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Minutes

Kansas Workforce Investment Partnership Council
Leadership Team
May 11, 2001
Minutes

Members in attendance in Topeka for this meeting were Gerald Cook, Val DeFever, Steve Jack, Marie Mareda, Shirley Martin-Smith, Dwayne Peaslee, and Chair Ken Bell. Staff Barb Reavis was present.

Guests in attendance were David Brennan, Armand Corpolongo, Glenn Fondable, Sarah Gilbert, Kris Kitchen, George McAtee, Dave McEachern, Mike O'Hara, and Toni Wellshear

Bell called the meeting to order at 9:05 a.m. Self-introductions were offered.

Minutes from March 23 were approved following a Martin-Smith/Mareda motion.

Reavis offered a spreadsheet outlining the status of MOU's in Local Areas. The only two impasse situations that existed at the time of the survey have since been resolved. One Area is having difficulty collecting about $8,000 in past due payments from a partner. Local Area staff offered some corrections and Reavis will send the spreadsheet out to solicit additional information like voluntary partners and co-location programs.

McAtee and Wellshear presented the State Plan for Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) and explained the recommendations they had for KWIP to send on to the Governor. SCSEP provides funds for jobs for people 55+ in community services, about 20 hours a week (1059 hours annually maximum). The change this year is to try to move people on to unsubsidized employment and improve coordination among agencies and WIA. KDHR is responsible for the program, the Plan has a June 1 deadline, and final rules have not yet been issued from the USDOL so this first year's experience will be used to develop the regs. Recommendations from the Plan Work Group included responses to written comments and fell into three categories: items already incorporated into the Plan, items that will be dealt with in next year's Plan, and items KWIP should consider over the next year.

1) Items already incorporated into the Plan were:

• More general information should be provided in the Plan about the Senior Community Service Employment Program.
• Include the Older Kansas Employment Program Providers in the strategic five-year state plan.

2) Items that will be dealt with in next year's Plan are:

• More detail should be included in the Plan regarding how the National Sponsors (Ayuda, Green Thumb, and Red Cross) will coordinate with the Workforce Investment Act.
• In the event the State receives a substantial increase o f federal funding in Program Year 2002, the Governor may want to consider utilizing successful state OKEP providers to serve Title V participants, and Title V money could be shared by all current older worker programs in Kansas.
• There are several unmet needs in Kansas. The under-served counties in rural areas of Kansas, especially the western half of the State, have very little or no employment services to older citizens. Several large-populated counties, Wyandotte, Johnson, Shawnee, cannot meet the increasing demand for services and have long waiting lists for the next available slot. Also, the senior population in Southeast Kansas's counties is increasing at a rapid pace in Montgomery, Cherokee and Crawford.
• We recommend that there be specific performance goals for older workers included in this plan and that these goals also be incorporated as a priority in the state Workforce Investment Act (WIA) plan.
• …we urge that vanished Job Training Partnership Act Set-Aside funds for older workers be replaced with the 15 percent Set-Aside WIA monies available at the state level.

3) Items KWIP should consider over the next year include:

• Provide more detail in the Strategic Five Year State Plan as to how older workers will be served through the Workforce Investment Act and mention OKEP (Older Kansans Employment Program) as a specific service to older workers.
• Older Kansans Employment Program be included in the examples of existing cooperation with Workforce Investment Act Boards.
• An expanded plan should reflect that information about older workers be provided to SCSEP projects, the Kansas Department on Aging as well as OKEP projects statewide. We also recommend that OKEP programs be included in the examples of existing cooperation with Workforce Investment Act boards.
• Regarding the matter of coordination with local Workforce Development Centers, we are aware that Older Kansans Employment Programs have made efforts to coordinate services at local levels. Our observation is that coordination with these centers in ways that maximize benefits to older workers would be greatly enhanced in WIA funds would be available specifically to meet the needs of older job-seekers who seek unsubsidized work in the private sector.
• We urge that the Coordination Plan include language acknowledging the need for the Kansas Workforce Investment Board and local Workforce Investment Boards to include representatives from organizations providing older workers with assistance to secure unsubsidized employment.
  After discussion, the recommendations were approved on a Martin-Smith/DeFever motion. The entire Plan was approved to forward to the Governor on a Peaslee/Cook motion.

Corpolongo explained the mandated and possible uses for WIA fifteen percent state set-aside funds which are covered in WIA Section 134, and WIA Final Regulations §665.200 and §665.210. Between JTPA carry over and state set aside, $2.3 million is available for statewide activities for PY 2000. Administration costs are capped at about one-third of that amount (five percent of total WIA state allocation). KDHR leadership has estimated costs for planned expenditures and believes approximately $500,000 could be available for KWIP to use for some allowable expenses. In addition, KDHR is willing to fully fund from WIA administrative funds the KWIP activities which has been budgeted at about $120,000 for FY 2002. Partner agencies will not be asked to fund KWIP activities. Some discussion occurred about the roles of KDHR and KWIP and how state set aside funds should be allocated. A concern was expressed about encouraging Local Areas to do work for which little or no funding is made available. Reavis was directed to work out with Jack how to transfer funds for KWIP activities following a Martin-Smith/Peaslee motion.

Bell asked members who had not yet read or responded to Reavis' Kansas: The State with 2020 Vision proposal to do so in the next few days so it can be modified for distribution to the full KWIP Council. Members set the following items for the June 22 KWIP Council agenda:

• Kjl.com
  
• "substantially met performance" definition
• selection of Leadership Team
• Kansas: The State with 2020 Vision
• Material summary of 15% State Set Aside

Reavis distributed a sheet of past year accomplishments.

The meeting adjourned at 11:35 a.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Barb Reavis