Younger Workers Committee Meeting

June 20, 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 June 20, 2014

Present; Lisa Hartnett, Jamie Grover, Tracey Cooley, Meg Harvey (phone), Janie Small (phone), Mike Jordan (phone)

Staff; Garret Oswald

The meeting opened with welcomes and introductions. Garret then asked for a motion to approve the YWC meeting minutes from 4/9/14. Janie made the motion and Tracey seconded. Vote was unanimous in favor to accept the minutes as written.

Next on the agenda was information about the WIA Incentive grant. The grant was written with as much flexibility as possible regarding what sectors would be targeted. 75% of the funds will be available for grants to the field. The funds are expected to be awarded by July and work on the grant guidelines would begin shortly after that.

The committee then heard updates from the local youth councils;

Area 1; Janie spoke about how they leverage scholarship dollars ($600,000) to serve area youth. Great Job! Janie also spoke about the fact that many youth are deficient in math skills and cursive writing. Mike added that transportation was a big issue in their area.

Area 2; No one present

Area 3; Lisa spoke about the focus on youth offenders and the need to hear more information about programs like CARA (Criminogenic Addiction Recovery Academy) in Kennebec County as well as the Job Corps.

Area 4; Jamie spoke about surveying the youth council members to assess what they would like to see for agenda items and guest speakers. They recently worked on the 6th youth barrier for the WIA program. They also are focused on social media related to workplace issues for youth.

The updates generated questions and discussion about the Job Corps and how the WIA system could work closer with them. All agreed that a future agenda item should be a conversation about the opportunities of aligning WIA/CTE/Job Corps programs to benefit youth in Maine, as well as what waivers would facilitate that alignment.

Garret presented some information about the NGA Policy Academy that Maine is applying for as well as the latest info regarding the new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The committee requested to have the info sent out to them.

Meg announced that Maine had increased the funding for the Bridge Year Program (aka Early College Fund) to $650,000 this year, which could potentially support 20 new programs across the state. Great news!

Meeting was adjourned.

Next meeting scheduled for 9/10/14.

Respectfully submitted by Garret Oswald

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