DELAWARE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD

Minutes of May 14, 2003 Board Meeting

Poly-tech Adult Education Conference Center

Woodside , DE

9:30 A.M.

Members: John McMahon (Chairman), Dr. John Austin, Pete Booker, Ed Capodanno, Alice Coleman,

Patricia Creedon, Pat DiEmidio, Tony Felicia, Bruce Fitzgerald, Dr. Orlando George, David Gibson,

Stacy Griggs, Hon. Sandy Johnson, Samuel Lathem, Joe Letnaunchyn, Robert McLeod, Hon. Vince

Meconi, Suzanne Moore, Sandy Reyes, Debra Singletary, Hon. Harold Stafford, Dave Tanner, Duane

Wayman, Hon. Valerie Woodruff

Guest: Stephanie Beaudet, Ann Farley, Todd Chappelle, Donna Griffith, William Jones, Rebecca

Kaufman, Dr. James McFadden, Melissa Sheehan, Tom Smith, Michael Strine

Staff: Patricia Cannon, Gwen Jones

Welcome and Call for Quorum - Chairman, John McMahon called the meeting to order and called for a quorum. Patty Cannon confirmed that there was a quorum.

Approval of Minutes - Duane Wayman made a motion to accept the minutes from the February 26, 2003 meeting. Seconded by Samuel Lathem. Motion carried

Chairman's Report: Board meetings are being moved back to Tuesdays. The next meeting will be held in New Castle County . The day will begin with the Executive Meeting at 8:00 – 9:30 a.m. , Board Meeting 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. , and a Strategic Planning meeting from 11:00 - 2:00 p.m. After the morning meetings we will hold our Provider Forum the remainder of the day. Chairman McMahon asked all Board members to please make a commitment to be present the entire day. He also asked members to mark their calendars for the next year of scheduled Board meetings: October 21, 2003 , March 2, 2004 , May 18, 2004 and October 19, 2004 .

Chairman McMahon reviewed his letter to the Governor, highlighting the current sanction and performance measures. In his letter he also addresses Board membership. In the meeting packet there is a Board Commission Application. Board members who are absent for three consecutive meetings will be notified by letter and will have to re-apply for Board membership. The Chairman announced that

Governor Minner has appointed the following new members to the Board: Dr. John Austin ( Delaware State University ), Craig Crouch (Kent-Sussex Industries), Stacy Griggs (Diamond Technologies), Dick Howard (Discover Bank), Jim Randall (Caldwell Staffing), and Ben Shaw (Christiana Care). These individuals with diverse backgrounds will help to improve the makeup of the Board. The Chairman asked all of the members to consider submitting an application to update the Governor's office.

Chairman McMahon reported that Governor Minner has approved his recommendation for a Financial Oversight Committee. Chairman McMahon asked Joe Letnaunchyn to chair this committee and Joe accepted.

Performance Measures to US DOL – Chairman McMahon explained that Performance Measures have been previously done with limited data. Patty Cannon talked about the research done by Dr. Jim McFadden and George Sharpley (OOLMI) and Ed Ratledge ( University of DE ) who assisted the Performance Measures Team as they negotiated with the US Department of Labor. UI wage data showed that the general population's wage increase averaged between $1,200 - $1,600. Chairman McMahon asked whether we could have a board that serves the “hardest to serve and agree to a wage increase that's double that amount. We train approximately 300 CNA's who go to work for entities that do not report UI wage gains that count toward our goal. There are about 211 of these entities and we never get to count the successes in the wage gains. These kinds of entities have led us to look closely at our data.

Chairman McMahon introduced Secretary Sandy Johnson, who reviewed the outcomes of the Performance Measures meeting, and how well the team negotiated. She stated that our unique situation with Delaware

was recognized, even though the ground rules were set with the understanding of not going lower than the averages within the Government Performance Results Act (GPRA). With our numbers lower than the

GPRA, a plan modification must be established to describe how we will work toward the GPRA goals.

John talked briefly about UI Wage data that does not get reported. Hopefully we will have some participation from the business community to help accumulate data. He also added that he will be sending a letter to the Department of Labor with recommendations and research to support our modification plan. Chairman McMahon called for a vote to approve this plan.

There were questions raised and some discussion:

What can the Board do to concentrate on certain indicators to help measures?

What is considered low income?

How long will it take for new data to affect benchmark? (9 – 12 months)

Will the Board do a press release with regard to the sanctions?

Chairman McMahon will have Patty Cannon make the amendment to the Plan Modification letter as agreed upon by the Executive Committee. Chairman McMahon believes that with the data and research we have, we will illustrate Delaware 's position.

Call for the motion. All in favor.

Year-to-date Budget - Todd Chappelle, DOL Fiscal Officer reviewed the budget for DEWIB, DET, WIA and Blue Collar Program expenditures. Money budgeted for the year is nearly expended and funds are being used from the previous fiscal year (i.e. 2001 trainees who dropped out). The budget shows that we are out of ITA money. Picked up $148,000 from de-obligations with a possibility of picking up still additional funds from the previous fiscal year.

Motion made by Tony Felicia to accept the budget report as presented. Seconded by Joe Letnaunchyn. Motion carried.

Bio-Technology Forum – Chairman John McMahon asked Tony Felicia (Astra Zeneca) to speak to the Board about the Bio-tech Forum. Astra Zeneca will be one of the Sponsors Forum. Tony Felicia stated that the Assistant Secretary of Labor, Emily DeRocco , will be coming to have an interactive forum with about 25 bio-tech CEO's. The day will focus on what the workforce and bio-tech sector means in today's work environment and what the competencies are, as she has identified Bio-tech as a High Growth Training Initiative.

Partnership Award - Chairman McMahon announced the Community Partnership Award which was presented to the DE Workforce Investment Board for being instrumental in supporting Goodwill's Computer Office Skills Training Program. The Board also provided funding to create and implement Goodwill's Youth Banking and Financial Training.

Committee Reports

Public Relations and Community Outreach – The Bio-Technology Forum is going to be held on May 16, 2003 . We are working to get press for this event.

Review and Certification Committee - Chairman, Duane Wayman talked about the Proposal Review Process and is asking that Board members please volunteer to participate on the Committees this coming funding year.

Duane presented a request by Ann Farley, DOL-DET, to look into retention funding, as we are low on funds. She is asking that the $150,000 planned for retention be de-funded and used for ITA's. Case managers will and should provide retention services. Tom Smith stated that at the time we made the decision to fund retention we were on a case manager learning curve. At the present time, the staff is internally providing this service. There was some discussion.

The motion was made by Sec. Sandy Johnson to de-obligate $150,000 in retention from Ministry of Caring and the Salvation Army to ITA's. Motion was seconded by Debra Singletary. Motion carried.

ROAR Committee – Chair, Pat Creedon gave a brief overview of the ROAR Committee mission ad ongoing community outreach efforts.

Youth Council - Secretary Valerie Woodruff presented for the Youth Council. At the Results in Learning meeting the Youth Council reviewed data and had to make some difficult decisions with regard to In-School Youth. Youth funding has been cut by 1 million dollars. It was recommended to defund the University of Delaware 's extended program in Sussex . Also met with Del-Tech campuses, Famquest and Jobs for Delaware Graduates and the Y Resource Center. It was decided to decrease these programs by 10%. Youth has had their budget cut from 3.2 million in PY02 to 2.26 million in PY 03.

Michael Strine, who has been working with the Youth Council, stated that we should ask providers to focus the money on those students with the 1 or 2 scores on the DSTP tests, as we pursue trying to help the hardest to serve.

Motion made by Sam Lathem to approve the recommendations of the Youth Council. Seconded by Pat DiEmidio. Motion carried.

Old Business

New Business

Adjournment - Next Board Meeting will be held on October 21, 2003 .