5/14/2009 - May 14.
TOC directors meeting.
A TOC directors meeting. A couple of the directors seem to thrive on being considered ornery – they admit it and relish it! I should probably explain what The Oregon Consortium, or TOC, is. The Oregon Consortium is a voluntary partnership of 24 rural counties in Oregon. Originally formed in 1981 under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, later transitioning to the Job Training Partnership Act, it is now designated as a Workforce Investment Area under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
In the state of Oregon, there are 15 Regions which are based on geographic areas, covered by Workforce Investment Boards, which were designated by the state in the 1980s. (Realize this is summarized from a short conversation I had, so don’t start making bets on this info.) The TOC area contains 9 Regions. Here is the map (those colored grey are non-TOC regions):
The TOC directors, then, are the directors of the WIA service providers for each region.
The major topic of discussion was ARRA. Adults and Dislocated Workers are prioritized based on Veteran status (i.e., vets get highest priority for training funds). Adults are further prioritized based on whether they are welfare recipients and whether they are low income.
We also saw a presentation on the Underwater and Volcanic Discovery Project. This is basically a summer youth training program to give youth interest and training in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers. But much more exciting and fun than I made that sound.
- Monty