Womens Employment Issues Committee

June 21, 2016: 9:30 AM
Frances Perkins Room, MDOL Commerce Drive, Augusta, ME

Women?s Employment Issues Committee AGENDA 6/21/16 9:30 ? Noon Frances Perkins Room, MDOL Introductions?In addition to your name and organization, please come prepared to share briefly: ? If you went on to postsecondary education after high school or a GED, who and what influenced that decision? ? If you have achieved a credential or degree(s), how are you applying that in your current work and life? Approval of 4/20/16 Minutes Further exploration of the Education portion of our Policy and Program Priorities ? Amertah?initiatives around Adult Degree Attainment ? Karen?services provided through TRIO Programs Conversation about this area?what issues are unique to women and girls, what data is available by gender, what areas are we most concerned about, how does this area intersect with workforce development, how can our Committee align with/inform statewide or regional education initiatives? Continuing to map/prioritize our 2016 Committee Policy and Program Priorities and Process ? Areas of alignment with the WIOA Plan or other policy issues, areas that need a gender spotlight, opportunities for coordination, setting goals and benchmarks ? Process?how can we most effectively communicate and coordinate with/within: o Our Committee o Other Committees o State Workforce Board o Key Strategic Partners Update on WIOA, SWB, DOL Member Updates/Resource Sharing Upcoming Meetings?9:30 ? Noon, Frances Perkins Room, MDOT ? Tuesday, September 13 ? Monday, November 7

STATE WORKFORCE BOARD WOMEN?S EMPLOYMENT ISSUES COMMITTEE JUNE 21, 2016

Present: Gilda Nardone, Karen Keim, Kathy Kilrain del Rio, Amertah Perman, Kelly Samson-Rickert, Auta Main, Robyn Merrill, Jody Harris, James Myall, Jack Weiss

Staff: Cheryl Moran

Introductions • Gilda Nardone ? opened the meeting asking all members in addition to stating your name and organization, briefly share if you went on to postsecondary education after high school or a GED. Who and what influenced that decision? If you have achieved a credential or degree(s) and how are you applying that in your current work and life?

Approval of 4/20/2016 Minutes • Gilda Nardone asked for approval of the 4/20/16 meeting minutes. Minutes approved as written with no corrections.

Further exploration of the Education portion of our Policy and Program Priorities • Amertah Perman, Chief Operating Officer from the Maine Development Foundation (MDF) ? initiatives around Adult Degree Attainment ? provided a handout on Adult Degree Attainment Partnership (ADAP) ? a summary of work to date by the ADAP Steering Committee. Steering Committee members include representatives from University of Maine System, Maine Community College System, New Ventures Maine, Maine Adult Education, John T. Gorman Foundation, Maine Community Foundation, Finance Authority of Maine, and MDF. The steering committee has engaged both regional and locally in small groups, one-on-one consultations, and large group convening?s with a variety of stakeholders including: DOL, local career centers, DOE, local adult education centers, Corrections, Maine Education Opportunity Center, Educate Maine, Maine State Chamber of Commerce, MESHRM, Maine ATD, local community colleges, university of Maine system institutions, private educational institutions, and a variety of large and small employers. The work is focused on the belief that statewide coordinated attention to increasing adult learner degree and credential attainment in Maine is needed in order to advance the quality and quantity of Maine?s workforce and that strategies and tactics for increasing adult learner attainment in Maine will be best placed within a broad statewide workforce and post-secondary degree and credential attainment effort and led by an overarching attainment goal for the State. ADAP is currently working on finalizing recommendation to be provided to the Workforce & Education Coalition to be incorporated into their statewide attainment efforts. Recommendations seek to connect the dots between these organizations and connect ongoing efforts to one collectively shared goal. Successful strategies will include policies, and practices that align services, enhance the skills of those serving adult learners, and increase the aspirations of Maine?s adult learners, and their access to, and participation in, new and existing programs and services. Other current efforts of the Steering Committee are focused on FAME?s new Adult Learner Life-Long Learning Tool Kit, shared professional development programming across institutions and services providers for all those working with adult learners and coordination with Maine?s WIOA unified plan. The broader effort ? the Workforce & Education Coalition ? will be convening additional stakeholders in early fall and pursuing a collaborative approach to setting an attainment goal by the end of the year. Data and data sharing are critical to this work. Amertah has offered to continue to keep the WEIC up to date on both ADAP and the broader Coalition?s efforts. Amertah suggested a website: www.nextstepmaine.org that provides Maine?s public and private employers with informational assistance, resources and training on strategies for providing educational support services in the workplace, and statewide recognition for taking steps to promote educational, skills, and career advancement opportunities for their employees. Even though financial literacy is their big thing, FAME is really focused on what is preventing the adult learner to complete their degree and what is the need. Also, they have developed an adult learner toolkit that provides whatever they need assistance with. • Gilda Nardone ? a goal of the ADAP is coordination of access and retention resources for adult learner success. • Amertah Perman ? provided a handout on Educational Level by Gender ? women are the predominant share. Women are impacted greater than men with the typical barriers ? housing, poverty, childcare and transportation. • Gilda Nardone ? stated even though women have educational attainment, they do not earn as much as men and have more student debt (AAUW source). • Karen Keim, Director, Maine Educational Opportunity Center & Maine Educational Talent Search Program at the University of Maine Orono ? services provided through TRIO Programs ? opened the discussion stating there are 22 TRIO programs in Maine, all of them are college access programs that serve low-income, first generation students. Student Support ? funds at 100% - 1 year support to be successful so MINIMAL debt incurs and the student will be college ready by the end of the support services. There are 14 SSS programs in Maine, with the average cost per participant of $1,400.
Veterans Upward Bound - is designed to motivate and assist veterans in the development of academic and other requisite skills necessary for acceptance and success in a program of postsecondary education. Currently there are no VUBs in Maine; however, three applications will be submitted in 2017.
Upward Bound projects provide academic instruction in mathematics, laboratory sciences, composition, literature, and foreign languages. It includes a 6 week summer program. There are 8 UB programs in Maine combined they serve 437 students at a per student cost of $4,260.
Math/Science Upward Bound ? The Upward Bound Math and Science program is designed to strengthen the math and science skills of participating students. The goal of the program is to help students recognize and develop their potential to excel in math and science and to encourage them to pursue postsecondary degrees in math and science, and ultimately careers in the math and science profession. There is one program in Maine that serves 67 students for a cost of $4,290 per student. The Talent Search program serves student in grades 6-12. The program provides academic, career, and financial counseling to its participants and encourages them to graduate from high school and continue on to and complete their postsecondary education. The cost per student is $365.There are two programs in Maine serving 1,611 students. The Maine Educational Opportunity Center (MEOC) program provides counseling and information on college admissions to qualified adults who want to enter or continue a program of postsecondary education. The program also provides services to improve the financial and economic literacy of participants. Maine has one program that serves 2,269 adults at a cost of $309 per participant. MEOC served 103 veterans last year. Some of the barriers that prevent students from going to school or completing school: 1) Adults with a child/job ? the current system are penalizing them to go to school with an artificial timeline, meaning the length of time it takes to complete a degree -10 years vs 6 years. 2) Use of acronyms. We need to speak a common language that is understood universally. 3) Lack of internet due to affordability, lack of computer access in rural areas. She feels they need to be able to opt out of this option. TRIO only serves in Maine. Only 8% are eligible to receive. The students must maintain a C+ average. This is why TRIO has been very successful with their partnerships. • Gilda Nardone - stated there are definitely policy implications to think about.
Continuing to map/prioritize our 2016 Committee Policy and Program Priorities and Process Areas of alignment with the WIOA Plan or other policy issues, areas that need a gender spotlight, opportunities for coordination, setting goals and benchmarks • Gilda Nardone - asked what are our top priorities moving forward as a Committee that we really want to drill down? If you have thoughts in between the next meeting, please let me know. A spreadsheet handout was provided on Education and Training and she asked the group to provide information to areas such as Needs & Target Groups, Data Sources, Programs, Services & Resources, Policy Implications & Partnerships, Priorities/Actions. Gilda asked Cheryl Moran if she can check with Steve McFarland, Program Manager for the Competitive Skills Scholarship Program (CSSP) to see if he can provide a gender report on CSSP.

Membership Updates/Resource Sharing • Gilda Nardone ? announced that New Ventures Maine received a grant to assist with graduates going onto post-secondary education. New Ventures Maine is offering Career Planning Online July 6 ? August 5, 2016. My Money Works ? New Ventures will be teaching at the University of Maine Augusta (UMA) this summer.

Agenda for next meeting • Gilda Nardone ? stated we will spend part of our meeting drilling down on a certain area as we continue to refine our policy and program priorities and clarify how we will communicate those priorities with the SWB, other Committees, and partners. The next meeting will focus on women and girls in the criminal justice system.

Next meeting Tuesday, September 13, 2016 9:30 ? Noon, Frances Perkins Room, MDOL

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

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