July 2026
CareerForce.MN.gov is now Minnesota's official labor exchange
Encourage job seekers you are working with to visit CareerForce.MN.gov today.
Here are some of the many ways CareerForce.MN.gov can help a person prepare for and find employment now:
CareerForce.MN.gov has replaced MinnesotaWorks as Minnesota's official labor exchange, effective June 10, 2026.
This means that Minnesota Unemployment Insurance applicants are required to create an account on CareerForce.MN.gov as part of their work search plan.
Resource to use with job seekers:
Resources to use with employers:
Helpful Resources for You:
|
Share your valuable insights and complete the Job Search Experience Survey today! Survey Closes July 3
If you work regularly with job seekers, please take a few minutes to complete the Job Search Experience Survey, which gathers the perspectives of workforce development professionals across the state!
All workforce development organization staff members, Local Area employees and others who work regularly with job seekers in Minnesota to help them prepare for and/or find work are invited to take this survey.
- It only takes about 10 minutes to complete, including the optional open-ended questions
The survey closes at the end of the day on July 3
- The next Job Search Experience survey will go live in January 2027
There are three goals of this survey:
- Gathering anecdotal “job search experience” info that is useful in multiple ways
- Providing opportunities to raise awareness about programs and services for job seekers and employers, including through news media coverage
- Showcasing workforce development professionals as the job search experts in Minnesota
Compiled survey results will be shared:
With DEED, LWDA and other workforce development system leaders, in DEED Labor Market Information research and presentations, in the WEEKLY CAREERFORCE UPDATE email, as a blog post on CareerForce.MN.gov, on social media, in news media interviews, and potentially in other ways. Names of those participating in the survey will not be shared publicly.
|
 Adult Career Pathways Team News:
Monitoring Continues
The Monitoring and Compliance Team, along with Adult Career Pathways (ACP) Coordinators, have been busy conducting monitoring visits and providing technical assistance to grantees throughout the state. Monitoring helps ensure compliance with grant requirements, while also identifying promising practices, celebrating successes, and providing support to grantees as they work toward achieving grant outcomes. Thank you for working collaboratively with your ACP Coordinator and the Monitoring and Compliance Team.
Tips/Tricks/Reminders:
Job Listing Agreement
Business or private enterprise grantees (which encompasses entities organized for a commercial purpose as well as private, non-governmental entities such as nonprofit corporations) receiving $200,000 or more annually (calendar year) in grant funding from the State are required to list new or vacant positions on CareerForce.MN.gov as soon as they become available.
Important Deadlines for Grants that Ended June 30, 2026
Please keep the following deadlines in mind for contracts that ended June 30, 2026:
- Final RPR/FSR due: July 20, 2026
- Revised or supplemental RPRs will not be accepted after this date.
- If your contract includes SFY2025 funding, you must submit a final FSR so all expenditures are recorded in the correct state fiscal year.
- All contract expenses must be submitted by July 20, 2026.
- Funds associated with these contracts will not be available beyond July 20, 2026.
- Data Entry and Participant Exit Deadline: All data entry must be completed within 45 days of the end date of the contract, and all participants must be exited in Workforce One by Friday, August 14, 2026.
- Final Grant Report due: July 30, 2026.
Food Purchases with Grant Funds
DO:
- Ensure food purchases are included in your approved budget or have prior approval from your ACP Coordinator.
- Purchase food only when it directly supports an approved program activity.
- Use reasonable, cost-effective options.
DON’T:
- Seek reimbursement for food purchases if they are not included in your approved grant agreement and/or if you do not have prior approval from your ACP Coordinator.
- Purchase food for staff-only meetings, office celebrations, holidays, etc.
- Purchase excessive or unnecessarily expensive food items when lower-cost alternatives would reasonably meet the program need.
- Purchase food without documentation linking it to participant services or program activities.
- Assume all food costs are allowable because participants are present.
Workforce One Enrollment Change
In their June build, Workforce One will be adding a new Race category (Middle Eastern/North African) to the enrollment panel. Grantees may want to update their enrollment materials accordingly.
Adult Career Pathways Webpage
Check out the ACP home page for resources and tools to assist in the management of ACP Grants.
ACP Successes
We'd love to learn about the amazing work you're doing and how it is positively impacting the lives of individuals throughout the State of Minnesota! To submit a success story, please fill out this brief ACP Success Stories Form.
DEED’s Transformative Career Pathways (TCP) Workforce grant has had an immediate and meaningful impact on 15 students at Dunwoody College of Technology who were struggling with financial stress at the start of the school year. As a result of DEED funding being used to offset the cost of tuition and support services, these students are now able to focus on their studies and career goals rather than worrying about how to make ends meet.
For two students, the award meant being able to repair their car — a necessity for getting to both work and class. Without the support, they would have had to work extra hours on top of a full-time course load just to cover the repair costs, putting their academic success at risk.
Another student, who had been on the verge of dropping out due to financial hardship that hindered them from meeting out of pocket tuition cost, was able to stay enrolled and continue progressing toward graduation. Thanks to DEED funding, she now has renewed motivation and stability to persist through the semester.
One more student experienced housing insecurity, and the TCP Workforce funding was able to help ensure she had a safe place to live while focusing on her academic achievement in the fall.
These stories reflect the grant’s powerful role in removing financial barriers and keeping students on the path to success. Each award not only eases a financial burden but also strengthens a student’s confidence, resilience, and ability to reach their long-term goals.
Please contact your Adult Career Pathways Grant Coordinator directly with any questions regarding Adult Career Pathways Programs.
Upcoming DOL Monitoring:
- The U.S Department of Labor (DOL) will be conducting an in-person monitoring of WIOA Dislocated Worker and Adult Program during the week of June 29th, 2026.
- Minneapolis Employment and Training (WDA 10) was selected for a visit. We are working closely with Minneapolis to ensure a smooth as possible visit.
- High Priority Focus Areas: Eligibility verification, data accuracy and validation, and Career Services Reporting.
Minnesota Job Skills Partnership Board Meeting Updates:
- On 6/15/26, the Minnesota Job Skills Partnership (MJSP) Board approved an additional $9.1M to close the SFY27 State DW funding gap. This will bring the State DW budget from $15.6M to $24.8M.
- The Board also approved moving $5M into the Job Skills Partnership unit’s budget.
WIOA Adult, WIOA and State Dislocated Worker Programs
- PY26/FY27 grant contracts – planning documents are being processed. Please submit your planning documents as soon as possible. Providers will have access to funds as soon as contracts are fully executed and funding streams set up in Workforce One (WF).
New Mass Layoff Project Awarded to Local Area
-
Northeast Minnesota Office of Job Training -JET was awarded a mass layoff project to serve impacted workers of Minnesota Twist Drill closure. An acquisition of the company resulted in permanent closure and layoff of approximately 77 employees from their Chisholm and Hibbing facilities. If any dislocated workers from Minnesota Twist Drill apply for services at your location, please refer them to a JET office location that best serves them.
Workforce One (WF1) June Quarterly Build: Dislocated Worker Program (DW) – Related Changes
The following DW related changes were shared at the 7.20 Sprint 2 Review meeting on June 10, 2026. This meeting reviewed work completed from 5/5/26 - 6/2/26. All items listed will be put into production at the end of June.
- Activity Add/Edit – DW – Change Rapid Response Case Note Category to "Data Validation"
- Demographic Edit – Remove validation for Right to Work fields
- Eligibility Add/Edit/View/Print – Adult/DW/RETAIN – Display Expiration Date field when Citizen/Right to Work is set to "Right to Work" and add eligibility logic
- Eligibility/Enrollment View/Print – Adult/DW/WIOA Youth – Rearrange fields for consistency
- Enrollment Add/Edit/View/Print – ETP – Remove "Layoff Related to COVID–19" and "Layoff Related to Civil Unrest" fields
- eSignature Summary – Display "Cancel" link and "Refresh Out for Signature" button when in "Sending" status
- Follow–up Add/Edit – ETP/DCYF – Move Add/Delete Employer buttons and add number to the Employer Information panel header
- Funding Stream Add/Edit – Inactivate NEG Disaster category
- Multiple pages – Improve performance on pages where Agency/COFFR/Program is retrieved
- REPORT – Activity Detail – Add column for Referral Type and Partner Program
- REPORT – Caseload Current Detail – Adult/DW/WIOA ISY/OSY – Add Projected Exit Date column for programs with Pending Exit process
- REPORT – Credential Summary – Add total rows for groups of credential types
- RETAIN Services Add/Edit – Allow services to be entered within 9 months of enrollment date
- Support Service Summary – Adult/DW – Allow Agency System Management Users to Add and Edit for 3 years after exit
More information can be found in WF1 7.20 Sprint 2 Review PowerPoint, saved in WF1 under Resources > WF1 News. A link to the recording of the meeting is posted on the WF1 login page. Submit a WF1 help desk ticket for questions or login issues.
Policy
- Two Technical Assistance Bulletins (TABs), two Technical Assistance Response (TAR) Letters and one updated Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) were published on Friday, 6/12/26:
- The new Policy Request Form continues to be tested as a way to receive and process policy related requests. Stakeholders are welcome to submit request as part of the testing process. Stakeholders can submit actual requests and feedback on the Form itself.
- The Dislocated Worker and Federal Adult Program’s (DWFAP’s) policy and guidance webpage received an update on 6/4/26. The updates better display DWFAP’s TABs and TAR Letters and make the page more reader friendly.
Reminders
- Ensure all information in planning documents (or modifications) are accurate - especially grantee’s legal name & address, dates of grant, award amount, work plan numbers, and budget tables.
- Grantee must have an active master grant contract agreement (“master contract”)
- End date of WIOA funds would be only through end date of master contract, and, if needed, WIOA grant agreement would be amended to the new end date once a new master contract is executed.
- Common errors on planning/contracting documents:
- Grantee Name & Address; doesn’t match SWIFT.
- Math in Work Plan or Budget is incorrect.
- Amount on PSP doesn’t match Budget table.
- Headers in Exhibit/Attachment are incorrect.
- All fonts need to be black, and no highlights are allowed.
- Monthly Financial Status Report (FSR)/Monthly Reimbursement Payment Request (RPR) are due on the 20th day of the month following the preceding month-end.
- Quarterly Progress Reports (QPRs) for the period ending June 30, 2026, are due on July 31st.
Please email all requests, reports, and technical assistance questions to the Dislocated Worker Federal Adult Programs general email at dwfaprograms.deed@state.mn.us.
 Eligible Training Provider List: 6/17/2026
- PY2025 Quarter 3 Listing Achievements: 01/01/2026 – 03/31/2026
- Total Number of Training Institutions Listed: 602
- Number of New Training Institutions reviewed: 14
- Number approved for listing: 2
- Number denied for listing: 12
- Total Number of Training Programs Listed: 7,752
- Number of Training Programs Reviewed: 1,033
- Number approved for listing: 1,028
- Deemed WIOA Certified (Credentialed): 693
- Deemed Occupationally Specific, Non-credentialed Training: 88
- Deemed Basic Skills Training: 247
- Registered Apprenticeships: 0
- Number denied for listing: 5
- Technical Assistance Provided in PY2025 Quarter 3:
- Technical Assistance Provided:
- Number of Training Institutions Received Technical Assistance: 36
- Number of scheduled Technical Assistance Events: 3
- ETPL Modernization/Cleanup Updates:
1/21/2026:
-
- ETPL and CEE changes to behind-the-scenes table structure
- ETPL – inactivated offerings that had not been reviewed in the last 2 years
4/9/2026:
-
- CEE – corrected header on Occupational detail page
- CEE – accessibility improvements
5/20/2026:
-
- CEE – accessibility improvements, ETPL admin dashboard improvements
- CEE – fixed the assistance page content
- ETPL – allow providers to inactivate their own offerings
- CEE – change helper text on Occupation detail page
Planned Deployment: 6/24/2026:
-
- CEE – adding button for full list of apprenticeships
- CEE – changing the apply for job link on Occupation detail pages, to go to CareerForce.MN.gov
- ETPL correcting provider and offering description validation rules
- ETPL – allow providers to copy their inactive offerings and have them sent back to ETPL Admin for review
PY2024 Allocation, PY2023 Reallocation, and expiring mass layoff project Closeouts for the Dislocated Worker (DW) and WIOA Adult (AD) Programs:
Reminder: PY2024 allocations and PY2023 reallocations will be expiring on June 30, 2026.
If the participant will continue receiving a service currently supported by PY2024 allocations, PY2023 reallocations, or expiring mass layoff projects after June 30, 2026, a new activity will need to be opened for each continuing service the participant will move forward receiving.
Reminder: All Dislocated Worker and WIOA Adult annual formula allocations (small layoff grants/WIOA Adult allotments) remain active for two years.
- PY2024 = July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2026
- PY2025 = July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2027
- PY2026 = July 1, 2026 – June 30, 2028
This means their new activity will need a PY2025 or PY2026 formula grant selected within them depending on your agency’s budget. PY2026 allocation funding streams will be activated as soon as those contracts are executed through DEED’s Fiscal team.
IMPORTANT PY24 ALLOCATION & PY23 REALLOCATION WF1 CLOSEOUT INFORMATION:
- All activities with a PY2024 allocation, PY23 reallocation, or expiring mass layoff project selected within them cannot have a start date after June 30, 2026. They must also have an end date no later than June 30, 2026.
- If any participant will continue receiving a service captured in an activity that is currently showing a PY2024 allocation, PY23 reallocation, or expiring mass layoff project supporting that service financially, that activity needs to be copied within the participant’s WF1 activity detail screen.
- The new activity will need a start date of July 1,
- An active funding source (PY2025 or PY2026) will need to be selected as the grant financially supporting the continued service.
- Two Exceptions to this process:
- Pending Exit Activities:
- If the only activity on the case is one of the two pending exit activities, nothing needs to be updated on the case due to the expiring grants.
- This is because the pending exit activity will automatically close retroactively to its Start Date.
- Some Training Activities:
- If a training activity was fully funded using the expiring grant, do not copy the training activity.
- Instead, keep a list of your participants who are in this same situation.
- When the mass closure occurs, these activities will be included and closed.
- After the mass closure is performed, in early August 2026, the case manager will need to go back into those case records to edit the training activity and remove its end date.
- When the participant finishes the fully funded training, the case manager will close the training activity with the actual end date of training.
- To help in this funding source transition
- Mohamed Farah will mass close all currently open PY24 allocation, PY23 Reallocations, and expiring mass layoff project funded activities with an end date of June 30, 2026, which means you will only need to open/copy the old activities.
- If you want to close the old activities yourself with a date no later than June 30, 2026, that is perfectly fine.
- If you choose not to close them yourself, it will be taken care of for
- This mass activity closure will begin August 3,
- If there are cases without open activities on record showing an active grant as the funding source, the mass closure will not work for those cases.
- Any cases that show they cannot be included in this mass activity closure will be emailed to the management team for the COFFR funding the case.
- This communication will include directions on how the case manager will need to correct their data.
- Shortly after July 1, 2026, new funding streams will be added to your dropdown lists for PY2026
- The date these new funding streams will be available depends on when PY2026 contracts are in place. Your management teams will be alerted as soon as your agency’s PY2026 funding streams are available in WF1.
Please email all requests, reports, and technical assistance questions to the performance team’s general email address: performanceap.deed@state.mn.us
July is Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career Month
July is Follow Your Heart to a Caring Career month on the shared editorial calendar.
Visit CareerForce.MN.gov/CaringCareer to access resources to share with job seekers. A variety of occupational handouts, and a Caring Career pathway one-sheeter, along with other resources, encourage job seekers to consider working as a Nursing Assistant or Personal Care Aide or in another direct care position.
Linked from that page you can also find resources to help home, community and facility-based care employers recruit, hire and retain the direct care employees they need.
Highlighted resources:
If you are hosting a job fair or other event featuring employers from the Health Care & Social Assistance industry, make sure to get your event on the CareerForce Job Fair and Networking event calendar!
|
Contact the CareerForce Information and Assistance line at 651-259-7500 or careerforce@state.mn.us if you have questions.
 In a new article titled "Insights from the Frontlines: Employers Still Struggle with Finding Workers They Need Despite Loosening Labor Market", authors Rita Beatty & Luke Greiner point out that while employers may currently have more applicants for open positions, they still lack qualified applicants, especially for the trades and entry‑level health care roles. Staff also noted that employers struggle with the lack of soft skills, including communication and punctuality, among workers.
Minnesota's labor market is not as tight as it was a few years ago, but many Minnesota employers continue to face challenges finding the workers they need according to results from the most recent Employer Experience Survey. These employer services staff who responded to the survey help businesses navigate opportunities and challenges; with staff working at various organizations across Minnesota such as: chambers, economic development organizations, municipalities, Local Workforce Development Boards and the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
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
|
