Department of Labor and Department of Education
The Department of Labor (DOL)
The Department of Labor administers several grant programs that have been or could be used to fund direct service workforce initiatives related to training.
Targeted High-Growth Job Training Initiative: The goal of the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative is to develop partnerships with the public workforce system, business and industry, education and training providers, and economic development in twelve industries. These partners will work collaboratively to create solutions to the workforce challenges facing these industries and to develop maximum access for American workers to gain the competencies they need to get good jobs in these industries. Grants totaling more than $24 million are being funded across the health care industry; past grantees have included the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) Inc., and PHI.
National Emergency Grants: The Secretary of Labor provides additional emergency funding for worker re-employment and retraining programs in local areas or states that have experienced large worker dislocations, such as mass layoffs and plant closures. Several of these grants have been used in part for retraining dislocated workers in health care professions.
Technical Skill Training Grants: DOL provides Technical Skill Training Grants to train domestic workers in specialty occupations being filled by temporary workers admitted under H-1B visas. The grants are awarded to WIBs and to business partnerships using a portion of the fees collected from employers applying for H-1B visas. Out of the $196 million for training grants provided so far, approximately $26 million has been channeled for health-related projects, with some workers for long-term care settings.
Transition Assistance Program for Veterans: The Transition Assistance Program for Veterans offers job-search assistance and related services to service members transitioning back into civilian life. Service members leaving the military with a service-connected disability are offered the Disabled Transition Assistance Program (DTAP), which includes additional hours of individual instruction to help determine job readiness and address the special needs of disabled veterans.
Senior Community Service Employment Program: DOL administers over $400 million in grants to non-profit organizations and states to provide part-time community service employment, training, and job placement to low-income workers 55 years of age or older. The program annually employs around 100,000 people in a total of 61,000 job slots. Many of these jobs are associated with service to the aging population and assistance that enables individuals to remain in their home. For example, some workers assist in Meals-on-Wheels programs or in filling administrative jobs in organizations that provide services to the elderly.
Workforce Investment Act: The 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) shifted the focus of the workforce development system away from an exclusive focus on the needs of job seekers and towards meeting the needs of both employers and job seekers and integrated federal, state, and local stakeholders into this system. There are approximately 600 local workforce areas, each administered by a local Workforce Investment Board (WIB) which must include among its members representatives from local businesses, educational institutions, and community organizations. Similarly, each state has a WIB, appointed by the governor. Workforce programs, from training and job placement for jobseekers to information about the labor market and initial screening for employers, are largely administered through One-Stop Career Centers, run by local WIBs.
The Department of Labor has primary responsibility for administering WIA funding. This funding, which totaled $5.3 billion in FY 2005 comes from a number of funding streams and is allocated to the states by formula. Within each state, WIA funds are similarly allocated to local workforce areas. In addition to formula funding, both discretionary WIA grants and state-funded non-WIA workforce programs are administered through the workforce investment system.
Direct service workforce issues are a good fit with the workforce investment system’s interest in labor market trends and local employment conditions, and a strong case can be made for programs that focus on these issues. A number of states have created collaborative initiatives between their workforce investment systems and long-term care stakeholders. One example is the American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR)/DOL One-Stop Pilot Program launched in May 2004. This program used the One-Stop Career Centers to build a pool of screened and trained direct care workers for disabled individuals in four states. DOL itself has chosen to focus on long-term care and linkages with the WIBs and expects to administer future projects in this area.
For more information on the Workforce Investment Act and One-Stop Career Centers please see:
For more information about the workforce investment system and ideas for direct services workforce projects that partner with it, please see Dorie Seavy, “Engaging the Public Workforce System: Strategies for Investing in the Direct Care Workforce,” Better Jobs Better Care Issue Brief No. 6, January 2006.
Department of Education
Under the Department of Education, the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) provides funds to state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies to provide employment-related services for individuals with disabilities. The Dept. of Education also provides support for the planning, conduct, administration, and evaluation of centers for independent living (CILs), in compliance with the standards of the Rehabilitation Act.
National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) Field Initiative Research and Demonstration Programs: For more than 15 years, NIDRR has funded a Research and Training Center to conduct a program of study that includes training and workforce development for direct care workers. In addition, NIDRR has funded a number of programs related to direct support workforce development through its Field-Initiated Program (FIP). About 25 new FIP projects are funded each year at approximately $200,000 per year for 3 years. These projects cover the full range of disability topics, including projects related to the direct support workforce and supervisors and managers in community service programs.
FIR/FID project announcements can be found on the National Rehabilitation Information Center website.
