Workforce Investment Act
Youth Provisions Promote New Service Strategies, but Additional Guidance Would Enhance Program Development Gao ID: GAO-02-413 April 5, 2002The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 substantially changed the way youth workforce development services are configured and delivered. The act requires states and localities to create a more comprehensive workforce system for development needs. The act promotes partnerships among diverse programs and community representatives through participation on newly created state and local workforce investment boards and youth councils. GAO found that most youth councils nationwide included the required members and nearly all councils were active by July 2000. Local boards competitively chose youth service providers and developed strategies for one-stop centers. Most boards reported that services were provided through contracted service providers rather than one-stop centers. However, local boards had difficulty getting parents and youth to participate on youth councils. Some local areas found it difficult to identify and select youth service providers because of low response to requests for proposals. Getting youth to visit the typically adult-focused one-stop centers was also difficult. Youth councils linked with the education community by including representatives of local school districts and existing school-board career programs in their membership or as youth service providers. Moreover, secondary and postsecondary schools contracted to deliver mentoring and occupational skills training. Some educators, however, were hesitant to broaden their role in youth development beyond traditional academics and saw few financial incentives to partner with the youth council. GAO found three legislative requirements that impeded service delivery. First, eligibility documentation requirements may have excluded eligible at-risk youth from services. Second, difficulties in recruiting and retaining enough out-of-school youth to meet the 30 percent requirement that local funds be spent on these youth. Third, ambiguous definitions and lags in data availability resulted in inconsistent reporting and when comparing outcomes within and across states.
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United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
Report to Congressional Requesters:
April 2002:
Workforce Investment Act:
Youth Provisions Promote New Service Strategies, but Additional Guidance
Would Enhance Program Development:
GAO-02-413:
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
WIA‘s Youth Provisions Implemented but Not without Some Challenges:
Educators Participated on Youth Council and Delivered Services but
Remained Tentative Partners:
State and Local Factors Facilitated Implementation, but Some New
Requirements Inhibited Service Delivery:
Conclusions:
Recommendations for Executive Action:
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
Appendix I Comparison of Key Youth Provisions under WIA and JTPA:
Appendix II Comments from the Department of Labor:
Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:
GAO Contacts:
Staff Acknowledgments:
Related GAO Products:
Tables:
Table 1: Comparison of Youth Services under WIA and JTPA:
Table 2: Youth Council Membership and Responsibilities:
Table 3: Selected Strategies Youth Councils Developed to Link with
Education:
Figures:
Figure 1: Size of Youth Councils:
Figure 2: Strategies to Attract Youth to One-Stop Centers:
Figure 3: Percentage of Local Boards with a Youth Council Whose Members
or Chair(s) Represented Various Categories of WIA-Required and Optional
Personnel:
Abbreviations:
DOL: Department of Labor:
JTPA: Job Training Partnership Act:
RFP: request for proposal:
STW: School-to-Work:
TANF: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families:
WIA: Workforce Investment Act:
[End of section]
United States General Accounting Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
April 5, 2002:
The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy:
Chairman, Committee on Health, Education Labor, and Pensions:
United States Senate:
The Honorable James M. Jeffords:
United States Senate:
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998[Footnote 1] provides states
and local areas an unprecedented opportunity to substantially change
the way youth workforce development services are configured and
delivered. Historically, programs designed to assist at-risk youth to
attain employment and self-sufficiency were a patchwork of short-term,
stand alone services delivered by a loosely coordinated network of
providers, often resulting in redundancies and inefficiencies. WIA aims
to broaden the job training and placement focus of its predecessor, the
Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), by requiring states and localities
to create a more comprehensive workforce investment system that
addresses youth‘s many development needs. In addition, WIA requires
states and localities to streamline the delivery of at least 17
federally funded employment and training services”most of which may
include some youth services[Footnote 2]”that are administered by the
Departments of Labor, Education, and other agencies through one-stop
centers, physical sites that serve as gateways to information and
services found in communities.[Footnote 3] Through its holistic
approach to serving at-risk youth, WIA, its implementing regulations,
and Department of Labor (DOL) guidance call for a comprehensive youth
development system[Footnote 4] that is linked more closely to local
labor market needs and community youth activities, emphasizes
comprehensive service strategies to engage youth year-round, and
requires parents, program participants, and other members of the
community with experience in youth services to provide input on youth
programs. To ensure youth programs are tailored to the needs of youth
and the community, WIA promotes partnerships among diverse programs and
community representatives, in part, through their participation on
newly created state and local workforce investment boards and youth
councils. The law requires youth councils to plan and coordinate youth
programs as well as recommend and oversee youth service providers. The
law also requires youth councils to establish linkages with educational
agencies for providing services to young participants.
To more fully assess how youth workforce investment activities are being
carried out, you asked us to (1) determine the implementation status of
WIA‘s youth provisions including establishing youth councils and a
network of service providers; (2) recognizing that strong relationships
between youth development and education systems are a crucial
component of a comprehensive youth service strategy you also asked us to
examine how youth councils have established linkages with the education
community; and, (3) determine the factors that affected the
implementation of a new youth development system and their implications
for service delivery.
To gather information to respond to these questions, we surveyed
directors of each local workforce investment board nationwide[Footnote
5]”611 in all”and received responses from 505 (83 percent) of them. We
reviewed local board directors‘ questionnaire responses for consistency
and in many cases contacted them or their staff to resolve
inconsistencies, but we did not otherwise verify the information
provided in the questionnaire responses. To further understand
implementation status, linkages with education, and factors affecting
implementation, we visited 9 local workforce investment areas in five
states: California, Florida, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
[Footnote 6] We selected these states on the basis of a variety of
state-specific factors such as geographic location. With the exception
of Wyoming, we also selected states because of relatively high numbers
of workforce investment areas and disadvantaged youth, relatively high
levels of WIA youth funding and state per pupil education
expenditures,[Footnote 7] and, in most cases, early WIA implementation
and the presence of state legislation regarding school-based career
programs. We chose local sites in each state on the basis of the state
workforce officials‘ recommendation of one urban and one rural area
that had either demonstrated promising practices or was further along
in implementation than other areas. We interviewed officials
representing local boards, youth councils, one-stop centers, youth
service providers, and education agencies. We also interviewed state
workforce investment and education officials in each of the five
states. In addition, we conducted telephone interviews with officials
from 20 state workforce investment boards or agencies. We selected
states to interview that represented variations in the same factors
that we used to select states for site visits. We also interviewed
officials from the DOL and national associations. Our work was
conducted between February 2001 and February 2002 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
Results in Brief:
Nearly all of the local workforce investment boards nationwide
established a youth council and a network of youth service providers”but
not without challenges. Nationally, a majority of youth councils
included the required members and nearly all councils were active by
July 1, 2000, when the first program year under WIA took effect. Local
boards also competitively selected youth service providers and
developed strategies for connecting youth to the one-stop centers. Most
boards reported that youth received WIA services directly through
contracted service providers rather than through the one-stop centers.
For example, a program offered at one provider‘s facility in rural
Wisconsin combined academic learning and work experience by having out-
of-school youth build or refurbish low-income housing while preparing
for their high school equivalency credential. However, local boards
found it challenging to get parents and youth to participate on youth
councils. Also, a number of local areas found it difficult to identify
and select youth service providers through the competitive selection
process because of low numbers of providers responding to requests for
proposals. Finally, getting youth to visit the typically adult-focused
one-stop centers was often a demanding task. Many local boards
exercised the flexibility allowed under WIA by expanding the youth
council to include representatives from private industry, establishing
youth-only one-stop centers that were electronically linked with
providers and other one-stops, and leveraging additional non-WIA
resources to expand their youth service capacity.
Youth councils established linkages with the education community by
including local school districts and existing school-based career
program representatives in their membership or as youth service
providers. Nationwide, representatives from school districts or school-
based career programs were among the most frequently represented
members on youth councils, even though not required under WIA. In some
local areas we visited in California and Florida, the existing school-
based career program formed the foundation for the new WIA youth
council. Moreover, secondary and postsecondary schools were contracted
to deliver youth services such as mentoring and occupational skills
training. Educators were also connected to the one-stop centers by
bringing high school students into the centers for job fairs or by
having center staff administer youth skills assessments at schools. In
some communities, however, the education and workforce investment
systems lacked a shared vision for youth development. In particular,
some educators were hesitant to broaden their role in youth development
beyond traditional academics and saw few financial incentives to
partner with the youth council.
Two factors facilitated the building of a new youth development system
at the state and local level and improved coordination and delivery of
services”having experience in collaborative efforts among various public
and private youth-serving agencies and placing priority on youth
development. However, we found three legislative requirements that
impeded implementation progress or adversely affected service delivery.
First, eligibility documentation requirements may have excluded eligible
at-risk youth from WIA services, in part because documentation to verify
eligibility was difficult to obtain and verification was resource-
intensive for staff and service providers. A second challenge was to
recruit and retain sufficient numbers of out-of-school youth to meet
the requirement that 30 percent of local WIA youth funds be spent on
these youth. Third, ambiguous definitions and lags in data availability
complicated the measurement and reporting of some WIA youth performance
indicators and resulted in inconsistencies in reporting and comparing
outcomes within and across states.
To support the development of a youth workforce investment system, we
are recommending that DOL provide guidance and assistance to address
specific concerns identified by state and local implementers. We are
also recommending that DOL clarify the definition of the skill
attainment performance indicator for younger youth (14-18 years of
age). In its written comments, DOL concurred with our findings and
recommendations.
Background:
WIA repealed, after 16 years, the Job Training Partnership Act, and in
doing so, introduced various reforms to the coordination and delivery of
federally funded employment and training services. Program year 2000
was the first year in which states and localities operated programs
under WIA.[Footnote 8] WIA‘s reforms affected youth as well as adult
and dislocated worker services.[Footnote 9] Among the most significant
changes to youth services was the consolidation of JTPA‘s two
separately funded youth programs”the Title II-B Summer Employment and
Training Program and the Title II-C year-round training program”into a
single year-round program under Title I-B of WIA with a fiscal year
2001 funding level of $1.4 billion. DOL estimated 721,000 youth
participants would be served in program year 2001. JTPA‘s summer
employment program, with a 1999 funding level of $870 million, was
significantly larger than the JTPA year-round program funded at $130
million. As a result of consolidating JTPA‘s two youth programs, summer
employment became one of the many youth services under WIA.
Youth services under WIA are intended to be more comprehensive and
longer-term than under JTPA, while offering local areas the flexibility
to tailor services to meet the needs of individual youth. While both
JTPA and WIA required that youth receive appropriate services based on
an assessment of their service needs, WIA mandated that 10 youth
services, referred to as program elements, be made available to all
eligible youth. (See table 1.) Under JTPA, several of these program
elements were either optional or not present. For example, leadership
development and the 12 months of follow-up services upon program
completion are new under WIA.
Table 1: Comparison of Youth Services under WIA and JTPA:
Youth Services:
WIA:
* Required: assessment, individual service strategy, preparation for
postsecondary education or employment, strong linkages between academic
and occupational learning, preparation for unsubsidized employment,
connections to intermediaries with links to local labor market,
information, and referral.
* All 10 program elements must be made available to youth: (1)
tutoring, study skills training, instruction leading to completion of
secondary school, including dropout -prevention strategies (2)
alternative secondary school services, (3) summer employment linked to
academic and occupational learning, (4) paid and unpaid work experience
including internships and job shadowing, (5) occupational skills
training, (6) leadership development which may include community
service and peer-centered activities encouraging responsibility, (7)
supportive services, (8) adult mentoring during program participation
and at least 12 months subsequently, (9) at least a 12-month follow-up
upon program completion, and (10) guidance and counseling including
drug and alcohol abuse counseling and referral.
JTPA: Year-round services:
* Required: assessment, individual service strategy, training in basic,
occupational, and work maturity skills, work experience, and supportive
services, information, and referral.
* Optional program elements include: (1) tutoring, (2) alternative high
school, (3) instruction leading to high school completion or
equivalent, (4) mentoring, (5) limited internships, (6) training or
education combined with community and youth service, (7) entry
employment experience, (8) school-to-work services, (9) school-to-
postsecondary education services, (10) school-to-apprenticeship
services, (11) counseling and referral, (12) services encouraging
parental and other significant adult involvement, and (13) cash
incentives and bonuses based on program attendance and performance.
JTPA: Summer services:
* Required services include: assessment, individual service strategy,
basic and remedial education, work experience, occupational training,
job referral and placement, supportive services, followup services as
appropriate.
Source: Workforce Investment Act and Job Training Partnership Act.
[End of table]
In addition to merging JTPA‘s summer and year-round programs, WIA
targets services to a youth population that is potentially lower income
than that targeted under JTPA. While both programs included the same
income eligibility ceiling, JTPA also granted eligibility to youth who
participated in the free- and reduced-price school lunch program, which
had a higher income eligibility ceiling than that under WIA. JTPA also
allowed a greater percentage of non-low-income youth than WIA, 10
percent compared to 5 percent. Furthermore, by requiring that 30
percent of WIA youth funds be spent on out-of-school youth, WIA targets
young people who are no longer attending any school, including an
alternative school. While JTPA‘s year-round program also required
serving some out-of-school youth, the summer employment program did
not. For more information on how WIA and JTPA differ in their key youth
provisions, see appendix I.
The WIA youth appropriation consists of formula funds, which states
receive and allocate to their local workforce investment areas, and
Youth Opportunity Grants,[Footnote 10] which DOL awards to local areas
on a competitive basis. States are required to allot at least 85
percent of the youth formula funds to local areas based on criteria
that include the number of disadvantaged youth in each local area
compared to the total number of disadvantaged youth in the state. In
addition, states shall set aside up to 15 percent of the youth funds
for statewide youth activities, which include disseminating a list of
eligible youth service providers. WIA permits states to combine the set-
aside from the youth allotment with similar set-asides from their adult
and dislocated worker allotments. However, local boards are prohibited
from transferring formula funds from the WIA adult and dislocated
worker programs to the youth program or vice versa.
In addition, new under WIA is the requirement that youth services be
made available through the one-stop system. One-stop centers can serve
as the entry point for all youth in the local area, providing universal
access to information and services. These centers are gateways to
services for WIA-eligible youth as well as services funded for non-
eligible youth who may also receive services at one-stop centers such
as job searches, career exploration, use of career center resources,
and information on and referrals to other youth providers.
WIA also strengthens accountability by establishing younger and older
youth[Footnote 11] performance indicators for all youth receiving WIA
services, including those receiving summer employment services, and by
establishing customer satisfaction indicators for participants and
employers. In contrast, JTPA did not establish any performance
indicators for the summer employment and training program. States must
negotiate and reach agreement on their expected levels of performance
with the Secretary of Labor. Similarly, local areas must negotiate and
reach agreement with the governor on local levels of performance.
Furthermore, WIA holds states accountable for achieving their
performance levels by linking them with financial incentives or
sanctions.
Lastly, WIA youth activities are coordinated through newly created state
and local workforce investment boards.[Footnote 12] The state board is
established by the governor to carry out statewide youth activities and
to develop the state strategic plan. The 5-year plan must describe the
state‘s strategy for providing comprehensive services to eligible
youth, identify criteria local boards use to award grants and select
providers, and describe coordination with other youth programs. The
majority of state board members, including the board chair, must come
from private business. The governor also certifies local boards to,
among other duties, develop the local plan and select one-stop
operators and youth service providers. Like state boards, the majority
of local board members and the chair must come from private business.
Among WIA‘s most significant reforms is the requirement that local
boards establish a youth council[Footnote 13] as a subgroup of the
board, to coordinate and oversee the local WIA youth program (see table
2). While the youth council‘s membership must reflect a broad cross-
section of community representatives, youth councils do not require
membership from educational entities.
Table 2: Youth Council Membership and Responsibilities:
Required membership:
* Representatives of the local board with special interest or expertise
in youth policy.
* Youth service agencies including juvenile justice and law
enforcement.
* Public housing authorities.
* Parents of eligible youth.
* Former participants and representatives of organizations with
experience in youth activities.
* Job Corps as appropriate[A].
* Others as deemed by the local board chair.
Responsibilities:
* Coordinate youth activities in the local area.
* Develop portions of the local five-year plan related to eligible
youth.
* Recommend eligible youth service providers to the local board for its
approval.
* Oversee eligible providers.
* Carry out other duties authorized by the local board chair such as
establishing linkages with educational agencies and other youth
entities.
[A] Job Corps is a residential program that provides job training and
job-readiness skills to disadvantaged at-risk youth, ages 16-24. Not
all local workforce investment areas have a Job Corps program.
Source: Workforce Investment Act.
[End of table]
While not a mandatory member of workforce investment boards and youth
councils, state and local school-based career programs, including
School-to-Work[Footnote 14] (STW) programs, complement the youth
development system envisioned under WIA by linking education with
workforce and by engaging a broad range of community representatives in
designing and implementing a comprehensive, integrated system of
education and workforce preparation that reflects local labor market
needs. Like WIA, STW promotes classroom teaching that is more closely
linked with the workplace to help both in-school and out-of-school
young people prepare for postsecondary education, advanced training,
and careers. Three components form the core of STW programs: school-
based learning, work-based learning, and connecting activities. First,
school-based learning refers to instruction and curricula that
integrate academic and vocational learning. Second, work-based learning
includes job training and work experiences that coordinate with
classroom learning, workplace mentoring, and instruction in general
workplace competencies as well as all aspects of an industry, leading
to the awarding of a skill certificate. Third, connecting activities
refer to the range of activities to integrate school and work and
include matching students with employers and mentors, linking
participants with community services, providing technical assistance to
schools and employers, and connecting youth development strategies with
employers‘ strategies for upgrading workers‘ skills.
As the entity responsible for implementing WIA, DOL has issued guidance
and provided assistance on various technical aspects of WIA‘s
implementation. For example, through its Training and Employment
Guidance letters, DOL has provided guidance to state and local boards on
a number of topics, including how to integrate the summer and year-round
youth programs, provide comprehensive youth services, and identify
sources of funding for youth services. In addition, DOL has sponsored
national and regional conferences that serve as a forum to educate local
boards and youth councils on implementing WIA‘s youth provisions and to
share information on promising practices. In emphasizing state and local
flexibility, DOL guidance has been very broad, and the establishment of
specific policies has been delegated to states and local areas.
WIA‘s Youth Provisions Implemented but Not without Some Challenges:
With few exceptions, local workforce investment boards implemented
WIA‘s required youth provisions by establishing youth councils and a
network of youth service providers, despite some implementation
challenges. We found that nearly all of the youth councils were active
by the start of program year 2000”the first WIA program year”and a
majority of councils included the WIA-required members. However, a
number of the local boards reported difficulty in recruiting youth and
parents to serve on the council. To establish a network of youth service
providers, youth councils recommended service providers to their local
boards through the competitive selection process and developed
strategies for connecting youth to the one-stop service delivery
system, although officials in some local areas we visited described
difficulties in doing so. Most local boards reported that their
contracted youth service providers served youth directly rather than
through the one-stop centers. Moreover, many boards used WIA‘s
flexibility to expand their services and move toward a comprehensive
youth development system. These efforts included appointing optional
representatives on the youth council such as those from private
industry, establishing youth-exclusive one-stop centers, and securing
additional non-WIA funding to increase their capacity to serve a
broader group of youth, some of whom would not be WIA-eligible.
Youth Councils Were Established, Active, and Important:
Nationally, virtually every local workforce investment board
established a youth council, and 78 percent had done so by July 1,
2000, when the first WIA program year began. In fact, 72 percent of the
boards implemented the youth council requirement in the year preceding
July 1, 2000, in anticipation of WIA. Also, by the end of the first
program year, nearly all youth councils had held at least one meeting
since their inception, with the average number of meetings held being
eight. Most youth councils (70 percent) had between 11 and 25 members,
and the councils as a whole averaged about 20 members. (See figure 1.)
Figure 1: Size of Youth Councils:
[Refer to PDF for image]
This figure is a vertical bar graph depicting the following data:
Size of Youth Councils:
Number of members: 5 or fewer;
Percentage of local boards: 1%.
Number of members: 6-10;
Percentage of local boards: 7%.
Number of members: 11-15;
Percentage of local boards: 24%;
Number of members: 16-20;
Percentage of local boards: 27%.
Number of members: 21-25;
Percentage of local boards: 19%.
Number of members: 26-30;
Percentage of local boards: 10%.
Number of members: 31-35;
Percentage of local boards: 7%.
Number of members: 36 or more;
Percentage of local boards: 5%.
Source: GAO‘s survey of local workforce investment board directors.
[End of figure]
In addition, more than half of the local boards reported that most or
all of the youth council members typically attended the youth council
meetings, and 36 percent said that about half of the members attended.
Finally, 56 percent of all local boards reported that their youth
council membership included all four categories of WIA-required members
asked about in our survey.[Footnote 15] Among the WIA-required members,
personnel experienced in youth activities were represented on the
greatest proportion”93 percent”of youth councils. In contrast, parents
of WIA-eligible youth were represented on the lowest proportion (about
71 percent) of youth councils.
Board officials and service providers in many local areas we visited
stated that WIA boards and youth councils were important to
coordinating a broad array of youth services in the community and
leveraging resources. Board officials in Sonoma County, California, for
instance, told us that the youth council brought key stakeholders to
the table for the first time, including representatives that had seldom
collaborated with each other, such as those from the juvenile justice
and school systems. Service providers in San Jose, California, and
Cheyenne, Wyoming, stated that the youth council meetings were a good
forum for sharing information and learning how providers could
complement one another‘s youth services to eliminate service gaps or
duplication. In addition, board officials in Madison, Wisconsin, told
us that the large membership size of the local board and youth council
offered the potential to leverage additional community resources.
Establishing youth councils, however, was not without its challenges.
Nationwide, 65 percent of local boards reported difficulty in getting
youth members and 54 percent found it difficult to get parents of
eligible youth to participate on the council.[Footnote 16] One local
board official we visited told us that securing youth participation on
the council was challenging, in part because youth lacked
transportation to youth council meetings, found it intimidating to
attend large meetings dominated by adults, or had class and work
schedules that conflicted with council meetings. A state board official
said that parents of WIA-eligible youth, often low-income themselves,
were also difficult to recruit onto councils because they could not
attend council meetings without taking unpaid time off from work.
Local Boards and Youth Councils Established a Network of Youth Service
Providers:
To establish a network of WIA youth service providers, local boards
competitively selected youth service providers based on youth council
recommendations, but some boards reported that their youth councils
found it difficult to obtain multiple responses to the requests for
proposals (RFPs.) Nationwide, 80 percent of youth councils issued
competitive RFPs in program year 2000, and most of those that issued
the RFPs identified between 2 and 12 eligible service providers. About
10 percent of the councils that issued RFPs reported that they
identified only one eligible provider. While youth councils received
responses to their RFPs, generally there was little competition for
service provider contracts in many local areas. We found that 63
percent of the councils recommended to the local board for its approval
the same number of service providers as they had identified through the
RFP selection process. In addition, 95 percent of local boards that
received recommendations from their youth councils selected all of the
recommended providers. A local board official in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
told us that, while the board selected the same providers that had
served youth under JTPA, the youth council wanted to encourage new
providers to apply for WIA service contracts, including private sector
providers.
Most local boards reported that contracted service providers generally
served youth directly at the providers‘ facilities rather than at the
one-stop centers in their local areas. In most of the one-stop centers
we visited, youth were served alongside adults. In general, the centers
featured a self-service resource room equipped with personal computers,
phones, or other job search aids, as well as office space for one-stop
staff and agency partners to offer a variety of employment, training,
and social services. Employers conducted job interviews at some one-
stop centers, and officials at the rural New Jersey one-stop we visited
told us that the state offered employers financial incentives for
hiring one-stop clients. A few of the one-stops offered a child
playroom or an adaptable computer workstation for disabled users, and
in two of the centers, staff members of the various partner agencies
were dispersed throughout the office space to promote their interaction
and seamless service delivery.
Most local boards at the sites we visited required contracted service
providers to make available all 10 required program elements to youth
enrolled in WIA programs. For example, one WIA provider in rural
Wisconsin delivered all 10 elements in a long-term, year-round program
for out-of-school youth. In the program, 16- to 24-year-olds worked in
teams to build or refurbish low-income housing. At the building sites,
the participants received paid employment, occupational skills training,
leadership opportunities, and mentoring from an adult supervisor. When
not at the sites, they received classroom instruction to prepare for
their high school equivalency credential, career counseling, and a
variety of support services, such as health care, meals, and mental
health counseling. Upon exiting the program, selected participants
received monthly follow-up services for at least two years.
New Service Strategies Presented Some Implementation Challenges:
Even though most youth councils reported that they issued RFPs, one of
the challenges local areas”often rural ones”faced was in obtaining
multiple responses to their RFPs. For example, state board officials in
North Dakota said that the limited number of service providers in the
state‘s sparsely populated and spread-out rural areas necessitated the
use of the one-stop center to serve WIA youth and prompted state
officials to seek a waiver from DOL to the competitive selection
requirement for those local areas. Other state and local WIA officials
in both rural and urban areas stated it was difficult to identify
qualified service providers due to providers‘ lack of experience in
delivering WIA‘s broader range of mandatory services and greater
emphasis on serving out-of-school youth compared to JTPA. To develop
providers‘ qualifications, the local boards in Middlesex County, New
Jersey, and Miami, Florida, conducted regular workshops to educate
providers on their new expectations under WIA. In addition, some state
and local WIA officials told us that some of the 10 program elements,
such as mentoring and the 12-month follow-up, were difficult or costly
to deliver and discouraged service providers from responding to the
RFPs. To mitigate potential disincentives for service providers, local
board officials in Orange Park, Florida, said that they planned to have
one-stop staff rather than service providers conduct follow-up, which
would also help link youth to the one-stop system, and local board
officials in Madison, Wisconsin, told us they planned to coordinate
some WIA follow-up services with those of non-WIA programs, such as
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).[Footnote 17]
Even though one-stop centers offered WIA youth services, another
challenge faced by most local areas we visited was attracting youth to
the one-stop centers, and these areas had developed outreach strategies
to bring youth into the centers. Unless referred to or brought into the
one-stop centers by schools and other service providers, youth
typically did not come into the centers on their own.[Footnote 18] In
some areas, such as rural Wisconsin, public transportation to the one-
stop center was not available. One service provider we interviewed was
reluctant to send youth to the one-stop because the services were
geared primarily toward adult clients or youth might have felt
uncomfortable mingling with the adult clientele. Nationally, local
boards were engaged in efforts to link youth to one-stops, and nearly
three-quarters of boards did so by recruiting youth to the centers.
(See figure 2.)
Figure 2: Strategies to Attract Youth to One-Stop Centers:
[refer to PDF for image]
This figure is a vertical bar graph depicting the following data:
Strategies to Attract Youth to One-Stop Centers:
Strategy: Recruiting youth;
Percentage of local boards that used the strategy: 73%.
Strategy: Placing youth program staff at one-stop;
Percentage of local boards that used the strategy: 64%.
Strategy: Training one-stop staff in youth programs;
Percentage of local boards that used the strategy: 48%.
Strategy: Making facility more attractive to youth;
Percentage of local boards that used the strategy: 35%.
Strategy: Other;
Percentage of local boards that used the strategy: 26%.
Source: GAO‘s survey of local workforce investment board directors.
[End of figure]
Local areas we visited had also developed various strategies to link
youth to one-stop centers. For example, the one-stop center in rural
Wisconsin we visited conducted job fairs and was authorized to hand out
work permits”a prerequisite for younger youth to obtain employment. The
local board in Middlesex County convened focus groups with youth to
identify ideal locations for a one-stop center and youth services that
should be provided there. The one-stop center we visited in rural
Florida was located inside a shopping mall and was considering
advertising its services in the mall‘s movie theater because it was
frequented by youth. Recognizing one-stop systems‘ adult focus, DOL
announced in September 2001 that it had awarded competitive grants to
15 local boards and youth councils to develop and implement strategies
to improve youth connections to the one-stop system, which DOL plans to
disseminate in a technical assistance guidebook after the project‘s
completion sometime this year.
Local Boards and Youth Councils Exercised Flexibility to Promote Youth
Development:
Most youth councils exercised the flexibility provided by WIA by
expanding their membership to include optional representation. For
example, 80 percent of youth councils include one or more members from
the private sector”the most frequent group (36 percent) to chair the
youth council. (See figure 3.) Other optional members included organized
labor and vocational rehabilitation representatives. Local board
officials in Cumberland/Salem County, New Jersey, told us that having
co-chairs from private industry helped them connect with area
employers, leverage additional youth funding, and have greater
knowledge of the local labor market. Board officials in several local
areas noted, however, that getting business to fully participate on
youth councils was still a challenge, in part because business members
were reluctant to contribute resources or were accustomed to making
policy decisions, not merely serving in an advisory capacity to the
local board.
Figure 3: Percentage of Local Boards with a Youth Council Whose Members
or Chair(s) Represented Various Categories of WIA-Required and Optional
Personnel:
[Refer to PDF for image]
This figure is a horizontal bar graph depicting the following data:
Percentage of local boards with Personnel from youth service agencies:
Members: 92%;
Chair(s): 11%.
Percentage of local boards with Personnel from public housing:
authorities
Members: 75%;
Chair(s): 2%.
Percentage of local boards with Parents of WIA-eligible youth:
Members: 71%;
Chair(s): 2%.
Percentage of local boards with Personnel with experience in youth
activities:
Members: 93%;
Chair(s): 12%.
Percentage of local boards with Personnel from the private sector[A]:
Members: 80%;
Chair(s): 36%.
Percentage of local boards with Personnel from non-profit
organizations[A]:
Members: 94%;
Chair(s): 20%.
Percentage of local boards with Other[A,B]:
Members: 39%;
Chair(s): 25%.
[A] Other categories of youth council membership or youth council chair
included representatives from such groups as organized labor, economic
development organizations, Native American groups, vocational
rehabilitation agencies, and parks and recreation agencies.
[B] Optional member.
Source: GAO survey of local workforce investment board directors.
[End of figure]
A few local boards”nearly 5 percent nationally”reported having
established one or more one-stop centers that served only youth.
[Footnote 19] In Miami, for example, the youth one-stop centers we
visited were either co-located with or were adjacent to the
comprehensive one-stop centers. The one-stop operators told us that
this arrangement gave them the flexibility of referring youth that were
otherwise ineligible for WIA youth services to the comprehensive
center. The youth one-stop centers were also electronically linked with
other service providers and one-stop centers in the community.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, opened a new youth one-stop center in February
2002, featuring a lounge area, recreation, childcare, as well as youth-
specialist staff cross-trained in all the one-stop partner programs and
services in order to promote more seamless service delivery.
Local boards also exercised their flexibility under WIA to expand their
capacity to serve both WIA and non-WIA at-risk youth by leveraging
additional resources to supplement their WIA formula grant. Nationally,
50 percent of local boards reported having non-WIA funding available in
program year 2000 for youth activities. The extent to which non-WIA
funding supplemented WIA Title I-B youth funding varied by type of local
workforce investment area. Rural areas were less likely than nonrural
areas to receive non-WIA funds. For example, in local areas that
described their workforce investment area as a portion of a rural area,
non-WIA funding represented, on average, an additional $375,000 or 50
percent of the WIA Title I-B grant, compared to an additional $941,000
or 83 percent in nonrural areas.[Footnote 20] To supplement WIA youth
funds, several state and local board officials told us that they were
combining WIA with funds from TANF or other programs. For example,
Pennsylvania used state TANF dollars to award competitive grants to
local boards to serve both WIA and non-WIA youth. While built around
WIA‘s 10 program elements, the grants encouraged local areas to design
innovative approaches to serving all youth but also required them to
identify ways of sustaining the programs given that the availability of
grant funding was uncertain. Furthermore, the youth council in Orange
Park, Florida, encouraged the leveraging of non-WIA resources in its
RFPs to service providers.
Educators Participated on Youth Council and Delivered Services but
Remained Tentative Partners:
To establish linkages with the education community, most youth councils
included local educators and STW representatives as either members or
chair of the council, even though these members were not mandated
under WIA. Moreover, secondary and postsecondary schools were
contracted to provide youth services, typically delivering services at
the schools, or partnered with the one-stop centers to deliver youth
services. However, some youth councils found it difficult to partner
with the education community due to the absence of a shared vision of
youth development. In these communities, some school personnel were
reluctant to incorporate workforce development activities into
classroom learning because they did not want to broaden their role in
youth development beyond education. Both youth council officials and
educators expressed a need for additional technical assistance to
strengthen linkages between the education and workforce communities.
Educators Played an Active Role on Youth Councils:
Nationwide, most youth councils established linkages with the education
community by including educators on their youth councils, even though
they were not mandated youth council members. For example, 94 percent
of local workforce investment boards reported that school district
personnel served on their youth council, while 79 percent reported that
STW representatives were on the youth council.[Footnote 21] In
addition, we found school district representatives chaired 20 percent
of the youth councils, and 13 percent were chaired by an STW
representative.
A majority of the local workforce investment boards we surveyed reported
it was easy to get educators to participate on the youth council.
[Footnote 22] In some of the local areas we visited, educators who were
members of their local STW committee easily transitioned to the WIA
youth council. In Miami, for example, many members of the STW committee
served as members of the youth council even though additional youth
council members were appointed to meet WIA‘s membership requirements.
Furthermore, in Sonoma County, the youth council established linkages
with the education community by serving as a committee to both the
local workforce investment board and STW board. In both of these
communities, the local boards and youth councils credited their
partnership with STW for strengthening their relationship with the
schools.
Schools Were Used as Youth Service Providers and Worked with One-Stop
Centers:
In all the sites we visited, youth councils developed various
strategies to link with the education community including contracting
with schools as service providers and partnering schools with the one-
stop centers to deliver youth services. (See table 3.)
Table 3: Selected Strategies Youth Councils Developed to Link with
Education:
Local workforce investment board: San Jose/Silicon Valley, Calif.
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Empty];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Empty];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Empty].
Local workforce investment board: Sonoma County, Calif.
School were contracted service providers: [Empty];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check];
Local workforce investment board: First Coast Workforce Development,
Inc., Fla.[A]:
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check];
Local workforce investment board: South Florida Workforce Development
Board, Fla.[B]:
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check];
Local workforce investment board: Cumberland/Salem County, N.J.
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check];
Local workforce investment board: Middlesex County, N.J.
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check];
Local workforce investment board: Private Industry Council of Milwaukee
County, Wis.
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Empty].
Local workforce investment board: Workforce Development Board of South
Central Wis.[C]:
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Empty].
Local workforce investment board: Cheyenne, Wyo.[D]:
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check].
Local workforce investment board: Gillette, Wyo.[D]:
School were contracted service providers: [Check];
Schools delivered youth services on-site: [Check];
Schools partnered with one-stop centers to deliver youth services:
[Check];
Schools incorporated workforce development activities into classroom
learning: [Check];
Schools trained teachers on integrating workplace learning in the
classroom: [Check].
Note: A "Check" indicates that one or more schools in the local area
were employing the selected strategy.
[A] First Coast Workforce Development, Inc., is located in Orange Park
and serves six counties: Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam, and St.
John.
[B] South Florida Workforce Development Board is located in Miami and
serves two counties: Miami-Dade and Monroe.
[C] Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin is located
in Madison and serves six counties: Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Jefferson,
Marquette, and Sauk.
[D] Wyoming is a single workforce investment area state. One-stop
center locations include Cheyenne and Gillette.
[End of table]
Most of the local workforce investment boards we visited awarded service
contracts to secondary or postsecondary schools that either provided
youth services directly or in collaboration with other education
providers or community-based organizations. For example, an education
provider we visited in Cumberland/Salem County, New Jersey,
collaborated with local school districts, universities, and private
businesses to operate a program designed to help youth explore careers
in the food industry. During the summer portion of the program, 30 in-
school youth between the ages of 14-16 learned basic job skills in the
classroom, took organized field trips to farms and food businesses, and
acquired work experience at participating local food businesses and
restaurants. During the remainder of the school year, students were
placed in paid internships within the food industry and received
mentoring services from employers as well as ongoing career counseling
from their school. In Milwaukee, the local board contracted with the
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to provide a 6-week computer
technology program for in-school youth between the ages of 15-19. On
Saturday mornings, participants attended classes in word processing,
slide presentation, and web page development at the college campus.
Upon completion of the computer courses, participants were then
enrolled in a six-week program in life skills and learned how to balance
school with work, prepare for the workforce, and manage interpersonal
working relationships on the job.
Most of the one-stop centers we visited established linkages with the
education community by partnering with schools to provide services to
youth. For example, some local high schools brought students into the
one-stop centers to learn about available services or to participate in
career fairs. To link schools with one-stop centers, staff from the
Milwaukee youth-only one-stop traveled to high schools to conduct
computerized assessments and help them develop career plans for WIA
participants.
Some Educators Remained Tentative Partners:
Some educators remained cautious about increasing their involvement in
providing WIA youth services. First, some educators believed that WIA‘s
vision for providing comprehensive youth development services to at-
risk youth was inconsistent with the traditional mission that schools
generally embraced, which was to provide academic services to all
youth. In Milwaukee, for example, some schools were reluctant to allow
WIA youth services to be provided at the schools because of the
perceived stigma associated with WIA services being targeted to low-
income, at-risk youth. In California and Florida, some educators said
schools in their areas emphasized increasing student academic
achievement and standardized test scores, rather than promoting
students‘ exposure to career exploration. Consequently, some educators
were reluctant to incorporate workforce development activities into
classroom learning, particularly where student academic achievement was
tied to sanction and incentive policies.
Second, some education providers we visited stated that the costs of
providing WIA youth services outweighed the benefits of education‘s
participation. For example, a school official in rural Wisconsin told
us that meeting WIA‘s requirement to conduct a minimum 12-month follow-
up and reporting on participant outcomes was resource intensive for the
school and demanded administrative time that could be better spent on
direct service delivery. Furthermore, workforce investment officials in
Delaware and Illinois stated that colleges were required to report
performance data on all enrolled students, in addition to WIA students.
According to these officials, this reporting requirement increased the
colleges‘ paperwork burden and costs relative to the amount of WIA
funding they received, creating a financial disincentive for colleges
to provide WIA services.
Many local board, youth council, and education officials we interviewed
said having more formal technical assistance on how to create successful
partnerships with one another would improve the linkages that WIA has
helped to create between the workforce and education communities. For
example, youth council members in Middlesex County expressed a need
for strategies to help the council effectively communicate to the
education community that schools could play an important role preparing
youth for the workforce. In addition, some workforce and education
officials we visited expressed a need for examples of promising
practices used by others to strengthen the links between the one-stop
centers and schools.
State and Local Factors Facilitated Implementation, but Some New
Requirements Inhibited Service Delivery:
Two factors facilitated implementation of WIA‘s youth provisions, while
some WIA requirements impeded implementation or service delivery.
Experience in collaboration among youth-serving agencies and a high
priority placed on youth development activities by state officials
facilitated implementation. Workforce officials told us that these
factors enabled them to work more cooperatively and with a wider range
of community providers in coordinating and delivering youth services.
However, workforce officials also stated that implementation progress
and service delivery were inhibited by requirements to document
eligibility and to spend 30 percent of WIA youth funds on out-of-school
youth services and by unclear youth performance indicators.
Implementation Facilitated by Historical Collaboration and Priority on
Youth:
Two factors enabled state and local workforce officials to work
collaboratively with representatives and improve coordination and
delivery of youth services”experience in collaboration and priority
placed on youth development. Many state workforce officials we
interviewed were already experienced in collaborating with state and
local agencies, local boards, and youth-serving organizations. In New
Jersey, for example, state officials told us that WIA‘s requirements to
establish partnerships did not represent a significant shift because
many state and local youth-serving agencies were already working
together to share information and provide services. Officials in most
of the local areas we visited characterized the collaboration among the
service providers, local board and youth council, and youth-serving
agencies as strong due primarily to their longstanding relationships.
Likewise, some organizational structures facilitated WIA implementation
by encouraging collaboration. A number of state officials we
interviewed told us they consolidated some state workforce, education,
or human service functions prior to WIA‘s implementation in order to
streamline and improve coordination and delivery of youth services. For
example, Michigan began consolidating its state workforce development
programs in the early 1990s. A single department now administers WIA as
well as a variety of other workforce and education programs such as
TANF, Welfare-to-Work, Wagner-Peyser employment services, vocational
rehabilitation, secondary and postsecondary career and technical
education, and adult education. According to state WIA officials, this
consolidated structure helped them to sidestep potential turf struggles
and maximize service resources available to help many populations,
including youth, by coordinating diverse programs.
Second, we found the high priority placed on youth development
activities also facilitated implementation. For instance, 15 states had
established state-level youth councils, in part, to assist local boards
in implementing the youth provisions.[Footnote 23] In Colorado and
Illinois, state youth council members mentored local youth council
members, provided technical assistance, and helped local youth councils
leverage resources. In addition, we found that 34 states had allocated
a portion of the Governor‘s 15 percent set-aside to WIA youth
activities in program year 2000.[Footnote 24] In California, for
example, the state used part of its 15 percent set-aside on a youth
development and crime prevention initiative that offers alcohol and
drug treatment, mental health counseling, job training and employment
opportunities, and mentoring to at-risk youth. Oregon state board
officials told us they spent some of their youth set-aside to help
service providers deliver mentoring, summer employment, and follow-up
youth services.
Some WIA Provisions Difficult to Implement and Impeded Service
Delivery:
While WIA encouraged state and local areas to implement new approaches,
it also included some requirements that made implementation difficult
and impeded service delivery. State and local board officials were
concerned with collecting documentation needed to verify eligibility for
WIA youth services, spending at least 30 percent of WIA youth funds on
out-of-school youth, understanding and measuring youth performance
indicators, and meeting partnering requirements. The challenge of
meeting these requirements often hindered implementation, excluded
potentially eligible youth from participating in WIA services, and
diverted resources away from direct service delivery, according to
local officials.
Documenting Income Eligibility:
A majority of state and local officials we interviewed or visited told
us that documenting low-income eligibility was difficult to accomplish
and resource-intensive. The law specifies that youth must be low-income
and face one or more barriers to employment to be eligible for WIA youth
services. (For more information on the barriers, see app. I.) State and
local officials told us that many at-risk youth were unable or
unwilling to provide pertinent documentation of their income
eligibility, such as their parents‘ paycheck stub or tax return. In
Orange Park, local board officials stated that obtaining documentation
from at-risk youth was difficult, particularly for youth being raised
by a single parent or grandparents or homeless youth. Service providers
in Middlesex County, New Jersey, said that at-risk youth did not
necessarily have a good relationship with their parents, compounding
the difficulty of obtaining documentation. They added that getting
documentation was also difficult in cases in which parents mistrusted
service providers whom they perceived as prying into their financial
affairs. Consequently, the most at-risk youth were the least likely to
be able to provide documentation to verify their eligibility for needed
services, according to local board officials.
In addition, local board officials said obtaining necessary
documentation was time consuming and diverted financial and staff
resources away from direct service delivery. One local board in Florida
terminated a youth program because of the high administrative costs of
documenting eligibility. Officials at this local board estimated that,
with the change in eligibility requirements from JTPA, the number of
documents increased from 1 to 21 and the processing time increased from
less than 2 hours to between 10 and 20 hours per participant. These
additional hours could have been better spent in delivering services
rather than processing paperwork, according to the officials. Some
state and local board officials told us that they preferred using the
free-and-reduced-school-lunch program‘s income criterion under JTPA
because it was more efficient and cost effective to use existing
documentation, usually a single list compiled by the schools.
Some states, however, had developed strategies for addressing the
concern over documentation. California, Pennsylvania, and Texas, for
example, developed technical assistance guides listing procedures for
documenting and verifying participant eligibility. To document that a
youth met the deficient-in-basic-literary-skills eligibility
requirement, for instance, the Texas guide identified acceptable forms
of documentation, which included results of a generally accepted
standardized test, school records, and verification by telephone. DOL
is in the process of finalizing guidance concerning eligibility
documentation and projects that policy guidance will be issued later
this year.
Meeting Spending Requirement for Out-of-School Youth:
WIA requires 30 percent of local WIA youth funds be spent on out-of-
school youth, but many local officials said that recruiting and
retaining sufficient numbers of these youth was challenging for a
variety of reasons and hindered implementation efforts. For example, in
Madison, Wisconsin, and Cumberland/Salem County, New Jersey, officials
said it was more difficult to locate and follow-up on this ’hidden
population“ in contrast to in-school youth, who could be tracked
through the education system. Additionally, DOL officials told us that
many out-of-school youth get employment, which may make them ineligible
for WIA programs because their income is too high. Finally, WIA
officials in one local area told us that it was difficult to retain out-
of-school youth in WIA programs because they were typically more
motivated to get a job than to acquire the academic skills needed to
prepare them for further education or careers.
Some local areas had developed innovative ways of recruiting and
retaining out-of-school youth. In Miami and Milwaukee, for example, the
local boards established youth-only one-stop centers so that out-of-
school youth could come into a youth-friendly facility. In addition,
local officials in Miami told us that youth caseworkers went to malls
and other areas frequented by out-of-school youth to recruit program
participants. Service providers in Cheyenne described a youth-friendly
facility, which served youth who were already in or were transitioning
from foster care or who had been in an out-of-home placement. The
facility also provided a job preparation program for WIA participants.
Milwaukee board officials told us they planned to staff their new youth-
only one-stop center with out-of-school youth specialists. Finally, a
service provider in rural Wisconsin collaborated with the juvenile
justice and school systems to help recruit out-of-school youth. DOL
plans to issue guidance on recruiting and retaining out-of-school youth
in April 2002.
Measuring Performance Indicators and Setting Performance Goals:
Another challenging WIA requirement identified by state and local
officials was measuring youth performance indicators and setting
performance goals. State and local WIA officials reported difficulties
in measuring some of the performance indicators because of ambiguous
definitions and problems with data availability.[Footnote 25] For
example, Illinois state board officials said that unclear definitions
of the credential and skill attainment indicators could lead to
inconsistent reporting of outcomes among states. While DOL officials
told us they developed the definition of some youth indicators in
collaboration with the Department of Education, they added that some
measures were defined very broadly to give states flexibility in
implementing performance accountability systems. For example, DOL
allows state and local areas to determine what constitutes a credential
and to develop”with employer input”-a statewide list of approved
credentials. DOL officials acknowledged that some states defined
credentialing and skill attainment more broadly than others.
Additionally, several WIA officials said that, because some of the
measures are based on Unemployment Insurance wage records, there was
typically a 6-9 month lag before the data were available, making it
difficult for boards to use the indicators to plan strategically or
evaluate service provider performance. According to state and local
officials, ambiguous definitions and lags in data availability
complicated the measurement and reporting of some WIA youth performance
indicators and resulted in inconsistencies in reporting and comparing
outcomes within and across states.
Furthermore, state and local officials reported that the youth
performance goals were set at unrealistic levels”usually too
high”because they were established without input from state and local
officials and were derived from unreliable baseline data. Officials in
several state and local areas we visited or contacted said they had
little or no input into their performance goals during the negotiation
process. DOL officials acknowledged that input was limited because some
youth measures were new under WIA or new to DOL, and the agency lacked
adequate time to negotiate goals from the local level up to the state
level as it had intended. In addition, performance goals reflected
baseline data from JTPA and the experience of a limited number of early
implementation states. Also, some state officials we interviewed
reported that the performance goals did not take into account states‘
individual circumstances. DOL issued guidance in February 2002 on
renegotiating performance levels. In the guidance, DOL noted that
limitations in JTPA baseline data used to project performance levels
for program years 2001 and 2002 satisfied one of the conditions for
requesting revisions to earlier negotiated performance levels.
[Footnote 26]
Meeting the Partnering Requirements:
WIA requires state and local workforce boards and youth councils to
collaborate with a host of other partners such as public youth-service
agencies, labor organizations, and community-based organizations. The
law envisions these entities becoming board and council members, one-
stop partners and operators, and service providers. While we found that
many of these agencies did indeed participate on youth councils and
deliver WIA services, state and local WIA officials said that
collaborating among the different agencies was difficult and
frustrating, and they lacked strategies to effectively partner with
these agencies. For example, officials from one local board we visited
told us that they were having difficulty finding other agencies to
partner with in their efforts to implement WIA. These officials said
that, while some agencies were active partners on the youth council, in
the one-stop center, or as service providers, they believed the
legislation did not make it easy to collaborate because it did not
require other agencies to contribute resources nor did it provide local
areas with the tools to enforce collaboration. Officials from another
local board said that different administrative rules, definitions, and
reauthorization timeframes among programs administered by the different
federal agencies undermined the collaboration with which local workforce
investment boards are charged. Yet we found some state and local
initiatives that attempted to address these concerns and facilitate
greater collaboration. A state WIA official in New York, for example,
told us that the state workforce board was finalizing its plan to blend
the performance measures for WIA and several non-WIA programs to promote
collaboration and consistency.
Conclusions:
WIA aims to significantly reconfigure the way services for at-risk
youth are structured and delivered. With its mandated requirements to
form youth councils reflecting broad community representation, WIA
presents a unique opportunity to make fundamental changes in the way
youth services are provided”but implementation challenges remain.
Establishing new governance structures, building and sustaining diverse
new partnerships, designing comprehensive, coordinated programs, and
delivering services seamlessly will take considerable effort from state
and local workforce boards and their youth councils. State and local
areas must meet implementation challenges such as getting youth,
parents, and businesses to participate on youth councils, promoting
competition in the service provider selection process, and serving new
and difficult populations. The new performance measurement system under
WIA also poses challenges for states and local areas that are concerned
that ambiguous definitions of skill attainment, for example, and use of
unreliable baseline data to set performance goals would result in
inconsistencies in reporting and comparing outcomes. Although states and
local boards welcome the enhanced flexibility WIA affords them, many are
only now acclimating to their new roles and relationships in the
workforce development system. However, the lack of information and
technical support on a number of these new responsibilities has
hindered state and local boards in fully realizing WIA‘s potential. If
progress is to continue, state and local workforce investment boards
and their youth councils will need additional help in building a
comprehensive youth development system.
State and local workforce board officials, youth council members, and
youth service providers have”for the most part”embraced both WIA‘s
broad workforce development vision and the specifics of the youth
provisions. Given the scope of youth program reforms legislated in WIA
and the extent of implementation to date, significant progress has been
made. Federal agencies, however, need to continue to monitor progress
and assess state and local needs for additional support and guidance to
further facilitate implementation. The building of a comprehensive youth
development system as envisioned by WIA requires active and sustained
leadership”especially at the national level”and strong working
relationships between the workforce development and education systems
at all levels of government. While forging strong linkages between these
two systems is critical in preparing youth not only for success in the
classroom but also for their future careers, some local educators remain
hesitant to participate in WIA youth programs. Workforce and education
officials acknowledge the need for more assistance to help strengthen
the partnership between these two systems.
Recommendations for Executive Action:
To improve the availability of information on WIA youth programmatic,
administrative, and other implementation issues and to enhance
implementation of state and local workforce investment systems, we
recommend that the Secretary of Labor issue guidance and provide
assistance to state and local boards and youth councils by developing
and disseminating strategies:
* to effectively recruit and engage parents, youth, and business
community representatives on the youth council;
* to increase the number of responses to competitive requests for
proposals by encouraging youth-serving organizations new to WIA to
participate in the youth program and promoting new ways of
collaboration among new and existing service providers;
* to obtain and verify applicant eligibility information by sharing
client information among agencies or using existing electronic
databases (for example, DOL should consider exploring methods to extend
eligibility automatically for WIA based on an applicant‘s participation
in other programs);[Footnote 27]
* to recruit and retain out-of-school youth to the WIA youth program
and all youth into the one-stops; and:
* to facilitate linkages between the board and youth council and their
required youth-serving partners.
Through collaboration with the Department of Education, state education
agencies, and other experts, we recommend the Secretary of Labor
develop and disseminate strategies:
* to effectively link workforce and education activities, such as
exploring workplace learning principles in the classroom and connecting
schools to the one-stop centers.
To more objectively assess state and local area performance and youth
progress, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor:
* clarify the definition of skill attainment for younger youth to ensure
consistency in reporting.[Footnote 28]
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
We provided a draft of this report to DOL for its review and comment.
DOL‘s comments are in appendix II. In its written comments, DOL agreed
with all our findings and recommendations, noting that they are
consistent with information it has collected from state and local
implementers. DOL also found the report to be instructive in assessing
local implementation efforts nationwide and highlighting best practices
to improve youth services. In its comments, DOL cited its efforts to
work closely with state and local partners to provide guidance and best
practices on the issues identified in our recommendations, including
issuing a tool kit on effective youth councils, reaching out to
community-based and faith-based organizations for competitive selection
of providers, simplifying eligibility documentation procedures,
developing a best practices website on serving out-of-school youth,
integrating school-to-work lessons learned, and clarifying the
definition of skill attainment.
As arranged with your offices, unless you publicly announce its contents
earlier, we plan no further distribution of this report until 5 days
after the date of this report. At that time, we will send copies to the
Secretary of Labor, relevant congressional committees, and others who
are interested. Copies will be made available to others upon request.
The report is also available on GAO‘s home page at [hyperlink,
http://www.gao.gov].
Please contact me on (202) 512-7215 if you or your staff have any
questions about this report. Other major contributors to this report are
listed in appendix III.
Signed by:
Sigurd R. Nilsen:
Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues:
[End of section]
Appendix I: Comparison of Key Youth Provisions under WIA and JTPA:
Youth provision: Funding;
WIA:
* Single funding stream that integrates summer and year-round programs;
* 15 percent set aside for statewide activities, 85 percent allocated
to local areas.
JTPA:
* Summer Youth Employment and Training (Title IIB), 100 percent
allocated to local areas;
* Youth Training Program (Title II-C) for year-round services, 18
percent set aside for statewide activities, 82 percent allocated to
local areas.
Youth provision: Target population;
WIA:
* In-school youth;
* Out-of-school youth.
JTPA:
* In-school youth;
* Out-of-school youth.
Youth provision: Eligibility;
WIA:
* Age 14-21, youth that are 18-21 years old may be considered adults
and may be concurrently enrolled in WIA adult and dislocated worker
programs;
* Low-income and faces one or more barriers: (1) deficient in basic
skills, (2) school dropout, (3) homeless, runaway, or foster child, (4)
pregnant or parent, (5) offender, (6) requires additional assistance to
complete an education program or to secure and hold employment;
* At least 30 percent of youth funding must be spent on out-of-school
youth;
* Five percent of youth may be non-low income but must face one or more
barriers.
JTPA:
* Age 16-21, in certain cases, age 14 and 15;
* Economically disadvantaged or eligible for free school lunch during
most recent school year;
* For year-round program, at least 65 percent of participants must be
youth who face barriers similar to those under WIA; no such requirement
for summer program;
* For year-round program, at least 50 percent of participants must be
out-of-school youth; no such requirement for summer program;
* Ten percent of youth may be non-low income but must face one or more
barriers similar to those under WIA.
Youth provision: One-stop service delivery;
WIA:
* Each entity carrying out WIA youth programs and activities is a
required one-stop partner and must make available their services
through the one-stop system.
JTPA:
* Not applicable.
Youth provision: Youth services;
WIA:
* Required: assessment, individual service strategy, preparation for
post-secondary education or employment, strong linkages between
academic and occupational learning, preparation for unsubsidized
employment, connections to intermediaries with links to local labor
market, information, and referral;
* All 10 program elements must be made available to youth: (1)
tutoring, study skills training, instruction leading to completion of
secondary school, including dropout-prevention strategies (2)
alternative secondary school services, (3) summer employment linked to
academic and occupational learning, (4) paid and unpaid work experience
including internships and job shadowing, (5) occupational skills
training, (6) leadership development which may include community
service and peer-centered activities encouraging responsibility, (7)
supportive services, (8) adult mentoring during program participation
and at least 12 months subsequently, 9) at least a 12-month follow-up
upon program completion, and 10) guidance and counseling including drug
and alcohol abuse counseling and referral.
JTPA:
Year-round services:
* Required: assessment, individual service strategy, training in basic,
occupational, and work maturity skills, work experience, and supportive
services, information, and referral;
* Optional program elements include: (1) tutoring, (2) alternative high
school, (3) instruction leading to high school completion or
equivalent, (4) mentoring, (5) limited internships, (6) training or
education combined with community and youth service, (7) entry
employment experience, (8) school-to-work services, (9) school-to-
postsecondary education services, (10) school-to-apprenticeship
services, (11) counseling and referral, (12) services encouraging
parental and other significant adult involvement, and (13) cash
incentives and bonuses based on program attendance and performance;
Summer services:
* Required services include: assessment, individual service strategy,
basic and remedial education, work experience, occupational training,
job referral and placement, supportive services, follow-up services as
appropriate.
Youth provision: Youth service providers;
WIA:
* Required to be competitively selected by local board based on youth
council recommendation.
JTPA:
* May be competitively selected.
Youth provision: Governance;
WIA:
* State workforce investment boards;
* Local workforce investment boards cannot be direct service providers
unless waived;
* Youth councils as subgroup of local board;
JTPA:
* State job training coordinating council or human resources investment
council;
* Local private industry councils.
Youth provision: Performance indicators;
WIA:
* Older youth (ages 19-21) indicators include entry, retention, and
earnings in unsubsidized employment and recognized credential
attainment;
* Younger youth (ages 14-18) indicators include basic skills
attainment, attainment of secondary school diplomas and their recognized
equivalents, placement and retention in postsecondary education,
advanced training, or employment;
* Customer satisfaction indicators.
JTPA:
* Year-round program indicators include attainment of employment
competencies, dropout prevention and recovery, secondary and
postsecondary school completion or equivalent, and enrollment in other
education and training programs;
* None established for summer program.
Source: Workforce Investment Act and its implementing regulations and
Job Training Partnership Act.
[End of table]
[End of section]
Appendix II: Comments from the Department of Labor:
U.S. Department of Labor:
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training:
Washington, D.C. 20210:
March 22, 2002:
Mr. Sigurd R. Nilsen:
Director, Education, Workforce, And Income Security Issues:
United States General Accounting Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
Dear Mr. Nilsen:
On behalf of the Secretary of Labor, thank you for the opportunity to
review the draft of your proposed report "Workforce Investment Act:
Youth Provisions Promote New Service Strategies but Additional Guidance
Would Enhance Program Development" (GAO-02-413).
We appreciate the work of the General Accounting Office (GAO) on this
report and the acknowledgement of the progress made to date by the
state and local workforce investment system in meeting the challenges
of creating a comprehensive youth development system, as defined in the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA). We find the report to be instructive
for two main reasons: (1) it provides an assessment of efforts
undertaken by the local workforce boards nationwide; and (2) it
highlights best practices and identifies common issues faced by
Workforce Investment Boards and Youth Councils in improving services to
youth.
We agree with the report's six Recommendations for Executive Action.
The findings and recommendations cited in the report substantiate the
issues and concerns that we also have identified from working closely
with state and local stakeholders. This letter elaborates on the steps
that we are taking to address the issues identified in the report. Our
response to each specific recommendation is articulated below. The
report also cites three areas in which legislative requirements have
impeded implementation progress or adversely affected service delivery.
These issue areas are: (1) eligibility documentation and the concern
that eligible at-risk youth may be excluded from receiving WIA
services; (2) recruiting and retaining sufficient numbers of out-of-
school youth; and (3) ambiguous definitions and lags in data
availability which may complicate the measurement and reporting of some
WIA youth performance indicators. We are also currently addressing
these issues and have incorporated our current or planned activities in
our responses below. We have already begun a process to obtain broad
input on issues and recommendations for changes to WIA.
Recommendation #1:
Effectively recruit and engage parents, youth and business
representatives on the youth council.
DOL's Response:
We agree that additional assistance should be provided on best
practices for engaging parents, youth, and business on youth councils.
We have developed and will soon release a youth council toolkit. This
resource guide, developed in conjunction with our state and local
partners, contains several modules of activities for developing
effective youth councils. One module addresses the advantages of
broadening the membership of the council to include employers and
educators while another module addresses strategies for recruiting and
engaging parents and youth. We are also supporting an initiative in
2002/2003 to showcase effective program practices through organized
study tours to selected local areas. This project provides an
opportunity for state and local officials to study effective Youth
Councils and promising programs, such as quality Job Corps programs and
high performing Youth Opportunity Grants. We will also utilize our
Promising & Effective Practices Network (PEPNet) to identify these and
other promising programs. This project will address best practices for
engaging parents, youth, and business.
Recommendation #2:
Increase the number of responses to competitive requests for proposals.
DOL's Response:
This has proven to be a particularly difficult issue during the early
years of WIA implementation. We have issued guidance to the Governors
indicating that they may increase state and local flexibility in
implementing WIA programs by requesting waivers of WIA requirements. We
also issued Training and Guidance Letter (TEGL) Number 12-01 on
February 21, 2002, addressing selected issues identified by the Youth
Service WIA Readiness Reviews. This guidance includes additional
clarification on the requirements for competitive selection of youth
service providers. In addition, a program emphasis TEGL that we plan to
issue in April includes a section on outreach to community-based and
faith-based organizations. We believe that more effective outreach by
local areas will increase the number of qualified applicants.
Currently, we are considering several requests for waivers of the youth
competitive selection requirements. We will also consider developing
further policy clarification and developing technical assistance
strategies for increasing the number of responses to competitive
requests for proposals.
Recommendation #3:
Obtain and verify applicant eligibility information by sharing client
information among agencies or using existing electronic databases.
DOL's Response:
We addressed selected issues identified by the Youth Service WIA
Readiness Reviews in the above referenced TEGL. This TEGL includes
clarification on documentation and verification of youth eligibility
under WIA. We encourage states to develop their own policies and
guidelines regarding eligibility. The TEGL suggests that one option to
streamline registration is to allow for self-certification to verify
those eligibility items that in some cases are not verifiable or may
cause undue hardship for individuals to obtain. The TEGL notes that
when self-certification is allowed, it is also important to incorporate
a random sampling methodology to determine the accuracy of the self-
certification method for determining WIA eligibility. We are currently
exploring a sampling methodology that could be applied across the WIA
adult, dislocated worker, and youth programs. Upon completion, this
sampling method would not be required but could provide an effective
approach for reducing the burden of requiring 100 percent eligibility
documentation for every individual registered for WIA services, while
still ensuring a high level of confidence that youth served with WIA
funds are indeed eligible for the program.
The Youth and Adult program offices, with input from the Office of
Inspector General, are also collaborating in developing guidance and
technical assistance to simplify eligibility documentation procedures.
One of the policy areas under consideration with particular relevance
to recommendation #3 is presumptive eligibility, whereby eligibility in
another program with similar low-income requirements will be extended
to WIA programs. We project that policy guidance will be issued later
this year.
Recommendation #4:
Recruit and retain out-of-school youth to the WIA youth program and all
youth into the one-stops and facilitate linkages between the board and
youth council and their required youth serving partners.
DOL's Response:
We believe that recruiting and retaining out-of-school youth (OSY) must
continue as a priority for states and local areas, and we will
reiterate this in a program emphasis guidance notice to be issued in
April. This issuance includes strategies for enhancing recruitment and
retention of OSY. For example, the Youth Opportunity Grants (YOG) have
developed some promising practices for recruiting, serving, and
retaining OSY. The program guidance advisory notice reviews approaches
that YOG sites are taking to offer youth a package of education,
employment, and recreation activities that are more appealing than
stand-alone GED classes or job training.
As the GAO report notes, we awarded competitive grants to 15 local
boards and youth councils to develop and implement strategies to
improve youth connections to the one-stop system. Interim reports from
these one-stop Planning Grantees describe strategies being implemented
to connect youth, including OSY, to the One-Stop system. Strategies
that focus on OSY include: developing Youth One-Stop Career Centers
specifically designed to engage OSY youth; marketing and outreach;
using technology to enhance connection with schools and satellites;
operations and staffing to support youth; enhanced facilities and self-
help services; and conducting OSY youth-only forums and focus groups.
In February 2002, we retained Westat to develop a technical assistance
guide (TAG) that emphasizes the successful OSP-related youth services
implementation strategies of nine One-Stop Centers. A second part of
the TAG will provide an overview of successful planning activities
identified from the 15 grants to local boards and youth councils.
We also provided funds to the Youth Development and Research Fund
(YDRF) for a project entitled Youth Cultural Competence (YCC) - an
innovative approach to improving recruitment, retention, and active
engagement of youth in employment and training programs. YDRF has
produced a manual that outlines the YCC criteria for use by WIA youth
programs and highlights 15 programs that have incorporated the YCC
approach in effectively serving youth in their communities.
A promising practices website is being developed under a contract with
the State of Illinois. The planned Internet website will be a vehicle
for providing technical assistance on promising practices for serving
OSY.
Recommendation #5:
Develop and disseminate strategies to effectively link workforce and
education activities.
DOL Response:
We support the report's recommendation that we collaborate with the
Department of Education, state education agencies, and other experts to
develop and disseminate strategies for linking workforce and education
activities. We reinforced the importance of this collaboration in a
Memorandum of Understanding between the Departments of Education and
Labor signed on June 21, 2001. This initiative focuses on: (1)
improving current workforce basic skills (i.e., reading and math) of
adult workers; (2) increasing Job Corps students' attainment of high
school diplomas; and (3) providing technical assistance to state and
local education agencies, Workforce Investment Boards, One-Stop Career
Centers, Adult Education and Literacy grantees, and other appropriate
entities.
We are currently assessing other technical assistance options and
opportunities for guidance that will be effective and appropriate
vehicles to carry out the report's recommendation. A January 4, 2002
joint Education and Labor letter sent to School-to-Work Opportunities
Act grantees noted that steps have been taken to integrate the lessons
learned from this seven-year effort into the respective Departments. We
are now embarking on new initiatives to support the Administration's
strategic plans for education and workforce development focused on
ensuring academic excellence for the nation's students and promoting
the quality and competitiveness of our 21" century workforce. We look
forward to sharing additional information on these initiatives as they
are developed.
Recommendation #6:
Clarify the definition of skill attainment for younger youth to ensure
consistency in reporting.
DOL's Response:
We agree that there is a need to issue further guidance on the skill
attainment rate to enhance comparability across states and localities.
This will be done within the context of maintaining the flexibility
that is the spirit of WIA and recognizing that inherent in the skill
attainment measure is setting individual skill attainment goals based
on individual needs. This guidance will be incorporated into the
guidance that we will issue in response to the GAO report "Improvements
Needed in WIA Performance Measures."
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this important report
on how to better serve America's youth.
Sincerely,
Signed by:
Emily Stover DeRocco:
[End of section]
Appendix III: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments:
GAO Contacts:
David Bellis, Assistant Director (415) 904-2272:
Meeta Sharma, Analyst-in-Charge (206) 287-4806:
Staff Acknowledgments:
In addition to the individuals mentioned above, Karyn Angulo, Bill
Bates, Jessica Botsford, Patrick DiBattista, Julian Fogle, Joel
Grossman, Jeff Rueckhaus, Rebecca Woiwode, James Wright, and Michelle
Zapata made key contributions to this report.
[End of section]
Related GAO Products:
Workforce Investment Act: Coordination between TANF Programs and One-
Stop Centers Is Increasing, but Challenges Remain.
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-500T]. Washington, D.C.:
March 12, 2002.
Workforce Investment Act: Better Guidance and Revised Funding Formula
Would Enhance Dislocated Worker Program.
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-274]. Washington, D.C.:
February 11, 2002.
Workforce Investment Act: Improvements Needed in Performance Measures
to Provide a More Accurate Picture of WIA‘s Effectiveness.
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-275]. Washington, D.C.:
February 1, 2002.
Means-Tested Programs: Determining Financial Eligibility Is Cumbersome
and Can Be Simplified.
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-58]. Washington, D.C.:
November 2, 2001.
Workforce Investment Act: New Requirements Create Need for More
Guidance. GAO-02-94T. Washington, D.C.: October 4, 2001.
Workforce Investment Act: Better Guidance Needed to Address Concerns
Over New Requirements.
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-72]. Washington, D.C.:
October 4, 2001.
[End of section]
Footnotes:
[1] P.L. 105-220.
[2] Although most of these services are not targeted toward youth in
particular, youth may be receiving some services to the extent that
they are included in the target population of individuals served by the
federal employment and training programs.
[3] For more information on WIA implementation, see our prior report,
U.S. General Accounting Office, Workforce Investment Act: Better
Guidance Needed to Address Concerns Over New Requirements,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-72] (Washington, D.C.:
Oct. 4, 2001).
[4] Youth development emphasizes meeting a young person‘s needs and
building competencies for adulthood. In general, a youth development
approach focuses on a young person‘s strengths, communicates high
expectations, provides leadership opportunities, encourages a sense of
personal identity, broadens a young person‘s perspective, provides
safe surroundings, and connects youth with caring adults. Follow-up
over time is a crucial youth development principle to support and guide
youth through the challenges of entering and succeeding in employment.
John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Recipes for Success,
Youth Council Guide for Creating a Youth Development System Under WIA,
prepared for the Department of Labor, May 2000, and Department of Labor,
Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 9-00 (Washington, D.C.,
2001).
[5] We administered the survey to local workforce investment board
directors in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and U.S.
territories.
[6] Wyoming is a single workforce investment area state; thus, we
visited the state workforce investment board that also served as the
local board.
[7] Education expenditures are those for the day-to-day operation of
schools and include expenditures for instruction, support services, and
noninstruction. They exclude expenditures associated with repaying
debt, capital outlays, programs outside the scope of preschool to grade
12, and items lasting more than 1 year.
[8] DOL‘s Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 3-99, dated
January 31, 2000, states that JTPA funds became WIA funds on July 1,
2000 when JTPA was officially repealed. WIA program year 2000 began on
July 1, 2000, and ended on June 30, 2001.
[9] Issues concerning dislocated workers are discussed in a prior
report, U.S. General Accounting Office, Workforce Investment Act:
Better Guidance and Revised Funding Formula Would Enhance Dislocated
Worker Program, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-274]
(Washington, D.C.: Feb. 11, 2002).
[10] For each fiscal year in which the appropriation for youth
activities exceeds $1 billion, up to $250 million can be used for Youth
Opportunity Grants. These grants are awarded to qualifying communities
to establish youth opportunity centers where youth living in high-
poverty neighborhoods can access a wide range of services. In program
year 2000, DOL awarded grants to 36 service areas located in urban,
rural, and Native American sites.
[11] Younger youth are between the ages of 14–18 and older youth are
between the ages of 19–21.
[12] The governor of any state that was a single-service delivery area
under JTPA as of July 1, 1998, may designate the state as a single
local workforce investment area state. In such cases, the state and
local workforce investment boards are the same entity. Single workforce
investment areas are the states of Delaware, North Dakota, New
Hampshire, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Wyoming, and the District of
Columbia.
[13] Under certain circumstances, WIA authorizes the designation of an
alternate entity that performs the functions of a local board or youth
council.
[14] Under the School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (P.L. 103-239),
STW implementation grants were awarded to all states to fund state and
local public-private partnerships among schools, businesses, labor
organizations, community-based organizations, parents, and students.
The National School-to-Work Office was jointly administered by the
Departments of Labor and Education until the program‘s termination in
October 2001. In response, some states enacted their own STW
legislation or policies while others realigned resources to support
local STW partnerships. Under WIA, however, states cannot use WIA youth
funds to finance STW activities unless the STW participant is also a
WIA-eligible youth.
[15] Our analysis of youth council membership excluded two of the six
categories of required members: representatives from the Job Corps and
representatives from the local board with experience in youth
activities. We excluded Job Corps because not all local workforce
investment areas have a Job Corps program. We excluded representatives
from the local board with interest or expertise in youth policy because
such members of the local board are also required members of the youth
council.
[16] To compute the percentages, we combined two of the six response
categories, ’Difficult“ and ’Very Difficult,“ in the appropriate
questionnaire items, and we eliminated from the analysis any local
boards that reported they had ’Not Yet Completed [the] Task“ of getting
youths or parents of eligible youths to participate on the youth
council.
[17] TANF was created by the Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act enacted in 1996 and replaced Aid to
Families With Dependent Children, a program that provided families with
cash assistance for an indefinite period. Administered by the
Department of Health and Human Services, TANF is a block grant to
states designed to promote work over welfare. In general, able-bodied
TANF recipients who receive cash assistance must participate in work or
work-related activities after receiving assistance for a maximum of 24
months, and there is a 5-year lifetime limit on federal assistance.
Work-related activities include education and training, job search, and
community service.
[18] Two local boards told us that some older or out-of-school WIA-
eligible youth are linked to the one-stop centers through their
participation in non-WIA services, such as TANF, which are sometimes
also delivered at the one-stop centers.
[19] We visited youth-only one-stop centers in Florida and Wisconsin.
In addition, local boards in Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Colorado, the Federated States of Micronesia, Idaho, Louisiana,
Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Texas
reported having one or more youth-only one-stop centers.
[20] The average dollar amounts and percentages are based on responses
to relevant questionnaire items from 65 local boards that described
their workforce investment area as ’a portion of a rural area“ and 121
local boards that described their area as something other than ’a
portion of a rural area.“
[21] Among the other youth council membership categories that
respondents cited were community and technical colleges and
universities.
[22] Based on calculations in which we combined two of the six response
categories, ’Very Easy“ and ’Easy,“ in the appropriate questionnaire
item, and in which we eliminated from the analysis any local boards
that reported they had ’Not Yet Completed [the] Task“ of getting
educators to participate on the youth council.
[23] The Office of Youth Services in the Department of Labor‘s
Employment and Training Administration told us that the following
states had established state-level youth councils in addition to local
youth councils as of February 2002: California, Colorado, Florida,
Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Tennessee. This list does not
include single workforce investment area states, each of which has a
single youth council.
[24] Information obtained from GAO survey conducted for prior report.
See U.S. General Accounting Office, Workforce Investment Act: Better
Guidance and Revised Funding Formula Would Enhance Dislocated Worker
Program, [hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-274],
(Washington, D.C.: Feb. 11, 2002).
[25] For information on performance indicators for WIA adult,
dislocated workers, and older youth, see U.S. General Accounting
Office, Workforce Investment Act: Improvements Needed in Performance
Measures to Provide a More Accurate Picture of WIA‘s Effectiveness,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-275], (Washington, D.C.:
Feb. 1, 2002).
[26] Department of Labor, Training and Employment Guidance Letter No.
11-01, Washington, D.C., 2002.
[27] For information on how federal, state, and local agencies have
sought to simplify or coordinate eligibility determination processes,
see U.S. General Accounting Office, Means-Tested Programs: Determining
Financial Eligibility Is Cumbersome and Can Be Simplified,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-58], (Washington, D.C.:
Nov. 2, 2001).
[28] For recommendations concerning performance measures for older
youth, see U.S. General Accounting Office, Workforce Investment Act:
Improvements Needed in Performance Measures to Provide a More Accurate
Picture of WIA‘s Effectiveness,
[hyperlink, http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-02-275], (Washington, D.C.:
Feb. 1, 2002).
[End of section]
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