Roll Call/Establish Quorum
- Vice-Chair Amy King presided over the meeting. The meeting was called to order at 7:33am. Roll call was taken and a membership quorum was present.
Members Present
Dan Allen
John Carpenter
Carol Simler
Mary Keating
Amy King
Alan Mindlin
Tiffany Rotondo
Barb Szczepaniak
Tom Wendorf
Lisa Dixon
Jossue Espinosa (Beatriz Gonzalez)
Calvin Giles
Penny Clancy
Marilyn Liwanag
Diana Robinson
Mike Kish
Paul Seputis
Kate Wollensak
Members Absent
Joseph Cassidy
Dan Deasy
Jim Jett
Amit Mehta
Christine Torres
Darlene Ruscitti
Mike Zimmerman
Frank Raimondi
Laura Crawford
Ian Hardie
Tonia Khouri
Tom Chesna
Helen Orellana
Kathleen Yosko
Henry Zurawski
Others Present
Jamie Brown
Lisa Schvach
David Sabathne
Public Comment
- There was no public comment.
Jamie introduced Carol Simler to the group. Carol is the CEO and President of DuPage Pads.
Review of May 23, 2018 minutes
- Motion to approve by Diana Robinson
- Second by Dan Allen
- All ayes, motion APPROVED
Chair's Report
Policies
Jamie presented the Supportive Services Policy for Adult, ID and Youth clients in the Center. The policy details the income requirements for transportation assistance. Currently, transportation assistance is provided to participants in the form of a gas card. The new policy expands transportation reimbursement to include the cost of public transportation. The policy also includes other supportive services such as the cost of exams, etc. These costs will be approved on a case-by-case basis.
- Motion to Approve by Amy King
- Second by Lisa Dixon
- All ayes, motion APPROVED
Workforce Board Foundation
Jamie informed the group that the Workforce Board Foundation lost its status as a 501(c)3 in December of 2016. Lisa and Jamie have been working with the State’s Attorney at the County and the recommendation is to close the Fund. There is about $8,000 in the account and discussions are underway to determine what to do with the remaining funds. One suggestion would be to fold the money into the DSSA at DuPage County and make sure that clients from the workNet Center in need of assistance would be referred to the DSSA. Barb Szczepaniak commented that many agencies lost their 501(c)3 status for failure to file the appropriate tax documents. After much discussion, John Carpenter proposed a subsequent motion to continue with due diligence with regard to closing the foundation. Motion seconded by Calvin Giles. Further research will be done regarding the status of the Foundation.
WARN Report
Jamie reported that on July 25th, there will be a Career Fair for employees affected by the Carson Pirie Scott layoff event. The Career Fair is designed to expose workers to in-demand occupations and available training options.
workNet DuPage Update
PY18 Allocation
Lisa reported that the Center has received its allocation for the 2018 Program Year. The allocation is $488,097 less than the PY17 Program Year. Although funding was cut, it has been absorbed by reorganization within the Center so there will not be any reductions in staff or services offered.
Youth RFPs   Â
workNet has issued RFPs to serve youth in DuPage County. Historically, youth contracts have been awarded to expend the youth WIOA monies. This will be the strategy moving forward as it has been difficult to recruit eligible youth for workNet in-house programming. Â Responses have been received by First Institute, Parents Alliance Employment Project and Outreach Community Services.
Talent Pipeline Initiative-Edward Elmhurst
Jamie discussed the first talent pipeline solution with Edward Elmhurst Healthcare. This is a targeted approach to bring clients into the center for specific in-demand occupations and training programs. Lisa Dixon commented the demand for Patient Care Technicians and Medical Assistants is very high at Edward Elmhurst. workNet is able to pay for training utilizing WIOA dollars in these occupations and the goal is to create a pipeline of candidates for employers.
workNet Business Services Presentation
Griffin Leininger and Olivia Sanchez presented the services available to companies in DuPage County including Incumbent Worker Training, On-the-Job training, hiring events, etc.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:49 a.m.
