MINUTES OF THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD MONTCOWORKS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE June 8, 2018 9:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. A meeting of the Montgomery County Workforce Development Board, MontcoWorks, Executive Committee was held on Friday, June 8, 2018 at PECO Energy, 680 West Ridge Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462. Members in attendance included Mr. Daniel Woodall, Vice Chair; Ms. Dorothy Miller, Secretary; Mr. Kyle Longacre, Youth Committee Chair; Ms. Suzanne Ryan and Ms. Susan Clauser, Training and Performance Committee Chair. Others in attendance included Ms. Jennifer Butler, Executive Director; Ms. Josette Walton, Executive Assistant; Ms. Catherine Lawrence, Deputy Director of Fiscal Operations; Ms. Jane Stein, Research & Performance Officer and Ms. Terri Jones, Support Services Coordinator. Mr. Woodall called the meeting to order at 9:01 a.m. The first item to come before the Executive Committee was the approval of the minutes from April 6, 2018. As there were no comments or questions, Mr. Longacre motioned to approve the minutes, Ms. Ryan seconded, all were in favor and none opposed. The next item on the agenda was the Executive Director s Report. Ms. Butler provided the report noting that there are some items that she will be highlighting for the full board at the end of the month. The first item was the Business Education Partnership (BEP). Ms. Butler reported that we have received funding through the state for the BEP to continue. In the past we had requested the funds in partnership with the Bucks County Workforce Development Board. This year the decision was made to request funds individually. Ms. Butler explained that her reason for wanting to apply for the funds separately was that in building the partnership with Bucks, we were focused on the areas that bordered Bucks County, but in requesting the funds separately we will be able to get out to Pottstown and other areas of Montgomery County. Ms. Butler noted that we have built a great partnership and will continue to work with Bucks County. Ms. Butler credited Melinda Onchitta, Commerce Project Coordinator for her work with connecting the schools with possible industry tours which were very successful. She also mentioned that Manufacturing Day was very successful. Ms. Butler stated that ManuFest would also be included. This was the fifth year having ManuFest. Melinda will be setting up a planning meeting this summer to start planning for the 2019 event. We have received requests from other industries to hold similar events, but cannot because of funding. Ms. Butler suggested that we could have a more general 1430 DeKalb Street, Fifth Floor Norristown, PA 19401 Tel.: 610.278.5950 Fax: 610.278.1100 www.montcoworks.com
career fair that would incorporate all of the high priority occupations. Ms. Butler noted that she has heard specifically from construction trades, healthcare and an IT company would like to know if there is something similar that we offer because these industries are concerned about building their pipeline. Ms. Butler stated that if we have funding to hold an event it would be a way to get all of the Montgomery County students together during the school day so that the schools could count it toward their career readiness index. Next, Ms. Butler updated the members on the PA CareerLink Montgomery County annual job fair that was held on May 31, 2018 at the Plymouth Country Club. There were 280 job seekers present. Ms. Onchitta is following up with the employers to make sure we know how many job seekers were hired as a result of the job fair. Next Ms. Butler reported on the Partnership of Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery County, which is a Healthcare and BioTech/BioMed Next Generation Partnership. We have received funding to build this partnership and we are looking hold a launch event sometime at the end of the summer. Ms. Butler asked if the members know of any decision makers in the healthcare field, that they would recommend them. Ms. Butler stated that she would like to get a group together to discuss what their needs are. Next Ms. Butler informed the members that the PA CareerLink has rebranded statewide to fall in line with the WIOA legislation to include that they are a proud partner of the American Job Center network. As part of the rebranding, funds were made available to update the signage at the PA CareerLink and for a promotional campaign which included advertisement on social media. Next Ms. Butler noted that she will add an additional item to the Executive Directors report for the Full Board meeting to include that 3 schools have received funding for the Teacher in the Workplace grant. Ms. Butler noted that the awards went to Souderton School District, Abington School District and Central Montco Technical High School. Norristown School district with Main Line Chamber and Upper Perkiomen High School also applied, but were not included in the notice. Ms. Butler believes that they did not get the grant but is still hopeful. After extensive discussion about the awards, Ms. Butler said that she would encourage Norristown School District to reapply because they benefit most from the Business Education Partnership. Mr. Woodall ask if anyone would like to accept the Executive Directors report. Ms. Ryan accepted, Mr. Longacre seconded, all were in favor and none opposed. Next, Ms. Lawrence gave the Finance Committee report. Ms. Lawrence stated that the May reports were finished and everything is going well as of right now. We are in the process of closing out this program year. There are several grants that will end as of June 30 th. Ms. Lawrence noted that we are in the process of working on the PY18/19 budgets and collecting the budgets from the individual providers that will have their contracts renewed with Board approval. Ms. Lawrence explained that all of the money has been obligated, even though it appears that it has not been spent yet. We are required to make sure all of our money is obligated up to 80% by the June 30 th. Ms. Lawrence also explained that we 2
will receive invoices well into August for PY17. At the Board meeting Ms. Lawrence will present the budgets for approval including the WIOA budget and provider contracts. We have received the funding for PY18 with a 7% increase, but with the ending of some of the sector partnership grants it s a decrease of 9% in funding. Ms. Lawrence stated that we should be fine as long as we deliver the training percentages that we are required to deliver; everything looks good going into PY18. The next item on the agenda was the Youth Committee report. Mr. Longacre shared some highlights from the Youth Committee meeting. Mr. Longacre noted that the youth committee continues to see strong recruitment and enrollment in the MontcoWorks Now program. Mr. Longacre shared the recruitment efforts that the youth committee has been doing from March to the present in different locations. Mr. Longacre stated that they are doing the best they can to get around Montgomery County with their Career Counselors to inform different audiences as to what the eligibility looks like and what the opportunities are. Through these efforts enrollment numbers are up. Mr. Longacre shared some highlights from the youth committee meeting that were shared by the providers. Mr. Longacre acknowledged one of the successes they have had through the WIOA collaboration which is the recruitment through the YWCA in Pottstown. Next Mr. Longacre went over the handouts that he distributed that showed what the workforce needs are and briefly went over the feedback that he has been receiving. The first handout was an update that highlighted the Team PA Mini-Grants. Montgomery County received four $5,000.00 mini-grants from Team PA to support career readiness efforts. Mr. Longacre noted that schools are now able to apply for funding for the 2018-2019 school years. Mr. Longacre stated that as part of the application process, schools districts are encouraged to work with their local workforce development board and focus on high priority occupations. Next, Mr. Longacre informed the members that under the Paid Work Experience, MontcoWorks Now has posted temporary MCIU jobs and shared the details of the Worksite Partnership Agreement. Ms. Jones asked how many youth they would like to serve this summer through Paid Work Experience. Mr. Longacre stated that the goal is 37. The next item on the agenda was the Training and Performance report. Ms. Clauser noted that the committee last met on May 22, 2018 and went over some of the items that were discussed at the meeting which included a report on the Eligible Provider List. The list is going to be grandfathered for 2018 stating that no occupations would be removed, but there will be three additions, Compliance Officers, Biological Technicians, and Graphic Designers. Ms. Clauser stated that the Business Education Partnership (BEP) was approved for PY 18/19 and reviewed the programs that would be funded. Ms. Clauser also went over updates for Building Career Pathways, Berks County s Framework, Performance, Keystone Opportunity Center, Montgomery County Community College and the YWCA. 3
The next item on the agenda was the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Program 2017 third quarter Youth Performance Summary. Ms. Stein noted that Montgomery County is exceeding all of the measures that we had goals for. Ms. Stein noted that the mass exit that was done will be included in the report for the fourth quarter but reminded the members that we are still in the year of forgiveness for performance. Next Ms. Stein went over the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Program 2017 third quarter Adult and Dislocation Worker Summary. Ms. Stein said we are exceeding every measure. Ms. Stein noted that she has a request out to the state to find out how they are counting the measurable skill gains measure because it is low for us and she would like clarification. Ms. Stein also included a chart in her report that details what the reporting periods are. Next Ms. Stein went over the Employment Advancement and Retention Network (EARN) Performance Summary. Ms. Stein noted that EARN is doing great as usual and we have maxed out on performance payments for performance and retention. The next report that Ms. Stein went over was the ReEntry Update. Ms. Stein stated that there are 53 participants enrolled this calendar year and the recidivism rate is 0. Next, Ms. Stein went over the PA CareerLink Activity Tracker. We have started a new process with the staff where they get a list weekly of workshop registrants that were not marked as either attended or not attended in CWDS and they will be reconciling this on a weekly basis. The hope is that the numbers of those not marked by staff will significantly decrease. Next, Ms. Stein went over the Montgomery County Employment Update which detailed the unemployment data for the townships and boroughs, performance metrics and a success story. The success story highlighted an EARN participant who has begun working at the Montgomery County Human Resources department. The final update that Ms. Stein reviewed was the Labor Market Information which gave a breakdown of labor force for Montgomery County, The United States and some neighboring counties including Berks County. The next item on the agenda was the Local Management Committee Update. Ms. Jones gave the update informing the committee that the LMC last met on May 9, 2018. The monitor for the EARN program, Emily Mishler was on site for a monitoring visit and sat in on the meeting. The feedback that we got was that she was impressed with the diversity of partners we had at the meeting and our format. The guest presenter at the meeting was Nikki Johnson-Huston, Esquire, the co-founder of DONAFY. DONAFY is a smartphone app that helps to easily identify and notify nearby non-profits that serve people in need of housing, medical and job search assistance among other things. The app has been running in Philadelphia for a couple years and officially opened in Montgomery County in March. 4
Next Ms. Jones briefly highlighted some of the updates from the meeting. The CAO reported that the participation rate is the highest in the state at 38%. The PA CareerLink update included an introduction of Andre Hardy s replacement, Lauren Bishop, who has been with EDSI for 10 years. The EARN report noted that over 400 customers were served. Charmaine Ijeoma from Veterans affairs reported that in Montgomery County between 2015 to2018 230 Veterans and 189 of their dependents have been housed or prevented homelessness. Hakim Jones attended the meeting and introduced himself in his new role with MontcoWorks Now. Ms. Jones informed the members that OIC will be the guest speaker for August, coming to talk about the new testing site. Suzanne Ryan will be the guest speaker in November to talk about programs like LiHeap and other programs that can save our customers money on their heating and energy bills. The next item on the agenda was Old and New Business. There was no Old Business. Ms. Butler noted that the June 22 nd meeting is very important. We will need to have quorum because we will be looking to approve all the resolutions that will extend the contracts for all of the existing providers. We will also need to approve the budget so that it can be submitted to the state. Ms. Butler stated that we have completed the DHS monitoring for the EARN program. Last year was the first time that we have ever had no findings for the EARN program and she is confident that there will be no findings again. Lastly, Ms. Butler informed the members that we are almost finished going through our WIOA monitoring which was done a little different this year. We are ¾ of the way through and probably will not have the results until the September meeting. There being no more business to discuss, Mr. Woodall asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. The motion was made by Ms. Ryan, seconded by Ms. Miller, all were in favor and none opposed. The meeting was adjourned at 10:11 am. Respectfully submitted, Dorothy Miller Dorothy Miller Secretary 5