ATTACHMENTS:
AttachmentA:Glossary of Fresh Start grant terms
AttachmentB:Community I – IX Descriptions
AttachmentC:Fresh Start Communities Targeted map
AttachmentD:Allowable Source Documentation
I.Purpose
To define participant eligibility, allowable services, and other
policy parameters to enable participating local workforce development areas
(local areas) to implement and deliver opioid emergency grant services.
II.Effective
Date
Immediately
III.Background
Opioid use disorder and overdose deaths continue to be pressing
public health issues and workforce challenges facing Ohio. Opioid-related
overdoses have increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread
labor shortages have put an additional strain on the workforce, and the demand
for training and career services to address substance use concerns is critical
at this time.
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has awarded the Ohio
Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) with a two-year National Health
Emergency Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grant conditionally approved for
up to $8,500,000, and funds will be issued statewide to Ohio’s local areas to
continue providing training, career services, supportive services and temporary
disaster relief jobs to ameliorate the opioid epidemic. These grant services
are intended to address the opioid crisis and better support Ohio’s employers
as well as individuals who are in recovery.
Services in each county will be tailored to the local needs of
their community. Dislocated workers and long-term unemployed individuals are
expected to be served. ODJFS proposes to use the funding to continue to:
- Test innovative approaches to combating the
opioid problem – for example, by supporting employers to develop
recovery-friendly policies, practices, and encouraging new hiring of
individuals who are in their recovery journey.
- Provide job training, career services, and
supportive services to dislocated workers and long-term unemployed individuals,
including those impacted directly or indirectly by the opioid crisis.
Supportive services may include referrals to healthcare services, outpatient
mental healthcare services and addiction treatment, help purchasing work
clothes, or transportation assistance.
- Provide temporary disaster-relief employment to
help alleviate issues caused by the opioid crisis in impacted agencies, such as
hospitals, recovery homes, child protection agencies, courts, educational
settings, and related agencies.
- Build the addiction and substance use disorder
treatment, mental health, and pain management workforce.
- Facilitate peer learning and sharing of best
practices through cross-discipline learning collaboratives across partner
agencies.
IV.State
Requirements
As the state workforce agency and grantee, ODJFS shall:
- Submit grant applications, modifications,
quarterly reports, and other communications to DOL on behalf of the local
areas;
- Assign a project manager to serve as the point
of contact and coordinator of grant-related resources and information;
- Review and approve implementation plans and
budgets submitted by the local areas that will include proposed participant
enrollment goals and spending;
- Manage grant funds, including the determination
of sub-award amounts;
- Manage incremental funding to local areas and
potential revisions to such awards, to address underspending, ensure maximum
investment of the available resources, and take action designed to ensure ODJFS
qualifies for the second and third funding increment from DOL;
- Assess the local area’s quarterly expenditures
and actual participant enrollment. ODJFS reserves the right to withhold
subsequent allocations or to de-obligate funds from a local workforce area that
is not meeting the quarterly performance, reporting, and/or expenditure goals
stated in an approved implementation plan and budget.
- Equally, ODJFS reserves the right to allocate
additional funding, as available, to a local area that is exceeding its goals
and requires additional funds.
- Form and/or enhance partnerships with other
state agencies and initiatives, to implement a comprehensive statewide response
to the opioid crisis, such as collaboration with RecoveryOhio to leverage work
with other state departments, boards, and commissions, and partnering with the
Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC) to educate employers about substance
use and recovery and to encourage establishment of recovery-friendly policies
and practices; and
- Provide technical assistance to local areas and
other stakeholders on the terms and conditions of the Fresh Start grant.
V.Local
Workforce Development Area Requirements
The Fresh Start grant is a National Disaster Recovery Dislocated
Worker grant issued to local areas under the authority of the WIOA subgrant
agreement between ODJFS and each local area. Therefore, local areas must
implement the grant-funded services and activities in accordance with the terms
and conditions of the WIOA subgrant agreement, along with the requirements
found in this policy letter.
A.Local
Area Planning
Local areas must submit a budget
and implementation plan describing the partnerships, service design, planned
number of participants, and other details for implementing the Fresh Start
grant. Local area plans and budgets must be submitted by May 25, 2022. Local
areas that have not submitted a plan and budget and received the Office of Workforce
Development approval, will not be eligible to receive the second increment of
funding when DOL releases the state's second increment.
As changes to the local implementation
plan and/or budget occur, such as the provision of new services not identified
in the plan, significant changes in the number of planned participants or
changes in costs categories the local area must submit to the designated ODJFS
project manager a revised implementation plan and/or budget explaining the
changes as soon as possible, but no later than 30 days after each change.
B.Eligible
Participants
Local areas shall ensure that individuals served under the Fresh
Start grant have met all eligibility criteria, including those in 20 C.F.R. §
687.170(b)(1) and WIOAPL 15-02.1 Adult and Dislocated Worker Eligibility.
Individuals eligible to receive Fresh Start grant services must
be one of the following:
1.A dislocated
worker;
2.An individual
temporarily or permanently laid off as a consequence of the opioid emergency;
3.A long-term
unemployed individual; or
4.A self-employed
individual who became unemployed or significantly underemployed as a result of
the opioid crisis.
The eligible individuals are not required to have a history of
opioid use disorder to qualify for Fresh Start grant services and cannot be
required to disclose whether they have been impacted
by the opioid crisis as a condition of participation. However,
to target services to individuals impacted by opioid use disorder and to make
appropriate referrals, the only permissible question that local areas may ask
applicants or participants regarding opioid use disorder is:
Your answer to this question is voluntary. Do you, a friend, or
any member of your family have a history of opioid use? Please answer
"Yes," or "No."
Local areas must treat applicant and participant responses to
the above question as confidential information, along with any other medical
information obtained from applicants or participants or shared by partners,
mental health providers, addiction recovery centers, or other organizations
pertaining to the individual's health, disability, or medical conditions. If
the above question is presented on a form, it must be separate from the WIOA
intake or assessment forms. In accordance with 29 C.F.R. § 38.41(b)(3), the
confidential information must be:
- Used only for determining appropriateness for
services;
- Maintained in a separate file apart from the
WIOA case file;
- Locked up or otherwise secured (such as through
password protection if maintained in an electronic system); and
- Restricted from access by unauthorized
individuals.
C.Opioid Disaster Grant Communities
Extensive research has shown that the opioid crisis in Ohio is
so pervasive in multiple impact categories that disaster recovery requires a comprehensive
approach.
Data for each county in the state was reviewed for four key
categories of impact:
A.Overdose mortality
rates,
B.Costs per capita
of opioid abuse (costs for health care and treatment, criminal justice, lost
productivity among current opioid users, and lost productivity due to overdose
deaths),
C.Limited or no
access to medication-assisted treatment, and
D.The percentage of
children entering County Children Services custody due to parental opioid use.
Ohio then organized the counties into nine Fresh Start grant
communities according to the combination of common impacts they are
experiencing. Attachment B to this policy lists these communities, and for each
one, the counties it comprises and the occupations for which training and job
placement can be supported by the grant.
Local areas shall ensure that each county provides allowable
activities in the assigned community.
After determining the impacts experienced by each community,
Ohio further identified its humanitarian and clean-up needs, as well as the
healthcare, treatment, and training needs specific to the community.
D. Allowable Services and Activities
In planning and implementing services under the Fresh Start
grant, local areas should consider that the grant is meant to alleviate the
devastating effects of the opioid crisis through:
- Disaster-relief employment aimed at alleviating
the issues caused by the opioid crisis in affected communities;
- Career, training, and supportive services for
eligible participants aimed at increasing the number of qualified professionals
in fields that can have an impact on the opioid crisis;
- Providing a full array of workforce services to
eligible participants who disclose that they have been impacted by the opioid
crisis, in an effort to reintegrate them into the workforce; and
- Increasing engagement with employers and
supporting modification of their hiring practices and drug-free workplace
policies, to ensure job opportunity growth and greater job retention.
Participants enrolled in disaster-relief employment may also
receive career services, training services, and supportive services. Individual
enrollment in temporary disaster relief employment must neither exceed 12
months, nor exceed 2,080 hours.
Participants who are not enrolled in disaster-relief employment
may also receive career services, training services, and supportive services.
Participants may be enrolled in:
- Disaster-relief employment only;
- Employment and training activities only; or
- Both disaster-relief employment and employment
and training activities. These may occur concurrently, or one may occur prior
to the other.
Career Services
Local areas will provide basic and individualized career
services such as job search assistance, initial and specialized assessments of
skill levels, career planning, and prevocational services, as outlined in
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Policy Letter (WIOAPL) No. 15-08.1,
Career Services for Adults and Dislocated Workers. Additional services for
individuals may include job coaching and peer support, to address barriers to
employment such as criminal history, drug relapses, probation and treatment
requirements, and gaps in employment.
Training
Training services provided under this grant must prepare
eligible individuals for employment in high-growth sectors within the local
economy.
Individuals who disclose that they, a family member, or friend
have been impacted by the opioid crisis may be trained in any in-demand
occupation. The link below provides access to in-demand occupation data: https://topjobs.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/indemand/top-jobs-list
Individuals who state that they are not impacted by the opioid
crisis or do not respond, may only be approved for training in addiction
treatment services, mental health treatment, pain management services and
practices, and professions that are approved by DOL specific to each community
that will mitigate the underlying circumstances of the opioid crisis.
The limitations on training apply to all training services
funded by this grant, which include On-the-Job Training and Occupational Skill
Training.
Long-term training may be supplemented with WIOA formula funds
if the training extends beyond the grant period.
Temporary Disaster-Relief Employment
Ohio analyzed data related to the opioid crisis for each county
using four types of impacts, as labeled A, B, C, and D in section C. above.
Counties were grouped into nine communities, based on shared impacts and needs.
A map of these communities can be found in Attachment C of this policy.
Disaster-relief employment must quickly address immediate,
specific needs of the community. DOL approved specific types of disaster-relief
jobs based on each community's needs. Disaster-relief employment funded by the
Fresh Start grant is allowable only for jobs that alleviate the unique impacts
of the opioid crisis, as well as jobs that provide impacted individuals with
humanitarian assistance that includes actions to save lives, alleviate
suffering, and maintain human dignity. Humanitarian assistance jobs must
directly relate to the effects of widespread opioid abuse.
A table that details the types of disaster-relief jobs that are
allowable based on community assignment grouping can be found in Attachment B
to this policy.
Local Areas will use assessments (including those conducted by
partners) to determine each individual's needs, interests, skills, work
experience, and readiness for work, as they relate to the requirements for the
types of disaster-relief employment available, to determine whether an
individual will be placed in such jobs and if employment and training
activities are needed prior to or during disaster-relief employment.
Temporary disaster-relief employment
jobs must neither exceed 12 months, nor exceed 2,080 hours, per WIOA and
Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 12-19. Disaster-relief employment provides
income maintenance to participants and services to the community. while moving
participants into permanent, unsubsidized jobs.
Supportive Services
Grant-funded supportive services such as transportation,
childcare, and housing assistance, and referrals to mental health, addiction,
and trauma specialists may be provided to grant participants in need of such
services. Individuals with substance use disorder may be offered additional
partner services such as addiction and other outpatient treatment, support
during training and employment, and referrals to health and mental health care.
Assessments completed by mental health service providers and
other partners should be used to customize supportive services to each
participant's needs. Local areas should review their policies to ensure that
they authorize the types of supportive services needed by the population
targeted for services under this grant.
Local areas must not spend more than 20% of their Fresh Start
grant funding on supportive services for participants. Grantees may submit a
modification request to spend more than 20% of their award on supportive services,
if the request demonstrates the criteria outlined in TEGL 4-18.
Other Allowable Services and Activities
Participants may receive Fresh Start grant services before,
during, or after receiving treatment for substance use disorder.
The services and activities may be delivered under the local
area's existing policies applicable to dislocated workers, or the local
workforce development board (local WDB) may opt to implement new or revised
policies specific to the Fresh Start grant.
Examples of such policy revisions may include:
- Extending the length of training, or increasing
the maximum training funds available, to participants who plan to enter
occupations that impact the opioid crisis;
- Permitting funding for transitional jobs to help
participants with employment barriers, to establish a work history, develop
workplace skills, and enter or re-enter the workforce; or
- Expanding the supportive services definition and
benefit limits, to allow for outpatient mental health and addiction treatment
and related barrier removal, if such services are not covered by Medicaid,
private health insurance, or other sources.
In addition to the allowable services for eligible participants,
local areas may use Fresh Start grant funds for activities meant to impact the
crisis on a wider scale, including, but not limited to:
- Piloting innovative approaches to combating the
opioid problem - for example, by supporting employers that develop
recovery-friendly policies and practices or hire individuals in recovery;
- Using peer recovery specialists in the community
to support individuals in recovery during treatment, training, and employment;
- Building the addiction and substance misuse
treatment, mental health, and pain management workforce through education and
training, such as by enabling participant enrollment in the new addiction
services apprenticeship being established at Ohio's two-year colleges;
- Funding full- or part-time program positions to
provide on-site basic and/or individualized career services to eligible
individuals who, because of opioid use, are involved with children services
agencies, jails, courts, or recovery housing; and
- Facilitating peer learning and sharing of best
practices through cross-discipline learning collaboratives across partner
agencies.
Up to ten percent of the funds awarded to the local area may be
used for administrative costs as defined in 20 C.F.R. § 683.215 that are
associated with operating the grant.
E.Unallowable Services and Activities
Fresh Start Grant funds may not be used to pay for:
- Testing of participants for the use of
controlled substances;
- In-patient treatment for substance use disorder;
or
- Incentive payments to participants.
F.Community Partnerships
To address the wide-ranging impacts of the opioid crisis on the
labor market, local areas must implement an integrated, comprehensive service
delivery model by establishing partnerships with other organizations in the
community that have expertise in treatment and recovery or that serve
individuals who require assistance with employment and training to enter or
re-enter the workforce.
Examples of such partnerships include, but are not limited to:
- Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health (ADAMH) boards
which coordinate treatment for individuals with substance use disorder.
- Public children services agencies and their
related programs aimed at improving the lives of families and children who are
impacted by opioid use disorder.
- Rehabilitation facilities and other providers of
evidence-based drug and alcohol addiction treatment.
- Training providers including community colleges
that can offer education, credentialing, and licensure in career fields that
treat substance use disorder or provide related interventions.
- Courts and the criminal justice system (e.g.,
county jails, state prisons, probation departments) that can assist restored
citizens with employment solutions to aid their transition back into society.
- Local libraries that can provide outreach and
referral of potentially-eligible individuals.
- BWC staff participating in the Safety Grant
pilot program, which educates employers on managing employees in recovery and
adopting recovery-friendly human resource policies.
- Public children services agencies that can
coordinate referrals to their services for participants in need of such
services and can serve as employers of record for temporary disaster-relief
employment.
- Providers of recovery housing that can
coordinate referrals to their services for participants in need of such
services and can serve as employers of record for temporary disaster-relief
employment.
G.Subrecipients and Contractors
Local areas may enter into subrecipient agreements or contracts
with public entities, not-for-profit organizations, and private-for-profit
entities, including organizations that assist individuals in recovery from
substance use disorder. The determination of subrecipient or contractor status
must be based on the considerations in 2 C.F.R. § 200.331.
Competitive procurement of a provider that meets the definition
of a subrecipient is not required but is recommended, when feasible, to
increase the likelihood of obtaining the highest quality of services at the
lowest cost.
Contractors must be competitively selected in accordance with
federal, state, and local procurement rules. For-profit contractors and
subrecipients may keep the profits earned from performance of grant activities.
The amount of profit must be negotiated as a separate element of the overall
price of the services with consideration given to the complexity, risk, past
performance, and industry profit rates in the surrounding geographical area for
similar work. Profits that are excessive or that are not justified using the
aforementioned criteria will be disallowed and cannot be paid from grant funds.
VI.Reporting
Requirements
Local areas must report Fresh Start grant participant data in
the state's designated case management reporting system, under the special
grant office created for the grant. Each participant enrollment, service, and
activity must be reported in that manner, within 30 days of occurrence.
The outcomes of participants in the Fresh Start grant will not
affect the local area's WIOA performance measures, unless the local area opts
to co-enroll participants in local WIOA formula-funded programs.
Local areas must request cash draws and report expenditures and
other financial information using the State's designated financial reporting
system, including the client tracking detail for participant-level direct
service costs.
In addition, local areas must submit quarterly narrative reports
on a template provided by the designated ODJFS project manager. Reports must be
mailed to OpioidRelief@jfs.ohio.gov no later than the last day of the month
that follows after the end of each calendar quarter.
VII.Monitoring
Local areas that issue subawards must assess the risk of
non-compliance of each subrecipient and develop monitoring policies outlining
the procedures, frequency, and methods for assuring that grant-funded services
carried out by the subrecipient are compliant, and for resolving any findings
of non-compliance.
Through the state's monitoring system, ODJFS program and fiscal
monitors will review the local area's implementation of Fresh Start grants,
including participant file review and verification of actual expenditures,
during the onsite monitoring review of the local area for compliance with all
applicable federal and state laws, regulations, and guidance letters including
this guidance letter. Any findings will be addressed through the state's
monitoring resolution process.
VIII.Technical
Assistance
For additional information or to request technical assistance,
contact the project manager designated by the ODJFS Office of Workforce
Development to oversee implementation of the Fresh Start grant. To receive the
project manager's contact information, email opioidrelief@jfs.ohio.gov.
IX.References
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act §§ 134 and 170, Pub. L.
113-128.
USDOL, Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 4-18,
National Health Emergency Phase Two: Disaster Recovery National Dislocated
Worker Grants to Address the Opioid Crisis (September 14, 2018).
USDOL, Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 12-19, Change
1, National Dislocated Worker Grant Program Guidance (November 02, 2020).
2 C.F.R. § 200.331.
20 C.F.R. §§ 683.215 and 687.170.
29 C.F.R. § 38.41.
ODJFS, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Policy Letter
No. 15-02.1, Adult and Dislocated Worker Eligibility, (October 1, 2020).
ODJFS, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Policy Letter
No. 15-08.1, Career Services for Adults and Dislocated Workers, (June 6, 2017).
ODJFS, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Policy Letter
No.15-11.2, Use of Individual Training Accounts, (August 11, 2020).
Strategies for Helping Individuals Impacted by Opioid Use
Disorder, A Toolkit for Ohio's Public Workforce System.