Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Wagner-Peyser Program (Employment Services)
All Program-Specific Requirements provided for the WIOA core programs in this section must be addressed for either a Unified or Combined State Plan.
- e. Agricultural Outreach Plan (AOP). Each State agency must develop an AOP every four years as part of the Unified or Combined State Plan required under sections 102 or 103 of WIOA. The AOP must include an assessment of need. An assessment need describes the unique needs of farmworkers in the area based on past and projected agricultural and farmworker activity in the State. Such needs may include but are not limited to: employment, training, and housing.
- 4. Outreach Activities
The local offices outreach activities must be designed to meet the needs of MSFWs in the State and to locate and contact MSFWs who are not being reached through normal intake activities. Describe the State agency's proposed strategies for:
- 4. Outreach Activities
- e. Agricultural Outreach Plan (AOP). Each State agency must develop an AOP every four years as part of the Unified or Combined State Plan required under sections 102 or 103 of WIOA. The AOP must include an assessment of need. An assessment need describes the unique needs of farmworkers in the area based on past and projected agricultural and farmworker activity in the State. Such needs may include but are not limited to: employment, training, and housing.
e. 4. A. Contacting farmworkers who are not being reached by the normal intake activities conducted by the employment service offices
Current Narrative:
We have advertised for temporary, bi-lingual outreach workers located in areas with high concentrations of MSFWs. These temporary workers will provide MSFWs with the full array of employment and training services offered at our Arkansas Workforce Centers.
Additionally, we have trained Local Workforce Center staff who meet the required qualifications for an outreach worker and deploy them in the geographical areas with high concentrations of MSFWs. Upon completion of training, the outreach workers identify MSFW populations, including their locations to provide outreach activities as the first order of priority.
Pandemic related travel restrictions have affected our in-person outreach efforts as well as worker staffing.
Additionally, our Targeted Populations Outreach Coordinator has also contacted other relevant agencies, including Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Legal Aid of Arkansas, the Mexican Consulate and various other organizations for the express purpose of identifying other available services for Arkansas' MSFW population. This information will be incorporated into the training that is provided to our Local Office Outreach staff.
We have incorporated the use of appearances at Laundromats and Grocery Stores as these are areas where MSFWs congregate. Additionally, we will place information, in Spanish, in area churches and local community buildings to expand our reach beyond our normal employment services offices.