Upper Shore Workforce Investment Board
March 7, 2006 Meeting Minutes
Meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m.
Previous Minutes
Motion was made by Beverly Churchill and seconded by Royce Sampson to accept the minutes from the December 13, 2005 meeting as recorded. Motion passed.
Attendees
Beverly Churchill, Sue Gallagher, Gabrielle Gallegos, Gwen Handy, Stan Hutchison, Sam Mehta, Royce Sampson, Dale Spencer, Charlie Sommers, E.C. Townsend, George Weeks. Staff: Dan McDermott, Melissa Mackey, Brenda Marzucco, Glorya Cowley. Guest: Dina Daly, Talbot County DSS
Introduction
Dan McDermott introduced Dina Daly. Ms. Daly is the Director of the Caroline County Department of Social Services.
Treasurer’s Report
The Steering Committee has determined that the USWIB will receive a financial statement at each Board meeting. Dan McDermott reviewed the most recent financial/grant budget summary as of January 31, 2006 for FY06. Motion was made by Charlie Sommers and seconded by E.C. Townsend to accept as presented. Motion passed.
Workforce Investment Programs and Work Ethic
The USWIB staff has worked to address work ethic issues through the programs that are operated with the Upper Shore Workforce Investment Act funding. The program affects approximately 1500 people per year, out of a labor force of 90,000.
Melissa Mackey presented a response from the Adult Program to the Beacon Study heard at the last meeting. The Adult Program has as one of its main components the Ready-To-Work certification for job seekers and training applicants, and newly designed for employers, The Retention Institute. The presentation included a side-by-side comparison of what issues were identified by the Beacon study, and how they were being addressed by RTW. In addition, a short introduction and timeline were presented about The Retention Institute.
Brenda Marzucco presented on current youth services including Work Maturity and Employability Skills portfolio, community leadership, occupational skills training, and tutorial services. The Mobile Learning Unit is a majority provider of your services. Occupational skills currently focus on hospitality, Tourism, and Culinary with future focus on Health Care and Construction clusters.
Issues Relating to July 1, 2007
Workforce Investment funding is based on a formula with three components-poverty rate, unemployment and areas of substantial unemployment. Funding has been reduced in the 2006 federal budget by 10% for workforce training and the Maryland economy is performing better than other states’ economies, so Maryland expects another 10% decrease on top of the 10% budget decrease.
The Workforce Investment Act was written and codified as a five year program. Beginning in 2002 and in every subsequent year, Congress has worked to re-authorize the Workforce Investment Act. In 2005, the Department of Labor required each state to recertify the workforce system and to create a two year plan that will be in effect through June 30, 2007.
The President’s 2007 budget proposal once again reduces funding for the Workforce Investment Act. The budget attempts to combine the Workforce Investment Act funds into a “block grant” and allow the Governor of each state to determine how services will be delivered.
A regional approach to the decreasing funds is to combine the Upper Shore Workforce Investment Board and the Lower Shore Workforce Alliance. This approach is an attempt to make a case for keeping eight counties as a Workforce Area after July 1, 2007. Even with the eight county consortium, the area does not meet the 500,000 population threshold that is necessary for automatic designation.
A motion was made to establish an Ad Hoc Committee, using the Steering Committee as a core to prepare recommendations for items for discussion at the April 25, 2006 meeting relating to an Upper and Lower Shore consolidation. Beverly Churchill, Sue Gallagher and Royce Sampson have volunteered for the Committee.
Queen Anne’s County Economic Development Director Request
Motion was made by Dale Spencer and seconded by Beverly Churchill to have a letter drafted to Suzie Eakle, Queen Anne’s County Economic Development in support of a proposed technical training center, at Route 50 West and Rt. 213 North.
NAWB Conference Recap
Nine Board members and three staff members attended the conference held February 25-28, 2006 in Washington, DC. Attending Board members commented that although there were some new ideas presented, they felt some were a bit confusing, and a lot of underlying tension between the Department of Labor and the local system was evident.
Announcements
Presently, the Adult staff is working with individuals who have been lost their jobs from seven firms in Kent, Caroline and Dorchester counties.
March 24 - AHEC sponsored Health Care Career Expo, Chesapeake College TPAC 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
April 04 – Career and Job Expo, Chesapeake College, 3:00 – 6:00 p.m.
May 12 – Annual USMBC/WIB sponsored dinner, Tide Water Inn
George Weeks extended his thanks to the WIB staff for their rapid response to the Maryland Plastics layoff.
Motion was made by Stan Hutchison and seconded by Royce Sampson to adjourn. Meeting was at 7:45 p.m.