The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act establishes a procedure for the Workforce Innovation Board (WIB) to contract with an entity to oversee the One-Stop System and coordinate efforts jointly among the Partner agencies in the local region.
Through a competitive bid process, the WIB has selected a One-stop Operator for WIOA Region 15. This sub-recipient has an effective start date of July 1, 2017 and will end on June 30, 2021. The four partners are Career Link, DHS Rehabilitation Services, Illinois Department of Employment Security and Illinois Central College Adult Education and Literacy and will be collectively referred to in the remainder of this document as the "Consortium". The One-Stop Center is located at 406 Elm St., Peoria, Illinois. Satellite offices are located at 2956 Court St., Pekin, Illinois; 705 E. Lincoln St., Normal, Illinois; 114 W. Adams St., Havana, Illinois; 111 N. Main St., Canton, Illinois; 509 Front St., Henry, Illinois; 106 E. Williams St., Wyoming, Illinois; and 1950 S. Main St., Eureka, Illinois.
The selection of the Consortium was completed in accordance to the guidelines established by the Illinois Department of Commerce. An independent third party, Workforce Enterprise Services developed the RFP for the WIB and assisted the WIB through the procurement process. None of the Consortium partners were involved in the procurement action. They had no advance knowledge of the contents of the RFP or when it would be released. They were unaware of any other organizations that might apply and did not participate in any way in the evaluation of proposals nor of the actual selection.
One-stop operators may not perform the following function: convene system stakeholders to assist in the development of the local plan; prepare and submit local plans (as required under WIOA, sec. 107); be responsible for oversight of itself; manage or significantly participate in the competitive selection process for one-stop operators; select or terminate one-stop operators, career service providers, and youth providers; negotiate local performance accountability measures; or develop and submit budgets for activities of the Local WIB in the local area. In forming the Consortium, the partners agreed to a division of duties as outlined below.
- Career Link
- Coordinate the of delivery of services among the partners
- Ensure that customer calls to the one-stop center are handled timely and in accordance with procedures established for the center
- Coordinate services to businesses
- Coordinate services to individuals
- Ensure effective referral processes are in place for all partner services
- Assist in the coordination of affiliate sites
- Address and resolve issues related to one-stop delivery systems
- Promote the services available throughout the one-stop delivery system
- Coordinate staffing approaches that promote service integration
- Facilitate cross-training among one-stop partner staff
- Ensure meaningful access to all required programs in the center
- Take the lead in coordinating signage procurement identifying the one-stop center
- Illinois Department of Employment Security
- Facilitate the resolution of issues related to space usage, facility location, customer flow
- Oversee the maintenance of the facility such as provision of and payment for utilities, furnishings, janitorial, security and grounds
- Coordinate the center calendar to schedule facility usage
- Adult Education and Literacy
- Develop a customer satisfaction measurement system
- Oversee and collect data
- Prepare reports on customer satisfaction based on the data collected
- Vocational Rehabilitation
- Survey the one-stop center for physical accessibility
- Analyze programmatic accessibility
- Make corrective action suggestions for accessibility
- Provide recommendations for accessibility software and physical modifications as needed
A formal meeting will be scheduled between the four consortium partners at least once a quarter. Other meetings will be called as needed. Communication will remain open using telephone and email.
The WIB will hire an experienced staff person to the position of "One-Stop Operator Manager. The position will be part-time and will allow hours to be adjusted weekly to accommodate the workload. By creating a designated position, it will assure that the full attention of the staff will be committed to one-stop operator issues.
All of the specific duties (outlined above) involve "coordination". To this end, several core principles will be a cornerstone of the One-Stop Operator approach. The One-Stop Operator Manager must be available and open to receiving communications from the other partners and stakeholders (businesses, clients, training institutions, etc.). The One-Stop Manager must also interact with others in the system in a non-confrontational manner. To be an effective leader in coordination, the One-Stop Manager must be well informed about WIOA and the basic programs and operations of the other partners. Coordination, in essence, means having an effective facilitator. To coordinate the delivery of services among the partners the One-Stop Manager will first become familiar with the services that each partner provides. This will provide information necessary to make a judgment on what and how different services can be integrated and to also avoid unnecessary duplication.
The Manager will assure that calls to the One-Stop center are handled in a timely and professional manner and will be determined by interaction with the staff and from customer satisfaction surveys. Remedial action will depend on the frequency and nature of the problem.Coordination of services to businesses will involve assuring that the existing business service teams are meeting and fulfilling their mission. Coordination of services to individuals (clients and applicants) goes back to the previously stated coordination of service delivery. The partners are in the process of developing a referral system. It will be the responsibility of the One-Stop Manager to assist in the development of the referral system and then to monitor it for compliance with the procedure. To address and resolve unforeseen issues, the One-Stop Manager may contact partners individually or call a meeting of all four operator partners. The promotion of services or marketing will be directed by the One-Stop Manager. To promote and coordinate service integration, the process mapping activity will be completed. Based on the result, an analysis will be made as to what can be done for service integration. The One-Stop Manager will be responsible for contacting other partner agencies to arrange cross training and schedule said training. The One-Stop Manager will determine if the training is adequate and if not, to schedule further training. Meaningful access or programmatic accessibility will be primarily the responsibility of the Office of Rehabilitation services. However, the One-Stop Manager will be aware of accessibility issues and will assist in remediating any identified problems. The four consortium partners have agreed that Career Link through the One-Stop Manager will be the liaison with the WIB for issues related to one-stop operator issues.. This does not preclude other partners in the system from having direct contact with the WIB.
Illinois Department of Employment Security
As one of the four Core Partners of the Comprehensive One-Stop, IDES will be an integral part of its daily operations. IDES provides support for five programs at the One-Stop: Employment Services (ES) under Wagner-Peyser, Unemployment Insurance (UI), Veterans' Services, Trade Readjustment Assistance (TRA), and Migrant & Seasonal Farm Workers (MSFW). All of these services will be provided by on-site staff managed by an experienced Local Office Manager. The IDES Local Office Manager will be responsible for the following: Facilitating the resolution of issues relating to space usage, rental agreements, and customer flow by working with the other Partners and communicating through the One-Stop Manager. Overseeing the maintenance of the facility by provisioning and paying for utilities, furnishings, janitorial services, security, and grounds maintenance through coordination with IDES' General Services Division and Central Management Services (CMS). Providing the calendar for scheduling the Conference Rooms and the Computer Training Lab within the One-Stop. These rooms will be available for all the WIOA Partners by scheduling their use in advance. Arranging and coordinating new signs for the One-Stop which will depict this as the American Job Center. This will involve getting vendor estimates and approval from the WIB and landlord.
Adult Education & Literacy/lllinois Central College
The Illinois Central College (ICC) Adult Education program will take the lead in coordinating the development and implementation of a customer satisfaction measurement system and the preparations of reports based on the data collected. The ICC Adult Education Program Administrator, will work closely with the ICC Institutional Research (IR) Office to develop a satisfaction survey and the process for gathering data, with input from the other partners as to what data they want to gather. The intent is to offer the survey in two forms — written and electronically through Survey Monkey or something similar. Clients and employers will choose the form with which they are most comfortable. Reports on customer satisfaction based on the data will be prepared based on a schedule determined by the partners.
Department of Human Services/Division of Rehabilitation Services
The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation will generally be responsible for ADA issues at the one-stop center and will at a minimum be responsible for the following items:
- Survey the one-stop center for physical accessibility
- Analyze programmatic accessibility
- Make corrective action suggestion for accessibility
- Provide recommendations for accessibility software and physical modifications as needed.
The Consortium will facilitate coordination between the partner organizations in the WIOA workforce system and between the partner organizations and organizations outside of the WIOA workforce system.
Deliverables
- The One-Stop Manager will submit Weekly Reports to the Board President
- The Manager will prepare an Annual Report
- At least quarterly the One-Stop Manager will deliver a verbal report to the Workforce Innovation Board on the activities that have taken place since the last report
- Rehabilitation Services will conduct an audit of the one-stop center for compliance with ADA Illinois Central College Adult Education and Literacy will collect and analyze customer satisfaction surveys and present that information to the Workforce Innovation Board at least annually
- IDES will implement recommendations made by the one-stop review committee in regard to the physical structure and report the results to the Workforce Innovation Board at least annually
- The Career Link Fiscal Director will reconcile cash contributions semi-annually and report said information to the Workforce Innovation Board
