Implementation Team

Report of July 22^nd

Noteworthy Accomplishments Since the Last Report

1. State Plan Status remained as previously reported, with six State plans still under review: Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon (Portland only), Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and Tennessee. The Oregon plan was paneled on July 15^th; Puerto Rico is scheduled for July 26^th.



2. More than 2,200 individual and corporate registrations were recorded at JETT*CON '99. Compared to 1998, exhibitor participation increased by over 25% to a total of 113. Highlights of the event included the very well attended Awards Reception at the Cannon House Office Building; three Plenary Sessions, including the Opening Plenary that featured Assistant Secretary level participation from the WIA Federal Partners; the Secretary's July 15^th presentation during which she unveiled America's Jobs Network, and announced the ETA-Business Coalition initiative; the Hyperlink Café; over 100 workshops; and the numerous exhibits.



3. The Business Coalition (NAB, NAPIC, NAM, USCC and the Business Roundtable), funded by a $1.6 million contract from DOL and joined by 28 other business trade groups, will spearhead a joint effort to increase local business participation in the process of deciding the kinds of training needed for the available and forecasted jobs.



4. Draft regulations implementing WIA Section 188, Nondiscrimination Provisions, were transmitted to OMB on July 19^th.



5. A letter was sent from Secretary Herman to Governors announcing that policy discussions with State workforce officials will be held at a day long meeting on July 26^th in Washington, D.C. The agenda includes ETA's four Secretarial Initiatives: WIA, Dislocated Workers, Youth, and Welfare to Work.



6. Work to develop revised Planning Guidance has begun. A conference call to discuss revision strategy was held on July 20^th.



7. A new set of Q's & A's was posted to the USWorkforce.org web page on July 21^st. These were mostly administrative questions that have undergone several review and revision iterations over the past three months.



8. The Rapid Response Conference was held in Washington, D.C. on July 19^th and 20^th. It provided the forum for Secretary Herman's roll out of America's Jobs Network Rapid Response toll-free number 1-877-US2-JOBS.