Narrative: a. 2. A.

Louisiana administers WIOA funds for the purpose of development and funding innovative statewide activities that will improve service delivery strategies and target specific populations throughout the state. These activities are aligned with the mission and direction of WIOA by assisting job seekers, especially job seekers with barriers to employment, with access to employment, education, training, and support services they need to succeed in the labor market while also matching employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy.

WIOA Statewide Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth Funds are allocated to the local workforce development areas, with the support of the state, to design, develop, and implement activities that accelerate employment and reemployment strategies for Louisiana job seekers. These workforce activities create and prototype innovative strategies that bridge education and workforce gaps for targeted populations, and implement promising models and practices in workforce system service delivery infrastructure.

LWC has heightened its focus on regional coordination among key partners with efforts to promote relationships with new partners leading to enhanced resources and augmentation of existing services strategies. By working with similar or established programs, organizations are better equipped to anticipate complications and can instead focus on methods and success.

LWC also recognizes that strong relationships with employers are necessary to create pathways to gainful, long-term employment for participants. LWC supports Local Workforce Areas in collaborating with high growth industry leads, as partnerships result in well-crafted trainings and jobs for participants with employers who value them. As a result, service providers receive high-quality job placements because there is a mutual benefit to employers.

The primary goals of WIOA statewide funded activities include:

• Improve labor market and skills outcomes for target groups through the development of strategies that fill gaps, accelerate processes, or customize services to ensure greater access to workforce services and employment opportunities.
• Create new models for service delivery and funding alignment that can be replicated across the State and tailored to regional needs.
• Implement, replicate, and scale successful innovations that emerged from previous projects.
• Leverage state investments with commitments from industry, labor, public, and community partners.

Targeted Population with Barriers to Employment

WIOA statewide funded activities will also ensure more of the targeted population with barriers to employment have access to training, good jobs and economic security, and achieve greater intergenerational income mobility.

The following are outcomes the State hopes to achieve through the reinforcement of serving targeted populations with barriers to employment:

• Demand Driven Skills Attainment:
  • develop a team that jointly convenes industry and is led by industry champions.
  • share industry sector focus and pools/shares resources to meet demand in the region.
  • a process to communicate industry workforce needs to supply-side partners.
  • policies supporting equity and strives to improve job quality.

• Upward Mobility and Equity for Individuals with Barriers to Employment Outcomes:
  • a shared target populations of emphasis.
  • deploy shared/pooled resources to provide services, training, and education to meet target population needs.
  • utilize shared/common case management and capacity building strategies such as co-enrollment and professional development to develop shared responsibility for providing services and ensure quality outcomes.

The State reserves the rights to use funds reserved by the Governor, as described in WIOA sections 128(a) and 133(b), regardless of whether the funds were allotted as Youth, Adult, or Dislocated Worker Formula Funds, to achieve the following statewide activities:

•  Provide assistance to state entities and agencies, local areas, and one stop partners in carrying out the activities described in the combined state plan, including the coordination and alignment of data systems used to carry out the requirement of WIOA
• Provide assistance to local areas for carrying out the regional planning and service delivery efforts required under sec. 106(c) of WIOA
• Provide assistance to local areas by providing information on, and support for, the effective development, convening, and implementation of industry sector partnerships
•  Provide assistance to local areas, one stop operators, one stop partners, and eligible providers, including the development and training of staff, which may include the development and training of staff to provide opportunities for individuals with barriers to employment to enter in-demand industry sectors or occupations and nontraditional occupations, the development of exemplary program activities, and the provision of technical assistance to local areas that fail to meet local performance accountability measures described in sec. 116(c) of WIOA
• Disseminating the State list of eligible providers of training services, including eligible providers of nontraditional training services and eligible providers of apprenticeship programs registered under the National Apprenticeship Act of 1937
• Disseminate information identifying eligible providers of on-the-job training (OJT), customized training, incumbent worker training (IWTP), internships, paid or unpaid work experience opportunities, or transitional jobs
• Disseminate information on effective outreach to, partnerships with, and services for, businesses
• Disseminate information on effective service delivery strategies to serve workers and job seekers
• Disseminate performance information and information on the cost of attendance including tuition and fees, for participants in applicable training programs on the Eligible Training Provider’s List (ETPL) with recognized post- secondary credentials, as well as OJT and IWTP
• Disseminate information on physical and programmatic accessibility, in accordance with sec. 188 of WIOA relative to nondiscrimination, if applicable, and the American with Disabilities Act of 1990 for individuals with disabilities
• Conduct evaluations of State Programs, in coordination with evaluations of programs and activities carried out by the U.S. Secretary of Labor
• Disseminate a list of providers of youth workforce investment activities eligible to receive competitive, or sole source, grants and contracts for training with credentials for youth
• Provide re-designation assistance to local areas
• Provide assistance in the development of Regional Plans
• Operate a fiscal and management accountability information system (MIS) to manage, track, and report primary indicators of performance for Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker Programs
• Conduct continuous, and at least annually, monitoring and oversight of activities carried out by sub-recipients of WIOA funding to conform to the Uniform Administrative Requirements (UAR) 
• Provide additional assistance to local areas that have high concentrations of eligible youth

 ALLOWABLE STATEWIDE EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ACTIVITIES (Discretionary Funds)

This policy allows the State to use funds not more than 15% of the amount of WIOA formula funding allotted for Adult, Youth and Dislocated Workers, reserved by the Governor, and administered by the Secretary, or her designee, to provide for additional statewide employment and training activities under WIOA. These may include the following:

• Developing strategies for effectively serving individuals with significant barriers to employment and for coordinating programs and services among one stop partners
• Implementing innovative programs and strategies designed to meet the needs of all employers, including small employers, in the State, which programs and strategies may include IWTP, customized training, sector and industry cluster strategies and implementation of industry or sector partnerships, and career pathway programs
• The development or identification of education and training programs that respond to real-time labor market analysis, utilize direct assessment and prior learning assessment to measure and provide credit for prior knowledge, skills, competencies, and experiences, evaluate such skills and competencies for adaptability, ensure credits are portable and stackable for more skilled employment, and accelerates course or credential completion
• Implementing programs to increase the number of individuals training for and placed in nontraditional employment
• Carrying out activities to facilitate remote access to services
• Supporting the provision of career services in the one stop delivery system in the State
• Activities to improve coordination of employment and training activities with child support services
• Activities in the corrections system that assist ex-offenders in re-entering the workforce
• Activities consisting of development and dissemination of workforce and labor market information
• Conducting research and demonstration projects related to meeting the employment and education needs of adults and dislocated workers
• Implementing promising services for workers and businesses, which may include providing support for education, training, skill upgrade, and statewide networking for employees to become workplace learning advisors and maintain proficiency in carrying out activities associated with such advising
• Developing and disseminating common intake procedures and related items, including registration processes, materials, or software
• Providing technical assistance to local areas that are implementing pay-for-performance contract strategies, which technical assistance may include providing assistance with data collection, meeting data entry requirements, identifying levels of performance, and conducting evaluations of such strategies
• Research related to meeting the education and employment needs of youth
• Demonstration projects related to meeting the education and employment needs of youth
• Supporting the development of alternative, evidence-based programs and other activities that enhance the choices available to eligible youth and encourage
• Supporting financial literacy, including the ability of youth program participants to create household budgets, initiate savings plans, and make informed financial decisions about education, retirement, home ownership, wealth building, or other savings goals
• Supporting activities that address the particular financial literacy needs on non-English speakers, including providing the support through the development and distribution of multilingual financial literacy and education materials; and
• Providing technical assistance to, as appropriate, local boards, chief elected officials, one stop operators, one stop partners, and eligible providers, in local areas, which provision of technical assistance shall include the development and training of staff, the development of exemplary program activities, the provision of technical assistance to local areas that fail to meet local performance accountability measures, and the provision of technology to facilitate remote access to services provided through the one-stop delivery system in the State.