Womens Employment Committee

March 5, 2018: 9:30 AM
Frances Perkins rm, 45 Commerce Dr, Augusta

Women?s Employment Committee AGENDA 3/5/18 9:30 ? Noon Frances Perkins Room, MDOL 9:30 Introductions 9:45 ? 10:45 EMPath?s Bridge to Self-Sufficiency Model and how it?s being implemented in Maine?a conversation with Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, Maine Housing Authority, Portland Housing Authority, New Ventures Maine, and other Committee members Break 11 ? 11:30 Approval of 1/29/18 Minutes Update on policy priorities Status of WIOA funding/MDOL 11:30 ? Noon Member updates/priority topics for 2018 meetings Upcoming 2018 Meetings: Monday, May 14 Monday, October 1 Monday, December 3

Women?s Employment Committee 3/5/18 9:30-12:00 Frances Perkins Rm. MDOL Present;

Gilda Nardone, Chair; New Ventures Maine Valerie Carter, Ph.D.; Bureau of Education, University of Maine Joni Boissonneault; Portland Housing Authority Erin Benson, ACAP Jean Dempster, New Ventures Maine Laurie Glidden; Maine State Housing Authority Chris Hastedt; Maine Equal Justice Partners Kim Foskett; Goodwill Industries of Northern New England Job Connection Kelly Osborn; Goodwill Industries of Northern New England Workforce Solutions Kelly Samson-Rickert; State of Maine Office of Information Technology Workforce Development Auta Main; Maine Department of Labor, Veterans Danielle Despins; Maine Department of Education, Career & Technical Education, Special Populations & Gender Equity Coordinator Marcela Peres; Lewiston Public Library Peaches Bass; Maine Department of Labor, Bureau of Employment Services

Introductions completed. Minutes from January meeting accepted. EMPath?s Bridge to Self-Sufficiency Model; Kelly Osborn and Kim Foskett presented what Goodwill is doing in the Portland area. 3 year it has been running and the goal is to assist 10,000 families into stability in 10 years. Partnerships are a big component of the project. Job Connection model. Have both social work and workforce support for the family. Life Navigator (social work component) is a master?s level individual who provides supportive counseling where Career Advisor worked on workforce components such as career exploration, World of Work Inventory (WOWI), strengths and aptitudes assessments, informational interviews etc. Very flexible model is individualized to each individual/ family. Reviewed Stability Calculator which GW uses to evaluate different domains in an individual?s life. Adapted version of the Arizona Self-Sufficiency Matrix (ASSM). Laurie Glidden from Maine State Housing and Joni Boissoneault from Portland Housing presented what they are doing. Similar model, more focused on financial health. Uses similar grid to evaluate families. Family must have children to be involved in the Family Self Sufficiency program. Started October 2016 for individuals who are at risk housing wise. 7 currently enrolled and will be shortly expanding to Presque Isle with 10 more housing vouchers. Have attempted to develop a community of these individuals to support each other, but this hasn?t developed much thus far.
Gilda Nardone and Jean Dempster; New Ventures using as a conceptual model, doesn?t utilize a formalized matrix at this point. Has additional focus of self-employment/ business development. Working with Caleb group in Saco to expand family matched savings program. Work on getting clients enrolled in family self-sufficiency program. Home ownership is goal, savings towards down payment. Most of work is in workshops on financial management and career planning. General discussion about impact of opioid crisis, and programs are seeing impact of that. Background check is a requirement of some programs and could disqualify a person. GW roughly 30% have some hx of drug use, MSH 20% have some.
Joshua Howe; SWB Update. Contracts and funding going to local areas after delay. Modifications to the Unified State plan as required by WIOA is currently out for public comment. No major changes in direction for the workforce system. New policies in the modification including Universal Access and Non-Discrimination and the Minimum Training expenditure policy which required 70% funds to be spend on training and expands the categories of training included in that. General discussion on the impact of this expenditure requirement. Kelly Osborn noted that it impacts staffing to facilitate assessments. Peaches noted that traditionally those front-line positions are not paid highly and this could make it more difficult to recruit and retain good employees. Gilda to put together comments for the group to review and individuals can sign on if they?d like. Noted that earlier decision was a phased in approach where this one isn?t. Josh noted that WIOA has greater focus on collaboration and co-enrollment. Also, early trump budget proposed a 39% cut to WIOA funds and that regardless of new policy, it?s imperative we look at how we?re delivering services.

Updates Marcela Peres; Cut in child abuse prevention funds in Maine has meant that they?ve lost funding for 2 positions at Lewiston library which bridged people to services.
Kelly Rickart-Sampson; Cybergirls program. Maine was 5th in nation in participation. Multiple winners in Maine and Thomas College is patterning and giving a $2500 scholarship for 4 years to Maine winner if they wish to attend their cybersecurity program. 10,000 entries in program nationwide. Auta Main; Hire a Vet program very successful, 296 placements with 61 of those being women. Average wage (for all) $23.16. Will have breakdown for women at next meeting.

Next Meeting: May 14, 2018 9:30-12:00 Frances Perkins Rm. MDOL

Respectfully submitted by Josh Howe

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