Arizona PYs 2020-2023 Published Approved

WIOA State Plan Common Elements

Section Published
Located in:
  • III. Operational Planning Elements

    The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an Operational Planning Elements section that supports the State’s strategy and the system-wide vision described in Section II(c) above.  Unless otherwise noted, all Operational Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs.  This section must include—

    • b. State Operating Systems and Policies

      The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a description of the State operating systems and policies that will support the implementation of the State strategy described in section II Strategic Elements.  This includes—

III. b. 5. B. i. Describe how the eligible agency will award multi-year grants or contracts on a competitive basis to eligible providers in the State, including how eligible agencies will establish that eligible providers are organizations of demonstrated effectiveness

Current Narrative:

To allocate grant funds available under section 222(a)(1) for PY 2017/2018 to local providers, ADE conducts a competitive Request for Grant Application (RFGA) process to award multi-year grant contracts to eligible providers.

The purpose of the multiyear grant contracts awarded through the RFGA process is to enable local adult education providers, as core partners of the ARIZONA@WORK system, to develop, implement and improve adult education and literacy services throughout the state to further the vision and goals as outlined in this State Plan and described in the Title II Adult Education Program-Specific section.

Eligible providers, in adherence to WIOA, are organizations with demonstrated effectiveness in providing adult education and literacy activities and may include:

  • A local education agency;
  • A community–based organization or faith–based organization;
  • A volunteer literacy organization;
  • An institution of higher learning;
  • A public or private non–profit agency;
  • A library;
  • A public housing authority;
  • A non–profit institution that is not described above and which has the ability to provide adult education and literacy activities to eligible individuals as described in WIOA;
  • A consortium or coalition of the agencies, organizations, institutions, libraries, or authorities described above; and
  • A partnership between an employer and an entity described above.

The distribution of funds across the state is based on demographic data and needs analyses pertaining to the target population of adult learners. As required under WIOA, adult education services are funded and delivered in all LWDAs. The thirteen factors described in WIOA, Title II, Sec. 231 (e) are used to determine funding decisions:

A competition was conducted in 2018 to award funding for the provision of Title II services July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2020. 23 local adult education providers were awarded funds and adult education was provided in all LWDAs. The next competition is scheduled for 2020 to award funding for the provision of Title II services July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2022. The proposed timeline is:

  • January 2020- release of application;
  • March 2020- application due;
  • March – May 2020- review process conducted with local workforce board and applications evaluated;
  • June 2020- evaluation results and determination of awards (with State Board of Education approval); and
  • July 1, 2020- begin implementation of programs and services according to grant contract.