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COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS
Workforce Investment ACT (WIA) Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (PL 105-220)

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

CNMI WIA MISSION:

The mission of the CNMI Workforce Investment Act program is to provide job training and employment opportunities to youth and adult individuals that have been determined eligible to receive services under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 as Amended.

  1. The individual age- 16 through 21 years old for the Youth in-school program, 16 through 21 years old for the out-of-school program, 22 years old and up for the adult program.
  2. The individual must be economically disadvantaged as defined in the Act. In addition, no less than 65 percent of the participants in the program shall be individuals that are classified as Hard-To-Serve Individuals.

The WIA program is not an entitlement program and even though an individual may meet the basic criteria for eligibility, the CNMI WIA program must determine whether, through an objective assessment of the individuals skills and abilities, if the CNMI WIA program is the best agency to provide services. If the CNMI WIA program is found not to be the best agency to provide services to the eligible individual, he/she would be referred to another agency that would better serve their needs (i.e. a handicapped individual requiring specialized job training would be better served by the CNMI Division of Vocational Rehabilitation).

THE GOAL OF THE CNMI WIA PROGRAM:

First, the goal of the CNMI WIA program is to prepare for and place the CNMI WIA eligible individual in long term, gainful, and meaningful employment in the private sector labor market. The preparation for employment may take place in several different forms but always with the same end goal of long term, meaningful employment.

Secondly, the goal of the program is to avoid duplication of effort and waste of limited public resources by insuring that the CNMI WIA program collaborates and coordinates its services with other service providers providing similar job training services in the CNMI.

ASSESSMENT AND JOB TRAINING:

First, the CNMI WIA program would like to stress, that if the eligible youth participant is in school, the CNMI WIA program encourages them to stay in school and graduate. If this is not possible, then the CNMI WIA program, as a part of the job training plan, would assist the youth in obtaining their GED through the adult learning center at the Northern Marianas College. This may take place before the actual job training starts or in some cases can take place concurrently with other training. A youth who has dropped-out of school, age 16 to 18, must either return to school and graduate or obtain their GED while in the CNMI WIA training program.

  1. Assessment:

    The first step toward being a CNMI WIA program participant is being involved in an Objective Assessment. The objective assessment examines the capabilities, needs and vocational potential of an individual. The findings from the objective assessment are used in the development of the participant's Individual Service Strategy (ISS) and the employment goal. The objective assessment is an individual-centered, diagnostic evaluation of the lack of the participant's: employment barriers; family situation; work history; basic education; occupational skills; interests; aptitudes; attitudes toward work; motivation; behaviors; employment potential; financial resources; and an evaluation of the participant's knowledge regarding the local labor market. Youth participants in the program will also have their basic skills such as reading and math evaluated.

  2. Job Training:

    Given the uniqueness of the work force and the local labor market in the CNMI, the type of job training activities provided by the CNMI WIA program will emphasize creating job opportunities in the private sector as well as developing some employment opportunities, when possible, in the Public Sector. The majority of the training activities are centered around Entered Employment Experience (EEE) for out-of-school youth; Cooperative Education programs for in-school youth; Work Experience (WE) programs for youth and adults; On-the-Job Training (OJT) programs for youth and adults; and Institutional Skills Training. The program also emphasizes nontraditional training and employment for women.

  3. Specific Program Information:

    1. Institutional skillsTraining: Youth and Adult Program:

      Institutional Skills Training may be used to provide specific vocational skills training to the participant. It is designed to provide the participant with the technical skills and background required for the participant to perform at the entry level in a specific job or group of jobs and should only be offered in occupations for which there is a demand for the skills to be learned in the local labor market. The Institutional Skills Training SHOULD NOT be used as a degree program, but is used to learn specific job related skills in the shortest time possible.

    2. Entered Employment Experience (EEE): Youth:

      This program is for youth participants between the ages of 14 through 21 years old and may include a non-paid Cooperative Education program (for in-school youth only); a paid Work Experience in the Public sector (for out-of-school); a paid Limited Internship (for out-of-school youth) in the Private Sector; and paid On-the-Job Training programs (for out-of-school youth) in both the Private and Public sectors of the labor market.

    3. Work Experience: Youth and Adult:

      The Work Experience (WE) activity is designed to provide short-term or part-time work assignments in either the Public or Private non-profit sector. No Work Experience activity can take place in the Private for-profit sector. The Work Experience activity provides work-based payments to the participant based on actual hours spent in the activity. The participants is not eligible to accrue or be paid for vacation, sick, holiday, life insurance or retirement while in this activity. Workers compensation insurance coverage is provided by the CNMI WIA program. The Work Experience activity should be limited to individuals:

      1. who need assistance in becoming accustomed to basic work requirements and development of good work habits and work skills.
      2. who lack significant work history.
      3. who have never worked or who have been out of the labor market for an extended period of time.
      4. youth in transition from school to work.
      5. youth with indefinite employment goals.
      6. chronically unemployed persons.
      7. older workers and handicapped individuals.
      8. try-out of nontraditional employment opportunities for women and youth.

      The Work Experience activity should be for a reasonable length of time (based on the needs of the individual). Work Experience is NOT designed to provide participants with specific occupational skills training, and employment should not be the expected outcome of the activity. In addition, the Work Experience activity shall be accompanied either concurrently or sequentially by other services designed to increase the basic education and/or occupational skills of the participant.

    4. On-the-Job Training (OJT) Program: Youth and Adult:

      The purpose of the OJT program is to provide the participant with training in an actual work situation in which he/she will develop specific occupational skills required by an employer for a job. The OJT program differs from other activities in that the participant has been referred to and hired by an employer and the employer has agreed to provide the employee with the necessary occupational skills via OJT training, needed to perform the job. In exchange for providing this training, the CNMI WIA program agrees to reimburse the employer for the extraordinary cost related to the training. Reimbursement is based on 50 percent of the wage that the employer pays the employee for the set period of training time outlined in the OJT training contract between the CNMI WIA program and the Employer. The employer is not reimbursed for vacation, sick, holidays (unless actually worked), or over-time hours paid to the OJT employee. As an employee, the OJT Participant is provided the same benefits (including wages) and working conditions as similarly situated employees who are employed by the employer.

      The OJT program may in many cases be the final step in the training process that will place the participant in meaningful and gainful employment.

In addition to the listed training programs, the CNMI WIA program provides to the participant, case management services, career counseling, job search assistance, placement assistance after job training, and follow-up services both at placement and up to one year after closer.

PROGRAM LIMITATIONS:

Neither eligibility for nor participation in a CNMI WIA program creates an entitlement to services, and nothing in the WIA Act shall be constructed to establish a private right of action for a participant to obtain services described in the objective assessment or Individual Service Strategy (ISS). Any and all services that are listed in this overview are subject to CNMI and Federal funding availability and are provided on a first come first services bases. This has been a brief overview of the CNMI WIA program and the services that an eligible participant may receive from the program. For additional information please call the CNMI WIA office at 64-1700/1701 or FAX 322-7333 and we will be glad to assist you.

 
   
 
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