Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Wagner-Peyser Program (Employment Services)
All Program-Specific Requirements provided for the WIOA core programs in this section must be addressed for either a Unified or Combined State Plan.
- e. Agricultural Outreach Plan (AOP). Each State agency must develop an AOP every four years as part of the Unified or Combined State Plan required under sections 102 or 103 of WIOA. The AOP must include an assessment of need. An assessment need describes the unique needs of farmworkers in the area based on past and projected agricultural and farmworker activity in the State. Such needs may include but are not limited to: employment, training, and housing.
- 4. Outreach Activities
The local offices outreach activities must be designed to meet the needs of MSFWs in the State and to locate and contact MSFWs who are not being reached through normal intake activities. Describe the State agency's proposed strategies for:
- 4. Outreach Activities
- e. Agricultural Outreach Plan (AOP). Each State agency must develop an AOP every four years as part of the Unified or Combined State Plan required under sections 102 or 103 of WIOA. The AOP must include an assessment of need. An assessment need describes the unique needs of farmworkers in the area based on past and projected agricultural and farmworker activity in the State. Such needs may include but are not limited to: employment, training, and housing.
e. 4. A. Contacting farmworkers who are not being reached by the normal intake activities conducted by the employment service offices
Current Narrative:
WorkForce has an adequate number of outreach workers for the amount of MSFWs that are present in West Virginia. Due to the relatively low numbers of MSFWs in the state during peak season, WorkForce West Virginia has determined that two outreach workers is sufficient to conduct outreach. WorkForce West Virginia will adjust the number of outreach workers based on the number of MSFWs in the state. Currently our outreach workers devote 100% of their time to MSFW outreach during the peak season and conduct some level of outreach outside of the peak season. Outreach is conducted in person to known MSFWs on a weekly basis and these workers are provided contact information so they can reach the outreach worker by phone or email.
WorkForce West Virginia is working to compile a comprehensive list of agricultural employers around the state which will allow us to inform employers of available services and to identify additional domestic MSFWs. We will continue to attend conferences and partner with relevant organizations to build relationships with agricultural stakeholders in order to identify and locate domestic MSFWs throughout West Virginia. Working alongside our NFJP grantee and identifying partner or community agencies that might be interacting with this population is a way to identify those farmworkers who are not otherwise being reached. The NFJP grantee has one staff strategically located in Hardy county to provide workforce and career services to MSFWSs and the families. Once identified, outreach staff will work to contact workers to provide information on services available by WorkForce West Virginia and partners.