Narrative: III. b. 2.

STATE POLICIES Administrators of the Maine’s core programs had extensive discussions regarding the policies and practices that will enable the State to achieve its strategic objectives. At the beginning of these discussions, it became apparent that establishing the basic operating principles, or the ‘must haves’ of an integrated workforce development system, will be essential to creating operational plans that implement the State’s strategies. The principles outline how services can be integrated and delivered to customers of the one—stop system with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness in serving clients, minimizing duplication of efforts and increasing customer satisfaction. Following are the stages of customer flow that Maine’s core partner programs developed for one—stop centers. • Initial Triage • Intake • Assessment by one of four core partners, • Services and plan development Initial Triage —The first point of contact for customer at a One—stop center must be knowledgeable, welcoming and capable of assessing the customer’s needs and circumstances (e.g. does the customer have a disability?). In addition to performing an initial triage” (a series of questions to identify what the customer’s needs and where to direct them) the initial contact person, or “navigator” will make the customer feel understood and connected. The navigator is responsible for directing customers to the optimal resources: intake, a specific program (referral) or the information center (self service). Intake (the process of gathering the data to determine eligibility)—Maine will have a common intake system where relevant customer data is captured and is electronically available to all partners with the informed consent of the customer. This will reduce the need for customers to fill out intake forms multiple times, thereby increasing efficiency of operations and customer satisfaction. Common intake will also foster greater continuity of service. Assessment—Currently, each core program has a unique assessment process, which requires customers to be re—assessed when they enroll in a different program. While the core programs share a common purpose in assessing clients, there exists little standardization in the tools and processes used. Maine’s assessment process will be: o Standardized. Core partners will set standards for assessment tools that are accessible and to be used for specific purposes (i.e. CASAS for numeracy and literacy). Standardization will create opportunities for cost savings and enhance customer service; o Seamless. Core partners will be able to access customer assessments across programs. As clients move to new programs their test results will follow them electronically, eliminating the need for retaking the same test twice. Customers will only take tests when a different skill needs to be assessed. This modular system of assessment will minimize duplication of effort, streamline the customer experience and result in better communications among programs. o Integrated. Partners will recognize a customer’s assessment when it was conducted by another partner. This will minimize the retaking of tests and duplication of efforts. Services and Plan Development (getting every customer employed or on a career path). Currently, a client’s plan is not routinely shared among partners, thus reinforcing the ‘siloed’ nature of the existing system. As part of this unified plan, policies will be developed to enable a client’s service plan to follow them (paper copy or scanned file) when they are referred to a new program.

POLICIES SUPPORTING THE ENACTMENT OF THESE BASIC PRINCIPLES A range of policies (enumerated below) will be developed by the WIOA Steering Committee to support the aforementioned ‘must haves’: • Policies governing—and optimizing—communication across and among programs and partners to foster better continuity of service and reduce ‘drop—out’ rates; • Protocols for record sharing (or scanned sharing) of individualized service plans among partners; • The development of a quasi—standard individualized service plans template (programs are expected to continue to use their proprietary framework); • Policy on standards for assessments and protocols for inter—agency and inter—program assessment sharing; • Policies for professional development to enable the: o development of new skill sets for those operating as navigators; o proper reading and interpretation of partner individualized service plans; o proper interpretation of intake data; o proper use of the front—end software; o proper interpretation of assessment data. • Policies governing the development of system improvement measures (measuring communication, drop outs, number of customers referred, etc.). MOUs will also be developed and guide work that can be done by and between partners to align services and formalize referral processes and guidelines. Such agreements will also catalog and map out the parts of the workforce development system that will be made up of comprehensive one—stop centers, satellite one—stop centers, and various other points of service entry, such as partner service sites. The MOUs will be a major tool for articulating specific ways that resources, services, and information can be aligned and integrated and the level and extent to which each partner will jointly serve and or refer an individual customer.