September 2023

Adult Career Pathways (ACP)

Team Updates

The ACP Team was excited to release seven SFY2024-2025 Requests for Proposals (RFPs) to the DEED Competitive Grants and Contracts page. The Southeast Asian Economic Disparities and Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA) applications were due Aug 21, 2023 and the three Pathways to Prosperity (On-Ramp to Career Pathways, Bridge to Career Pathways, and Individualized Training Pathways) applications were due Aug 28, 2023.

The Adult Support Services and Getting to Work applications are still open, due Sept 11, 2023.

We encourage Grantees and any interested organization to visit the site and review all outgoing grants. 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. A reminder, when applying for ACP Competitive grants to not send your attachments in ZIP files. Review the directions carefully and send 2 separate PDF documents.

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.

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.”

SFY24-25 Adult Direct Appropriation 

The ACP team is working closely with all Adult Direct Appropriation Grantees to finalize the SFY24-25 contracts. We appreciate your patience as these move through our contracting process.

 Mark your Calendars!

• Wednesday September 13^th – Direct Appropriation Grantee Onboarding session. ACP Coordinators will facilitate a training session to review grant and participant requirements and monitoring and fiscal requirements.
• Wednesday September 20^th – Direct Appropriation Grantee Workforce One Training.

Watch for communication from your Coordinator for information about how to register you and your teams.

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. 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

Formula Funds – WIOA Adult, WIOA DW and State DW:

• 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)
  • Reports are due 30 days after the end of the quarter. Quarter ending June 2023 was due on July 30. Reports must be completed for all active grants.

New Mass Layoff Project:

• HIRED’s 3M Project fully funded
• Teamster’s Yellow Corporation Start-up funding released
• Employers with 50 employees or more are required by federal law to report large layoffs to the state Dislocated Worker Program.
• Mass Layoff Summary reports identify events, number of workers affected and other relevant information pertaining to large layoffs.

Re-Entry Grant

• Connected with DOC and have the following link to their transitions fairs held for those nearing release: - fairs.doc@state.mn.us
• The next monthly meeting for grantees will be held on September 13.
• 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) 

• 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.
• If you or someone you know have an injury or illness that affects work? Visit mnretain.com to see if RETAIN could help!

Upcoming Events:

• Dislocated Worker Virtual Roundtable: September 27-28, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm. More information to come.
• Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) Board: The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, October 23, 2023. State DW supplemental funding request is due 30 days before, on September 22

If you have any questions or need additional information, please send an email to the DWFAP general inbox: dwfaprograms.deed@state.mn.us.

Question from the Field

• QUESTION: We have numerous tag lines and boilerplate language now required on promotional materials. I list below each item CMJTS understands is necessary on DEED-funded program flyers, etc. Please confirm which are needed and when.
• ANSWER:

          We recommend the following:

• FEDERAL GRANTS: DW, Adult, DWGs, RETAIN, WIOA Youth-funded programs:

This program is supported by the US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (DOL/ETA) as part of an award totaling $__________________ with ________% financed with non-governmental sources.

• State-funded programs: ALL ACP grants, State DW, state-funded Youth programs:

“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.”

Please continue to 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

IMPORTANT UPDATE: 

Performance scorecards for Program Year 2022 through Quarter 4 will be provided at the September 27, 2023, Minnesota Association of Workforce Boards, Jobseeker Services Committee meeting. These scorecards include WIOA Adult, WIOA Dislocated Worker, WIOA Dislocated Worker Grants (previously known as National Emergency Grants (DWGs), State Dislocated Worker, and Total Dislocated Worker. You will also find this information included in the October 2023 Partner Express Newsletter.         

PY2021 Dislocated Worker (DW) and WIOA Adult (AD) Allocation Closeouts

The team appreciates all the wonderful collaboration and efforts counselors put into updating their case records for the mass closure of Program Year 2021 grant allocations!!  

• All cases with only “Employed, Pending Exit” and “Pending Exit, Other” activities open on their record were not impacted by the mass PY21 closeout
• All cases with open PY21 funded activities and open activities with an active grant selected within them were affected by the mass PY21 closeout. You will notice the following changes.
  • The PY21 funded activities are now closed with the date of 06/30/2023
  • The closed PY21 activities have “Successful” Completion Results

Recommendations: Review your caseloads to confirm all active participant services are accurately captured on their case records.

• If you have a case who is continuing to receive a service that was fully funded by the (now closed) PY21 grant selected within it, update the case record by doing the following.
  1. Click “Edit” on the right side of the listed activity (within the WF1 Activity Summary screen)
  2. Remove the Activity’s “End Date”, which will be 06/30/2023
  3. Save the updated activity
  4. When the participant completes the service, close the PY21 funded activity with the actual date the participant stopped receiving that prepaid service

• If you have a case with an “Employed, Pending Exit” or “Pending Exit, Other” activity on it that was not closed in the mass closure of PY21 grant allocations AND the participant returns for additional services (not follow-up services) within 90 days of the activity’s start date, update the case record by doing the following:
  1. Click “Edit” on the right side of the listed “Employed, Pending Exit” or “Pending Exit, Other” activity (within the WF1 Activity Summary screen)
     • Close the activity with the date of 06/30/2023
     • Select “Unsuccessful” as the Completion
  2. Case note the new case details
     • Explain why the “Employed, Pending Exit” or “Pending Exit, Other” activity was closed prematurely
     • Provide the normal information required when approving/considering a service
  3. Open a new activity that best describes the additional service you approved for the participant
     • The start date of this activity should be the date the additional service was approved by staff and the participant began receiving the service
       • This must be within 90 days of the pending exit activity’s start date
     • The funding stream within the new activity should be the grant being used to support the new service financially (this cannot be a PY21 grant allocation)
     • The End date of the new activity should be the last date the participant received that service
  4. Open a new “Employed, Pending Exit” or “Pending Exit, Other” activity
     • The start date of this activity should be the End Date of the most recent service/activity end date
     • The funding stream that supported that last service
       • This cannot be a PY21 grant allocation
  5. Go into the case record’s Exit Detail screen and update your Pending Exit details
     • Save Exit as Pending
  6. This case will automatically exit the program after 90 days of no additional services If the participant returns for additional services within this 90 day countdown, repeat these steps

Required PY2021 Allocation Closeout Clean-up

More information will be emailed to local area program leaders soon.

That information will provide the following details.

• Listed instructions on required updates to WF1 data entry your staff will need to perform in order to correct case details that were unable to be included in the mass PY21 closure
• An Excel spreadsheet with 3 tabs will be attached to the email your receive
  • Tab 1, will contain WIOA Adult WF1 record IDs
  • Tab 2, will contain WIOA Dislocated Worker WF1 record IDs
  • Tab 3, will contain State Dislocated Worker WF1 record IDs

Final Counts and Results of Program Year 2021 grant Allocation Closeout

If needed in an alternative format contact amy.carlson@state.mn.us

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) recently conducted a review of Minnesota’s Trade Adjustment Assistance and Trade Readjustment Allowance programs. DOL will provide DEED with a monitoring report within 45 days after the visit. TAA appreciates the Dislocated Worker providers’ collaboration related to the visit.

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 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.

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
• United Language Group, Minneapolis

Please email all questions and customer applications to the Trade Adjustment Assistance general email at deed.taa@state.mn.us.

CareerForce

CareerForceMN.com is a great career exploration and job search resource – with information tailored to the Minnesota labor market!

Have you reviewed the resources on CareerForceMN.com lately? Have you shared CareerForceMN.com resources with your job-seeking customers?

Did you know that people can search for open positions in Minnesota, view occupational information for hundreds of positions, including Minnesota wage data and demand projections – and more – all without creating an account

Check out these online resources – and share them with your customers.

• Explore occupations by comparing educational requirements, wages, demand and more
• View career fairs and other hiring events taking place around Minnesota
• Search open positions across the state by location, keyword, job title and employer name

Have feedback on CareerForceMN.com? Please share it via an email to CareerForce@state.mn.us with CareerForceMN.com feedback in the subject line – or just complete this handy online form. We look forward to hearing what you think!

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:

A spotlight on Northeast Minnesota's Public Sector, which highlights how government jobs play an outsize role in Greater Minnesota's economy. They pay above average wages and are relatively more concentrated outside of the Twin Cities Metro. Public Sector jobs accounted for 13% of Minnesota's employment in 2022, compared to Northeast Minnesota government jobs representing 18.4% of employment.

And in an update on the Job Openings and Labor Turnover (JOLTS) Survey conducted by the BLS, data shows that the number of job openings increased by 4,000 or 1.9% in Minnesota to 210,000 in May on a seasonally adjusted basis. Job openings are down 18,000 from one year ago or 7.9%. This compares to a decline of 14% at the national level over the year. Minnesota had 0.4 unemployed workers for each job vacancy in May, unchanged from April. This is up from one year ago, which was at 0.3 unemployed workers for every job opening. This indicates that, while Minnesota's labor market remains extremely tight, the hiring situation has improved somewhat over the year.

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.

Past issues of the Partner Express

Subscribe to the Partner Express