Located in:
- II. Strategic Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a Strategic Planning Elements section that analyzes the State’s current economic environment and identifies the State’s overall vision for its workforce development system. The required elements in this section allow the State to develop data-driven goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce and to identify successful strategies for aligning workforce development programs. Unless otherwise noted, all Strategic Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs.
- c. State Strategy
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include the State's strategies to achieve its strategic vision and goals. These strategies must take into account the State’s economic, workforce, and workforce development, education and training activities and analysis provided in Section (a) above. Include discussion of specific strategies to address the needs of populations provided in Section (a).
- c. State Strategy
II. c. 2. Describe the Strategies the State Will Use to Align the Core Programs, Any Combined State Plan Partner Programs Included in This Plan, Required and Optional One-stop Partner Programs, and Any Other Resources Available to the State to Achieve Fully Integrated Customer Services Consistent with the Strategic Vision and Goals Described Above. Also Describe Strategies to Strengthen Workforce Development Activities in Regard to Weaknesses Identified in Section Ii(a)(2).
Current Narrative:
The Publicly funded workforce systems have aligned 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. In furtherance of this mission, Goal teams 1 (Resource Alignment and Expansion) and 3 (Process Redesign) have developed action plans and are actively working to ensure system alignment. (see section b. 2. Above) Related activities include:
• Interagency partners will be developed to drive the alignment and braiding of resources and service strategies.
• Client assessment, referral and case management, including common triage and an integrated electronic referral system
• Unified business engagement model
• Interagency social media campaign
All core programs, are already fully aligned in the One-Stop delivery system and housed in the One-Stops. It currently is in three of four comprehensive One-Stops and will be in the fourth when space permits. There currently are, in addition to Adult Education, eleven programs 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). The TANF Employment and Training Program and WIOA Youth program are linked electronically. The Division of the Visually Impaired (DVI), Carl Perkins postsecondary education, Older Americans Act, Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) and HUD Employment & Training programs have weak connections. The one remaining program, the Second Chance Act, is not connected.
Alignment 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 documented the One-Stop system goals.
• Monthly 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.
• 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 - The final referral mechanism is expected to be electronic. The function will be to enable partners to schedule customers for services found on the 90-day schedule of services and get feedback on whether they accessed the services. This referral system will be manual for the first two years and automated thereafter.
• Local meetings - These meetings will be convened quarterly locally to identify issue and opportunities. The purpose will be very similar to the statewide meeting, but they will focus more on operational issues.
• All customers will be enrolled in Delaware JobLink (DJL) when they are determined work ready. This will ensure all partners and their customers; have access to the job matching capabilities of the system. This will be accomplished in two different ways, client registration at the partner site or by the interface/upload of key data elements into DJL from partner systems.
All partners will:
• Share data across all components to determine performance progress of individual partners and of the system through the combined effort of all partners
• Engage in a regular and consistent communications process with all partners 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
• Further develop career pathways process to include supports required for adult learners to complete required courses
• Surveying businesses and job seekers regularly to determine where the workforce development system is working well and where improvement needs to take place