Located in:
- Program-specific Requirements for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Activities under Title I-B
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include the following with respect to activities carried out under subtitle B—
- c. Youth Program Requirements.
With respect to youth workforce investment activities authorized in section 129 of WIOA, States should describe their strategies that will support the implementation of youth activities under WIOA. State’s must-
- c. Youth Program Requirements.
c. 3. Describe how the State assists local workforce boards in implementing innovative models for delivering youth workforce investment activities, including effective ways local workforce boards can make available the 14 program elements described in WIOA section 129(c)(2); and explain how local areas can ensure work experience, including quality pre-apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship, is prioritized as a key element within a broader career pathways strategy.
Current Narrative:
Arkansas’ Policy 3.2 outlines that local programs must make each of the 14 youth elements available to youth participants. Local programs may determine what services a youth participant receives based on their objective assessment results and individual service strategy. Local programs are not required to provide every element to participants and should partner with other entities to provide program elements that cannot be provided by the local program.
Work experience services including youth job shadows, internships, work experiences, on-the-job training, and pre-apprenticeship are valuable training methods. Requirements state that local youth programs must expend at least 20 percent of the youth funds allocated to them to provide in-school youth (ISY) and out-of-school youth (OSY) with paid and unpaid work experience activities.
State staff reviews ISY and OSY expenditures, to include the 20% work experience requirement, on an ongoing basis. Program and financial monitors conduct regular fiscal technical assistance sessions for all local workforce development areas. The sessions include a review of funding utilization rates and forecasts on future expenditures.
Technical assistance sessions include guidance on ways in which the local area may be able to appropriately spend their funds, as needed. Several local areas have implemented local processes for reviewing this information, such as regularly pulling financial reports and reviewing them with their local workforce development board financial committees.
Arkansas encourages a career pathway design Career planners and participants should work together to identify appropriate career pathways by utilizing the objective assessment results. Local workforce development boards must each include in their local plan a description of the strategies and services that will be used in the local area to implement career pathways.
Provision of youth program services is reviewed through annual monitoring and ongoing data integrity analysis. Additional procedures regarding monitoring are reviewed and updated annually and included in a Title I Monitoring Guide.
Arkansas provides ongoing training and technical assistance on these topics. Training is available to all local staff.