Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

On July 22, 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law as Public Law 113-128.  WIOA supersedes the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and amends the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, the Wagner-Peyser Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

The purpose of the law is to:

* Increase opportunities for individuals, particularly those with barriers to employment
* Support alignment of workforce investment, education, and economic development systems
* Provide workers with the skills and credentials to secure and advance employment
* Promote improvement in the structure and delivery of services
* Increase the prosperity of workers and employers 
* Increase the employment retention and earnings of participants and the attainment of recognized post-secondary credentials

OhioMeansJobs Hancock, Wood and Wyandot provides the following services for each designated user group:

Employers

OhioMeansJobs Hancock, Wood and Wyandot offers a wide variety of services to assist local companies with their recruitment, training, and outplacement needs. Employer-based services include the following:

* Labor market information available in many formats
* Assistance with downsizing and business closures
* Recruitment assistance to find qualified workers
* On-The-Job Training reimbursement to help with new employee training costs
* Customized Training to upgrade skills of current employees
* Workforce needs assessments
* Prehiring screening both in general employment (soft skills) and a comprehensive battery of tests for specific vocational and hard skills

For Adults (18 years of age or older)

The adult services program, under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, is designed to provide quality employment and training services to help eligible adults find and qualify for meaningful occupation, and to help employers find the skilled workers they need to compete and succeed in business.

The goals of the program are to increase employment and retention in unsubsidized, private sector employment.
 
There are three types of services:

1. Basic career services includes outreach, job search and placement assistance, and labor market information.
2. Individualized career services includes comprehensive assessments, development of individual employment plans, counseling, and career planning.
3. Training services. Customers are linked to job opportunities in their communities, including occupational and basic skills training. Participants use an “individual training account” to select an appropriate program from an workforce training provider or participate in an employer-supported training.

 
For Dislocated Workers

Ohio’s Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Dislocated Worker Program helps laid-off workers obtain new jobs with comparable wages. Addressing the needs of these workers helps minimize the disruption of job transition on their own lives as well as that of their families and communities. 

 A dislocated worker is any adult 18 years and older who:

* Has been terminated or laid off, or has received a notice of termination or layoff.

* Is eligible for, or has exhausted entitlement to unemployment compensation; or has been employed for a duration sufficient to demonstrate attachment to the workforce, but is not eligible for unemployment compensation, and is unlikely to return to a previous industry or occupation; or

* Has been terminated or laid off, or has received a notice of termination or layoff from employment as a result of a permanent closure of, or any substantial layoff, at a plant, facility, or enterprise; or

* Is employed at a facility at which the employer has made a general announcement that the facility will close within 180 days; or

* Was self-employed but is unemployed as a result of general economic conditions; or

* Is a displaced homemaker; or

* Is a Military spouse.  

An emphasis of the program is to increase the employment, retention, and earnings of dislocated workers by increasing their work readiness, educational attainment, and occupational skills and by connecting them to jobs in demand. 

CCMEP – Comprehensive Case Management and Employment Program

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title I-B Youth Programs provides services through our local OhioMeansJobs Centers  to low-income youth, ages 14-24, who face barriers to employment.
 
Service strategies, developed by Ohio’s workforce providers, prepare youth for employment and/or post-secondary education through strong linkages between academic and occupational learning.
 
Strategies must incorporate one or more of the 14 required youth program elements. These elements are:

1. Tutoring, study skills, and dropout prevention
2. Alternative education
3. Paid and unpaid work experiences
4. Occupational skills training
5. Leadership development
6. Supportive services (transportation, child care, work uniforms, tools, etc.)
7. Adult mentoring for 12 months
8. Follow-up services for 12 months
9. Comprehensive guidance and counseling
10. Education offered concurrently with, and in the same context as, workforce preparation activities and training
11. Financial literacy education
12. Entrepreneurial skills training
13. Provision of labor market information
14. Activities that help youth prepare for and transition to post-secondary education and training.

 For more information, contact your local OhioMeansJobs Center.