Narrative: II. a. 2. A.

Developing and updating Minnesota’s Combined State Plan to meet the requirements of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) has enabled Minnesota to look closely at the state’s current workforce development system to determine what works and what improvements can be made to meet changing needs. This plan seeks to address significant challenges to the workforce development system and ongoing opportunity barriers faced by the state residents the system supports. Challenges include labor force availability; disparate impact populations, such as people of color, individuals with disabilities and disconnected youth; increased reliance on technology, and the need to remain relevant and useful to job seekers, given their rapidly changing capacities and expectations.

Under WIOA, the activities of the workforce development system are categorized within three areas: 1) Career Services; 2) Training Services and 3) Business Services. The following is a high–level description of these three categories of services, as they are provided in the state of Minnesota and represent all core programs, Combined State Plan programs and optional one-stop delivery system partners.

Career Services – WIOA has 13 required elements for career services, all which support customers to make informed decisions about their career choices and to understand the resources needed and available to assist them with pursuing their goals. Minnesota’s system focuses on providing career information, job seeker services and connections to support services that help individuals become job seeker ready and help ensure they have the level of stability necessary to successfully hold a job. System partners provide a robust range of workshops, e–learning, one–on–one meetings and other resources to help people prepare for a successful job search.

Minnesota’s career services are supported by nationally recognized labor market information systems and a "Creative Job Search" curriculum, as well as workshops designed for a wide range of needs – including career planning, skills assessment, resume writing, interviewing and how to use social media in your job search. Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) division also has laid the ground work for moving services to the web by creating e–learning courses based on the Creative Job Search curriculum. Resource referrals are also a critical component in connecting job seekers with needed resources. These services are provided throughout the system at Workforce Centers, partner sites and are often augmented by services through non–required titles/partners, such as the public library system. DEED provides required and optional training to all Core program, Combined State Plan programs and optional one-stop delivery system partners to ensure consistent approaches and quality services for all job seekers.

All core programs participate in career services to the fullest extent possible through collocation at Workforce Centers and other locations determined necessary for serving job seekers. Title II being the exception to collocation, works closely with WorkForce Centers to coordinate career services and referrals among the programs for seamless transition for customers. Having a “career and work oriented” context for much of their instruction, including computer literacy, provides strong support for job seekers to transition to services at the Workforce Centers.

All other Combined State Plan programs also have direct connections to career services provided to job seekers and program participants through the WorkForce Centers. As an example, TANF services are currently located at 45 of the 48 WorkForce Centers in Minnesota. Post-secondary Carl Perkins is the only non-direct individual service provider in the Combined State Plan, but the work they produce aligns with the building of career services that support career pathway thinking.

Training Services – WIOA broadens the system’s approach to training services, placing greater emphasis on recognition of work and experiential–based learning; portable and stackable credentials which lead to a career pathway that supports family sustaining wages. One of the key entry points for many adults and youth is Adult Basic Education, which focuses on a range of educational needs, such as basic literacy and English as a second language; GED preparation; and “bridge” programming that combines basic skills education contextualized for career pathways and preparation for post–secondary training.

Minnesota’s post–secondary options are abundant and varied. These opportunities include traditional education; customized training; private training providers; all levels of credentialing; registered apprenticeships and other work–based learning options. With funding dedicated for education and training, system partners use Minnesota’s federal and state training resources, including the state’s general and Workforce Development Fund, which helps retrain dislocated workers and has funded career pathways programing, increasing the access through community–based organizations who serve targeted populations and returning veterans.

All core programs participate in training services, as allowed by their federal title rules and regulations. Title I-B and Title IV programs support Youth, Adult, Dislocated workers and individuals with disabilities, often coordinated with state funding and other community based services to ensure successful alignment and outcomes of educational and employment goals. Title II provides services to Minnesota’s most diverse population of any plan partner and plays a strategic role in basic skills attainment and preparation for post-secondary education. Title III, which doesn’t allow for occupational training activities, serves as a key linchpin for the referral process as they are often the first point of customer contact in the system for low income adults, dislocated workers and other targeted populations.

All other Combined State Plan programs, as allowed by their federal title rules and regulations, participate in the provision of training services. Most of these programs have greater restrictions on the provision of training services, but often provide the opportunity for co-enrollment and possible greater reliance on more traditional sources of financial aid for college or other opportunities. Post-secondary Carl Perkins, as non-direct service provider, is more embedded in the design of post-secondary education, supporting the development of new education and training for emerging occupations and emphasizing non-traditional occupations, to name a few aspects of their role.

Business Services – WIOA adds new emphasis to the recognition of services to business and plans to add performance metrics for these activities. Currently, DEED (Title III) has twenty–two Business Service Representatives that coordinate, lead, and develop response–driven regional and statewide workforce planning strategies and solutions for Minnesota businesses. The Business Service Representatives provide outreach and consult with targeted industry sectors. They establish partnerships with industry associations, workforce service providers, education, and economic development. The primary service provided to employers is to help them find workers.

MinnesotaWorks.net, the state’s online job bank, allows businesses to post openings for free. At any given time, it has more than 80,000 job postings and more than 45,000 active resumes from job seekers and has the capacity for businesses to be recognized as “veteran friendly”, supporting workforce re–entry of our returning veterans. . The state and its partners assist with recruiting and other workforce planning strategies, such as training or skill assessments and labor market information so employers understand competitive factors impacting their ability to attract and retain a high–skilled workforce.

All core programs participate and benefit from business services activities. Although Title III provides a strong basis for all business services activities, all of the other core programs utilize and coordinate resources to support this activity. Title I-B programs utilize this information and engage in supplemental activities such as focus groups and specialized career fairs to engage employers and inform the local boards. Title II business services activities serves to inform curriculum context and direction, to ensure that the basic education being provided serves a broader need of those needing or seeking more immediate employment. Title IV also has business outreach staff to support and promote expanding opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

All other Combined State Plan partners benefit in similar ways from the business services activities. Some of these programs, like post-secondary Carl Perkins, have business engagement requirements that assist them with program planning and other aspects of training development. Minnesota also has had great success with the veterans program and strategies that tap into the business services activities.

All optional partners have connections to the One-Stop system’s career services, training services, and business services through a variety of options. These options include collocation, sharing recruitment information, participating in referral networks, participation on strategy or service related activities. These options are designed based on regional presence and access to the services.