Womens Employment Issues Committee

September 13, 2016: 9:30 AM
Frances Perkins Room, MDOL Commerce Drive, Augusta, ME

Women?s Employment Issues Committee AGENDA 9/13/16 9:30 ? Noon Frances Perkins Room, MDOL Introductions Presentation and conversation on Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System with guests: ? Anna Black, Strategy and Grants Manager, and Amanda Woolford, Director of Women?s Services, Department of Corrections ? Amanda Edgar, Incarcerated Women?s Advocate, Family Crisis Services ? Abbie Turner, Teacher, Southern Maine Re-Entry Center Approval of 6/21/16 Minutes Voter education activities targeted to women (Kathy from the Maine Women?s Policy Center) Committee meeting dates and program and policy priorities in 2017 Update on WIOA, SWB, DOL Member Updates/Resource sharing Upcoming 2016 Meeting: Monday, November 7, 9:30 ? Noon, Frances Perkins Room, MDOL

STATE WORKFORCE BOARD WOMEN?S EMPLOYMENT ISSUES COMMITTEE MEETING SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Present: Gilda Nardone, Laurie Grant, Auta Main, Gigi Guyton, Shereen Bang, Alyra Donisvitch, Kathy Kilrain del Rio, Kelly Samson-Rickert, Courtney Alley, Amertah Perman, Chris Hastedt, Nicole Evans (phone), Valerie Carter (phone), Lisa Hartnett, Danielle Despins

Guest: Anna Black, Strategy and Grants Manager, Amanda Woolford, Director of Women?s Services, Department of Corrections, Amanda Edgar, Incarcerated Women?s Advocate, Family Crisis Services, Abbie Turner, Teacher, Southern Maine Re-Entry Center

Staff: Cheryl Moran, Josh Howe

Introductions • Gilda Nardone opened the meeting asking all members in addition to stating your name and organization, to briefly share your job description.

Presentation and conversation on Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System with guests: ? Anna Black, Strategy and Grants Manager, and Amanda Woolford, Director of Women?s Services, Department of Corrections ? Amanda Edgar, Incarcerated Women?s Advocate, Family Crisis Services ? Abbie Turner, Teacher, Southern Maine Re-Entry Center Amanda Woolford and Anna Black provided a handout on Women?s Employment at Maine Department of Corrections. Amanda opened the discussion on the Demographics stating: ? There are 2 Facilities (Windham and the Re-Entry Center). At the Windham Facility, the women focus primarily on gardening. ? The average age is 34. ? The County of origin consists of Penobscot, Cumberland and Androscoggin. ? There has been a 16% increase this year. There are 238 women in the system (incarcerated). She stated during her tenure, this is the highest number she has ever seen. 98% of the women incarcerated or on probation have some type of connected trauma. An assessment must be conducted to know what is needed prior to sentencing. At all ages, there are common issues impacting incarcerated women such as: wages that covers all needs, affordable safe housing and reliable transportation. As far as educational options, classes are offered at both sites and within the last 6 months, more have opened up. At the Windham site, they will be adding Computer Coding which is a 1 year Program and creates a Career ladder. Amanda pointed out that the women operate on a closed network. Pathways into Incarceration - such as substance use related crimes particularly issues with heroin, usually involved being with a man. However in the last few years, women have been committing crimes on their own.
Valerie Carter ? agrees that transportation presents limitations/barriers since Maine is a very rural state. Amanda claimed for the first time, she has seen women who have had a real job. The employer goes through some training on how to work with an inmate. This also benefits the employer such as receiving a tax credit and the bonding program. With women, it?s all about individualized treatment and care. The Community likes to see that they have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
The Department of Corrections (DOC) is working hard to partnership with the other organizations. They want to partnership with formal and non-formal agreements. Sometimes being a smaller state is to your advantage because you usually have the opportunity to conduct pilots. • Amanda Edgar ? stated there are 538 individuals at the Cumberland County Jail. 92 women are housed. She works with the women at the jail and follows them to prison. She usually works with 30-40 women individually and serves 300 per year between the 2 facilities. Amanda pointed out that she can only speak with Cumberland County. She stressed that the work they do is critical because 90% have some history of trauma.
• Abbie Turner - stated the heartbeat of the program comes down to their community connections. She teaches the WorkReady program (the importance of soft skills) and also has connected with New Ventures on basic small business. They have relocated to Cumberland County from York and will be rebuilding new partnerships.
Q & A • Kelly Samson-Rickert ? asked, do you know how many go back into State of Maine employment since we are the largest employer? • Anna Black ? we do not always know where they go or what line of work unless they tell or on probation. • Amanda Woolford ? stated the barrier with employment is because employers do not want to hire felons. • Amanda Edgar ? a lot of the women will just take their felony charge because they have nowhere to go. The women will leave as a felon. That is where we have failed. • Abbie Turner ? stated that she would like to see more emphasis on mentorship. • Kelly Samson-Rickert ? asked, what happens to the women that are incarcerated in northern Maine and the rural counties? • Amanda Woolford ? the women will be sent to either Houlton or Windham. • Anna Black ? stated that the DOC is striving to get others involved in what they cannot do.

Approval of 6/21/2016 Minutes • Gilda Nardone asked for approval of the 6/21/16 meeting minutes. Minutes approved as written with no corrections.

Voter education activities targeted to women (Kathy Kilrain del Rio from the Maine Women?s Policy Center) Kathy opened her discussion by stating that in 2014, they discovered that getting women registered to vote did not necessarily get them to vote. What actually got them to vote was connecting issues that matter in their life. Also, thinking about planning to vote and taking a pledge or agreement will make them more likely to vote. In Maine, you do not need a reason to file an absentee ballot. It?s an easy access and where you can get help with reading and writing. Not being able to read and write can be an issue on Election Day. You can take someone with you to vote. She stated that she is particularly focused on the age group 18-34 year olds because they are less likely to vote including African-American women. She announced that September 27th is National Voter Registration Day but in Maine, you can register on Election Day. She warned, be careful not to get immigrants registered especially if they are not a U.S. Citizen. This could jeopardize their legal status. You need to votes so your cares are reflected in the Election. She provided a website www.mainewomen.org Maine pledge (I pledge to vote). All that sign the pledge, we will follow up. She also mentioned about the League of Women Voters which is an easy to read voter guide. This is a great resource around ballot questions. • Alyra Donisvitch from New Ventures Maine mentioned that you can order Voter 101 on the League of Women Voters website.

Committee meeting dates and program priorities in 2017. The 2017 Committee meeting scheduled was drafted and accepted by the committee members.

Update on WIOA, SWB, DOL • Cheryl Moran and Josh Howe reported that the revision/clarification request of the Unified Plan has been submitted to USDOL. Now we are pending final approval of the Plan. • Josh Howe ? reported that he has scheduled the first meeting with the Core Partners on how we?re going to approach the implementation and identify some next steps.

Member Updates/Resource sharing • Gilda Nardone ? stated that she will check in with members who do and do not attend. • Auta Main ? provided a flyer in reference to the Veterans Conference that will be held at the Senator Inn and Spa in Augusta on Friday, September 16th from 10am ? 3pm. Lunch is included, no cost. • Valerie Carter ? announced the book, Maine Labor History 1636-2015 just came out. • Nicole Evans ? announced that starting next week, Beth Campbell will step into her old position as Director of Financial Stability. • Amertah Perman ? announced that the Educate Maine Symposium will be held on December 9th. • Kelly Samson-Rickert ? OIT was one of the recipients of the TechHire Grant and has hired 2 females due to the Hire-a-Vet Campaign. • Amanda Edgar provided a handout on The Incarcerated Women?s Program which provided data information and the 24-hour hotline to the Family Crisis Services. • Gilda Nardone asked Cheryl Moran to check with Ruth Pease from the Center of Workforce and Research Information and Michelle Cameron-Doughty, the new Program Manager of the Competitive Skills Scholarship Program (CSSP) to speak at the next meeting. Gilda wants to have a longer conversation about the Program (CSSP) in reference to men vs women in occupations.

Meeting adjourned

Next meeting will be held on Monday, November 7, 9:30 ? Noon in the Frances Perkins Room, MDOL Commerce Center in Augusta.

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

Attachments