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Tags Posts tagged with "WIOA"

WIOA

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) requires the governor of each state to submit a four-year unified or combined state plan outlining the state’s workforce development strategy. The plan can be viewed on the Department of Labor and Industry’s website, and the draft for the 2024–2028 plan is available here.

Pennsylvania’s Combined State Plan includes the six WIOA Core programs: Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth, Wagner-Peyser, Adult Basic Education, and Vocational Rehabilitation. It also includes the following optional programs:

  • Career and Technical Education Programs-Perkins Act
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program
  • Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers Programs
  • Jobs for Veterans State Grants Program
  • Senior Community Service Employment Program
  • Reintegration of Ex-Offenders Program
  • Community Services Block Grant
  • Unemployment Insurance

Some specific areas of interest to our members include the following goals:

  • Empowering individuals paid subminimum wages through 14(c) waivers to obtain CIE;
  • Expediting the Integrated Vocational Engagement & Support Team (InVEST) Project to assist individuals with disabilities, families, and community businesses with CIE engagement, supports, and services/resource coordination;
  • Increasing competitive integrated employment (CIE) opportunities for individuals with disabilities;
  • Increasing transition services for students with disabilities; and
  • Increasing statewide collaboration with the Bureau of Special Education (BSE) and the Office of Developmental Programs (ODP) to expand Pre-ETS across Departments.

Public comments will be accepted on Pennsylvania’s WIOA Combined State Plan until 5:00 pm on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Please submit your comments electronically. Written comments may also be submitted by mail to:

PA Workforce Development Board
651 Boas Street | Room 514
Harrisburg, PA 17121

Last week, Congressman Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06) questioned Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos regarding the Department’s response to Obama-era rules and guidance relating to Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) during a hearing in the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. You can watch Rep. Grothman’s line of questioning here, and you can read the Congressman’s press release here.

Tell your Representative in Congress to cosponsor HR 5658, The Workplace Choice and Flexibility for Individuals with Disabilities Act. This bill will restore common sense to the definition of competitive integrated employment and provide increased employment opportunities for people with disabilities. People with disabilities across the country have been denied placements in high-paying jobs because of the regulations that implement the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). ACCSES supports expanding opportunities and keeping a full array of options available.

RCPA is pleased to offer this informative training, presented by Karen Welton, Community Outreach and Resource Planning Specialist for the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Topics will include a general overview of the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA); Section 14(c) requirements of the FLSA; Work Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) requirements for certificate holders; and requirements for certificate holders with federal contracts under the SCA.

The training will be held Thursday, May 3, 2018, at the Park Inn by Radisson in Clarion, PA, from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm. Sign-in will begin at 8:30 that morning. This training is FREE to RCPA members, but advance registration is required. The training will also be available via webcast.

Register here for the training. For further information, contact Carol Ferenz.

The Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) is conducting a comprehensive statewide needs assessment designed to meet and satisfy the state plan requirements in the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. As part of this assessment, the Institute on Disabilities at Temple University is asking Pennsylvania employers and workforce professionals to complete a brief survey to identify how OVR can better support employers and employees across Pennsylvania.

This project is being conducted in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council and with the assistance of the Institute on Disabilities. If you are an employer or a workforce professional you are encouraged to complete this brief survey by Monday, August 1. Once you’ve completed the survey, you can enter in a drawing to win a $20 Target gift card.

The Institute on Disabilities is also seeking employer stakeholders to participate in brief phone interviews and share their expertise with the Institute. Interested employers can email or call 215-204-9544.

L&I State Plan
RCPA has been asked by the executive director of the Senate Labor & Industry (L&I) Committee to provide recommendations related to workforce development for the state’s Department of L&I Unified State Plan, required by the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act. Please share your suggestions with Linda Drummond by Sunday, November 22.

ODP Updates
The Office of Developmental Programs has released the following information:

Based on the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act enacted in 2014, the state’s Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) is required to write its own stand-alone annual state plan, “Vocational Rehabilitation Services Portion of the Combined State Plan.” This is a four-year workforce development strategy. The combined state plan will be available for public comment in January of 2016.