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SPEAKER 1: OTAN, Outreach and Technical Assistance Network.

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Text, OTAN Outreach and Technical Assistance Network. To lead California adult education in the integration of technology into the educational process, ultimately empowering learners to meet their academic, employment, and civic goals. Face-to-face and Online Training, Teaching with Technology, Teachers' and Administrators' Digests, Online Resources for Adult Education, Annual Technology and Distance Learning Symposium, News Articles. OTAN dot u s. 9 1 6. 2 2 8. 2 5 8 0.

OTAN Online. Eligible Training Provider List. Presenter: Max Zepf, Associate Governmental Program Analyst, Employment Development Department, September 19, 2022. Logo: California Department of Education. Text, Carolyn Zachry, Ed.D. State Director, Adult Education Office.

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DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Thanks to OTAN for all your support today. We appreciate you helping to get this webinar organized. I am very excited that we are able to share with you today information about the eligible training provider list. And ways that our adult programs or adult schools can apply to be on that list.

And this has been something I know we've talked about for a long time, and we are happy to have Max Zepf here from EDD, who's going to help demystify the process on the list. We will focus on doing your Q&A at the end of the webinar so that we can ensure that everyone's hearing those questions and hearing the answers at the same time. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to my new friend Max.

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Dr. Zachry smiles as Max's video feed loads. Max presents in front of an image of the Golden Gate Bridge.

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MAX ZEPF: Thank you, Carolyn. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Max Zepf. I am an analyst at the program reporting and analysis unit in the Workforce Services Branch of the Employment Development Department. And I'm going to start my presentation-- I'll share my screen. I'll just do that going here.

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A Powerpoint presentation loads. Text, Eligible Training Provider List: Adult School Webinar, Presented by Maximillian Zepf, Workforce Services Branch, Program Reporting and Analysis Unit. Logo: EDD, Employment Development Department, State of California.

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On the eligible training provider list. Everybody can see my screen, I assume. If no, let me know.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yes, we can.

MAX ZEPF: Great. Thank you. So the eligible training provider list is something I've been working with for a couple of years now. And we get a lot of questions about it. It was something I really didn't know about until I started working at EDD.. But it's a pretty neat concept, a cool program.

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Text, Objectives: What is the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL)?, Adult Education and ETPL, CalJOBS, Initial and Continued Eligibility, Performance Requirements.

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So today's objectives, what we're going to go over is what is the eligible training provider list. I'm sure that's the first question most people have. We're also going to talk about how it relates to adult education. And we're going to briefly touch on the system that we use to manage the eligible training provider list or ETPL. And that's called CalJOBS.

We'll talk about the process for getting on the ETPL, which we call initial and continued eligibility. We'll go over that. And we'll also talk about the performance requirements. So by the end of this presentation, hopefully you'll be able to answer some sort of fundamental questions and get a good overview of the eligible training provider list program.

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What is the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL)? A shelf shaped like a question mark holds colorful books.

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So fundamental question, what is the eligible training provider list?

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Text, In a nutshell... list of approved schools that can receive enrollments funded through Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). In a photo on the right, adults gather in a lecture hall.

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The way I like to explain it to people is it's a list of schools, essentially, that are approved to receive enrollments that are partially or fully funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA, that is a federal law.

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Max advances to the next slide, then turns back.

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And schools on the ETPL usually reach a very-- sorry, I went ahead there. Reach a very wide audience, sometimes statewide, especially if their programs, their training programs are offered virtually. And we have a lot of adult schools that are on the eligible training provider list. Also ETPL, just to keep that short.

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Text, What is the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL)? In a screenshot, a directive of the E.D.D. and California Workforce Development Board provides an Executive Summary of ETPL Policy and Procedures.

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So we'll start with policy. That's usually where I always start anyway. So like I said, the federal law is the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act or WIOA, and section 122 of that law requires states to establish and maintain a list of eligible training providers who are eligible to receive Title I, subtitle B funds for training services. This

Is our state policy here, WSD21-03, which is a really good resource. I use this all the time.

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Max displays eight DOCX and PDF attachments: ETPL Policy and Procedures, ETPL Definitions, ETPL Local Board Delegation and Cancelation Form, CA ETP Assurances Form, CalJOBS ETPL Module Guide Card, CA ETPL Training Provider and Program Determination Flowchart, Local ETPL Coordinator Contact Form, and Summary of Contents.

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And it has attachments at the end which are super helpful, especially attachment one, which is the policy and procedures. Now, obviously I'm not asking all of you to go and read that. I think it's like 22 pages.

This is going to give you a good overview of that policy. But all of the information that I'm pulling from this presentation, almost all of it comes from attachment one. So it's my resource. I read it all the time, every single day. So I know it pretty well.

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Text, ETPL Responsibilities. In a photo, a student sits in front of a laptop.

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So now we kind of understand the policy. So the three main actors, so to speak, that use the ETPL, so the first one, obviously, is the EDD, Employment Development Department Workforce Services Branch. We're responsible for publishing distributing and maintaining this ETPL list of schools. And we ensure that the programs and providers on that list meet the eligibility requirements required in the law.

The local workforce development boards or local areas, these are the local county-- usually county level agencies that carry out the procedures of the ETPL. They also develop their own local ETPL list, which is essentially just a list of providers that are on the state ETPL that are kind of put into a smaller list for each local area.

And the local areas work with adult schools to provide technical assistance and answer questions about policy. So the local areas are essentially your point of contact for questions about the ETPL. Or if you're interested in applying but you have some issues with CalJOBS or you're not sure if you're eligible, the local areas are where you would go for questions. And then training providers, so that would be the adult schools in this case, are responsible for supplying accurate data and meeting the eligibility requirements.

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Text, Adult Education and ETPL. Under a blue sky with clouds, a leftward-pointing road sign reads: Adult Education.

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So I kind of wanted to zoom in on adult schools for this presentation. So for our policy and procedures, adult education is an allowable training service under the ETPL program. We also have other schools. So community colleges, UCs, we also have CSUs, and then we have private schools as well, private education institutions.

And so when a participant is enrolled under adult education, they must also be enrolled in a specific training service as described in our directive attachment one on page two. I'm not going to go over those in full just because there's a lot of them.

But just an example of what I mean. So when someone is in a program that's on the ETPL that's offered by an adult education institution, they need to be also enrolled in occupational skills training or some sort of job training that's related to a specific occupation like skills upgrading and retraining, and on-the-job training. So that's just kind of an overview of how adult education and the ETPL sort of work.

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Text, ETPL and CalJOBS.

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I'll also briefly mention the system that we use with ETPL. This is a website that you might have heard of. It's also how we manage, when someone's on unemployment, they use CalJOBS to look for a job, look for their new employment. So CalJOBS is a system of record. That's the legal term. But essentially, it's just a system to record all of the data required by this WIOA law and ETPL within that. So it's basically where EDD and all of our local partners enter data for the ETPL.

For providers, it's used to enter information about their school and their programs. So an adult school would use this to enter their information and apply to the ETPL and be reviewed. The local area or EDD reviews applications for eligibility from these providers, and the public uses the public facing site to view their programs on the ETPL.

Briefly I'll mention that, most of the time, if you're talking about the public and participants that want to enroll in these programs, they're going to mostly be going through a job center or an AJCC, America's job center of California.

They'll sit down with a staff member there, they'll go over their education history, their work history, and then they'll help them find a program that suits their desires wherever they want to go with their career. So most of the time, the public is actually getting help to enroll directly into the ETPL, which is kind of nice.

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What is Initial Eligibility?

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So now we'll get into what are the requirements. So the requirements that providers need to meet before being placed on the ETPL are called initial eligibility. So just a quick definition. Initial eligibility is the requirements for providers or programs applying for the first time. So for those of you who have never applied before, these are the requirements that you would need to meet.

And there are specific requirements for providers and programs. And when I'm saying provider, what we mean is the school. So in this case, an adult education institution. And the program, as you can probably guess, is the training program that the participant will enroll into.

So now I'm going to go over the requirements for the provider and for the program. So for the provider, they must be a eligible provider of adult education and literacy activities under Title II of WIOA. As you can probably tell, that's just taken straight from the policy.

And a list of title II providers can be found on the California Department of Education website. And before this webinar, I had met with Carolyn and some of her staff about ETPL and adult education and [Inaudible]. And we talked about what providers are eligible, and the question came up, are providers who are not titled to approved eligible for the ETPL?

We looked into it and essentially, you have to be titled to approved in order to be eligible for the ETPL. And we verified that by going to the CDE's website and looking for that particular institution. So I just want to kind elaborate on that a little bit because that was a good question that we had received regarding providers.

So now for programs, the program-- the training program itself must be for an in-demand occupation. And that's a legal term, but essentially, it just means that, that particular training program is for a job that, that local area is looking for. And actually, it's not just the local area. It can be a statewide, a demand for certified nursing assistant or electrician or whatever occupation.

And when you're working with the local area, they can give you more specific information about your particular program. Is it meeting their definition of in-demand. So that's just-- I wanted to touch on that concept. The program must also be to either an industry recognized credential or training related employment.

Again, local areas can assist with determining what is or is not a credential, or what is or is not training with employment. But those are the two requirements additionally that, that program needs to meet. And then finally, the program must provide performance data for previous enrollments.

So I'm going to get more into that topic in a second. But essentially, the reason why we ask for that is because the ETPL whole point is to get people employed. And we want to have programs that have a proven track record that have given people a good chance of getting a job, they've successfully completed the program, and they've also gotten a job in that particular field. So that's why we ask for that information. It's also required by federal law, but that's sort of obvious.

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What is Continued Eligibility?

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So for continued eligibility, so these are requirements for providers that need to stay on ETPL. So again, the definition is these are the eligibility requirements for providers or programs that are already on the ETPL, and they've been on there for 365 days.

It's very similar to initial eligibility, and I'll go over the specifics. So again, there's requirements for the provider and for the program. For the provider, you can see it's the exact same as initial eligibility. So again, they just need to be entitled to approved and on the CDE's list of providers.

And then for the programs, it mostly is the same, and you can see that it has to be for an in-demand occupation and it has to lead to a potential or employment, and also it must provide performance data. But there is a slight change in the data that is required for adult education programs already on the list. So let's go over that.

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What performance data is required? Three things to keep in mind...

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So performance data. This is a topic that gets a lot of discussion. I deal with this with the local areas and the other providers on ETPL. I just want to highlight a few things. So first is that we WIOA law, both federal and state regulations require providers to submit this data.

So this is something that we ask for because it is required in multiple places. When we talk about performance data, we are talking about all student data. So that basically means all previous enrollments, both participants that were in the ETPL program and also non-ETPL participants. So just participants in your programs outside of the ETPL. And finally, our performance measures use program year as our time frame. So July 1st to June 30th.

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Initial Eligibility:

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So I know it's a lot of information. I'll keep going here, but I'm just kind of providing you guys an overview of, again, the different performance requirements. So for initial eligibility or programs applying for the first time, there are two requirements basically.

One is that of the individuals that exited the program, the percentage of those who successfully completed the training program or did not withdraw or transfer out of that training program. So we're currently in program year 2022, which [Inaudible] So the time frame for that would be the previous PY '21, so July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2022. All the people that were in the program that successfully completed that program in that time frame.

And then the second requirement is that of individuals that completed the program, the percentage of those who were employed within six months of graduating the training program. And the time frame for that is a couple of years behind because we're asking for a cohort of people who completed the program and then within six months got employed. So you'll note that it is a slightly different time frame.

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Timeframe for P.Y. 2022: 07/01/2020 to 06/30/2021.

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This particular requirement is something that a lot of providers are currently struggling with, but we have seen a lot of success stories with, especially public providers getting this data. And it often comes from working with your local area to try and get that data entered into the system. So that's something just to keep in mind, is that time frame is slightly different for the second requirement.

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Keep in mind: No specific rate of completers/employed for Adult Schools. Just need to provide data.

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And again, keep in mind there isn't a specific rate that you need to meet for the number of people who complete the program or the number of people who got employed. All we need is that the data is entered into the system. This is because a lot of oversight is already in place for public education and for adult schools and other public providers. So we just ask that the public providers provide this employment data.

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What performance data is required? Continued eligibility: Of individuals that exited the program, the percentage who successfully completed the training program (did not withdraw or transfer out of the program). Timeframe for P.Y. 2022: 07/01/2021 to 06/30/2022. Notice: employment data not required for Continued Eligibility.

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And for continued eligibility, which, again, are programs that have already been on the ETPL, the requirements are slightly different. And I'm sure there are questions, and I'll definitely get to those at the end. We're almost done. I have a few more slides and I'll be sure to explain further for you.

So the requirements for continued eligibility are slightly different. So of the individuals-- this is the first part. Of the individuals that exited the program, the percentage who successfully completed the program. It's the same as initial eligibility. Again, the time frame is the previous PY. And then that's it.

So for continued eligibility, there is not a employment data requirement for programs that are already on the ETPL. So that's just something to keep in mind. Only the number of those who completed the program is required to stay on ETPL.

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Reminder. If you have further questions: Contact your Local Area ETPL Coordinator. See EDD ETPL Webpage for more information. If you are not sure who to contact: w s b e t p l at e d d dot c a dot gov. In a screenshot, the EDD ETPL Eligible Training Provider List webpage appears.

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And if you have further questions, and I'm sure you do, I'll be happy to go over them here. But if you have questions after this webinar, I highly encourage you to, if you're interested at all in applying, to reach out to your local area ETPL coordinator. They are the ones that are responsible for assisting adult schools in getting on the ETPL. And I can point to exactly where you can find their information.

So if you just type into any search engine EDD ETPL, you'll see this web page pop up. And you can-- if you are not sure who to contact, you can always contact us at this email. But I'll show you exactly where you can go to get your local area ETPL coordinator information.

So on this web page, again, in a search engine, just type in EDD ETPL.

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On the ETPL webpage, Max expands the third section, Training Providers.

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You'll see this page pop up. And at the bottom, you'll see a section for training providers. And if you click on that, it'll expand and you'll see this PDF here, for more information, contact local workforce development area ETPL coordinator. And that will be your point of contact.

They can walk you through the application process. And they're very knowledgeable, they know what I know. And we are in constant communication with them. So they're very knowledgeable. And also much more able to respond to local questions, questions that might be related just to that particular situation.

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Text, Thank you.

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And that is it. That is basically all the 30,000 feet overview of the ETPL. So thank you for listening to me go over all of that. And I'm happy to go over questions now at this point, as I'm sure there are a few. I do--

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yeah, Max, I've got them. I've got them. So let's start with the first one.

MAX ZEPF: Sure.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Eligibility question. We were removed from ETPL because we do not charge for our training programs. Pharmacy, medical billing, auto, substitute prep. And our local ETPL manager told us we were not able to be listed any longer since Title I funding had nothing to pay for. Is that still the case?

MAX ZEPF: So I will go ahead and answer that Rachel. Thank you for your question. So I'm not aware-- I don't want to contradict the local area here, but I'm not aware of a requirement that the program has to charge anything.

I know that, for a different example, for apprenticeship programs, sometimes there isn't any cost to the participant. And those are eligible for the ETPL. So in that particular example, I would probably ask them for a little bit more clarification to see if there is maybe-- the local area sometimes has a local policy in place which may affect that situation. But that's only for the local ETPL.

In terms of your eligibility for the entire state ETPL list, I am not aware of there being any requirement that a program has to have a cost. But I'm happy to provide more information if you email your coordinator to contact me at that WSP ETPL email address, which I can provide after the presentation. I can look into that a little bit further if needed. But as far as I'm aware, I'm not sure that, that's in the policy.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Thank you, Max. The next question is, can you speak more about the employment performance data that we must provide. In adult education, we don't typically have a department or staff dedicated to job placement.

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Max returns to the Initial Eligibility slide.

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MAX ZEPF: Yes. So for initial eligibility, sorry, I'm jumping around here. So when we talk about performance data, these are the two things, I think, that most providers are faced with. Is the number of people who completing the program, which as I understand, that's pretty available. But the second part really is what's challenging for providers.

So we have had long conversations about this with various local areas and providers and with management. And what's come up-- what we've come away from it is that the requirements here are something that we can't really get around. We do need providers to give us employment data.

However, there are some specific cases where a provider is working towards getting that data, they have people in place, they have procedures in place, but they don't quite have the historical data because they weren't required to collect that a couple of years ago.

And so in those cases, which we would probably need to review on a case by case basis, the provider would just give us the number of people who completed the program, and then they would be on the ETPL with the understanding that they would have that employment data at a future date.

So that is something to keep in mind. I didn't mention that here at the offset because that is not guaranteed, and it's-- this ETPL requirements, these performance requirements are relatively new, but they are eventually going to be required for everybody.

And we have language in our directive talking about phasing in these requirements and helping providers out who may not have that data available to them. But as we move on further and further, we are going to become a lot more strict and ask for this employment data. So if a provider gets on the ETPL with just their completers, the understanding is that they're going to have an employment data in a year's time at least, if not earlier.

So I know that was kind of a long end way of answering that question, but basically, it is something that we're asking for, and it is eventually going to be required. If you have questions about that, I would also reach out to your local area and ask them about that specific challenge, and see if there's anything they can do to help you.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Hey, Max. Can I add on to that?

MAX ZEPF: Sure.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: We do-- when students are coming into an adult school, if we have their Social Security number, they come up on our data match with EDD. So would that be able-- is that used for-- can that be used for this?

MAX ZEPF: So I could answer that question a short way or a really long way. I'll pick the short one, but I can also go on. So we were given the choice to try and verify employment data using Social Security numbers or having the providers just enter in and aggregate numbers.

So that's just a table that says how many people were in the program, how many people completed the program, how many people got employed. And we ended up going with the aggregate value. So if the provider wants to use the Social Security number to verify the data on their end, that's totally fine. That's up to them if they want to do that.

But in terms of our data requirements, specifically in CalJOBS, when you're entering that performance data, it's just a table. And it just has a number of people who were in the program, number of people who exited, number of people who were employed-- number of people who completed and the number of people who were employed.

So essentially, they're just entering it all in aggregate. However they decide to get that data is up to them and whatever works best for them. But that's certainly one way.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: OK, great. Yeah, that's-- because we can pull that, I think, out of our data system. So the next question here is, does being a title to approved school mean that the school must be receiving WIOA funding in order to be on the ETPL? So meaning that we have state dollars that also support adult education. And WIOA Title II is supplemental to those state dollars, so not everyone is receiving-- not every adult provider in the state is receiving Title II dollars.

MAX ZEPF: So is this-- I'm sorry, Carolyn, is this the question from Judy asking about the policy?

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: No, this is from Grace, which kind of goes with Judy's question as well.

MAX ZEPF: I see, I'm sorry.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Do we maybe have a policy. Yeah, they sort of go together. I was going to jump to Judy's afterwards.

MAX ZEPF: That's fine. So in terms of does being entitled to approved school mean that the school must be receiving WIOA funding in order to be on ETPL? So I'll just reiterate, and hopefully this will explain or answer that question. So in order to be eligible for the ETPL, you have to be a title approved-- Title II approved school.

And then once you're on the ETPL, you can then receive WIOA Title I funding. But until you're on the ETPL, you can't receive WIOA funding. That's the law. So hopefully that answers that question.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: OK. Kerry said that they don't see El Dorado County on the local workforce development area. What area do they use?

MAX ZEPF: That's a good question. I believe that would be Golden Sierra, is where-- some of these local areas are going to have names that aren't exactly overlapping with the county. If you're not sure, please reach out to that WSB ETPL email which I'll just briefly show on screen here. Sorry.

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Text: w s b e t p l at e d d dot c a dot gov.

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This email right here.

So if you're not sure, just email us with your business address to your headquarters and then we'll get you over to the coordinator that you'll talk to.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: And I live in El Dorado County, so I do believe it is Golden Sierra.

MAX ZEPF: OK. Thank you, Carolyn.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: And then asking about how long it takes to get notified that you're on the list. So once you've gone through the process.

MAX ZEPF: So the process shouldn't take that long. I mean, it depends on a couple of different factors. But essentially, the local areas have 30 days to review your application once you apply. So that's once you submit your programs for review. But the way that this works in practice, in real world, is oftentimes, the adult school, if they're not sure where to go, they'll contact your local area, and the local area will help them out with filling out the information in CalJOBS.

I've seen between a week to maybe two, three weeks to review everything. And it depends on the number of programs and all of that. But roughly it shouldn't take that long. And at least the policy says that they have to do it within 30 days. That's within 30 days of submitting that program for eligibility review.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: All right. Well, that's helpful information. So Barron had a question related to Microsoft programs on the ETPL. Specifically Excel, Word, et cetera. They're saying that these programs lead to national certifications with Microsoft, Microsoft Office specialist, Microsoft experts.

And they go on to say that their workforce investment analysts said it cannot be on the ETPL due to office/administrative assistant positions being not in demand. However, there are many companies and agencies looking to hire office positions probably in their local area. Any advice on that?

MAX ZEPF: Yeah. That's a good question. And there's a lot of discussion we've had about this particular question in the past, and also about credentials. So in a nutshell, if your program is basically providing skills that are broadly required for employment, they are generally not eligible for the ETPL.

And that's because we strive to have programs that are for a specific occupation that award measurable technical skills, which just means skills that are specific to a very specific job, that are a little bit more involved than some Microsoft Office suite technologies.

Examples of programs that are eligible would be if it's an office administrative program, but it's focusing on business law. Or if it's a accountant financial sort of assistant and also administrative roles. So those jobs are a little bit more involved than just a office administration position. Then those are eligible.

There is a requirement that a program either lead to a credential or training related employment. Sometimes programs can go under the training related employment category and be eligible where otherwise they wouldn't be. So if your local area hasn't explored that avenue yet, I would ask about training-related employment. That's in attachment one and it's also a definition in attachment two. So I would look at that policy, see if that applies.

It often requires a bit of back and forth conversation, but essentially, the short answer is that the program needs to be for a specific occupation, not just for general office administration or other sort of skills that are broadly required for employment.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: All right. Another question from Erica. She said they contacted their local workforce partner, and they were sent a lengthy checklist of documents to provide, including proof of accreditation and a current W-9. She says, you make it sound really easy, but then the checklists seem daunting. I'm inferring from her question.

MAX ZEPF: I understand that it is a lengthy-- it seems like a lengthy process. So the proof of accreditation, that is not exactly required. All you would need to show would be that you're on the CDE's list, the California Department of Education's list of providers.

So if you're entitled to approved school, then you would just show them that listing. So that's all they would need for you for that. They used to require that adult schools be accredited, but they do not require that anymore. So in terms of the W-9, that gets into, I think, a lot more of local area specific policy and requirements. Some local areas require that you submit that form.

All I'll say is that the local area should help you with entering in all of the information that's required to be eligible. If they're not providing that assistance, then I would reach out to us at SWBETPL, we might be able to see if we can help. But they should be walking you through that.

And I know it is a lot. It takes a little while to get used to. But then once you have all the data entered in the system, the maintenance of it is actually pretty easy. You're just entering and you're updating information as needed, entering in performance data once a year, making sure that that program is still providing performance data to us, and that's pretty much it. But I totally understand the lengthy checklist. I've heard that from other providers as well.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: The next question comes from Thoibi. And she asks, when we start up a brand new course, for instance, health care program, we did not yet have any performance data. Can the school offer data from other pathways or overall school performance data to be eligible for ETPL?

MAX ZEPF: I don't say this all the time, but it is a good question. We do get that question also about new programs and are they eligible. So unfortunately, programs that are new, typically are not eligible for the ETPL yet. Because, again, we want to make sure that programs are proven and they have a proven track record for being successful.

I know there are a lot of good adult schools that have a proven track record with other programs. I totally understand the logic. But we review eligibility based on individual programs. So if a program is new and it doesn't have any performance data, most likely then it won't be eligible.

However, I think Carolyn, maybe I'm thinking of another email conversation, but I'm pretty sure this whole thing-- this conversation started with an email about a particular school that was offering a program they had, I believe, started in 2021, and they were wondering if they were eligible. So in that specific instance, again, kind of case by case. But that program was able to give us the completers, the number of people who completed the program, and they were added to the ETPL.

They do need to provide employment data in the future. And again, I keep saying this, but it is sort of case by case whether the program is-- if it's really in demand or if the local area really needs them. Or if there's other extenuating circumstances, then they can sometimes just give us completers.

But if the program is brand, brand new, most likely you at least have to wait a year for that completer data and possibly employment data to be available. But as soon as it's available, they can apply.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: And what I shared is it's not any different from a brand new agency applying for WIOA a Title II. They have to demonstrate that effectiveness. And so that is something that I think is carried out through all of the WIOA legislation.

Thoibi had maybe a follow up question. And she says, one experience we have seen is that even though we're on the ETPL for a course, since the course is low cost, there aren't many references. When there was one, the process was very tedious. And in the meantime, a potential student was frustrated and never came to class. I'm not quite sure-- I'm not sure I understand that, but perhaps you do.

MAX ZEPF: I think that what Thoibi is saying is that-- apologies if I mispronounced that. But I think what they're saying is that the program that they had that was already on the ETPL was not getting a lot of referrals, possibly because they were low cost. And for various reasons, they were not getting participants enrolled in that program.

I would say that that is an issue that we have heard before. We have a separate webinar that I do with the local area ETPL coordinators, just the local areas, where we do talk about various issues. And I was going to try and bring that up. I have also mentioned this issue as well to my management team. So they are also aware of adult schools-- some adult schools not getting referrals.

Unfortunately, I don't really have a solution to that immediately. All I can say is that you are eligible. So-- I'm trying to think, So the policy says that you're ineligible program. So logically, you should be able to get enrollments as any other program would.

If the local area is not referring participants to you, that could be for a number of reasons. But if it's just because the program is low cost, I don't really have any solution to that. But that is something that I see as a concern. That's something I can definitely discuss with local areas and see if there's anything we can bring out of that discussion.

And also we-- Carolyn and I, we also talked about this ahead of this webinar as well. And about-- and her staff mentioned that low cost programs are actually very helpful for people who may not want to incur a lot of cost for tuition or books or fees, et cetera. So thank you for bringing up the issue. I am aware. We're trying to explore if there's any solutions to that. But thank you in the meantime.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yes. And I'll add on to that. That Max is aware as-- he had some of his management folks on the meeting that we were on. And many of you know Javier Romero. I've shared this with him. Because I do think it is a concern that there's-- and Max, this is what we've heard, that there's a metric for local workforce boards that has to do with how much they spend on training. And perhaps relooking at that metric.

So we certainly it's something out there to consider relooking at the metric or adding in something about how many individuals are served and placed, versus how much is spent. And so we're definitely aware and we are working together, again, trying to show the-- show collaboration between our agencies here.

Just a couple more questions that we have. And let's see. When do we need to submit the information required for continued eligibility? Is there a specific date or deadline?

MAX ZEPF: Good question. So yes, your deadline is your subsequent review due date. That's a technical term, but essentially, it's the year anniversary that your program was added to the ETPL. So within 365 days, you'll need to provide performance data in order for the local area to review your program.

The way our system works, and the local areas can walk you through this, but you will oftentimes get an alert that the program is coming up due for review. I believe it's within 60 days of that expiration date. And then the local areas will also get a notification to review that program.

So they should be monitoring for programs that are coming up due. And when your program does, that's when I would probably reach out to the local area and say, hey, here's our performance data if it hasn't already been entered. Or if they have questions, that's definitely a good time to start talking about that.

If the program isn't reviewed within that expiration date, it does fall off the ETPL automatically. That's something that's done overnight. But that program can get back on ETPL as soon as possible, as soon as that data is available and as soon as all the other requirements are met.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: All right. Let's see. Someone is asking where does San Mateo fall under the local ETPL coordinator list? Oh, might be another one of those that's a blended area.

MAX ZEPF: That's a really good question. Unfortunately, off the top of my head, I can't say. If they're not sure, they can email us. We can look at it. We have a map of all the different local areas and jurisdictions. And if you get to-- that's not exactly, but it is the Bay Areaish.

The Bay Area has a lot of different jurisdictions, which is fine. It's totally normal. But just when it gets to that level, I think they should email us and we can definitely point them in that direction. I just don't want to say the wrong one. That would be kind of embarrassing.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Got it. And I think we have some similar issues with some adult schools that have some programs that have significant employment, 100% employment, and at the end of their program, students receiving Union sponsored certificates, et cetera, et cetera, and not being able to be on that list, again, because it's low cost or no cost. So I think, Max, that's something you and I should see what further conversations we can have as it relates to that.

MAX ZEPF: Yeah. Absolutely. And thank you again to those providers for bringing that up. That's good to know. Definitely to look into. And yeah, the training expenditure requirement is playing into that. So at the state level, we can definitely explore that further.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Yes. I think so. Let's see. I think we're done with all of the questions. And a couple that were in the chat, I think we've sort of answered those through these other questions.

MAX ZEPF: Thank you, Carolyn, for helping me. And thank you all for attending and asking questions. Again, if there are any follow up questions, I recommend you contact your local area. But if you're not sure or if you think there's an issue for the state to review, then you can also contact us at wsbetpl@edd.ca.gov. I answer that email. So I'll be monitoring the inbox. I also have some colleagues that are helping me as well, some other coordinators. So we're happy to help.

DR. CAROLYN ZACHRY: Right. Thank you so much, Max. I appreciate you taking your time today to help demystify the ETPL. I certainly learned a lot of information and feel that I can, one, send people in the right direction, and, two, answer some basic questions. So thank you so much.

I hope all of you learned something new and are able to look at your training programs that you might be starting now and look to apply for those in the next couple of years. We are recording this. And it will be remediated-- it might get remediated kind of on the bottom of our list at the moment. Only because we have other ones that are within our scope of our contract. But we will get that done when we can. So, again, thanks, Max, and thanks to OTAN for all of your help today.

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OTAN Online. Eligible Training Provider List. Presenter: Max Zepf, Associate Governmental Program Analyst, Employment Development Department, September 19, 2022.

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