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Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development News Release
Friday, September 9, 2005 Governor Jim Doyle Secretary Roberta Gassman	News Media Contact Rose Lynch   608/266-6753 e-mail: news@dwd.state.wi.us fax: 608/266-1784

DWD Selects W-2 Agencies for 2006-09 Contract Period

New contracts include major changes for improved accountability and workforce attachment success

Madison - Today Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman announced which agencies have been selected by DWD, as a result of a competitive bidding process, to administer an improved Wisconsin Works (W-2) program from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2009.

The new contracts emphasize strengthened job success for participants and tighter financial controls for W-2 agencies.  Early in the W-2 program, which was created in 1997, much discretion was delegated to W-2 agencies.  Based on experience gathered about this complex program over the last nine years, agencies will be held to uniform performance expectations.

“W-2 is an important program for helping low-income families move toward the path of economic self-sufficiency,” Secretary Gassman said.  “The Doyle administration is taking strong steps to improve the impact of W-2 on participants and increase accountability to the state and to taxpayers.  We believe the changes we are making will help move participants into jobs and onto career paths out of poverty.”

A key improvement involves significant changes for the delivery of services in Milwaukee County, where the largest population of the state’s caseload resides, separating the different

W-2 functions of case management, job development and Social Security Income/Social Security Disability Income (SSI/SSDI) eligibility determination (see attached diagram).

The program focus of the 2006-09 contracts is on:

• Ensuring that participants strengthen connections to employment, other available training opportunities and career ladders;
• Providing employment retention services; and,
• Providing assistance in obtaining federal SSI or SSDI support for participants facing multiple barriers.

The contracts also continue improvements implemented by DWD since 2003 to strengthen monitoring, agency administrative operations and agency program management.

Contract Changes for all W-2 Agencies

Improved Financial and Administrative Management

• Strict limitations on promotional expenses, telecommunications, executive compensation, legal services and retainers and rent;
• Requirement of fidelity bond backing from all private agencies to reimburse the state in the event an agency cannot fulfill its contractual obligation; and,

• Increased oversight of governance for non-governmental agencies on operations of boards of directors, bylaws, training and maintenance of records and minutes.

Improved Program Management

• New performance standards on participant outcomes in obtaining and retaining employment, enrollment in relevant job skills training and receiving eligibility for SSI/SSDI support;

• Increased requirements that agencies connect to local employers to expand job opportunities for W-2 participants;

• New requirements that agencies provide short-term skills training to ensure improved job placement success; and,

• New requirements that agencies work with other providers and child welfare agencies to better serve participants with multiple challenges.

Changes for Milwaukee County W-2 Agencies

• Five Milwaukee regions are being established – Northeast, Northwest, Central, Southeast and Southwest and there will be multiple Case Management Agencies (CMA) and Job Development and Placement Agencies (JDPA) funded in the different regions; SSI Advocacy is being awarded to a single countywide collaboration;

• Creation of a Preferred Provider Registry to be used by Milwaukee W-2 Agencies for providing specialized case services that will assure quality, cost savings and community involvement; the Registry will include Milwaukee community-based service providers selected this fall to provide AODA clinical assessment, treatment and counseling, learning disability clinical assessment, functional capacity evaluation, vocational evaluation, domestic violence services and mental health assessment, treatment and counseling;

• Creation of an ombudsperson at DWD to support W-2 applicants and participants in rapidly addressing their needs and challenges in accessing W-2 services.

DWD Contract Awards in Milwaukee County

All allocation amounts are for the first 2 years of the upcoming 4-year contracts.

Northeast Milwaukee

• CMA contract of $16,314,828 awarded to the YWCA of Greater Milwaukee.
• JDPA contract of $5,232,069 awarded to a Policy Studies, Inc. collaboration which will also involve Multicultural Community Services and the YWCA.

Northwest Milwaukee

• CMA contract of  $32,283,563 awarded to Maximus, Inc.
• JDPA contract of $10,438,366 awarded to a Milwaukee Center for Independence collaboration which will also involve Maximus, Inc.

Central Milwaukee

• CMA contract of $31,868,506 awarded to United Migrant Opportunity Services (UMOS).
• JDPA contract of $10,313,177 awarded to a UMOS collaboration which will also involve Enrichment Opportunities Institute of Training in Milwaukee and the Hmong/American Friendship Association, Inc.

Southwest Milwaukee

• CMA contract of $20,178,528 awarded to Maximus, Inc.
• JDPA contract of $6,730,627 awarded to a Maximus, Inc. collaboration which will also involve Kaiser Group, Inc.

Southeast Milwaukee

• CMA contract of $14,247,091 awarded to UMOS.
• JDPA contract of $4,355,761 awarded to UMOS.

All five JDPA regional collaborations will also partner with Milwaukee Job Development, Inc., a new organization that will train and place W-2 participants in health care jobs with career advancement potential.

SSI Advocacy

• Countywide contract of $8,185,556 awarded to a UMOS collaboration which will also involve La Causa, Inc. and Legal Action of Wisconsin, Inc.

“The involvement of additional providers, through new collaborations and the Preferred Provider Registry, will produce better outcomes for participants and stronger connections to employers,” added Gassman.

DWD Contract Awards in the Balance of State

Balance of state agencies selected through the competitive process and the counties they serve:

All allocation amounts are for the first 2 years of the upcoming 4-year contracts.

• Forward Service Corporation – Brown County – $3,087,959
• Douglas County Department of Health and Human Services – Douglas County – $983,955
• Fond du Lac County Department of Social Services – Fond du Lac County – $1,807,311
• Grant County Department of Social Services – Grant, Green, Iowa, LaFayette and Richland counties – $855,609
• Jefferson County Human Services – Jefferson County – $569,472
• Kenosha County Department of Human Services – Kenosha – $7,305,929
• ACS, Inc. – Washington and Ozaukee – $1,002422
• Vernon County Department of Human Services – Vernon County – $209,162
• Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services – Waupaca County – $585,620

Forty W-2 agencies earned the Right of First Selection and were not required to compete.  DWD intends to enter into contracts with each of these agencies and counties:

• ACS State and Local Solutions, Inc. (Waukesha County) – $2,491,503
• Ashland County Human Services Department (on behalf of Ashland and Price Counties Consortium) – $479,544
• Barron County Department of Health and Human Services – $498,337
• Bayfield County Department of Human Services – $183,844
• Buffalo County Department of Health and Human Services – $126,786
• Burnett County Department of Health and Human Services – $159,390
• Calumet County Department of Human Services – $259,471
• Chippewa County Department of Human Services – $619,355
• Clark County Department of Social Services – $570,399
• Crawford County Human Services Department – $105,379
• Dane County Department of Human Services (on behalf of Dane, Dodge, Marquette and Sauk Counties Capitol Consortium) – $11,446,401
• Door County Department of Social Services – $298,542
• Dunn County Department of Human Services – $730,412
• Eau Claire County Department of Human Services – $1,610,609
• Forward Service Corporation (Waushara County) – $349,093
• Forward Service Corporation Bay Area Consortium (Florence, Kewaunee and Menominee Counties) – $399,884
• Forward Service Corporation Northern Consortium (Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Oneida and Vilas Counties) – $1,436,243
• Green Lake County Department of Health and Human Services – $246,359
• Iron County Human Services Department & Associates – $90,701
• Kaiser Group, Inc. (Walworth County) – $899,424
• La Crosse County Human Services Department – $1,373,019
• Marathon County Department of Employment and Training – $2,372,242
• Marinette County Health and Human Services Department – $423,931
• Oconto County Department of Human Services – $339,293
• Outagamie County Department of Health and Human Services – $1,668,054
• Pepin County Department of Human Services – $127,915
• Polk County Human Services Department – $340,993
• Racine County Human Services Department – $4,563,469
• Rock County Department of Health and Human Services – $2,739,451
• Rusk County Department of Health and Human Services – $159,008
• Sawyer County Health and Human Services (on behalf of Sawyer and Washburn Counties Consortium) – $310,890
• Shawano Job Center, Inc. – $419,164
• Sheboygan County Health and Human Services on behalf of Manitowoc and Sheboygan Counties W-2 Lakeshore Consortium – $1,642,486
• Taylor County Human Services Department – $187,401
• Trempealeau County Department of Social Services – $325,863
• Winnebago County Department of Human Services – $1,810,773
• Wood County Department of Social Services on behalf of Portage, Adams and Wood (PAW) Counties Consortium – $2,773,837
• Workforce Connections, Inc. (Columbia County) – $494,433
• Workforce Connections, Inc. (Consortium for Jackson, Juneau and Monroe Counties) – $1,335,996
• Workforce Connections, Inc. (Consortium for Pierce and St. Croix Counties) – $488,795

Attachments:

Milwaukee County W-2 Regional Map

Milwaukee W-2 Program Service Responsibility Areas

 

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Content Contact: Rose Lynch