report that we’re closing both grants on a high note, thanks to your hard work and diligence!
- There were a total of 247 enrolled in the COVID-19 DWG (96% of goal), 98 Disaster Relief Employment (DRE) positions filled, and total reimbursement at 86. The OMNI grant had a total of 112 enrolled (88% of modified goal), 14 DRE positions filled, and total reimbursement at 96% of allocations (May RPRs).
New Mass Layoff Project
- Employers with 50 employees or more are required by federal law to report large layoffs to the State.
- Check out the Mass Layoff Summary reports identify events, number of workers affected and other relevant information pertaining to large layoffs.
Re-entry Grant
- First monthly grantee meeting held July 12, 2023; the next meeting will be held on August 9.
- Check out the Re-Entry web page for information and resources. We’ll continue to update the page as needed.
Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP)
- Program Year (PY) 2023 Funding Application submitted on time by May 16, 2023, in accordance with TEGL 18-22 instructions. This Application also includes a request to increase Administrative Costs from 13.5% to 15% of total funding allotted. Additionally, a request has been made to allocate 10% in Additional Participant Training and Supportive Services, to allow sub-grantees to spend not less than 68% on participant wages and fringe benefits instead of the standard 78% of the program year allocation.
- Check out the updated SCSEP web page for information and resources. We’ll continue to update the page as needed.
Retaining Employment and Talent after Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN)
- MN RETAIN continues to scale its efforts across Minnesota.
- The team will be at multiple outreach events this summer so if you happen to see us, please stop by our booth and say hello.
- If you or someone you know has injury or illness that affects work? Visit MNRETAIN.com to see if RETAIN could help!
New 2023 Legislative Funding Web Page
- Following the historic legislative session, many Minnesotans and Minnesota businesses and nonprofits are looking for updated information from DEED. We created this new page on DEED’s website, which will be consistently updated with available grant Request for Proposals (RFPs) and other details. If you receive a question tied to DEED funding, please send people to this new web page.
Partners Discuss DW Program on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)
- Kudos to our partners for spreading the word about the DW program on MPR News with Angela Davis! The topic was “How to recover after a job layoff” and the guest list featured Leah McNamee with HIRED in the Twin Cities, and Shelley Jensen-Decker with Minnesota Job Partners, among others. It was also great to hear the success story of program participant, Judy Praska, who benefited from the DW CLIMB activity. The recording is available on podcast.
Question from the Field
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QUESTION: The term “performance” is used a lot in program administration, please clarify what things/activities are official “performance”.
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ANSWER: “Performance” is used for:
- Grants and grant paperwork (looking at what you said you would do with the money compared to what you are doing with the money)
- Performance of a grant or performance needed to complete grant paperwork is on a funding stream level, not program
- Monitoring events (looking at what you said you would do with the money compared to what you are doing with the money)
- Monitors evaluate specific grants so reports related to monitoring events need to be on a funding stream level (whatever grant is being monitored
- 3. Official Performance
- Based on the funding category used to support the participants who are reporting in the period
- If the participant accessed State DW only they will be included in the State DW report
- If the participant accessed WIOA DW only they will be included in the WIOA DW report
- If the participant accessed State DW and WIOA DW they will be included in the State DW and WIOA DW report (all activities merged within the enrollment sequence)
- Rapid Response Events
- Rapid Response competitions are based on the Dislocated Worker Program level.
- Includes all participants in the DW program regardless of grants or grant categories the reporting participants accessed during their enrollment period
Click to edit this placeholder text.
Please email all requests, reports, and technical assistance questions to the Dislocated Worker Federal Adult Programs general email at dwfaprograms.deed@state.mn.us.
 Performance Updates for Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult
PY2021 State/WIOA Dislocated Worker (DW) and WIOA Adult (AD) Allocations
Program Year (PY) 2021 grant allocations expired on June 30, 2023.
If the participant planned on continuing a service that was funded by a PY2021 allocation after June 30, 2023, a new activity should have been opened in Workforce One for every participant who needed to roll over to new funding source by July 31, 2023.
 If needed in an alternative format contact amy.carlson@state.mn.us
Reminder: All Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult program year formula allocations (small layoff grants/WIOA Adult allotments) remain active for two years.
- PY2021 = July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2023 (Now expired)
- PY2022 = July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2024 (Active)
- PY2023 = July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025 (Active)
This means, the new activities created should have a PY2022 or PY2023 formula grant selected within them depending on your agencies budget.
Additional Information on the Program Year 2021 Expiring Grant Allocations
- All activities with a PY2021 allocation selected within them cannot have a start date after June 30, 2023, and they all must have an end date no later than June 30, 2023.
- If any participant will continue participating in an activity that is currently showing a PY2021 allocation supporting that service, that activity needed to be copied within their activity detail screen.
- The new activity needs a start date of July 1, 2023
- An active funding source (PY2022 or PY2023) needs to be selected within them.
- To help in this funding source transition
- Amy Carlson will mass close all currently open PY2021 funded activities as successful and with an end date of June 30, 2023 , which means you will only need to copy the old activities to make your new activities.
- If you want to close the old activities yourself with a date no later than 06/30/2023, 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 7, 2023.
After the mass closure of PY21 activities you can expect the following information
- An email to your local area management team with a list of cases that could not be included in the end of year mass activity closure
- If a list of cases is received it means the case manager assigned did not follow end of year procedures
- Directions will be provided on how the case manager will need to correct their case data and a deadline all corrections need to be completed.
Program Year (PY) 2023 Allocations
The following PY23 funding streams were created in Workforce One and are ready for all eligible participants to access during the timeframe of July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025.
 If needed in an alternative format contact amy.carlson@state.mn.us
Counselor Desk Guide / Program Resources
Should you have any performance or data entry questions, please contact the State Program Administrator Coordinator for ETP Adult programs, Amy Carlson, at amy.carlson@state.mn.us.
 Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA)
Department of Labor Monitoring Visit
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) will conduct a review of Minnesota’s Trade Adjustment Assistance and Trade Readjustment Allowance programs. According to DOL, the review is scheduled for August 28 – September 1, 2023, and will include on-site visits to Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) offices and American Job Centers. The review will encompass all program and fiscal activity from July 27, 2019, to August 27, 2023.
Program Status and Outreach Efforts
The TAA program has funding and continues to serve customers. TAA must be the primary source of funding for customers who are eligible. Previous Partner Express newsletters include articles related to the phased termination that the TAA Program entered on 7/1/22. The U.S. Department of Labor released TEGL 14-22 - Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) for Workers Program Phase-out Termination Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), and is available at https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/advisories/tegl-14-22.
TAA will perform various outreach efforts this fall to ensure those who are eligible for TAA are aware of the benefits available. Contact TAA with outreach suggestions or to ask about an individual’s eligibility.
Virtual Informational Sessions
Minnesota TAA is hosting virtual informational sessions for people who may be eligible to apply for TAA benefits. The team will be inviting people based on their petition and layoff dates. As always, TAA will refer attendees to enroll in the DW program to access their TAA benefits. Thank you in advance for your work to serve these shared customers, some of whom may have been laid off under a TAA petition years ago. Links to the live virtual Microsoft Teams meetings are posted here: https://www.careerforcemn.com/TAA
Petitions
Petitions can still be filed, but DOL’s investigation is paused until program restoration or reauthorization. Here’s the link to check the status of petitions with U.S. Department of Labor: https://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/petitioners
Filed after July 1, 2022
- Torax Medical, St Paul
- Turck, Inc., Plymouth
- Ball Corp, St Paul
- Nordson Medical, Eagan
- Banner Engineering, Huron, SD (HQ in Minnesota)
- Optum, Hopkins
- Puris Proteins, LLC, Turtle Lake, WI
Please email all questions and customer applications to the Trade Adjustment Assistance general email at deed.taa@state.mn.us.
 Monitoring
We are hiring multiple Program Monitors!
Click here to apply: Workforce Development Specialist 3 - Program Monitor- Job ID 66485. Interviews will occur on a continuous basis until positions are filled. Final deadline to apply is August 11, 2023.
About the Job:
Position Title: Program Monitor
Help to support and enhance the quality of workforce readiness programs in Minnesota by monitoring grant programs for fiscal and programmatic compliance with applicable federal and state rules and regulations, as well as DEED guidelines. Apply attention to detail and technical expertise in the areas of accounting, audit, program management and continuous improvement.
DEED is committed to moving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace and across all aspects of life in Minnesota forward. We’re dedicated to a Minnesota that welcomes everyone. Preferred candidates for this position will have experience working effectively with individuals from a variety of backgrounds and cultures.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Monitor federal and state-funded workforce development grants across a diverse array of Employment and Training Programs (ETP). Monitoring portfolio may include a variety of youth, adult, and workforce development area grantees (Dislocated Worker, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult, Adult Career Pathways, WIOA Youth, Youth at Work, and other programs).
- Analyze and compile program data to develop written summaries and reports of monitoring findings for applicable grant programs.
- Identify any potential areas of non-compliance, vulnerability, and risk, then recommend mitigation strategies.
- Provide technical assistance to grantees to resolve compliance findings.
- Interpret legal and regulatory requirements for grantees and provide authoritative advice.
- Embrace a continuous improvement mindset by identifying opportunities to improve or streamline monitoring processes to enhance performance.
- Serve on work groups tasked with developing and/or revising guidelines, policies, and processes on program delivery, monitoring, compliance, performance management, risk assessment, and related operational goals and objectives.
- Identify and participate in training opportunities to improve knowledge, skills, and abilities.
If you have questions about Monitoring content, please email shannon.rolf@state.mn.us.
 CareerForce
Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career
The Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career (Caring Career for short) campaign aims to connect people with employment in home-, community- and facility- based care. The focus is on entry level positions with a potential for career growth. We are hoping to reach young people, New Americans, people who need employment now – and most of all people looking for work where they can make a real difference in the lives of others! Could you please share information – available in multiple languages – with your job-seeking customers?
All public-facing resources are posted on CareerForceMN.com/Caring Career.
Promoting your related training programs: If you nursing assistant, medical assistant or other health care or social service related training programs that could help people prepare for a Caring Career, please make sure they are listed on the CareerForce Training Program Finder.
Caring Career events: Are you planning career exploration or hiring events that could support and be promoted through this campaign on the Caring Career events page and on the regular CareerForceMN.com job fair calendar?
Caring Career social media and other graphics – graphics sized for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter are posted: https://www.careerforcemn.com/CaringCareerGraphics
- Note to partners: please use #CaringCareerMN when you post related to this campaign so that CareerForceMN, DEED and others can find and share your posts!
Have questions about this campaign or ideas to make it successful? Please share your ideas with CareerForce@state.mn.us and note Caring Career in the subject line.
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Contact the CareerForce Information and Assistance line at 651-259-7500 or careerforce@state.mn.us if you have questions.
 Labor Market Information
New articles from DEED’s Labor Market Information office include:
An analysis of Hiring Demand in the Metro Area, which looks at how the Seven-County Twin Cities Metro Area’s labor market continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession, and how hiring demand across the region continues to remain near historic highs.
Minnesota’s economy is projected to add 28,623 jobs between the end of 2022 and end of 2023, a 0.9% increase, according to Short Term Projections: Back to Normal. In the context of the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the projected percent employment change is slower than the previous two years, but right in line with employment growth seen before 2020.
In our article about Personal Income Increase During the Pandemic, we detail how the pandemic-induced economic damage in 2020 included a record plunge in employment, a tidal wave of initial claims for unemployment benefits, skyrocketing unemployment rates, elevated business closures and yet robust personal income growth.
If you have questions about Labor Market Information, please email deed.lmi@state.mn.us.
This newsletter is meant for DEED Grantees, Providers, and Employment Counselors. We want this e-Newsletter to meet your needs! We encourage you to send your comments and suggestions to deed.taa@state.mn.us.
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