Neda: I am going to hand it to your presenter today, John Russell. And the session is targeted marketing to leverage workforce Title I funds. John.

John Russell: Thank you, Neda, appreciate it. Thank you, everybody, for coming this afternoon. Day three of the summit. So I know everybody's been in and out of Zoom all three days and experiencing the zombie apocalypse. So thank you very much for being here to hear what we have to say.

I am really honored and privileged that some of our partners in this topic that we're going to be addressing today are here today. So I'm going to let them introduce themselves really quickly. So I'll start with Margo.

Margo Scoble: Hi, good afternoon, everybody. I hope that you're still learning. It's after lunch on the third day of a conference. My name is Margo Scoble. I'm the program director for Managed Career Solutions. And we operate the two American Job Centers of California. And one in Boyle Heights and one in Hollywood, California. Thank you for having me.

John Russell: Thank you for being here, Margo. And Ripsime Markaryan.

Ripsime Markaryan: Good afternoon. My name is Ripsime Markaryan with Pomona Valley AJCC. I'm the program director for Pomona Valley AJCC. And also we do have an affiliated site which is West Covina AJCC. And that's located in West Covina. Thanks for having me.

John Russell: Thank you for being here. And last but not least, I gave her a promotion too, apparently. It's Jessica Espinoza.

Jessica Espinoza: Hi, thank you for having me. Jessica Espinoza. I am the program manager here at the Boyle Heights Workforce Center. Thank you for having me here, John.

John Russell: Thank you. So the impetus for doing this is understanding-- and we'll take a look at the-- there we go. The essential question that we're going to be looking at today is whether or not I can spell functional. No. The essential question is, how robust and functional is your mandated partnership, the mandated partnership with your WIOA partners. And so that's the jumping off point.

And then what we're going to be looking at in terms of the agenda and the presentation overview. We're going to take an overview of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. And I think a lot-- and actually going backwards. Looking at this just quick visuals, you need to ask yourself, are you kind of siloed? And maybe you kind of know what's going on next door. Or are you all coming together and headed in the same direction.

And I'm really fortunate to be working with some AJCC partners that really get it in how we're supposed to be helping each other to solve unemployment. To work together, to build the workforce. And make sure that we're doing what the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act has asked us to do. So here's the overview real quick. We're going to learn about what the five titles of WIOA are. Maybe you know, maybe you don't.

Then we're going to look at Title I a little more deeply, and see how funding flows from the federal government to the state government, to the workforce development boards, to the AJCCs. To where it ends up Margo, Jessica's and Ripsime's budgets. Then we're going to look at WIOA services and client eligibility. And then we're going to take a look at the mandated partners. And so we're going to get a big overview of the WIOA system. And then we're going to go to the CAEP system. Obviously, everybody is going to be a lot more familiar with that.

But this early piece in looking at the legislation that has created WIOA, which is a federal legislation. And then the legislation that has created the state system that we operate in. Both are asking the members of the participants in those systems to work with each other. And I don't know-- my assumption is that a lot of folks are not working in as robust a way as possible. And in some instances, they are. But I think that there's gaps. And so the goal of this is to say, let's look at the legislation. How is the federal government wanting the state actors to participate with the federal partners and then vise versa.

And then we'll get into what the model is. And then we'll see the model in action, which is our three partners here today. And then talk about how targeted marketing reaches our clients and students. And then we'll take questions and answers.

Hey real quick. So WIOA, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, was passed in the Obama administration. Has five titles. So everybody in this room for the most part knows what Title II is. It's the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act. But let's go through what the other titles are. The three magnificent program directors that I have here with us today are funded primarily out of Title I. But they braid funds, because Managed Career Solutions goes out. They're very aggressive in finding grants. So there's a lot of funds that are braided in, and their budgets are pretty complex as to how they find the funding and the revenue to then provide training services.

But the Title I is the biggest amount of money that is spent out of WIOA. And it authorizes job training that is related to the unemployed or underemployed individuals. And it establishes the performance accountability system for WIOA. So it is job training. And my partners will talk more about what that specifically means, because there's classroom training. There's on-the-job training. There's incumbent worker training. They also get work-based funds, which are called Youth at Work. There's rapid response. There's a number of different categories and Margo will go through that when we look at the funding model of it.

Then everybody knows we get Title II that is supposed to be supplemental. It is not supposed to supplant programs. We all know we spend that money on academics ESL. And some of us have 243, some of us have 225, which serves the prison population. So that's a big amount of money that comes to us. But it is dwarfed by what gets put out by Title I. And Title III is an Amendment to the Wagner-Peyser. The Wagner-Peyser has been around since the New Deal. And what this does is it integrates the ES into the One-Stop system.

Title IV is DOR, it's a ton of money as well. And so what it's saying is that the Department of Rehabilitation should be in the workforce development system. And then Title V is general provisions. That's just help transition from WIA, which was under the Clinton administration in 1997 to WIOA under the Obama administration in 2014.

Here's your federal funding by title. And I couldn't find DOR by Title IV by the state. I don't know why I couldn't find it. But I couldn't find the number. But in any event, you can see how basically Title I, which is the AJCC system and my partners that are here today. That system nationwide gets about 3.2 billion. And Title I gets a fourth of that. Title III the Wagner-Peyser gets a little less than that. Title IV, which is DOR gets more than any of them. And I couldn't even find the state funding amount for that.

So any of you who have worked with DOR and are able to shake any money out of them, good on you. And I would like to go to your breakout session. Because I've not been able to deal with DOR and get any money out of them. It's just there's too many barriers and it's very difficult. And I've just gone to partners who are more willing to help much like the three that are here, so. And then Title V you can see is a really small amount of just basically to try to help transition from WIA to WIOA. So I'm going to turn this over to Margo right now.

Margo Scoble: Hi, good afternoon. So WIOA is interesting. It was passed in 2014 I believe by the Obama administration. And WIOA, I believe that year-- and I could be wrong, but I think I'm right on this one-- was the only Act of Congress that was passed. It was the only legislation passed in a bipartisan fashion. I mean, we don't hear bipartisan often anymore. But jobs creation and the flow of funds to job creation is bipartisan.

So WIOA is robust. It's going to be around. They may a few years change the name, but there will always be money flowing in for jobs training acts. And this year because of COVID and the pandemic, we were federal-- can you go back, please? John?

John Russell: Oh, yeah my bad.

Margo Scoble: Thank you.

John Russell: I don't know why that happened.

Margo Scoble: I get one slide.

John Russell: And I blow it. Why won't it let me go backwards. Sorry.

Margo Scoble: There we go. So this year the federal government awarded $3.82 billion. However, due to the pandemic and whatnot, we are feeling confident that that number will either stay the same next year or maybe even rise a bit. Because so many people are out of work and need those job trainings and those work-based learnings to go ahead and get to become successful and self-sufficient.

So the California WIOA funds are a little over $506 million. And that's delivered to the 45 workforce development boards up and down the state from Humboldt County all the way down to San Diego. Around the country they're called American Job Centers. In LA, we call them Work Source centers. In the County I believe [inaudible] they're also called Work Source Centers. But in some areas in Orange County they're called One-Stop Centers. But they are the American Job Centers of California.

And we all are very similar. And we're all a little different, because we're all procured a bit differently. So some specific forms of the flow of funds is youth receive 918.6 million. And youth can be from 14 to 24. Adults are 18 and older. And that population receives $860 million. Adults, priority is always given service to veterans, always. And special populations are always higher up the rank. So justice involved reentry, persons with disabilities. English language learners, tribal populations and farm workers kind of rise to the top for those populations.

And then there's the next category, which is dislocated workers. And that's about 1 and 1/2 billion dollars. That population are people that have been laid off to no fault of their own. A plant closure, a company decides to transfer to another state or another country. A small business closes. So those people are usually receiving unemployment. Now during COVID, they've made some caveats in a little-- they've modified it a bit where many programs now if you've been laid off, 16 out of the last 26 weeks you're considered a dislocated worker. So they're trying to adjust to this new world post COVID.

And then there's Wagner-Peyser, which is as John said, the Employment Development department's using it, the One-Stop system. And they receive 668 million. And then Info Grants is 32 million. And then John breaks it down more to California, which receives about $125 million for youth, 120 million for adults. 150 million for dislocated workers. And Wagner-Peyser receives about 80 million. And Information Grants receive 2.5 million.

John Russell: And Margo, let me just jump in real quick. So you can see everyone, you get about $506 million from the feds in this system. And our system, the state system and the CAEP system is about 560. And the CAEP legislation says you either do one or two things. You get people jobs, you put them to work. Or you move folks to post-secondary.

So here's two funded systems. One's federally funded. And I believe the state, Margo, you could probably speak to this. The state add some funds to that federal total or?

Margo Scoble: I don't believe the state adds federal funds, but the state has additional-- they have a 25% governor's discretionary grant and they have a lot of special programs that go out throughout the year. So that'll target special populations. And that money is consistently coming in.

John Russell: So it's both these systems add up to about $1 billion. Now, I get it. The California State budget's $200 billion, something like that, 220. 200 now I think. So it's only 1/2%. However, these are significant funds on both of these systems that the people here, the presenters and the people that are watching this have access to to try to create change and help people that need help.

Margo Scoble: And--

John Russell: Sorry.

Margo Scoble: There's one little piece missing in this chart. Several years ago, the assembly or the State Senate. I think it's the State Senate passed SB Something. And SB Something allocated about 30% of our budgets go to vocational training. So whatever budget our local American Job Center gets, 30% of that budget goes to training. And it really applies to you. Because it's a chance and opportunity that shouldn't be overlooked to access that training.

John Russell: And that's classroom training like many of us provide, right?

Margo Scoble: Absolutely. Or it can be work-based learning too. But so of that money, LA County, is one of the 45 workforce development boards. And LA City is also one of the California workforce boards. And they get a fair chunk. I think LA County gets more than any other workforce board in the state. And I would imagine LA City is right behind.

And Managed Career Solutions, our team, we operate the Pomona Valley with its affiliate in West Covina. And then we operate two centers for the city of Los Angeles. And we also have a center in Orange County that we operate. So please reach out to us, and we'll see how we can work together. But we do have this large budget. And the money does go to vocational training. So it's a really great opportunity. And this slide really exemplifies how that money is delivered. So I'm going to turn it over to Jessica for the next slide.

John Russell: Yeah. So people walk in the door and then-- and if I can ever figure out how to get to my slides properly. People walk in the door. And so what services can they get, Jessica? And what makes them eligible to get these vocational training or other services that are available?

Jessica Espinoza: So basic WIOA services as laid out on this slide. We cover career services, job training services, vocational training, on-the-job training and incumbent worker training. We provide skill assessment. And our case managers do career development. And we assist with job search services. We also partner with employers. We do active recruitments, we do job postings. We have advisory boards.

We work with different businesses around the area to create customized trainings, on-the-job trainings where we help employers offset the cost of hiring new employees. And some of those eligibility requirements for individuals that walk in the door are they have to have the basic right to work. As Margo mentioned, we do have focused populations. Our youth, our adult, our dislocated workers. Our veterans. Our individuals with disabilities, and our formerly incarcerated individuals.

Individuals need to be either underemployed or unemployed. And all males must be registered for selective services. All males born after 1960 must be registered for selective services. They must complete a career profile, a career assessment. And one of the other requirements is that they must be looking for a job. So they must do job search and they must select the school that they're going to be attending. So it's customer choice. Any school that they attend must be customer choice.

John Russell: Perfect. So thanks for that. And I do want to say just briefly because Jessica mentioned it. There is a lot of ways that we have been partnering where we reach out through our targeted marketing. We kind of help people show up for a job fair. And then Jessica's staff, who are amazing helps process them. We have an employer on site. And the employer hires the person. And then the people that are hired we then put into a training. So that it's employer-driven.

The one thing about the workforce development system, it's incredibly important to get the employers involved. So those employer services are critical to the functioning of the system. And the three that are representing here are very involved in dealing with their employers and finding partnership opportunities.

Now, so I want to just step back a bit. Probably this next slide should have come a little bit earlier, but Rip is going to talk about how we all got in the same room and create-- who are the mandated partners that must come together and create what allows AJCCs to get funded.

Ripsime Markaryan: Hi. Again, this is Ripsime. So it is required for WIOA to have a mandated partner as a one-stop operator. In the County, usually WDBs, who kind of funds them, they do obtain all the mandatory partner MOUs. Which they are all listed here. So we have the Title II partner, which is you guys.

John Russell: Us.

Ripsime Markaryan: Yes. And we have a lot of MOUs from a lot of adult education and community colleges and the system. We have CBOs that they're part of, the MOUs as well too. We had HUD, job corps, YouthBuild, Veteran employment. Local Veteran Employment agencies, Disabled Veteran Outreach. Indian and Native American Programs. National Farmworker Program. Unemployment Compensation, which is part of the Employment Development Department under the same umbrella. And we have TANF.

So it is mandated for us to have all these partners in the system, so we can provide quality services to those individuals. Our goal is leverage control to make sure the services are being provided to our customers. There is no wrong door if they come to our center if they need additional services that we don't provide. So we know who to refer it to.

In addition to our mandated partners, we also-- AJCC keeps their own individual MOUs with a lot of partner agencies that it's not under the same umbrella. But the goal is to have as many partners as possible. Part of the MOU, it's usually-- we have the MOU that is being signed by the other agency. And of course the AJCC Center. We have data sharing agreement in this. So we can share data if it's needed.

Release some information. Again, that's something that we want to release. If we are working together, if there is some information, it can be released. Of course, everything has customer signatures on it if it's requested. Scope of work which describes which agency, what kind of services we'll provide. Shared resources and cross referrals.

So some of the partners that are listed on here, I just want to mention that they are co-located with us in some cases. Such as in West Covina, we have a big group of ADD staff there. There's an unemployment insurance staff member there. There's a vet representative. And in some cases we have even adult school as part of the AJCC as well too. We do have job course, youthbuilt. They're all participating on-site or offsite. But we just want to make sure we're providing wrap around services to all the individuals that are coming in.

And I know city also has their MOUs as well too. They click their MOUs. It is part of the whole providing the services, you have to have those MOUs. And it is a great way of partnering and making those connections and relationships, and also the work that we know each partner does and how they can assist throughout the program here. That pretty much covers my slide.

John Russell: Thank you, Rip. And just real quick just to clarify on the MOU process, there are some times that-- because I've been involved with County MOU. And so there's sometimes-- and you said this, but I just-- because the folks in here don't necessarily get the language. There's MOUs with the Workforce Development Board, which is the larger board. And then you said that some schools have MOUs with specific AJCCs. Can you just talk a little bit more about that?

Ripsime Markaryan: Yes, there is some schools. Because it is not mandated to let's say collect the MOUs from all the adult education schools. Like if the WDB goes and gets MOUs sign from few, but there is other ones that you want to work with. As an agency, you can go and obtain those MOUs as well too. So you can just work with those schools as well to ensure information is needed.

John Russell: Perfect. Thanks.

Margo Scoble: I'd just like to add a little bit to that. So the city of LA also has this umbrella MOU with DOR and with the adult schools and everything else, which is great because they're in compliance. But on a local level, on developing an MOU with an American Job Center and an Adult School, it becomes personal. And you can really spell out what you want to do together and map it out. And on occasion revisiting that MOU can reestablish the relationship and go over things. So I think it's really helpful.

John Russell: Yeah, that's a really important point, Margo. Because it becomes a difference between compliance, which allows them to get their funds or they got to be in compliance to get their funds. Or engagement. Are we actually just trying to comply or are we actually trying to engage and work together to solve problems? So you make a really valid point.

So this piece off to the right of this slide. At some point in time when WIOA came in, I was suddenly in a room with a bunch of people and I had no idea why I was there. But I knew that I had to be there. We weren't going to get our Title II funds. And then that process has just happened again right before COVID. And so a lot of folks are new to adulthood. And so they're like why am I at this meeting? If you're administration, you're directors, you're going, why am I at this meeting? Why am I involved in this process?

Well, WIOA said that Title I and Title II had to stop being silos. Get in and figure out, work together. And so it came basically through the Title I mandated partners for the one-stops. But it's important that we're in there. And so what does that partnership look like locally for you? Because you have to be part of and sign those MOUs with whatever Workforce Development Board that you're with. And if you're not there, then you don't get your Title II fund. So let me see if I can actually figure out how to work this thing. OK.

So that's WIOA and an overview. And so I'm just going to pause really quickly because we've looked at the federal legislation. We've kind of got it more from a Workforce Development System or from the Title I system. Is there any questions that--

Margo Scoble: There are in the chat.

John Russell: OK. So. OK, so let's see. I'm going to scroll up a little bit. OK. Hey, it's good to see Dana. Good to see you there. And I think the presentation is available. That was answered. And Prudence, are you the operator or is there a consortium of operators? And you're, I'm assuming that you're-- Prudence that you're referring to the AJCCs, correct?

Prudence: Yes.

John Russell: Perfect.

Prudence: That's what I'm referring to.

John Russell: Perfect.

Margo Scoble: I can take that one.

John Russell: Can y'all speak to that? Can you speak to that, Margo?

Margo Scoble: Yeah. So the city of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles do not operate the American Job Centers. I believe in WIOA, very few areas are left that the cities or counties operate the centers. They put them out for bid. So it's mostly agencies that are non-profits and a few for-profit that bid to operate the centers. And it keeps the costs lower, and it keeps the competition higher.

We have pretty high bar goals that we have to meet. And we also are part of hallmarks of excellence that's conducted by the state every year, and we need to meet those goals to stay an operator. So it's competitive and they are put out for bid every four years.

John Russell: Yeah, and let me just talk to that real quick. Because right now the request for application process is going. That bid is going out. There's a lot of things that are-- the bids should have gone out, the application should have been processed this year. But because the County is reworking its-- the whole system is actually changing from the top down with the Department of Labor coming in at the state level.

So I won't get into the weeds there. But each of these nonprofits and managed career case for-profit, these organizations fill out these applications. And so in the case of managed career, they are in three different Workforce Development Boards. Because they're with the Los Angeles City Board, they're with the Los Angeles County board and with the Orange County board.

And so they operate a number of different AJCCs under those applications. And Margo hit it on the head. This is supposed to create competition because there's performance outcomes that the AJCCs are supposed to hit. And I will try to limit my editorializing here. I don't understand why, but it seems like a lot of AJCCs don't hit their performance outcomes. And there doesn't seem to be any ramifications to that.

But what I will tell you is MCS blows their performance outcomes out of the water. And that's primarily because of the three program directors that are on here. That they're efforts and outside of the box thinking and tremendous amount of diligent efforts to reach out to employers and to reach out to schools like us to make it happen. So I just want to-- that's why they're here talking to you because in my mind they're the platinum standard in the system, at least in my experience in the County of Los Angeles.

So in terms of a consortium of operators it's not necessarily consortium, it's various companies that come in, whether it's non-profit or for-profit that create the application and then it's approved by whichever workforce development board. In the case in Los Angeles it's either the city or the County or Orange County for MCS. And it looks like, Margo, you want to add to that.

Margo Scoble: I just want to say that you haven't been out much. There's a lot of great centers out there doing great work, up and down the state.

John Russell: OK. If you say so. All right. OK. So most everybody knows the legislative intent of our system with AB104. You've got Ed Code 84900 to 84920. If you ever get a wild hair, I highly recommend for you to go and take a look at it. So when you get to sections-- sorry, 84906. That entire section is about us partnering with our workforce systems. And you can see in this slide-- and I apologize I'm a little bit challenged because I've got to get my screens out of the way.

But we're supposed to be creating our annual plans and our three-year plan. We have a three-year plan process that's coming up. And we should be inviting partners to the table. And I would say the most important partner that you need to invite to the table is your local AJCC. And if you don't have a relationship with them, then you need to go and start to have a relationship with them. And there's a lot of ways that you can partner and we'll get to that as we go along.

But here's the legislation. And this is what the legislative intent of AB104 is in terms of working with the workforce system. So this slide will be available. We will have it in the resources. I think it's already there. And you can see right here is the text. I'm sorry, the URL to get to that part of the ed code.

So here's a simple-- the thing. And I mentioned this early on. With WIOA, the feds are mandating partnerships between AJCCs and our adult education schools. And then under AB104, the state is mandating partnerships between adult education schools and AJCCs. The legislation, and the intent of the legislation is we are supposed to be working together in partnership. And like I said, you got about a 1/2 a billion dollars. And each one statewide, we're supposed to be working together.

So before I just go into the next section, I'm going to take a quick look at the chat. Thank you, Todd. That's key outside of the box. Thinking MOU as a normal bureaucracy, a part of any process but is getting needlessly in the way in some-- yeah, I agree. I agree that there's a tremendous amount of bureaucracy that gets in the way of both systems. And one of the reasons why we're constantly drawn to working with Managed Career Solutions is because they managed to find a way to cut through that. And so I appreciate you noting that.

Bureaucracy in dealing with your average AJCC, it can get pretty frustrating. And so like Margo said, there's a lot of good ones out there. And I'm sure you'll find that, but I have the cream of the crop in this one for you all to ask questions to. You good, Margo or should I stop backing up?

Margo Scoble: No, I think that's great. One thing about-- we have to spend the money. So for example, each city of LA operator is required. Our goal is to enroll 150 people in training. We do have a limited budget. It's 30% of our budget. So it's not minimal, but still 150 people is a lot. So we do try and get some leverage trainings. But the most part, we're just spending money on putting people to school. And of those 100 people, we put them in our sectors. And for example our health care security and construction.

That said, I can send a group of people to an Adult School. And it will cost me less to send a cohort of 10 or 12 or 15 people to an Adult School than it's going to cost me to go to a private individual training account or a private school. So for us, many times it's more affordable and better use of our funds for training. And that's one of the advantages of using the Adult School.

John Russell: Yeah. That's a really important point. And so I want to start and say, just stop for a second and reiterate that the AJCCs are wanting to partner with us. And provide these Title I funds for our training fees because it's better for them. It's more economic and more efficient from them. And they believe that because they're dealing with public schools, and because of public school oversight, that typically they're getting better training and better facilities or better--

At least their clients are being better serviced in a public school. And so that point can't be overemphasized. The fact that your AJCC wants to-- they're very desirous of working with you. Let me just answer a quick question. Yes, that is a great point, Miss Paulette. Is that Elsa? Yeah, Elsa, I believe. Yeah, so you have to get on ETPL. And so I was actually, I think going to bring that up in the next slide.

But so you have to get on the employee training provider list. In Los Angeles County, it's a process that we have to go through, one of the Workforce Development Boards with an application. It's easier as a public school. Private schools have a more difficult time getting on there, because they're assuming that private schools are going to try to do everything they can to get their hands on as much public money as possible. But-- so it really-- it can be a challenge. Elsa, what county are you in?

Elsa: I'm in San Jose.

John Russell: San Jose?

[interposing voices]

Elsa: North County.

John Russell: OK. So unfortunately, I cannot speak to any county outside of Los Angeles as to what it takes to get on ETPL. Do you mind just having a brief dialogue real quick what the process is to get on ETPL for San Jose?

Elsa: Yeah. We've been having conversations with our workforce boards around that. And so we need to follow up with them. It seems that it's easier for the community colleges since they would be automatically be eligible as a provider, and adult schools would need to go through an additional step to be eligible as an agency. So there's eligibility at the agency level and at the program level. 2-step process. And that seems to be easier for community colleges and for the adult schools.

John Russell: OK.

Elsa: And yeah. And some criteria on programs needing to align with labor market gaps and needs, which makes sense.

John Russell: Yeah. So Jodee, please jump in because I'm not tracking. You have to get on your-- in Riverside you have to get on your board in order to be able to get on ETPL. And you're muted. You're muted. Jodee, you're muted. You're killing me.

Jodee Slyter: Sorry. Sorry. I was having a hard time with the video, getting that going. So no you don't have to be on the board to get on the ETPL. I'm just saying that it's a benefit. There's a mandated adult education partner that needs to be on the board. That makes a huge difference. One of the things I was going to mention, I was going to type it out. But we had one of our Title I partners come and do an in-service with all of our adult schools on how to get on the ETPL. And it was great. Then they worked directly with them to help our adult schools get on the ETPL.

John Russell: Did they get some training programs on there?

Jodee Slyter: Yes. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like three or four of our members all have are on the ETPL now. That's great. And that's what we all need to start doing as adult schools. And I hear you Dana. I love Dana. I've been on a wasp with them, so.

Margo Scoble: So Jodee, Ripsime and I several years ago did a tour of the Riverside Workforce Board at their job center. And they were really progressive and really cool. I imagine you're having good results with them.

Jodee Slyter: We are. We are.

Margo Scoble: Yeah, I can imagine that.

Jodee Slyter: But it's a long process. I was on the committees, the Western Regional Committee for about five years. Then I got on the board. I now serve as an adult education representative. And you really have to be at the table. You've got to be at everything and you've got-- And then when things come up, and you can partner with them, we were able to get a million of CARES Act funds for our adult schools in Riverside County. Just simply because we were at the table.

Margo Scoble: In the room when it happens.

Jodee Slyter: Yup, exactly.

John Russell: And so I think just to respond to Dana's point, the onus has to be on the Adult School because they're not going to come knocking on your door. But if you go knock on theirs and it's like Jodee was saying it took a long time to get there. But to go find the board and say what is the process for our school to get our training programs on ETPL? What do we need to do that? Because that's a really critical part of doing it.

Fortunately for us, we were already on there. It's just we had to rethink how we did things. So I'm going to move on quick. So again, getting back to this graphic. And I actually spelled functional right there. So I'll give myself a kudo for that. And this is the model. And I'm going to break the model down into each section. I think there's nascent, I think there's emerging, and then I think this is the model.

Now what, I will do before I start talking about this, there are folks out in our system that are getting Pell Grants. So Los Angeles' Adult School program and the Baldwin Park and Hacienda La Puente. So it's a completely different model, and it's a successful model. Because that model actually puts money in the student's pockets. And for adult schools doing that, it's more like a community college model.

So that's not this model. This is-- we're a little old minnow here rolling along. But what I know is that my CAEP funds cover about 60% of my budget. So I got to go out and hustle for money. And so it's having access to these Title I funds that have been a game changer. And I'll let you take a look at that. But so there's nascent, there's emerging, and there is the model.

And so what is nascent? OK, so with nascent you're just running your CTE programs. And a lot of times adult schools will have somebody that was hanging around before the new director or administration came. And that person's always been there. And they're just always teaching that class. I'm going to teach coding and billing, and maybe they get somebody in a coding and billing job and maybe they don't. And I'm going to teach an accounting class and maybe they get a bookkeeping job and maybe they don't.

They're not really talking to their AJCC. And the determination of the program is not dictated by labor workforce data like Jodee just alluded to. And as Margo said, there are sectors that they need to focus on. And so I'm wondering if anybody knows what the TTWWADIs are, the TTWWADI, that seems to what dictates programs. Does anybody know what that is? Anybody want to raise hands? It's the TTWWADIs. It's the most important thing I learned in graduate school. That's The Way We've Always Done It. The TTWWADIs.

So maybe it leads to certification. Maybe it leads to employment, I don't know. The person was there, it's in my budget. I'll keep funding them. Maybe it's a full FTE that got shoveled over from somewhere else. And then the outcome data is not really a priority. Therefore, it's not gathered with fidelity. I think the long-term sustainability of that model is questionable. But I think that there's a lot of us out there that this is the way that we're approaching CTE delivery with using our CAEP funds in that manner.

Emerging, and then I'm going to call on Rip just to help with this because this is-- we use CAEP funds without leveraging other funds. But the programs are offered with a WIOA partner input or co-enrollment. And the determination of program offering is always dictated by labor or workforce data industry input. Always leads to a license or certification. So I don't-- maybe your medical coding or billing class leads to some of the two industry recognized certifications, medical secretary. Maybe they take a nationally recognized certification exam for medical assisting.

But with these programs, it's pharmacy technician, you get a license. Pre certification, certified nursing, you get a license to become a certified nurse. And security, which is in the sector for Margo, you get a BSIS guard card or a guard card with a firearm permit. And so Ripsime can talk about briefly. But there was a school that had some CAEP funds. And what she was able to do is leverage and then she can also talk about-- maybe Margo can talk about because you have only a certain amount of funds available for these trainings.

And so when you get somebody that can use CAEP funds and leverage those CAEP funds, it certainly helps because you show that you've got more people trained and you haven't had to spend your 30% as you noted on the training with when you have somebody that has come in and do that. Ripsime, you can just add to what happened with--

Ripsime Markaryan: Yes, sure. I have a couple of examples that I want to bring to everybody's attention. I think it was just a great experience. And as we're moving forward, and we're adding more things into it, such as like we do have training funds that we have to spend. But our training numbers, the completions that we have to have is pretty high. So we're always looking for leverage funds.

And I know we had an allocation, that Temple City had a lot of remaining funds that wasn't used. Actually, we started to recruit for the security guard training participants that we were looking for. And then of course Temple City provided the training. We added some other services into this. It was not just leveraging the training, but adding to give more services to those individuals such as job search assistance, resume writing, interview techniques, job referrals, supportive services. Things that they needed to find a job.

And of course, one of the requirements for the WIOA, its follow up services. So we want to make sure when they do get a job to retain the job. So it's not just getting a job, but in getting a better job, get a better pay. So we just work with them to make sure they don't drop out of the job. If they do, they're always welcome to come back to get additional services.

The other example that I want to bring it up to everybody's attention. I thought it was just a great opportunity. So County had an additional funds that we're just looking for programs to develop. So we came up with Monroeville Adult School AJCC. And also we had an employer. So we want to build this high road trainings that it's available and the funds are available. So we can recruit and help people to get jobs. The funding was released from WDB's, which is our funding entity, Los Angeles County.

And then we put a proposal, how many participants we're going to be training at Monroeville college for specific training course the employer was requiring. The curriculum was changed exactly what they want to see their training individuals coming out of those trainings. So it was totally custom made, works very well. We are recruiting people for this program.

And now we open up to our region three, which other AJCCs are included in that as well too. So recruiting people, they get their interviews with an employer before even attending to a training at Monrovia. So we know there is a chance for those individuals to be graduating and also getting the job right away.

So in addition to that, we are also offering on-the-job training. Let's say if they do the classroom training but they need more hands on, and they need training on the job. So County funds, 50% of their salary for a certain amount of hours. We of course, we come into an agreement. Or up to $3,000 per each individual that employer can get back for training this individual.

So some of the training opportunities will be offered in addition to the classroom training. Classroom training is great, but just to help these people to get jobs, we always add more trainings into it, such as on-the-job training. Such as paid work experience, transitional job employment opportunities, and incumbent workers. If they have individuals that want to be promoted, so we come up with the training courses to advance their skills so they can get a better pay, better job.

In our region, also we do a round table meetings. And I know we invite a lot of adult eds as well too to make sure to get their feedback. Because we just want to make sure that we can hear from the trainers if they're committed to providing that type of trainings. I know recently we've been talking to Azusa Adult School because there is truck driving positions available. And they are good paying jobs. And they fit well with people with backgrounds. And there's no adult schools in the area, so we can refer people for truck driving. We use a lot of private schools.

And the goal is right now to develop a course. It's going to be at Azusa Adult School. I think they're in the process of getting on the Itrain. And then of course we're going to refer people and pay for the training, so for them to be certified. Get their driver's license 8, and get a job after the completion of the course.

So those are the things that we're doing in our region with some of the adult schools. And I know city does very similar things as well too, maybe in the different sectors, because county and the city, they identify different sectors. But all of those sectors are in high demand, and there's a lot of job opportunities out there. So I don't know if Margo if you want to add anything. And I hope I didn't miss out anything.

Margo Scoble: I think you captured it.

John Russell: Yeah, it was great.

Margo Scoble: Yeah, I think you captured it well. One thing that Ripsime said that I thought was really interesting is that she talked about the on-the-job training portion. I know a lot of adult schools throughout the state offer medical assistant programs. And part of those medical assistant programs might be an externship at a doctor's office. But those are competitive because you're competing with the private schools. If you could go to those doctors and say we have some paid work experience or we have some on-the-job training dollars, that might have that doctor work with you versus somebody else. So that's something to think about.

John Russell: Yeah, it's great, great. And we've been involved in that innovation grant. And Azusa is a member of our consortium, which is how the conversation is even started about a truck driving school. One of the ways that-- the reason why that conversation has come up is because they had some carryover. And so we believe that as a consortium, that they could spend some of that carryover setting up a truck driving school. And then by getting Title I fees for these students that take the truck driving school and get into high paying jobs as a truck driver. And as Ripsime said, people with a background can get in. If you're coming out of the Justice system, you can get in. So.