Womens' Employment Committee

May 20, 2019: 9:30 AM
45 Commerce Dr, Augusta Marion Martin Room

Women's Employment Committee AGENDA 5/20/19 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Frances Perkins Room, MDOL 9:30 Introductions Approval of 3/18/19 Minutes 9:45 - 12:30 Presentation/discussion on Leveraging Opportunities in WIOA to Improve Outcomes for Women with Kathy Patrick of Strategic Sense Consulting. Kathy is a nationally recognized expert on women and workforce development and recently developed a comprehensive guide to opportunities for women under WIOA for the U. S. Department of Labors Womens Bureau. We will take a look at key issues and barriers for women in workforce development along with the hallmarks of programs that are successful in addressing these and producing consistently strong outcomes for women. Well review key aspects of WIOA, including critical structural elements and decision making points. Then well examine the elements of WIOA that present significant opportunities for strengthening outcomes for women through specific policy and practice approaches within Maines broader education and workforce development environment. 2019 Meetings (9:30 Noon in Frances Perkins Room at MDOL, unless otherwise determined) Monday, September 16 (Susan Corbett, Digital Inclusion Initiative) Monday, November 18


WOMEN'S EMPLOYMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES 05/20/2019

Present: Gilda Nardone, (Chair), Kelly Osborne, Muriel Mosher, Darylen Cote, Erin Benson, Dawn Croteau, Peaches Bass, Joni Boissonneault, Renee Doble, Andrea Mancusso, Kathy Patrick, Angela Rizzolo, Valerie Carter, Jean Dempster, Ruth Pease, Kathy Kilrain del Rio, Amy Hughes, Tammy Rabideau, (Phone), Kelly Rickert-Samson, (Phone)

Staff: Joshua Howe, Cheryl Moran

Introductions Gilda Nardone opened the regular meeting at 9:36am and asked members and guests to introduce themselves and their affiliations.

Gilda asked the group to state what most interested them in the focus of the meeting. Angela Rizzolo stated she is attending to provide more support. Darylen Cote stated she always had interest in womens issues and she announced she will be retiring in 2 weeks. Erin Benson stated working with heads of household...they need employment to lift them out. Muriel Mosher stated she serves on the New Ventures Board and the Permanent Commission on the Status of Women, and her first task is the 2019 report. Amy Hughes stated she likes to be involved in womens employment. Kelly Osborne stated she wants to learn more specifically about women and the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA). Andrea Mancuso - Gildas invitation. Dawn Croteau stated she is here on behalf of Liz Ray to learn about good things and what they can do to help. Jean Dempster stated to learn more about WIOA. Joni Boissonneault stated family stability. Many of participants are female. Valerie Carter stated she is interested in women and occupations, labor and market data. She announced she will be retiring technically at the end of the month. Peaches Bass WIOA, Policy & Evaluation. She drafts or revises policy and goes out in the field to conduct monitoring. Renee Doble stated she is a member of the Commission on Disability & Employment (CDE). Workforce is the biggest issue and always looking for more resources. Ruth Pease Data and availability of data. This is the reason being here. Kelly Rickett-Samson stated to learn and support the effort to move women forward in Maine. Tammy Rabideau stated the Library partners work heavily with MDOL, New Ventures Maine. Her reason for being here is to empower people throughout the communities.

Approval of 03/18/19 Minutes Gilda Nardone called motion for approval of the 03/18/19 meeting minutes.

Presentation/discussion on Leveraging Opportunities in WIOA to Improve Outcomes for Women with Kathy Patrick of Strategic Sense Consulting Kathy Patrick provided a PowerPoint presentation on "Leveraging Opportunities in WIOA to Improve Outcomes for Women". Kathy opened her presentation by stating there are opportunities for women under WIOA if we can leverage those resources strategically. WIOA, however, does not say we have made it better for women. Women on average have not been exposed to higher wage positions. Under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the structure was very challenging. WIA restricted access to training and effectively encouraged people with disabilities (PWD) not getting into training. WIOA corrected a lot of those problems. More than likely, workforce programs need to take those barriers into account. For example, child care and transportation. Erin Benson stated we need to consider to be a resource team because were always stating were not duplicating although we all offer the same services. Gilda stated we need to have a team approach to case management. Highlights: Primary focus (discussion today) Title 1 Adult and Dislocated Workers. Provide career exploration & counseling need to also incorporate financial planning. More money has been freed up and appropriated in the last 2 years. Pell Grants are not aged based, just income eligible.
WIOA states not having silos but how effectively different systems will work together. Best practice models: Oregon Work Source and Seattle King County Workforce Development Council. Q & A Gilda asked the group what stands out for you in this conversation? Erin Benson Pathway to self-sufficiency. Concerns: CNA, this occupation pays a very low wage for difficult work. And how many times can a person come in, and we pay for their training? Is there a cap? 5 years, 10 years? Kathy Patrick We need to create incremental career pathways because Nursing is only one piece of the healthcare pathway. Kathy Kilrain del Rio stated options are different in different locations of the state, so how can we address this? Peaches Bass stated regional economic development is where we need to address. Maybe what we should be looking into more is where these resources go when they come into the general fund. WIOA Title 1 4, basic information programs, CareerCenter and VRtake a handful of performance measures and we might want to look at this for the State Plan. Erin Benson stated childcare, there is not enough of it. Childcare is not just an expense but also an impact on office hours. We need to up the quality and quantity of childcare. Angela Rizzolo stated this is a perfect time to talk about lessons learned under the previous 4 years of WIOA. And we need to look at programs holistically. Look at all the systems. Pick one and work on it. Best practiceswhere are they and why are we not talking to them. Kelly Osborne stated we cannot put people into training if we do not have the money. She stated they are serving women, but a good percentage are low-income.

Other Gilda Nardone The meeting scheduled in July has been cancelled. The next meeting will be in September. She asked the group to mull over all of what was presented and discussed. What should be our next priorities as we transition to the new State Plan? How to work with the permanent commission? Any thoughts are welcomed along with effective feedback to the pending plan process.

Meeting adjourned at 12:39pm

NEXT MEETING September 16, 2019 9:30 12:00 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta Frances Perkins Room

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran


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