The Employment and Training Administration (ETA ) establishes an annual "Open Season" for potential ASU designations. Unemployment estimates for these areas are used in annual fund allotments under the Workforce Investment Act. In coordination with ETA, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) provides data, forms, and instructions for the states to use in developing ands ubmitting unemployment estimates. BLS also validates the state data submittals.

ETA has issued Training and Employment Guidance Letter 8-10 requests Area of Substantial Unemployment (ASU) designations in each state as defined in the WIA in order to allot funds under the Act for the period beginning July 1, 2011.

States should ensure that all appropriate forms are received in the ETA and BLS National Offices by October 8, 2010.

The copy for ETA should be sent to: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Room N-5641, Washington, D.C. 20210. Attention: Mr. Daniel Ryan.

The copy for BLS should be sent to: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Mail Code 140, Room 4675, 2 Massachusetts Avenue, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20212-0001, Attention: Ms. Lisa Williamson.

On behalf of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, the Department of Treasury announced it is seeking comment on the draft "National Strategy for Financial Literacy 2010."

The September 3, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER provides full background, and instructions for obtaining a copy of the draft as well as for the submission of comments. Please note that the comment period is limited; comments must be received by September 19, 2010.

Also see:

Treasury Department Publishes Proposed Set of Financial Education "Core Competencies"; Seeks Comments by September 12

A broad partnership of the mortgage industry, non-profits and local partners has come together to help Gulf Coast homeowners down the path of recovery. The HOPE NOW partnership has announced three events in late September to assist families impacted by the Gulf Coast oil spill.

The Employment and Training Administration`s partnership with HOPE NOW is described in Training and Employment Guidance Letter 12-09 (issued in October 2009). The TEGL encourages the active participation of local Workforce Investment Boards and One-Stop Career Centers in these events.

Click here for the September 21 flyer for the Kenner, Louisiana event
Click here for the September 23 flyer for the Biloxi, Mississippi event
Click here for the September 25 flyer for the Pensacola, Florida event

For these three chosen venues in the Gulf Coast, the organizers will adapt a "Financial Fitness" model that has proved effective in the past (in Cleveland and Minneapolis)

The current list of stakeholders includes Deepwater Interagency, FEMA, NeighborWorks America, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, United Way of Mississippi, Mana Ministries, Mississippi Homeownership Center, Money Management International, Community and Economic Development Enterprise Coalition of the Delta, Volunteers of America, Florida Housing Finance, U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Disaster Assistance, Florida Department of Financial Services, United Way of Escambia County, Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, Department of Homeland Security, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Neighborhood Enterprise Foundation, City of Pensacola SHIP Program, IRS, and HOPE NOW.

The event organizers note that their success depends on

Local Partners who:

• help identify and recruit local partners
  
• Help drive attendance
  
• Leverage local media connections
  
• Leverage contacts in community to garner support and good will
  
• Provide on the ground intelligence
  
• Targeting volunteers
  
• Take an active role in the event

Lender Partners who:

• Send flyer to del. Homeowners
  
• Help identify key media partners
  
• Send staff to site
  
• Bring scanners on site
  
• Commitment to stay on site until everyone is seen

Government Partners who:

• Post information to web sites
  
• Help identify good media outlets/community calendars or City event calendars
  
• Effectively message to struggling families who are reachhing out for help

To register, click on "Gulf Coast Registration" on http://www.hopenow.com.

Section 104(k)(5)(A)(iii) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish guidance to assist applicants in preparing proposals/applications for grants to provide environmental training to facilitate the management, assessment, and cleanup of sites contaminated by solid and hazardous waste.

EPA`s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) provides funds to empower States, communities, Tribes and nonprofits to prevent, inventory, assess, clean up and reuse sites where real or perceived contamination exists and does so by working through OSWER`s Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization (OBLR); Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery; Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation; Office of Underground Storage Tanks; Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office; Center for Program Analysis; the Innovations, Partnerships, and Communication Office; and Office of Emergency Management.

In 2010, OBLR undertook an effort to more closely collaborate on workforce development and job training with other programs within OSWER to develop a job training cooperative agreement opportunity that includes expanded training in other environmental media outside the traditional scope of just brownfields.

As a result of this collaboration, the former "Brownfields Job Training Grants Program" was expanded and will now be referred to as the "Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training (EWDJT) Grants Program."

Through a notice in the September 1, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER, EPA is soliciting comments on the new FY 2011 Application Guidelines proposed for the Program.

Comments will be accepted through September 13, 2010. EPA expects to release a Request for Applications (RFA) based on these revised application guidelines in October 2010 with an anticipated deadline for submission of applications in January 2011.

The draft application guidelines/RFA can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/. If you do not have Internet access and require hard copies of the draft guidelines, please contact Joseph Bruss at (202) 566-2772. Please send any comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it no later than September 13, 2010.

The Department of Labor`s Employment and Training Administration has announced a final rule regarding the Senior Community Service Employment Program. The final rule strengthens program aspects that will benefit unemployed, low-income older Americans who want to enter or re-enter the workforce. The rule will be effective on Oct.1.

The final rule promulgates the 2006 amendments to the Older Americans Act, which include a new 48-month limitation on participation, and an increase in available funds for training and supportive services. The final rule implements the statute`s requirements that national SCSEP grants be re-competed regularly -- generally every four years -- and that a state compete its SCSEP grant if the current grantee fails to meet its core performance goals for three consecutive years.

In addition, the 2006 OAA establishes new funding opportunities for pilot, demonstration and evaluation projects; expands the priority-for-service categories; and modifies how the program determines income eligibility. Major changes from the notice of proposed rulemaking to the final rule, based on input from grantees and the public, include the following:

• The elimination of the one-year, one-time restriction on extensions of individual participation.

• The elimination of the 1,300-hour annual participant time limit.

• The reinforcement of the dual goals of SCSEP, as well as the focus on services that are appropriate to individual participants.

The September 1, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER contains the rule.

News Release

The Employment and Training Administration published a notice in the August 9, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER regarding the availability of funds and solicitation for grant applications for the Disability Employment Grants (SGA-DFA-PY-10-01.

Through a notice in the August 31, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER, ETA provides amendments to correct criteria points as well as provide updated contact information.

The deadline for submission of applications under this announcement is September 8, 2010. Applications must be received no later than 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

The Employment and Training Administration has announced a new electronic tool, mySkills, myFuture, which will officially launch on September 6, 2010.

The tool will enable job seekers and intermediaries such as employment counselors to match a worker`s occupational skills and experiences with the skills needed in other occupations, in order to enhance their career mobility and economic prospects. mySkills, myFuture is designed for use as either a self-help tool or with the assistance of expert advisers, and is intended for the following audiences:

All job seekers with some employment history (including dislocated workers);

Staff intermediaries in One Stop Career Centers, including career guidance and employment counselors;

Non-profit groups, community based organizations, and other entities that retrain workers;

Businesses interested in retraining their workforce, as part of an effort to redesign their production or service processes, implement new technologies, or simply to enhance the skills of their workforce; and

Economic development agencies seeking to retrain workers in order to help area firms grow, attract firms to relocate in, or persuade firms to remain in the local area.

mySkills, myFuture is designed to meet various needs. For example, an individual would be able to: 1) use her/his previous employment experience to identify similar occupations for which s/he may be qualified; 2) identify the skills s/he needs but lacks to qualify for a specific job; 3) identify education, training and apprenticeship institutions where these skills can be obtained; and 4) provide links to relevant job opportunities in national and state job banks.

The following features have been included in this new tool:

• Links to job banks and job openings;

• Links to education and training courses, apprenticeships, and certifications needed to qualify for the occupations that the tool identifies;

• High-growth and green occupations are automatically highlighted;
• Access to all other CareerOneStop electronic tools; and

  A user feedback button labeled "Rate this Page" to enable site visitors to offer comments or suggestions.

Training and Employment Notice 09-10 provides additional background on the tool as well as an updated Electronic Tools Guide Fact Sheet.

The Administration for Children and Families within the Department of Health and Human Services has proposed a new data collection -- TANF Emergency Fund Subsidized Employment Report

ACF notes:

On February 17, 2009, the President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) which establishes the Emergency Contingency Fund for State TANF Programs (Emergency Fund) as section 403(c) of the Social Security Act (the Act). This legislation provides up to billion to help States, territories, and tribes in fiscal year (FY) 2009 and FY 2010 that have an increase in assistance caseloads or in certain types of expenditures. The Recovery Act also made other changes to TANF-- extending supplemental grants through FY 2010, expanding flexibility in the use of TANF funds carried over from one fiscal year to the next, and adding a hold-harmless provision to the caseload reduction credit for States and territories serving more TANF families.

The Emergency Fund is intended to build upon and renew the principles of work and responsibility that underlie successful welfare reform initiatives. The Emergency Fund provides resources to States, territories, and tribes to support work and families during this difficult economic period.

Many jurisdictions are implementing subsidized employment programs as a result of the availability of this new funding, and there is substantial interest in understanding how this funding has been used. There is also significant public interest in the number of individuals that are being placed in subsidized employment as a result of the Recovery Act. As a result, we are proposing a voluntary data collection for jurisdictions regarding information on the number of individuals in subsidized employment funded in whole or in part by the TANF Emergency Fund or that were included in the calculation of a TANF Emergency Fund award. We initially requested emergency clearance to collect this data and posted a Federal Register notice on June 8 stating our intent to collect this information and invited comments. As a result of our June 8 notice we received comments that yielded improvements to our data collection instrument, and we are therefore submitting a revised data collection form for emergency clearance.

The definition of subsidized employment used for this collection is the same as the definition for the TANF program in general, given in 45 CFR 261.2(c) and (d). This information will help the agency as well as the public better understand how jurisdictions are using the money they are awarded through the Emergency Fund.

A voluntary information collection relating to the number of individuals in subsidized employment will serve several purposes.

This information will demonstrate the impact of the program, help ACF to evaluate the effectiveness of this initiative, and provide information to aide in the transparency and accountability of jurisdictions receiving Recovery Act funds. This information will also allow the Administration to publicly communicate the impact and achievements of the program, and make future policy decisions on the basis of such knowledge.

The August 27, 2010 Federal Register provides additional background and burden hour estimates and instructions for the submission of comments to the Office of Management and Budget.

ACF is requesting that OMB grant a 180-day approval for this information collection under procedures for emergency processing by September 13, 2010. A copy of this information collection, with applicable supporting documentation, may be obtained by calling the Administration for Children and Families, Reports Clearance Officer, Robert Saris at (202) 690–7275.

The Employment and Training Administration has announced a Notice of Proposed Rule Making in the August 27, 2010 FEDERAL REGISTER regarding the YouthBuild program. The YouthBuild Transfer Act was signed into law in September 2006, transferring the administration of the YouthBuild program from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Department of Labor. The NPRM seeks to clarify the requirements of the Transfer Act for YouthBuild program providers and participants.

The proposed rule intends to better enable YouthBuild program providers to carry out the goals of the program, to assist at-risk youth in obtaining a high school diploma or GED and to help participants acquire occupational skills training that lead to employment. Interested persons are invited to submit comments on this proposed rule via the federal e-rulemaking portal at www.regulations.gov. Comments on the NPRM are due on Oct. 26, 2010.

YouthBuild is a non-residential, grants-based alternative education program that provides classroom instructionand construction skills training to at-risk individuals ages 16-24. Participants learn valuable skills as they build or rehabilitate housing for low-income or homeless individuals and families in their communities.

The NPRM incorporates changes made to the YouthBuild program by the Transfer Act. In addition to transferring the administration of the program from HUD to the Labor Department, the Transfer Act expands the training authorized under the YouthBuild program to include many activities supported by the Workforce Investment Act Title I youth formula program. The Transfer Act incorporates technical modifications to the YouthBuild program to make it consistent with WIA`s job training, education, and employment goals, while at the same time continuing to enable many of the same affordable housing goals emphasized under HUD`s administration of the program.

Examples of other proposed changes to the YouthBuild program included in the NPRM:

Participant Safety: Additional requirements for participant safety, as well as reporting requirements for safety measures.

Credential Attainment: Increased emphasis on the education and occupational skills training provided by YouthBuild programs and the provision of industry recognized credentials.

Registered Apprenticeships: Increased emphasis on providing training in coordination with registered apprenticeship programs, which can lead to certifications that meet industry standards.

The Employment and Training Administration has published Training and Employment Notice (TEN) 8-10

Workforce Investment Act Self-Service Participant Reporting -
What, Where, and How

This TEN provides a framework for standardizing the collection and reporting of Workforce Investment Act (WIA) self-service only participant information. A more standardized approach will help ensure more consistent and comparable data on the numbers and characteristics of individuals who self-access workforce investment system information, and the activities primarily accessed through the use of electronic technologies and financially supported by both WIA and Wagner-Peyser Employment Service resources.

This TEN clarifies self-service performance reporting policy by reiterating the existing definition and reporting instructions for WIA self-service only participants, examining how those instructions impact WIA performance data, and offering a "roadmap" for consistent reporting across the states and territories.