I.   Plan Development Process

1. Describe process for developing State Plan (include timeline).
   1. An initial draft State Plan was developed by the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL), as the designated State agency for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), working on behalf of the State Workforce Investment Board (SWIB). Their task was to incorporate ideas, concerns, and comments from a variety of entities. Input was sought from workforce development partners on the State and local level, including Chief Elected Officials (CEOs), business, labor, and Community Based Organizations (CBOs). The Plan was made available for public comment via the Internet and through a NYSDOL Technical Advisory. All input was reviewed, considered and incorporated as appropriate. The State Board reviewed and finalized the plan. The Governor provided final approval and NYSDOL submitted the plan to the USDOL.

   2. A variety of collaboration and information sharing conferences and meetings were held to ensure partnering and input into the development of the State's direction and ultimately the foundation of the State Plan. These included:

      • a State-Local dialogue on transitioning to WIA,
      • meetings with Chief Elected Officials by the Executive Deputy Commissioner of the NYSDOL,
      • regional meetings on WIA implementation and information exchange, meetings among State agencies to draft a State level MOU,
      • roundtable discussions with partners,
      • coordination of State planning among mandated One-Stop Programs administered by the NYS Education Department (SED) and Title 1 Planning
      • workgroups consisting of local teams of partners to examine WIA implementation, and
      • dissemination of a variety of information for comment on the Internet (see attached for listing).

      The final plan, with all comments incorporated including those of the State Board is posted on the website and remains available for public comment. To date, no comments have been received specifically on the performance measures contained within the document.

      It is worth noting that these measures are really program measures, not system measures, and their value to the business community or job seeker, is extremely limited. The State Board will be reviewing and developing system measures that will value and measure those aspects of a workforce development system, not categorical programs, which the general public can utilize as a gauge of a system's effectiveness.

2. Demonstrate how comments were considered in plan development. 112(b)(9)

   Comments received during the Plan's development have been incorporated into the State Plan as Attachment E. Each of these comments was reviewed. Changes were considered and made where necessary and appropriate prior to presenting the State's WIA Plan to the State Board for final approval.

   As part of the plan modification process to incorporate recently negotiated revised performance goals for PY 2002 and new performance goals for PY 2003 and PY 2004, the New York State Department of Labor posted for public comment in the New York State Register charts summarizing these performance negotiations. No comments were received during the 45 day public comment period.