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Immigrant Skills and Workforce Development in the President’s Fiscal Year 2017 Budget

Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Employment and Training Programs under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA): $2.847 billion [FY2016 Enacted: $2.710 billion; 5 percent increase].  These programs provide eligible adults and youth with employment and training services through nearly 2,500 One-Stop Career Centers located in communities throughout the country.  The request is at the WIOA-authorized levels.

  • Adult Program: $842.376 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $815.556 million; 3.3 percent increase]. This program assists disadvantaged, low-skilled unemployed and underemployed eligible adults to gain the skills and credentials needed to successfully compete in the workforce. (One-third of low-skilled adults in the United States are immigrants).
  • Dislocated Worker Program: $1.103 billion [FY 2016 Enacted: $1.021 billion; 8 percent increase]. This program prepares eligible dislocated workers for new jobs and careers, including individuals who have been terminated or laid off, recipients of unemployment insurance, and displaced homemakers.
  • Youth Program: $902.139 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $873.416 million; 3.3 percent increase]. This program prepares eligible youth and young adults for jobs or post-secondary education through career guidance, support for educational attainment, training assistance, and other related services.
  • State Set-Aside: Not to exceed 15 percent [Maintains FY 2016 level].       Governors use these flexible funds to implement state-led job training initiatives and to perform statutorily required administrative functions to manage the state’s public workforce system.

 

Wagner-Peyser Employment Service: $680 million [No change in funding]. These grants to states fund a universal access program that provides job seekers with virtual and in-person employment services, while providing employers with a range of services to help them access a qualified workforce.

Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Program: $81.896 million [No change in funding]. This program provides employment, job training, and housing assistance to migrant and seasonal farmworkers in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Registered Apprenticeship: $90 million [No change in funding]. Registered Apprenticeship is an “earn and learn” model that allows participants to gain academic knowledge and on-the-job skills while earning a paycheck and meeting the workforce needs of employers. This funding will be used towards expanding registered apprenticeship opportunities across the country.

Workforce Information, E-Tools, and One-Stop System Building: $75.153 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $67.653 million; 11 percent increase]. These grants, electronic tools, and other products assist job seekers with making informed career decisions by providing data on careers, skill requirements, employment projections, and other workforce information. Other activities include technical assistance and grants to increase the capacity of the public workforce system and help it meet the needs of job seekers and employers.

  • Occupational Licensing Grants: $10 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $7.5 million; 33 percent increase]. These grants would identify and address areas where occupational licensing requirements create an unnecessary barrier to labor market entry or mobility and where interstate portability of licenses can improve economic opportunity, particularly for dislocated workers, transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses.

 

Workforce Data Quality Initiative: $40 million [FY2016 Enacted: $6 million; 566.7 percent increase]. These grants are aimed at helping states build integrated data systems to streamline WIOA performance reporting and support states’ efforts to create wage data matching infrastructure.

Foreign Labor Certification: $62.948 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $62.310 million; 1 percent increase]. This funding supports federal foreign labor certification programs, including placing job orders and conducting required housing inspections for H-2A workers.

  • Grants to States: $14.282 million for state grants [No change in funding]. These grants fund state employment services that support federal labor certification programs.

 

Mandatory Proposals

American Talent Compact: $3 billion.  This funding would support regional partnerships between workforce boards, economic development organizations, employers, K-12 career and technical education programs, and community colleges to train 500,000 people and place them into jobs in high-demand sectors.

Apprenticeship Training Fund: $2 billion.  This funding would increase employer adoption of the apprenticeship model; create an innovation fund to expand access to apprenticeships linked to career pathways; and support the expansion of pre-apprenticeship programs.

Opening Doors for Youth to a First Job and a Degree Program: $5.5 billion.  This program would support employment and degree attainment for disconnected youth, including summer and year round job programs and regional strategies to address youth unemployment.

Career Navigators: $1.5 billion over five years. Located in American Job Centers, Career Navigators would proactively outreach to 1 million job seekers and assist them with identifying training options and job opportunities, completing eligibility forms, and identifying employment and other services they are eligible for.

Workforce Data Science and Innovation Fund: $500 million.  This funding would support the development of state data systems and create a Center of Excellence to help States develop the technology and data tools they need to facilitate informed consumer choice about employment and training programs.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Career and Technical Education: $1.202 billion [FY 2016 Enacted: $1.125 billion; 6.8 percent increase]. Programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act prepare youth and adults to succeed in the workforce through secondary and post-secondary career and technical education programs.

  • Grants to States: $1.192 billion [FY 2016 Enacted: $1.118; 1.4 percent increase]. These grants fund state career and technical education programs.
  • American Technical Training Fund: $75 million [new request]. Projects would focus on strong employer partnerships, work-based learning opportunities, accelerated training, and flexible scheduling to accommodate part-time work. The Fund would be jointly administered with the Department of Labor.

 

Adult Basic and Literacy Education State Grants: $606.7 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $595.7 million; 1.8 percent increase]. Programs under the Adult and Family Literacy Act assist adults who do not have a high school diploma or equivalent to become literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for postsecondary education, employment, and economic self-sufficiency.

  • Grants to States: $585 million [No change in funding]. These grants fund state adult basic and literacy education programs, including English Literacy/Civics Education services which support access to English literacy programs linked to civics education.

 

English Language Acquisition Grants: $800.4 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $737.4 million; 8.5 percent increase]. These grants to states aim to help English learners in U.S. schools attain English language proficiency and become ready for post-secondary education and careers.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Social Services: $176.927 million [FY 2016 Enacted: $155 million; 14.1 percent increase]. This program supports services that address participants’ barriers to employment through interpretation and translation; childcare; healthcare; citizenship and naturalization services; and other services that will support participants.

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