Thursday, April 24, 2008
SADG Update - April 2008
Deanna Yerichuk and Paula Wansbrough attended the April 17 Employment Ontario Service Delivery Advisory Group (SDAG) meeting. The following items were discussed:
Skills to Jobs Action Plan
Kevin French, Assistant Deputy Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities reviewed the Skills to Jobs initiative announced in the provincial budget earlier this month. SDAG community members had questions around the Second Career Strategy. TCU was clear that this program applies only to workers recently laid off (as of June 2007) and they have not yet determined if part-timers would qualify for this program but did say that training money will go directly to the client after rigorous assessments and training plan development, rather than be provided as block training or in voucher form.
Of the $475 million to be invested in Skills to Jobs, almost all -- $345 million -- will come from the Labour Market Agreement (LMA). The LMA is a federal investment of nearly $1.2 billion in Ontario's labour market over the next six years. Since so much LMA money is to be channeled into the Skills to Jobs initiative, community SDAG members will be watching the implementation closely to assess how much it actually reaches the marginalized workers it was designed to serve.
(Read more on the LMA in this blog.).
EO Transformation
"Planned, measured change" was the key phrase used by Kevin during his presentation on the next steps for Employment Ontario. Here is the timeline:
Integrated Service Delivery Focus Groups
Susan Underhill presented feedback and themes from the focus groups, surveys, interviews and workshops held with the service delivery network in February and March, involving 500 – 600 people.
The research took place with both MTCU staff and service providers, and as a result, there were variations in views on how to best achieve Integrated Service Delivery. TCU staff thought about how to best manage service delivery while service providers thought about the best ways to deliver services. TCU staff favoured Approach A (Lead Provider) over Approach B (Distributed Model), which was the service provider favourite. When Susan expressed disappointment that there were few alternative models suggested by participants, SDAG community members noted that focus groups did not leave time to explore alternatives. To see a copy of this presentation, please contact ACTEW’s office at policy@actew.org.
Employment Service Design
Sue Forrester presented on the now completed transformation project, Employment Service Design. This project was described by Kevin French as "a real model" because of the successful integration of community perspectives through the external service delivery reference group. (Download a presentation on the project by participant, Honey Crossley, Executive Director of Working Skills Centre to ACTEW membership in February 2008.)
The group proposed a number of formulas and definitions for assessing program and agency success, as well as funding model information for employment services:
It’s Your Call
On the request of MTCU, Josie Dizio of OCASI presented the new report, It’s Your Call, as an example of the execution of a Call for Proposals process, with clear recommendations that this particular process was not appropriate for ongoing service delivery. MTCU gave a commitment that this is not a process they are considering, and both community members and bureaucrats voiced the importance of working together to determine what kinds of processes should be used, particularly in determining new service delivery.
Skills to Jobs Action Plan
Kevin French, Assistant Deputy Minister of Training, Colleges, and Universities reviewed the Skills to Jobs initiative announced in the provincial budget earlier this month. SDAG community members had questions around the Second Career Strategy. TCU was clear that this program applies only to workers recently laid off (as of June 2007) and they have not yet determined if part-timers would qualify for this program but did say that training money will go directly to the client after rigorous assessments and training plan development, rather than be provided as block training or in voucher form.
Of the $475 million to be invested in Skills to Jobs, almost all -- $345 million -- will come from the Labour Market Agreement (LMA). The LMA is a federal investment of nearly $1.2 billion in Ontario's labour market over the next six years. Since so much LMA money is to be channeled into the Skills to Jobs initiative, community SDAG members will be watching the implementation closely to assess how much it actually reaches the marginalized workers it was designed to serve.
(Read more on the LMA in this blog.).
EO Transformation
"Planned, measured change" was the key phrase used by Kevin during his presentation on the next steps for Employment Ontario. Here is the timeline:
- May 2008 - the planning process, tools and guidelines will be completed
June 2008 - selected approach(es) implemented
July 2008 – approved external accountability framework
September 2008 – staff training on guidelines, tools and contracts
October 2008 – contract negotiations commence with service providers
February 2008 – approved internal accountability framework
March 2009 – staff training on internal accountability
April 2009 - initial phase of the delivery of Employment Services
July 2010 – Employment Ontario vision fully realized
Integrated Service Delivery Focus Groups
Susan Underhill presented feedback and themes from the focus groups, surveys, interviews and workshops held with the service delivery network in February and March, involving 500 – 600 people.
The research took place with both MTCU staff and service providers, and as a result, there were variations in views on how to best achieve Integrated Service Delivery. TCU staff thought about how to best manage service delivery while service providers thought about the best ways to deliver services. TCU staff favoured Approach A (Lead Provider) over Approach B (Distributed Model), which was the service provider favourite. When Susan expressed disappointment that there were few alternative models suggested by participants, SDAG community members noted that focus groups did not leave time to explore alternatives. To see a copy of this presentation, please contact ACTEW’s office at policy@actew.org.
Employment Service Design
Sue Forrester presented on the now completed transformation project, Employment Service Design. This project was described by Kevin French as "a real model" because of the successful integration of community perspectives through the external service delivery reference group. (Download a presentation on the project by participant, Honey Crossley, Executive Director of Working Skills Centre to ACTEW membership in February 2008.)
The group proposed a number of formulas and definitions for assessing program and agency success, as well as funding model information for employment services:
- service delivery quality standard - allots 50% for effectiveness (participant profile plus service impact, i.e. employment), 30% for customer service (customer satisfaction plus service coordination), and 20% for efficiency. The calculation takes into consideration how barriered the client is, although employment is the most heavily weighed outcome.
organizational capacity indicators – will measure customer satisfaction and service delivery; how an agency uses local labour market data to inform programming; the stability and efficiency of its administrative processes, its financial performance, and its governance; and the agency’s ability to coordinate services with others in its community. This formula is currently a work in progress.
funding decision model based on an agency’s effectiveness – consists of three components: compliance with the MTCU contract, evidence of organizational capacity and the service delivery standard achieved (see above).
proposed funding model – agencies meeting appropriate levels of effectiveness will receive operating grants to deliver services that recognize economies of scale; performance incentives will be available and will not be part of the organization’s base operating grant but must go back into improving services; funding will be sustained based on the organization’s ability to achieve service delivery quality; grants are for services that will serve 100 or more clients, although this will vary depending upon the location of the agency.
It’s Your Call
On the request of MTCU, Josie Dizio of OCASI presented the new report, It’s Your Call, as an example of the execution of a Call for Proposals process, with clear recommendations that this particular process was not appropriate for ongoing service delivery. MTCU gave a commitment that this is not a process they are considering, and both community members and bureaucrats voiced the importance of working together to determine what kinds of processes should be used, particularly in determining new service delivery.
Labels: Issues_and_Trends, MTCU_Updates
