Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Activities

(4) Describe how the state will implement and monitor the priority for public assistance recipients, other low-income individuals, and individuals who are basic skills deficient in accordance with the requirements of WIOA sec. 134(c)(3)(E), which applies to individualized career services and training services funded by the Adult Formula program.

Maryland’s WIOA system can be a pathway to the middle class and a means to maintain and build the skills necessary to remain in the middle class. Maryland is committed to ensuring its target populations are able to access the WIOA system on a priority basis. For the WIOA Title I Adult Program, this means that Local Areas must provide priority for training activities to individuals in the target populations.

Target Populations: Individuals with Barriers to Employment

• Displaced Homemakers
• Eligible MSFWs
• Ex-offenders
• Homeless individuals
• Individuals facing substantial cultural barriers
• Individuals with disabilities, including youth with disabilities
• Individuals within two years of exhausting lifetime eligibility under Part A of the Social Security Act - TANF
• Individuals who are English language learners
• Individuals who are unemployed, including the long-term unemployed[1]
• Individuals who have low levels of literacy
• Individuals without a High School Diploma
• Low income individuals (including TANF and SNAP recipients)
• Long-term unemployed individuals
• Native Americans, Alaskan Natives, and Native Hawaiians
• Older individuals
• Single parents (including single pregnant women and non-custodial parents)
• Veterans
• Youth who are in or have aged out of the foster care system

Per TEGL 10-09, priority of service for Maryland workforce system customers is as follows:

1. First, to veterans and eligible spouses (who also are included in the groups given statutory priority for WIOA adult formula funds). This means that veterans and eligible spouses who also are recipients of public assistance, other low-income individuals, or individuals who are basic skills deficient would receive first priority for services provided with WIOA adult formula funds.
2. Second, to non-covered persons (individuals who are not veterans or eligible spouses) who are included in the groups given priority for WIOA adult formula funds.
3. Third, to veterans and eligible spouses who are not included in WIOA’s priority groups.
4. Fourth, to any other populations identified by the Governor or Local Workforce Board for priority.
5. Last, to non-covered persons outside the groups given priority under WIOA.

Note: When past income is an eligibility determinant for Federal employment or training programs, any amounts received as military pay or allowances by any person who served on active duty, and certain other specified benefits, must be disregarded for the veteran and for other individuals for whom those amounts would normally be applied in making an eligibility determination. Military earnings are not to be included when calculating income for veterans or transitioning service members for this priority.

The state will ensure priority of service provisions are appropriately followed and monitored through several means. First, the Local Areas must adhere to these priority provisions and, within their local plans, provide details on how priority shall be given in the Local Area within these parameters. Specifically, Maryland asked its 12 Local Areas to provide “a description of how the Local Board will provide priority of service that conforms to the State Plan. This should include a description of additional local requirements or discretionary priorities, including data to support the need and how the local requirement and/or priority will be documented and implemented for the Adult program.”

Second, Maryland has implemented the Benchmarks of Success to enhance services for those populations that need them the most.

Finally, Maryland will ensure priority of service is effectively offered through local WIOA Memoranda of Understanding. The GWDB, MD Labor, DHS, and DORS jointly issued a policy on WIOA Memoranda of Understanding and Resource Sharing Agreements with fillable templates. This policy requires that WIOA Memoranda of Understanding contain provisions regarding a number of key components, including priority of service. The policy states that “all partners must certify within the local WIOA Memorandum of Understanding that they will adhere to all statutes, regulations, policies, and plans regarding priority of service, including, but not limited to, priority of service for the WIOA Title I Adult Program and for veterans and their eligible spouses.”  MD Labor will confirm priority of service during its annual comprehensive monitoring conducted by the Monitoring and Compliance Unit under the DWDAL.

[1] Per Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 31-14, long-term unemployment is unemployment that lasts 27 consecutive weeks.