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:
The State Monitor Advocate (SMA) and outreach staff attend all program related conferences and training opportunities offered, both in-state and out-of-state. This information is then shared with the appropriate staff in all Missouri Job Centers.
The Office of Workforce Development (OWD) and United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS) have developed an MOU that allows for combined training to job center staff by the SMA and UMOS local staff. OWD has also collaborated with UMOS to develop brochures and other outreach materials that feature both agencies and their available services.
The MSFW training presentations are provided to job center state staff and AES outreach staff through webinars and in-person training. At a minimum, the training continues to be provided to all appropriate job center staff at least once a year and available for new staff or upon request any time during the year.
Examples of trainings provided to staff include:
Identifying the Farmworker
All Missouri Job Centers (MJCs) must offer the MSFWs equal access to a full range of employment services, and while providing these services be sensitive to their preferences, skills and the availability of agricultural job opportunities. In order to accomplish this, all MJCs must identify and serve all farmworkers in a qualitatively equivalent and quantitatively proportionate manner. This training empowers each MJC to gain competence and compliance in meeting this regulation. Participants learn how to identify, conduct intakes and serve the MSFWs living and working in local areas. It provides the demographic and agricultural information for each respective area.
Employment Service (ES) and Employment-Related Law Complaint System Training
These webinars provide an in-depth review of the Employment Service and Employment-Related Law Complaint system process. Participants learn the different types of complaints, actions to take on them, how to identify a valid complaint, how to identify when complaints are taken in writing, proper documentation of complaints, recording and reporting ES related complaints and the actions to take on them. These training sessions provide all participants the skills and tools needed to successfully process all employment related complaints in the MJCs pertaining to the ES and Employment-Related Law Complaint System. These webinars also focus on multiple federal agencies and the laws they enforce. At the end of the training session, staff are able to identify the federal agencies that would process complaints alleging employment-related law violations. The webinars provide an overview of the forms required and how to fill them out. In addition, they provide the information for further processing of a complaint.