Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Performance Driven Providing talent for the 21st Century Creating an MOU/IFA that Works: Lessons Learned Bill Robinson, Director Bureau of Services for Blind Persons

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Date of Enactment – Signed into Law 7/22/2014 General effective date – July 1, 2015 (Corresponds to beginning of Program Year) Implementing Regulations – Final Rules - general effective date of September/October 2016

WIOA – Core Partners WIOA Title I. B: Adult, Dislocated Workers and Youth WIOA Title II: Adult Education and Literacy WIOA Title III: Wagner-Peyser WIOA Title IV: Vocational Rehabilitation

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act – Core Partners WIOA – CIE, EE, Pre-ETS, SMW Holding the mandates are the Four Core WIOA Partners – In Michigan the programs are housed In TIA, DHHS and LARA

ALIGNMENT OF CORE PARTNERS In Michigan, alignment occurs via the Unified State Plan (USP) which unites the WIOA Core Partners through but not inclusive of: The one-stop delivery system Performance accountability Pre-Employment Transition Services Employer Engagement/Business Services Program Year / Program Year Reporting

Michigan Workforce Structure The Statewide Workforce Development Board is known as the Governor’s Talent Investment Board. See WIOA Section 101(b) There are 16 Workforce Development Boards in the State of Michigan, doing business as Michigan Works! Agencies. The one-stops or American Job Centers are branded in Michigan as Michigan Works! One-Stop Service Centers. http://www.michiganworks.org/about-michigan-works/one-stop-service-centers/

Collaborative Efforts for MOU’s/IFA’s WHO? – Workforce Leadership with the Talent Investment Agency (TIA); VR Leadership comprised of Michigan General and Michigan Blind WHEN? – Occurred over the period of initial MOU development and subsequently over the period of initial IFA development HOW? – Monthly touchpoint meetings or conference calls. RESOURCES – Each MOU partner had input. DOL/TIA issued policy directives for MWA’s. TIA was available for ongoing support and consultation

MOU – Workforce Development Boards From the 16 local WDBs, Michigan Blind received: Draft MOU’s Several “Final” MOU’s ready for signature One “Final” MOU that provided only a partner signature (one-party agreement) Several “Templates”

Michigan Blind Challenges: Unlike the general agency – the blind agency does not have a contracts staff person residing within the agency. Fortunately, the Director has years of experience drafting contracts. In addition, there is a strong partnership with the DSA contracts staff and a good relationship with Workforce leadership.

MOU Prerequisites Partner Relationships Contract drafting expertise Identifying common interests Identifying the non-negotiables Good communication skills Understand the WIOA requirements for both VR and Workforce. That means reading the policy directives from RSA/DOL and using the Technical Assistance Centers

MOU Non-negotiables Due to lack of time, staff and also in order to administer local MOU’s efficiently and effectively – Michigan Blind took the approach that all the MOU’s needed to follow a standard format that incorporated the technical template issued by DOL/RSA however customized for blindness. TIA supported Michigan Blind.

Effective MOUs Naming and Term Who is the Agreement between? How long is the Agreement? How is the Agreement Identified? How is the Agreement Tracked?

Effective MOUs Parties and Recitals Parties – “successors and assigns” / Definitions Recitals: Purpose Affirmative statement – blind rehab agency Expectation – Services must be provided regardless of VR presence

Effective MOUs II. Vision and Principals This section contains some of the goals that are common interests but may not be provided based on resources

Effective MOUs III. Service Provision and Coordination Spells out the goals each party to the agreement will provide WDB LARA/BSBP Joint Responsibilities

Effective MOUs Part IV – Budget and Infrastructure Costs The trigger to the Parties working towards an IFA is the execution of the MOU. The WDB must demonstrate proportion of use and relative benefits provided Duties and responsibilities of the MOU are separate from the IFA

Effective MOUs Part V and VI – Referral and Inclusion Strategies Added some specificity regarding Communication Accessibility – “individuals with vision impairments” Part VIII – Other Provisions – Think about a common referral form – here is where we protected PII under 34 CFR 361.38 and notice of litigation to DSA/DSU

Effective MOUs Part VIII – Duration of Agreement Set up by Program Year and made it expire June 30, 2020 so that it is on a term consistent with the Unified State Plan. Part IX – Fairly simply Amendment/Assignment Part X – Certifications - Note – The DSU must be a party to the Agreement – It is not sufficient for the DSA only to sign

Infrastructure Funding Agreements (IFA) –PY 2017 Program year July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018 – IFA was only required by Partners who either had an FTE or a dedicated program phone line or computer in the One-Stop. Costs were allocated based on FTEs. Therefore, BSBP did not have an obligation and TIA indicated to the MWAs or WDBs that no IFA was required with BSBP. However, DOL did a review of the MOU’s and IFA’s and determined all partners whether there was an obligation to contribute or not were required to have an IFA

Infrastructure Funding Agreement (IFA) – PY 2018 BSBP is now in the process of negotiating IFAs for PY 2018. The One-Stop Partners defined “relative benefit” for PY 2018 as follows: It was agreed that the total # of active participants served (funded with admin or program funds) by required partner in zip codes assigned to the ____region (___ counties) would be the base. Active participants served are defined based on the previous budget year of the IFA (Program Year July 1 - June 30).

Relative Benefit Scale Clients Served Scale: #Served FTE 0-25 26-75 .05 76-125 .10 126-175 .20 176-225 .30 226-275 .40 276+ .50

Effective IFA Conformity Must reference the MOU want each one to be as simple as possible, contain all the necessary IFA elements One-year agreements since IFA is dynamic and MOU is not Possess a mechanism to true-up actual IFA contributions with actual participants and actual budget

Talent is the engine of success

WIOA PERFORMANCE DRIVEN!

Michigan Bureau of Services for Blind Persons Thank you! Questions? Resources – Generic MOU/IFA in Word Format Contact: RobinsonW7@Michigan.gov

Other Resources - DOE Infrastructure Funding of the One-Stop Delivery System: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/rsa/subregulatory/tac-17-03.pdf One-Stop Operations Guidance for the Am Job Center Network: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/rsa/subregulatory/tac-17-02.pdf Performance Accountability Guidance for Core Programs: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/rsa/subregulatory/tac-17-01.pdf Joint Guidance on Data Matching – Performance Rpting. and Evail. https://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/pdf/final-ferpa-tegl-report.pdf Vision for VR as a Partner in Workforce Development System: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/rsa/subregulatory/tac-15-02.pdf Vision for the One-Stop Delivery System: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/rsa/subregulatory/tac-15-01.pdf RSA: One-Stop Infrastructure Costs FAQs: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/rsa/wioa/one-stop-costs-faq.html OCTAE 17-3: Infrastructure Funding of the One-Stop Delivery System: https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ovae/pi/AdultEd/octae-program-memo-17-3.pdf

Other Resources - DOL USDOL TEGL 17-16, issued January 18, 2017 United States Department of Labor (USDOL) Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 16-16, issued January 18, 2017 2 Code of Federal Regulation Part 200 (Uniform Guidance)