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. B. Providing technical assistance to outreach staff. Technical assistance must include trainings, conferences, additional resources, and increased collaboration with other organizations on topics such as one-stop center services (i.e. availability of referrals to training, supportive services, and career services, as well as specific employment opportunities), the Employment Service and Employment-Related Law Complaint System (“Complaint System” described at 20 CFR 658 Subpart E), information on the other organizations serving MSFWs in the area, and a basic summary of farmworker rights, including their rights with respect to the terms and conditions of employment.
Current Narrative:
For over a decade, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development contracted the outreach services under the monitor advocate system to a third party agency. Now that the SWA has a full-time dedicated advocacy staff, the SWA has been able to provide on-going technical assistance, bilingual materials, and recorded training webinars on the complaint system and human trafficking, to all outreach staff. Additionally, we make these resources available to all WorkOne staff staff via our staff portal: https://www.in.gov/dwd/workonestaff/. Another resource we make available to outreach staff and all our WorkOne staff is the MSFW desk aide, which assists WorkOne staff and make the outreach staff aware of the standard operating procedures for MSFWs. This aide also has the two definitions of seasonal and migrant farmworkers in order for outreach staff and WorkOne staff to determine whether participants are a MSFW.
As another form of technical assistance provided to outreach staff, the SWA provides opportunities for staff to participate in local events within the community of MSFW service and support agencies and groups. This allows our outreach staff learn about new programs and services as well as leverage and build partnerships.
The SWA schedules a pre-season agriculture roundtable (late February) and a post-season agriculture roundtable (mid-November), which are led by the State Monitor Advocate (SMA). At these meetings the SMA will connect with all outreach staff as well as the twelve workforce regions to provide training on several topics, such as: identifying and determining MSFWs at the local WorkOnes, an overview/refresher of the complaint system, farm labor contractor registrations, terms and conditions of employment for all agricultural job orders, and raising awareness in the form of presentations from other MSFW agencies. These pre and post season meetings provide technical assistance to the outreach staff in building stronger connections and collaborations with the WorkOne Centers.