Collapse to view only § 678.305 - What is a comprehensive one-stop center and what must be provided there?

§ 678.300 - What is the one-stop delivery system?

(a) The one-stop delivery system brings together workforce development, educational, and other human resource services in a seamless customer-focused service delivery network that enhances access to the programs' services and improves long-term employment outcomes for individuals receiving assistance. One-stop partners administer separately funded programs as a set of integrated streamlined services to customers.

(b) Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) assigns responsibilities at the local, State, and Federal level to ensure the creation and maintenance of a one-stop delivery system that enhances the range and quality of education and workforce development services that employers and individual customers can access.

(c) The system must include at least one comprehensive physical center in each local area as described in § 678.305.

(d) The system may also have additional arrangements to supplement the comprehensive center. These arrangements include:

(1) An affiliated site or a network of affiliated sites, where one or more partners make programs, services, and activities available, as described in § 678.310;

(2) A network of eligible one-stop partners, as described in §§ 678.400 through 678.410, through which each partner provides one or more of the programs, services, and activities that are linked, physically or technologically, to an affiliated site or access point that assures customers are provided information on the availability of career services, as well as other program services and activities, regardless of where they initially enter the public workforce system in the local area; and

(3) Specialized centers that address specific needs, including those of dislocated workers, youth, or key industry sectors, or clusters.

(e) Required one-stop partner programs must provide access to programs, services, and activities through electronic means if applicable and practicable. This is in addition to providing access to services through the mandatory comprehensive physical one-stop center and any affiliated sites or specialized centers. The provision of programs and services by electronic methods such as Web sites, telephones, or other means must improve the efficiency, coordination, and quality of one-stop partner services. Electronic delivery must not replace access to such services at a comprehensive one-stop center or be a substitute to making services available at an affiliated site if the partner is participating in an affiliated site. Electronic delivery systems must be in compliance with the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of WIOA sec. 188 and its implementing regulations at 29 CFR part 38.

(f) The design of the local area's one-stop delivery system must be described in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) executed with the one-stop partners, described in § 678.500.

§ 678.305 - What is a comprehensive one-stop center and what must be provided there?

(a) A comprehensive one-stop center is a physical location where job seeker and employer customers can access the programs, services, and activities of all required one-stop partners. A comprehensive one-stop center must have at least one title I staff person physically present.

(b) The comprehensive one-stop center must provide:

(1) Career services, described in § 678.430;

(2) Access to training services described in § 680.200 of this chapter;

(3) Access to any employment and training activities carried out under sec. 134(d) of WIOA;

(4) Access to programs and activities carried out by one-stop partners listed in §§ 678.400 through 678.410, including the Employment Service program authorized under the Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended by WIOA title III (Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service program); and

(5) Workforce and labor market information.

(c) Customers must have access to these programs, services, and activities during regular business days at a comprehensive one-stop center. The Local Workforce Development Board (WDB) may establish other service hours at other times to accommodate the schedules of individuals who work on regular business days. The State WDB will evaluate the hours of access to service as part of the evaluation of effectiveness in the one-stop certification process described in § 678.800(b).

(d) “Access” to each partner program and its services means:

(1) Having a program staff member physically present at the one-stop center;

(2) Having a staff member from a different partner program physically present at the one-stop center appropriately trained to provide information to customers about the programs, services, and activities available through partner programs; or

(3) Making available a direct linkage through technology to program staff who can provide meaningful information or services.

(i) A “direct linkage” means providing direct connection at the one-stop center, within a reasonable time, by phone or through a real-time Web-based communication to a program staff member who can provide program information or services to the customer.

(ii) A “direct linkage” cannot exclusively be providing a phone number or computer Web site or providing information, pamphlets, or materials.

(e) All comprehensive one-stop centers must be physically and programmatically accessible to individuals with disabilities, as described in 29 CFR part 38, the implementing regulations of WIOA sec. 188.

§ 678.310 - What is an affiliated site and what must be provided there?

(a) An affiliated site, or affiliate one-stop center, is a site that makes available to job seeker and employer customers one or more of the one-stop partners' programs, services, and activities. An affiliated site does not need to provide access to every required one-stop partner program. The frequency of program staff's physical presence in the affiliated site will be determined at the local level. Affiliated sites are access points in addition to the comprehensive one-stop center(s) in each local area. If used by local areas as a part of the service delivery strategy, affiliate sites must be implemented in a manner that supplements and enhances customer access to services.

(b) As described in § 678.315, Wagner-Peyser Act employment services cannot be a stand-alone affiliated site.

(c) States, in conjunction with the Local WDBs, must examine lease agreements and property holdings throughout the one-stop delivery system in order to use property in an efficient and effective way. Where necessary and appropriate, States and Local WDBs must take expeditious steps to align lease expiration dates with efforts to consolidate one-stop operations into service points where Wagner-Peyser Act employment services are colocated as soon as reasonably possible. These steps must be included in the State Plan.

(d) All affiliated sites must be physically and programmatically accessible to individuals with disabilities, as described in 29 CFR part 38, the implementing regulations of WIOA sec. 188.

§ 678.315 - Can a stand-alone Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service office be designated as an affiliated one-stop site?

(a) Separate stand-alone Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service offices are not permitted under WIOA, as also described in § 652.202 of this chapter.

(b) If Wagner-Peyser Act employment services are provided at an affiliated site, there must be at least one or more other partners in the affiliated site with a physical presence of combined staff more than 50 percent of the time the center is open. Additionally, the other partner must not be the partner administering local veterans' employment representatives, disabled veterans' outreach program specialists, or unemployment compensation programs. If Wagner-Peyser Act employment services and any of these 3 programs are provided at an affiliated site, an additional partner or partners must have a presence of combined staff in the center more than 50 percent of the time the center is open.

§ 678.320 - Are there any requirements for networks of eligible one-stop partners or specialized centers?

Any network of one-stop partners or specialized centers, as described in § 678.300(d)(3), must be connected to the comprehensive one-stop center and any appropriate affiliate one-stop centers, for example, by having processes in place to make referrals to these centers and the partner programs located in them. Wagner-Peyser Act employment services cannot stand alone in a specialized center. Just as described in § 678.315 for an affiliated site, a specialized center must include other programs besides Wagner-Peyser Act employment services, local veterans' employment representatives, disabled veterans' outreach program specialists, and unemployment compensation.