Narrative: III. b. 4. B.

Requested Revision; In addition to monitoring of One-Stop partner programs conducted by their own administrative entity, the level and ability of the partner programs to adhere to the activities identified in the local area MOU, that pertain to provision of and access to services and cross-agency referrals, will be reviewed as part of the MOU review process identified by each local board and as part of the annual monitoring process conducted by the MDOL (State Workforce Agency). Local areas are required to provide an annual report on the progress of their local/regional strategic plan activities, including partner-related activities identified in in the plans. These reports will also be used to evaluation and assess the efficacy of One-Stop Partner roles in the local systems. The State Workforce Board has a subcommittee made up of Required One-Stop Partners. The committee was expanded significantly to include key optional partners who play a significant role in Maine’s workforce system. The partners of this committee will meet quarterly and will inform the State Board of partnership and integration goals, successes and challenges. The committee includes the State or Regional administrative entity for each required and optional partner some of whom also sit on the State Board as required under WIOA, the members include: Local Board Directors, State Leads for: Labor Exchange, Veteran’s Services, Vocational Rehabilitation, Unemployment Compensation, Adult Education, Job Corps, Community Services Block Grants, SCSEP, Trade Adjustment Assistance, and the Maine Community College System Carl Perkins Grant lead, and EMDC - the lead agency for the NFJP grant, the TANF program lead and Department of Corrections Employment and Training Programs. In addition, the committee includes: the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy Indian Nations, the Maine Competitive Skills Scholarship Program, the Maine Apprenticeship Program, the Maine Development Foundation, the Maine State Library System, New Ventures Maine, CAP Agencies, the University of Maine and the Department of Economic and Community Development. The mission for this subcommittee is to provide leadership to their service providers in the local areas to implement and improve a customer-centric, seamless, integrated workforce system that meets the needs of workers, including those with barriers to employment and employers. The State Workforce Development Board reviewed all of the criteria stipulated by WIOA and the final regulations that must be considered for One-Stop Certification; they felt it was already a very thorough list. They identified two additional items to be included as criteria for certification. The first area was outreach, the level, methods and outcomes of outreach efforts to both employers and target populations, particularly to employers with high-demand, high-wage job openings and particularly to targeted population that cannot readily access the one-stop services because the live in isolated areas or because they are currently incarcerated and waiting for release. In addition to Outreach, the SWDB identified the ability of individual one-stops to meet or exceed performance measures so that not only local area performance can be compared but one-stop center performance can be compared and best practices identified and replicated and/or corrective action plan or additional resources and technical assistance can be applied to one-stops that are having difficulty meeting or exceeding performance measures. A one-stop certification policy draft is being developed that will inform local boards of these two additional requirements and that will recap the WIOA requirements for One-Stop Certification. Once completed it will be included in the State Unified Plan.