JOB FORCE BOARD March 19, 2003 I. Call To Order II. Roll Call III. Public Comment There was no public comment. Mr. Yves Hamel, Supervisor of Michigan Department of Career Development Employment Service Agency, Veteran Services, was introduced. Ms. Carol Barbacovi-Muscoe who replaces Mr. Chapman was welcomed to the JFB. A moment of silence was given for the loss of the Judy Ezop's sister who was killed while getting out of an automobile during a hit and run accident. IV. Agenda Motion to approve the agenda with the following changes is made; motion is supported and carried unanimously. Old Business B will be first and A will be second. V. Reading, Correction, and Action on Minutes Motion is made to approve the minutes was presented; motion was supported and carried unanimously. VI. Old Business B. Youth Committee Update- A project has been established under "Goal One" of the Job Force Board to assist with career and employability skills development services. This project is the Ready For Work project. Holly Peoples, Business Development Consultant of Delta County states that the Ready For Work is an initiative that wraps into the Michigan Works! Youth Works! Initiative. Holly stated that Ready For Work not only gears the younger aged people but also a lot of entry level workers who need help getting prepared to obtain jobs and to stay in jobs. Workshops are set up to help teach individuals what skills are needed to prepare them for getting jobs. Using these workshops, the top priority is to train the individuals to understand what the employer's expectations are. Workshops include filling out applications and doing resumes. Attitudes are also discussed and the importance they have during an interview. Local business people conduct mock interviews and participate in the workshops to interact with those involved in Ready For Work. Obtaining the endorsement of businesses is a key priority of Ready for Work. It was suggested by some schools that Ready For Work includes an accountability segment so that participants can appreciate the real world of work. Participants must complete all parts of the workshop satisfactorily in order to receive a certificate. Showing up alone is not enough to get certified. Classes are two days at the service center and in schools are generally four days. Individuals must be well dressed as if getting ready for an interview. The last day of the workshop individuals must have their resume and applications filled out neatly. A question was asked by a member as to what the age group target is and Holly reported that most of the students are juniors and seniors that attend the workshops. Workshops are scheduled once a month at the service center. She passed out a sheet listing the schools that have workshops scheduled. Businesses think this is a great idea and have been more than willing to display the Ready for Work posters and hand out fliers regarding Ready for Work. Holly showed the members what the certificate looks like and what is included on it. Schools across the region have been very receptive to Ready for Work. The Michigan Works! Service Centers are recruiting Business and Industry to be active participants in this ongoing project that supports Goal One of the Job Force Board. Benchmarking of the success of this activity against the Job Force Board's "Goal One" will occur. A. Marketing Update- Updates on the marketing committee are within the board packet. C. Healthcare Industry Roundtable- The Michigan Works! Service Centers are working on the Nurse Outreach Program, which is a campaign called "We Need You!" This campaign is under the direction of the Healthcare Roundtable in response to its survey results regarding the shortage of workers in the healthcare industry. The goal of this campaign is to get nurses back into the healthcare field. There are fliers posted as well as radio and television commercials supporting this campaign. The goal of the Healthcare Roundtable, which is challenging, is to have less than 5% vacancy rate in health care occupations in the U.P by the year 2005. Strategies have been set and are currently being worked on to improve the health care profession. Joe Esbrook stated that by 2020 the shortage of workers is estimated at 800,000. The population is growing and those over the age 65 is expected to double from the year 2000 to 2003. The people over age 85 are the fastest growing age group. Nurses are not keeping their licenses as they are entering other work fields. It is also a known fact that nursing instructors are older, the average age being 52. The average age of a nurse right now is 44. There has been a rise in male nurses, however male nurses tend to move to other occupations and careers more than female nurses do. The goal now is to get the nurses who have licenses to get back into nursing and help with the shortage in workers. Respondents who call the Michigan Works! Service Centers regarding the campaign commercials will be sent a letter with telephone numbers of the Healthcare Industry to contact for information on re-entry into nursing. So far, over 170 individuals have contacted the Michigan Works! Service Centers and 55% of those nurses have a license. There are a lot of barriers as well. One reason is that there is new technology and before nursing licenses have to be renewed, nurses have to undergo " in house" training. Databases are being worked on and other strategies are in the works as well for the next steps within this committee. This Roundtable will now reach out to the high school grades 9-12 to spark an interest in the healthcare field and help them prepare for getting a job in the health care field. The roundtable is also researching an opportunity to have an established ongoing healthcare fair. This initiative is in place in support of the Job Force Board's Strategic Plan and supports all five goals. The group is commended on their work within this committee. D. Strategic Planning Committee- There have been many changes in the region as it relates to the environmental scanning. The committee is on the right track with the Workforce Investment Act focus on business. They are set out to find the issues within the community and fixing them or doing what they can to fix them. The Committee has requested the Executive Leadership team to review and adjust the environmental scan to make sure it is relevant and up to date. The committee will be present this to the full Board when completed. E. Career Connections Group Update Career Tech money was eliminated from the proposed budget that the Governor has introduced. Mr. Burgess had written a letter asking for the funds to be re-instated and it was suggested to have this group write a letter asking for the funds to continue. There are tough times facing the State and the Country. He also handed out a teacher guide that came out of the Job Force Board's Career and Employability Skills sub-committee (Goal One) that was given to the teachers explaining what the committee is all about. He also stated that Dr. Gustafson did a presentation on the Career Prep System application. The application has to be in by May 1st. He also did presentations on the Perkins funds and Tech prep funds as well. They all need to be in by May 1st, 2003. He noted that Career Prep as of three years ago received $675, 000 and the new budget is half of that budget at about $ 325,000. Reports were received from Dean Masters from Bay College regarding the Perkins funds. B. MDCD Monitoring, 2002 Cycle III and 2003 Cycle I. The 2002 Cycle III monitoring had no findings. The 2003 Cycle I will review Financial management controls and Equal Opportunity. C. JFB Response letter to Project Services The response letter to Project Service Inc. is within the packet. This is an old subject item that has been taken care of. VII. New Business A. Michigan Works System Implementation Plan-Action A review of the plan was completed. Motion is made to approve submission of this plan; motion is seconded and carried unanimously. B. Service Center Operation Grant -Action This is a grant of $12,037 to support the Michigan Works! Service Centers operations as outlined in the board packet. Motion to approve the application of the grant is made; motion is supported and carried unanimously. C. Career Connections Group- Action Motion is made to approve the Career Connections Group membership; motion is supported and carried unanimously. D. Committee Structure Update- The members were referred to a section in the handout about what the committee structures were. Interest to serve on committees needs to be directed to the Board President. E. WIA Reauthorization Plan of Action-Action The Workforce Investment Act is up for reauthorization. Members of the Job Force Board, Six County Employment Alliance Board and the Career Connections Group received a full overview of this process at meetings held by the National Workforce Association. The Boards need to have ongoing communication with our Senators and Congressman on key issues relating to this reauthorization. The Board packet has an overview of the importance of having a local action plan. Motion to have this plan of action take effect is made; motion is supported and carried unanimously. The upcoming budget for Year 2003 was discussed. The State of Michigan has alerted the Michigan Works! Agencies that there is an anticipated federal reduction of Workforce Investment Act funding. As of now, it is not sure of the total impact this reduction will have at the State level but is it is anticipated that our system may face a significant reduction. The Board Packet outlines some options where the priorities for services to jobseekers will take precedence over business outreach services. Since this is such an importance issue with the potential of a significant funding decrease, there will be a special meeting regarding this issue. VIII. Communications Motion is made to accept communications on file; motion is supported and carried unanimously. IX. Adjournment Motion to adjourn is made; motion is supported and carried unanimously.