Women's Employment Committee

February 6, 2017: 9:30 AM
Frances Perkins Room, 45 Commerce Dr Augusta

Women?s Employment Committee AGENDA 2/6/17 9:30 ? Noon Frances Perkins Room, MDOL Introductions Presentation/Conversation on Financial Capability for Maine Women and Families--what?s new in 2017: Janet Smith, NVME and CA$H Maine/Western Maine CA$H Jean Dempster, NVME and Maine Family Development Account Coalition WEIC member perspectives on the issue Approval of 11/7/16 Minutes Policy and program priorities in 2017?legislative session Member Updates/Resource sharing Update on WIOA, SWB, DOL Please see attached list of 2017 meeting dates

WOMEN?S EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 02/06/17 Present: Gilda Nardone, Kelly Rickert, Auta Main, Joni Boissonneault, Chris Hastedt, Laurie Glidden, Kim Foskett on behalf of Kelly Osborn, Jody Harris, Tammy Rabideau, Lisa Shaw, Marcela Peres, Jean Dempster, Janet Smith

Staff: Cheryl Moran, Joshua Howe

Gilda Nardone opened the meeting with welcomes and introductions. She asked for approval of the 11/7/16 meeting minutes. Minutes approved unanimously as written.

Gilda?s opening statement - We need to look at financial capability and the Committee?s priorities this year.

Presentation/Conversation on Financial Capability for Maine Women and Families?what?s new in 2017: Janet Smith, NVME and CA$H Maine/Western Maine CA$H Jean Dempster, NVME, Maine Family Development Account Coalition, and Capital Area and Central Maine CA$H

Janet and Jean provided handouts and a PowerPoint presentation on ?CA$H Maine 2017 ? Asset Building and Financial Security Project?. Janet explained that CA$H Maine is a statewide collaboration of ten coalitions, comprised of 50 non-and for-profit partners, working together to help empower Maine individuals and families to achieve long-term financial stability. Financial capability is a combination knowledge, skills, and access to resources. She stated that legislators and individual CA$H Maine coalitions are very involved in getting the word out through their community networks which include local New Ventures Maine staff and United Ways. However, word of mouth is the #1 way to find out. To access more information go to www.cashmaine.org or call 2 1 1. Jean explained that a Family Development Account is a savings account that you open at a local bank or credit union. For every dollar you save, the FDA Coalition matches it with four additional dollars from public and private funders and can be used to buy a house, start or expand your business, or further your education. NVME?s My Money Works is a 15 hour class that can help you gain the skills and confidence you need to stretch your money, pay bills, reduce debt, find money for savings, plan for retirement, and set financial goals. Laurie Glidden stated that she had a client who signed up for both a Rainy Day Savings and Family Development Account. Her goal was to own a home; even though money was tight, she worked hard and understood what she needed to do. Jean stated people who receive public assistance and SSI or SSDI may be eligible for a Rainy Day Account. They are often not eligible for an FDA because there is an earned income requirement. Gilda Nardone asked how do you in a very comprehensive way move forward ? a positive way on how to deal with the aspects of poverty.
What needs to happen is coalitions need to come together to form a common brand and to work towards a common goal. The State of Maryland has a wonderful model for us to emulate. Jean stated that a lot of people feel they do not need to file their taxes if they did not earn a lot. They should file because they may be eligible for an Earned Income Tax Credit or an Education Credits because they worked. We need to get the word out.

Gilda Nardone ? There are 6 sub-committees of the State Workforce Board (SWB). Maine organizes a little different from other states. Committee information can be found on the SWB website at: www.maine.gov/swb.The Chairs? Committee meets periodically and at the last meeting was asked to lay out goals. The goal of our Committee is to look at broad issues through a gender lens and what is the most effective way as a Committee to inform or be a resource to the SWB. Gilda passed out a draft copy of the WEIC 2017 goals. Overall, this draft will be more of a sense of direction for our Committee this year. Policy and program priorities in 2017--There will be a lot of legislative issues coming up this session that we should look at and pay attention to (monitoring/staying on top). Data ? We will be looking at as it relates to gender. CWRI and Josh Howe will be a few of the resources. Joshua Howe stated he will keep working with various partners on the WIOA Plan and implementation. Auta Main stated she likes how Gilda has included all aspects of the Workforce Board. Chris Hastedt ? Legislature ? reported there are 2 bills of interest; 1) increasing access to Competitive Skills Scholarship (CSSP). Increasing access will create substantial new opportunity and double the amount of slots available; 2) An Act to Reduce Child Poverty by investing in the future of Maine families. This Act will stabilize families and provide an opportunity to get better paying jobs. Both of these bills have no L. D. number yet. Medicaid ? Chris stated that we have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in 2017. If passed, this will go into effect for two years in Maine. Budget ? There are multiple proposals. You can view the entire document on the Maine Equal Justice website at: www.mejp.org. Chris stated TANF has a work requirement attached which has reduced enrollment. The Parents of Scholars Program is a program that is underutilized. Because of that, it has caused a drop in enrollment. This is why we need to promote access. Jody Harris reported there is a hearing today at 1pm of a proposal that will eliminate the Homestead Act (people over 65). She stated you can look at town by town on the www.mecep.org website. And on Friday, February 10th, there will be a hearing on proposals to eliminate estate tax, increase sales tax and reduce income tax. Jody stated she is working on Predatory Lending because women are the main targets. The State Budget, we really need to look at both the expense and the revenue side.

Members Updates/Resource sharing

Kelly Rickert reported on April 6th there will be a Job Shadow Event specifically targeting girls (High School, juniors and seniors that are thinking about college) in IT occupations. In the workforce, 30% are females. March 16th ? There will be a Career Fair over at IT but will not be gender specific. March 22nd ? Technight. March 31st and April 1st ? New England Workforce Coalition in Portland targeting girls in higher education to learn about a career in IT. Kelly stated she will be having a meeting with veterans and IDEXX to get veterans in their workplace to up their skills. She also reported that there has been a change in her department ? now they report to DAFS. Auta Main reported the Maine Hire A Vet Campaign (100 day, 100 employers, 100 hires) is over. She reported the outcome stats for this year: ? 146 employers ? 192 veterans placed ? 30 were women A high percentage was placed at $20.00 per hour. UI rate is 3.5% for veterans, which is low. She also reported that 37 veterans were hired by the State of Maine and 30+ at Maine Medical. 14 or 15 were hired in IT. The Veterans Committee has been working with Anne Head, Commissioner of the Licensing and Registration Bureau in reference to occupational licensing. Anne has been giving the authority by the Governor to make waivers ? simplify and fast track to licensing. Joshua Howe stated there are a lot of bills in the Legislature but has not been printed. Joni Boissonneault reported the Portland Housing Authority and Goodwill Industries of Northern New England have been communicating/collaborating on a new way to track their participant?s progress. CNA Bridge Project ? provides services they need to be able to enroll in that program. Laurie Glidden ? Building Families Future Pilot Program ? Laurie participated in issuing the first 6 vouchers for participants. This program has been restarted. She will keep us updated. Kim Foskett ? Job Connection ? looked at workforce programming and what pieces are missing. The FSET program is the pilot project for Portland. Tammy Rabideau ? The Waterville Library ? leverage of the use of the facility to prevent potential burden of accessibility. Marcela Peres reported that they partner with the CareerCenter by providing a bus trip to the CareerCenter and Library. On March 25th, there will be a Teen Opportunity Fair. This is an annual event and 150 girls usually attend. Gilda Nardone provided a flyer on the Totally Trades Conference, dates and locations. Totally Trades is a hands-on conference for girls exploring careers in trade and technology fields. They expect to reach 800 girls. The Career Planning on-line class will be offered this spring.

Update on WIOA, SWB, DOL

Joshua Howe ? WIOA - The goal is tracking different initiatives such as diversity, veterans, people with disabilities and displaced workers. Universal access - How to provide service to a broad range of people. How do we better align services (braiding, co-enrollment and partnership)? Data ? There is not a lot coming out because of the new WIOA requirements. The Steering Committee is working on a Dashboard. We do not know what it will look like yet because we are in the early stage.

Meeting Adjourned

Next meeting will be held on Monday, April 24th from 9:30 ? Noon in the Frances Perkins room, CMCC Augusta.

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

Attachments