Younger Workers Committee Meeting

April 9, 2014: 1:30 PM
Frances Perkins Conference Room, Maine Department of Labor
45 Commerce Drive, Augusta ME 04330


State Workforce Investment Board Younger Workers Committee

Meeting Minutes April 9, 2014

Agenda;

  • CARA program; Megan Maloney, Officer Cory Goodchild
  • YWC 2014 Goals and Planning

Present; Denise Smith, Lisa Hartnett, Kristen Chandler, Scott Good (phone), Meg Harvey (phone), Jamie Grover (phone), Janie Small (Polycom)

Guest; Peter Pare

SWIB Staff; Garret Oswald

Denise Smith, YW Committee Chair opened the meeting with welcomes and introductions.

CARA - Officer Cory Goodchild and Megan Maloney from the District Attorneys Office gave a presentation about the CARA program. It is an intensive five and a half week program that focuses on criminal thinking, substance abuse and behaviors as part of a pre-release service. There have been 42 previous classes serving about 350 individuals from across the state (roughly 2/3 male and 1/3 females and 75% from Kennebec County).

While outcome data was not available, both Cory and Megan felt that the program has been successful in reducing the recidivism rate of participants. (It was notes that the measure of success for the workforce system is that the participant becomes employed.)

There seems to be an opportunity to work together to incorporate pre- employment competency training into the CARA curriculum to benefit the participants in seeking and retaining employment. This would also help develop a relationship between the participants and the Career Center Staff prior to release. There was also some discussion about the Kennebec Regional Reentry Project (KeRRP) which provides support after release.

Next step; Set up a meeting with Megan, Cory, Judy Plummer Beale, Pete Pare, and Commissioner Jeanne Paquette to discuss an agreement to serve this population.

Next on the agenda, the Committee reviewed its mission statement and had a discussion about what the role and responsibilities are related to being a SWIB committee. Garret Oswald spoke about the advisory role and how recommendations coming from the committees are what the SWIB needs to do its work on policy, measures, and programing.

Committee Chair Smith asked for a motion to approve the YWC minutes from 1/15/14; Kristen Chandler made the motion to approve and Janie Small seconded.

The meeting was then adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Garret Oswald.


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