A. Core Program Activities to Implement the State’s Strategy

Describe the activities the entities carrying out the respective core programs will fund to implement the State’s strategies. Also describe how such activities will be aligned across the core programs and Combined State Plan partner programs included in this plan and among the entities administering the programs, including using co-enrollment and other strategies.

III (a) (2) (A) Core Program Activities to Implement the State’s Strategy. Implementation will be accomplished through the one-stop service delivery system, and the publicly-funded workforce systems will align through the one-stop service delivery system.

The alignment of service delivery, focusing on the One-Stop delivery system, began with a meeting held in January of 2015 which included all core partners, other required and additional partners. A second meeting was held in May. Between the two 2015 meetings, an individual meeting was held with all required and additional partners. The outcome of the individual meetings was a rough draft of each partner’s potential contribution to the system and their needs. Since that time, the DWDB’s Resource Alignment team has agreed to optimize resource alignment and take opportunities to leverage resources on behalf of the One-Stop system.

All core programs are already fully aligned in the one-stop delivery system and housed in the one-stops. Adult Education is nearly fully aligned. It currently is in three of four comprehensive one-stops and will be in the fourth when space permits (January 2016). Twelve programs are housed in the comprehensive one-stop (WIOA Adult, WIOA Dislocated Worker, Job Corp, Wagner-Peyser, Vocational Rehabilitation, Trade Act, Unemployment Insurance, Veterans Services, Job Corp, National Dislocated Worker Grants and Adult Education). The TANF Employment and Training Program and WIOA Youth program are linked to the system electronically. The Division of the Visually Impaired (DVI), Carl Perkins postsecondary education, Older Americans Act, Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), the Criminal Justice Council and programs authorized under the Second Chance Act, and HUD Employment & Training programs have signed memoranda of understanding with the DWDB and the DDL, Division of Employment and Training.

Implementation will be accomplished through the following:

• Memorandum of Understand (MOU) - this individually negotiated and executed agreement will outline the responsibilities and opportunities for each partner. In addition, it established and documents the one-stop system goals.

• Statewide Governance Meetings - These meetings will provide a forum to identify issues and opportunities to evolve and expand the delivery system. It will also provide an oversight group for small project groups such as the alignment of the various partner’s Business Service groups. Local partners also meet quarterly to discuss operational issues across programs.

• Create a link in DJL to all programs and we will include a 90-day schedule of services - All partners will provide a brief description of their program (200 words or less), a more detailed description of their program/services and a schedule of the services available to their customers for the next 90 days. This program information will be available in Delaware JobLink for all customers and staff to access.

• Centralized Referral Mechanism - Through the centralized referral system, One-Stop partners are streamlining customer service scheduling and delivery.

All customers are enrolled in Delaware JobLink (DJL) when they are determined work-ready, to provide customers with access to the job matching capabilities of the system. This is accomplished either through client registration at the partner site or by the interface/upload of key data elements into DJL from partner systems.

All partners have agreed to:

• Share data across all components to evaluate program and system performance outcomes and identify opportunities for additional collaboration and alignment

• Engage in a regular and consistent communications process to monitor and recommend workforce development system revisions, as needed, while also identifying and replicating best practices for dissemination.

• Meet regularly with the Delaware Economic Development Office to discuss opportunities and challenges to attainment of the state plan’s goals.

• Further develop career pathways process to include supports required for adult learners to complete required courses.

• Survey business and job seeker customers regularly to determine which workforce system services are working well and for which services or processes improvement needs to take place.

Adult Education providers will contextualize academic instruction to increase relevance of instruction and assist customers with development of a career plan as part of their instructional plans. These plans will include researching job market information and developing timelines for attaining further training, as needed.

A process for coordinating the provision of academic skills and enrollment in training programs will be developed, and will include:

• A process for administering and analyzing common assessments across the system for all core providers, to reduce the time spent in assessment. This also provides the opportunity to target academic skills needed for further training or job attainment.

• Job seekers who have not attained a secondary credential or high school diploma will be provided with information on community adult education programs. If they are unable to attain employment after six months due to academic deficits, the adult will be referred to a Title II-funded adult education provider.

• The educational attainment of reentering offenders will be shared with DOL case managers upon consent of the customer.

• A process will be developed for Title II adult education providers’ services, to reduce duplication of services and increase funding for specific skills training programs.

Core programming for DVR consumers centers around individualized plans for employment that use Career Pathways counseling and assessments and OOLMI data and business/educational partnerships. This process allows for and supports the goal of all eligible DVR consumers attaining meaningful integrated employment. DVR is working with core partners to develop a single referral process for clients to access multiple support services simultaneously as they work to complete training and employment goals.