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.
- 5. Services provided to farmworkers and agricultural employers through the one-stop delivery system
Describe the State agency's proposed strategies for:
- 5. Services provided to farmworkers and agricultural employers through the one-stop delivery system
- 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. 5. A. Providing the Full Range of Employment and Training Services to the Agricultural Community, Both Farmworkers and Agricultural Employers, Through the One-stop Delivery System. This Includes:
i. How career and training services required under WIOA Title I will be provided to MSFWs through the one-stop centers
ii. How the State serves agricultural employers and how it intends to improve such services
Current Narrative:
- MSFW outreach functions will be carried out by 6.0 FTE during PY20-PY24, with occasional backup from bilingual staff in the significant offices with multiple bilingual staff. Workforce center staff will utilize approximately 360 staff days to provide MSFW outreach services to the farm worker community. Career services required under WIOA Title I will be provided to the MSFW clients via the six bilingual MSFW Outreach workers employed in the six significant offices in Colorado. Colorado has an MSFW registration system referred to as Connecting Colorado. This system captures the data of Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers electronically, including an explanation of how they qualify as a MSFW on the notes screen.
This system is shared by all Colorado Workforce Centers, including the six significant offices. The MSFW outreach workers and workforce staff routinely inform Migrants of advancement opportunities to improve their skills to be competitive in a local, regional and global economy. For example, each significant office hands out an MSFW packet to migrants during outreach activities. These informational packets include resources for English as a Second Language (ESL), Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) and training opportunities available through the WIOA 167 provider as well as the regular WIOA program.
- CDLE and RMSER, the WIOA 167 grantee, have had an MOU in place since 1995, and the updated MOU with new WIOA requirements was signed in March 2019. This MOU includes, but is not limited to, co-location and collaboration in communities where both agencies have a presence. It also ensures that the needs of MSFWs who do not have access to the One Stop Centers are met. CDLE also entered an interagency cooperative agreement with Migrant Education in all six significant office areas. This interagency cooperative agreement establishes and demonstrates effective coordination of outreach, and increases registration activities for all service providers. The interagency agreement will be expanded to include all offices statewide. These cooperative ventures between CDLE, RMSER, and Migrant Education have generally improved the operational knowledge of outreach staff, and reinforced principles and strategies. This successful partnership provides a vehicle to better serve and to immediately expand the range of available services to the MSFW population.
Services Provided To Agricultural Employers Through The One-Stop Delivery System
1. The Migrant and Seasonal Farm Worker Program is designed to enhance and expand services to meet the needs of the agricultural industry. Colorado will provide services to agricultural employers by effectively providing information about services available through the workforce development system and, at the same time, obtain sufficient information about the employer’s needs to provide appropriate services. Outreach workers will continue to conduct meetings with large growers and farm labor contractors to facilitate the exchange of information and maximize the effectiveness of the program. Staff will promote the use of the workforce centers to recruit workers by helping employers assess their labor needs and making appropriate referrals to their job openings.
2. Services to agricultural employers will be provided by MSFW outreach workers and other workforce center staff through daily planned personal visits and promotional telephone contacts with the employer. CDLE continues to conduct pre-occupancy housing inspections to growers who provide housing to MSFWs, or nonimmigrant aliens admitted to the United States under the H2A Temporary Labor Certification program.
Colorado continues to experience a shortage of workers to tend to the crops. H2A application numbers have remained about the same for the last two years, with the Adverse Effect Wage Rate (AEWR) changing on a yearly basis.
- Outreach workers are expected to develop and maintain productive relationships with agricultural employers. Agricultural employers can be identified in several ways: knowledge of the local labor market, incoming job orders, employer associations, and through word-of-mouth. Colorado will continue to utilize existing processes for linking available MSFWs with employers, including ongoing collaborative efforts by workforce centers and local community-based organizations that provide services to MSFWs.
- Each workforce region with an MSFW significant office will continue to actively promote all aspects of labor exchange services available to agricultural employers. This will include attending and participating in employer association, farm labor contractor, and MSFW sponsored meetings and conferences.
- State and local workforce center staff will provide information on local labor market conditions, and intrastate and interstate temporary agricultural worker recruitment requirements (including information on the Alien Labor Certification process). Information will also be provided on the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (MSPA) and how it affects agricultural employers, migratory workers and new hemp employers.