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This is a great way to share info and ideas! And I really like the calendar too, it's getting hard to keep track of everything and that will help.
David See

Great idea! I printed the calendar and added it to my outlook calendar. It seems that we have webinars and conference calls every day, sometimes twice per day between NYS, USDOL and NYATEP.

I have a question. Do you think that the summer youth employment program under the stimulus could start earlier for the 22 to 24 year olds, since obviously they are not in high school but rather unemployed or in college, in which case school usually ends around May.

Regarding the summer youth employment progam, it really boils down to what the guidance will define as what constitutes a summer program. In theory, yes, it does seem right that 22-24 year olds could start earlier. As shared on the phone today, USDOL has 30 days to get the guidance out once the President signs - however, it is anticipated that the guidance will be available sooner then the 30 day period.

I do hope that the State does not reduce the plans for the funding at proposed levels for the TANF Summer Program. This would just be robbing Peter to Pay Paul and also reducing the opportunity to serve more in-school youth. Re: starting an earlier SYEP fort he 22-24 yo's, I had this thought also...start in May or June....

Peg - as of right now we have not heard about any specific discussion reducing the TANF SYEP dollars - if we do, we will alert you right away.

Regarding the TANF SYEP allocation the Times Union capitol blog stated:
________________________________________
Paterson’s got a booster in Silver
February 4, 2009 at 1:43 pm by Irene Jay Liu
Addressing a hundred or so teenagers at an event sponsored by the Campaing for Summer Jobs, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver gave Gov. David Paterson a shout-out.
“You have a friend in Gov. David Paterson,” said Silver, noting that despite the state’s fiscal woes, Paterson did not cut funding to the summer jobs program.
The group of surprisingly attentive teenagers responded with a round of applause.

Jan: I got your message, but too late for the call on youth issues. Ed and I were at a 13 N meeting.

Can you post the powerpoint form Monday's webinar on this site?

There have been a lot of questions over the past few days about how long the WIA stimulus funds are available for expenditure. Today on the national webinar on the stimulus, John Colbert said that local areas definately have until June 30, 2011 to expend the funds. He also pointed out that if significant amounts of the funds are not spent by 6/30/10, there is a strong possibility that they will be recaptured and future funding will be at risk.

A question from Cheryl Mayforth - Jefferson County.

In speaking with our HR office about adding personnel, she has spoken with Civil Service inquiring about how other county WIBs are going about adding people under the stimulus. So far no other county WIBs have requested additional personnel. Have any of the county WIBs started seeking additional people? If you are, how are you doing this?

Wage Rates for the WIA and TANF Summer Programs: The NYS minimum wage will increase from $7.15 to $7.25 on Friday, July 24. A smart, forward -thinking fiscal officer pointed out to us that this could create an administrative nightmare for summer job programs. WIA allows you to set the hourly pay rate for participants at whatever rate you choose (so long as you are in compliance with minimum wage requirements). NYATEP checked with OTDA and they say that TANF summer program operators have the same flexibility to set wage rates. So, as you plan for your summer programs, consider using the higher pay rate from the beginning of the program, or increasing the rate at the start of the pay period where the rate increase will occur, to help ensure timely, accurate payroll for your participants and fewer headaches for your fiscal staff.

Question: Subject: Summer Wages

We've received a question about dealing with the change in the State minimum wage that will occur on Friday, July 24, 2009.

Given the awkward timing of the rate change, many summer program operators will start their WIA funded SYEP participants at the higher rate that goes into effect on 7/24. The question is do they have this flexibility with the TANF summer funds?

If not, will OTDA be issuing any guidance on how program operators might address this issue so everyone will be on the same page in planning for the rate change. If using the higher rate from the start isn't an option, if it is possible to implement the rate change at the start of the pay period in which it occurs, that would be very helpful in limiting the adminsitrative burden and ensuring timely and accurate payroll.

Thanks for any insight you can provide and let me know if you have questions.

Answer: The same flexibility exists with the TANF funds. Local operators could start at the higher rate, or implement at the start of the pay period during which the increase becomes effective. We'd recommend to go with whatever is easiest administratively.

Response from Ana-Maria Hurtado on Staff Issues
I met with our Town goverment/Civil Service Commission and CSEA and they have approved us to hire temporary help, not to exceed 18 months through a contract with a tempo agency. We placed a public notice advertising an RFP for staff leasing services. We received several responses and have selected the most cost effective one. I have been collecting resumes for a while, and I have already started interviewing people. As soon as we know we can hire the personnel we will refer them to the staff leasing company who will in turn hire them, process them for payroll purposes (paycheck, benefits, workman's comp, tax deductions, etc.) and assign them to our office. I will be glad to go into greater detail with anyone interested. We have done this in the past. When we have been awarded federal grants that were not renewable, but required additional staff, we didn't want to have to hire permanent civil servants, since when these grants ends and we can no longer afford these individuals, we would have been stuck with them. Ana-Maria

Attached above is the NYS Senate Power Point overview on the stimulus and potential impact on the State Budget

Response to Staffing Issue - Michele Lichy Cattaraugus-Allegany Workforce Investment Board, Inc.

One of our county One Stops is planning to utilize temporary employees through a local staffing agency, which is a good idea as they are employees of that staffing agency and then the county will not be liable for their UI or benefits. The other county wants to hire through civil service, which we don’t understand as they will have to provide benefits, etc. Another idea we had was for the WIB to issue an RFP for additional agencies to provide services at their location in order to provide access to more people. So instead of increasing customers and staff at the One Stops, we will try to go out and reach those who may have travel difficulties and make the program more accessible for all.

Reponse to Staff Issue - Peter Crisano Suffolk County

Suffolk will be adding temporary staff primarily to assist in operating summer programs (TANF and WIA). We have a temp salary classification plan that has a number of positions ranging from Labor Crew Leader to program Aide with salaries of $8.00 to $12.00 per hour. We can hire for 22 weeks before we have to start paying benefits. At this point we do not anticipate adding any permanent staff but if our formula 09 money increases dramatically we may ask our CE for approval to hire some clerical and counselor staff.

Posted March 9 -- NYATEP has posted an overview of the USDOL TEGL 13-08 which provides guidance and WIA and Wagner-Peyser allotments to states. Go to the Attachments section for the summary

The ARRA Local WIA Allocations can be found in the attachments section.

We have posted two new documents -- a summary of USDOL TEGL 14-08 and a separate document that highlights new information that we learned from TEGL 14-08. TEGL 14-08 is the most comprehensive guidance yet released on on the workforce funding contained in the Recovery Act. Look in the documents section for these new resources.

A major emphasis for the Workforce Investment Act funding included in the Recovery Act is the serving low-income, displaced, and under-skilled adults and disconnected youth. The recent ETA guidance encourages states and local areas to pay particular attention to these populations and to develop strategies for helping these workers access training and services that will advance them along career pathways.

One-Stop counselors and frontline staff can all benefit from a fresh look at how to approach this task. The Recovery Act provides the financial resources to expand our services, but, after years of declining resources, staff may need fresh eyes to see Beyond Barriers as they help customers gain access to education, training, and necessary services to prepare for new and emerging career opportunities.

Check out new information posted in the documents section about NYATEP/WDN training products or visit << http://www.nyatep.org/i4a/ams/amsstore/category.cfm?category_id=7 >> to learn more about how you can bring top-notch, affordable staff development training to your organization.

We have received a couple questions asking whether local areas can use WIA Recovery Act Funds for Administrative Costs. Recovery Act funds follow all of the rules of regular WIA funds unless specified in the Recovery Act. There are no special provisions related to Admin in the Act, so all WIA rules related to Admin apply to these funds and Administrative costs are allowed

The revised summary of TEGL 14-08 notes that WIA-funded adult ed, literacy, and ESOL can be provided "in connection" with occupational skills training. We are seeking clarification on whether this means that these services can be provided sequentially or must be concurrent.

The new unemployment numbers came out today and the current rate of 8.5% is the highest since late 1983. Some groups are more affected by the recession than others: young adults between 20 and 24 have a 14% unemployment rate; teen unemployment is at 21.7%. Teen unemployment is soaring in all demographic groups: White teens 19.9, up 7 points from a year ago, black teens 32.2, up from 31.3 last year, Hispanic teens at 24.9 from 17.8 a year ago. For individuals who lack a HS diploma it's 13%, compared to college graduates who are at 4.3%. An indicator of how widespread the problem is, the rate for white men aged 20 and over, the largest demographic in the survey, has nearly doubled in the past 12 months, going from 4.7% to 9.3%. How is this reflected in the customers you are seeing and the services you are offering?

Military pay and allowances are exempt when determining WIA Youth eligibility and low-income priority for Adult services: We have found in the WIA Regs section 667.255 that military pay is exempt. The earlier reference to military pay on page 11 in our SYEP Guide has been corrected. Recently discharged veterans (and their spouses) who meet other eligibility requirements should receive priority for SYEP and WIA Adult services.

The latest USDOL Q&A on the Recovery Act, updated on May 1, is posted at http://www.doleta.gov/recovery/TEGL14-08_Change1_FAQs.cfm