Meetings & Minutes

Older Worker Committee Meeting Minutes

June 23, 2008: 1:00 PM Department of Human Services Office
Civic Center Drive, Augusta

Minutes:

Maine Jobs Council OLDER WORKER COMMITTEE Promoting the Value of Maine’s Older Workers Meeting Notes: June 23, 2008

Mission:
The Older Worker Committee of the Maine Jobs Council promotes and supports Maine’s Older Workers through advocacy, education and policy development.

Next Meeting: Wednesday July 30, 2008, DHHS, Civic Center Drive, Room 1B, 1 p.m.

Older Worker Committee Annual Report:

Draft developed by intern Katie Ferguson. The goal of the report is to educate and raise awareness about Maine’s older workers. It will be a snapshot of where Maine stands and will raise issues and challenges to which we can respond.

It was suggested that for comparisons, the report include both national and Maine data where possible. Katie has instituted a series of statewide interviews with Older Workers to humanize the report. These interviews will also be used to fill a need for SCSEP reporting.

The group agreed that Katie is doing a wonderful job.

Next steps: - Garret will assist Katie in working with staff from the Center for Workforce Research and Information (CWRI, used to be LMI) to distill the report into a readable format. CWRI can indicate what data is most useful, the meaning of the data, and how to best present it. - Mary Fran will send an electronic copy of the report to the Older Worker Committee the week of July 6. - Garret will meet with the NGA team and the Older Worker Committee the week of July 21 to solicit comments on the report. - Report deadline is the Blaine House Conference on Aging, planned for October 15, 2008. - The Older Worker Committee needs to write the introduction to the report. - Garret will work with Katie to include the additional items of Volunteer and Caregiver data in her interviews with Older Workers and in the data reported. Focused and distilled information from the final report can serve as a new Older Worker brochure.

AARP Evaluation:

Surveys are underway. AARP trained DECD staff to use the survey tool within their department. Stay tuned for progress and results.

New ABCS:

The process is underway, with some changes from the first round of vouchers. Adult Education providers statewide will hand out and collect applications. CareerCenter and Adult Ed staffs are being kept informed. An overview of the New ABCS process is attached with these notes. Suggestion: follow up with those taking computer training as a result of being awarded a voucher, and use the comments and data in the Older Worker report.

Other:

  • Local Workforce Investment Areas must meet Performance Standards in order to earn Incentive funds. The Incentive Policy is being revised and input is requested, reply to Garret before August 31.
  • John will contact Dan about continuing to be the Policy Committee liaison. The next MJC Policy Committee meeting is September 19.

Next Meeting:

Wednesday July 30, 2008, DHHS, Civic Center Drive, Room 1B, 1 p.m. RSVP to Mary Fran.