Finance Committee
May 9, 2022
AGENDA REPORT
TO: Edward D. Reiskin FROM: Alexa Jeffress
City Administrator Director Economic and
Workforce Development
SUBJECT: Informational Report on Workforce
Development 2022-2025 Request for
Proposals
DATE: April 28, 2022
City Administrator Approval Date:
RECOMMENDATION
Staff Recommends That The City Council Receive An Informational Report With Possible Action By The Council Regarding (1) The Workforce Development Board’s Call For Request For Proposals (2) What The Process Was And What Metrics Were Used In Regards To Allocating Funds, (3) And If Any Action Was Taken By The Workforce Development Board Prior To The Release Of Request For Proposals
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Oakland Workforce Development Board (OWDB) is currently conducting a required competitive procurement for youth and adult workforce services providers for the upcoming three (3) year cycle from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2025. This Request for Proposals (RFP) focused on programs and services that address disparities in access to employment and related services in Oakland’s historically underserved populations in alignment with Oakland’s Equity Indicators Report, OWDB’s Equity Analysis and Local Plan, and the City’s Economic Recovery Plan. This RFP included Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funds and “Oakland Forward” California Youth Workforce Development Program funds, in addition to $1,000,000 in FY 2022-2023 General Fund funding directed by City Council for Workforce Development services as part of the FY 2021-2023 Biennial Budget.
At the May 17 meeting of the City Council, staff will be recommending that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the approval and re-allocation of an amount not to exceed $885,304 from the General Fund for FY 2022-23 to current WIOA adult and youth service providers from July 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. Given the challenges workforce service providers have been facing due to economic circumstances and COVID-19-related impacts, this proposed stop gap measure is intended to provide service providers with the necessary financial operational support to continue delivering essential services to Oakland residents and businesses without interruption, while the OWDB is undergoing a competitive RFP process to allocate new workforce funding for Fiscal Years 2022-25.
Apr 29, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Workforce Development 2022-2025 Request for Proposals Date: April 28, 2022 Page 2
Financ
e Committee
May 9, 2022
BACKGROUND / LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
The Oak
land Workforce Development Board (OWDB) contracts with experienced local nonprofit organizations to provide workforce development services for recently displaced and long-term unemployed adults and low-income youth and young adults between the ages of 16-24.
The OW
DB budget is made up of multiple funding streams that support workforce development efforts, including Federal, State, City of Oakland, and miscellaneous grants from private businesses and philanthropic support.
On
May 24, 2019, the OWDB approved contracts with the current WIOA service providers for a three-year procurement cycle. The first-year contracts were for the period of July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020, with the option to renew for two additional years through June 30, 2022.
The current WIOA contracts will expire June 30, 2022 without further renewals.
On
March 24, 2022, the OWDB approved one year no-cost administrative extensions to all current WIOA service providers from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 due to COVID-19 hardships, to allow providers to spend down an outstanding balance of $3.18 million instead of forfeiting 74 percent of unspent funds per standard reimbursement policy.
ANALYSIS AND POLICY ALTERNATIVES
The OW
DB is currently conducting a required competitive procurement for youth and adult workforce services providers for the upcoming three (3) year cycle from July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2025. This RFP focused on programs and services that address disparities in access to employment and related services in Oakland’s historically underserved populations in alignment with Oakland’s Equity Indicators Report, OWDB’s Equity Analysis and Local Plan, and the City’s Economic Recovery Plan. This RFP included WIOA funds and “Oakland Forward” California Youth Workforce Development Program funds, in addition to $1,000,000 in FY 2022- 2023 General Fund funding directed by City Council for Workforce Development services as part of the FY 2021-2023 Biennial Budget.
The RFP
was released on March 11, 2022. A bidder’s conference took place on March 22, 2022, and the deadline to submit proposal applications was extended from April 22, 2022 to April 29, 2022 to allow providers additional time to submit their applications. This extension has impacts on other RFP deadlines and adjustments are reflected in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Adjusted RFP Tent
ative Timeline
Activity/Event Date
OWDB Meeting November 4, 2021
Stakeholder Engagement November – January 2022
Special OWDB Meeting December 17, 2021
RFP Release Date March 11, 2022
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Workforce Development 2022-2025 Request for Proposals Date: April 28, 2022 Page 3
Fi
nance Committee
May 9, 2022
RFP Due date April 29, 2022
Recommendations to OWDB Week of June 20, 2022
Committee/City Council Meetings July 2022
New Contract Period Starts July 1, 2022
G
iven the challenges providers have been facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related economic impacts, and with OWDB approval, pending the next regular OWDB board meeting, at a City Council meeting on May 17 staff will be recommending that the General Fund portion earmarked as part of the FY 2022-2025 RFP be redirected as a stop gap measure to provide existing service providers the necessary financial operational support to continue delivering essential services to Oakland residents and businesses without interruption, while the OWDB completes its competitive contracting process for Fiscal Years 2022-25. See Table 2 below for the additional funding amounts for each service provider that staff will recommend in the May 17 Council action.
Table 2. Recommended Service Provider General Fund Re-Allocation Service Providers 7/1/22 - 12/31/22
Civicorps (Youth) $50,368
Lao Family Community Development (Adult & Youth) $323,482 Oakland Private Industry Council (Operator & Adult) $207,495 Spanish Speaking Unity Council (Adult & Youth) $235,764 Youth Employment Partnership (Youth) $68,195
TOTAL $885,304
FISCAL IMPACT
Ther
e is no fiscal impact from receiving this informational report.
PUBLIC OUTREACH / INTEREST
A
ll OWDB meetings are publicly noticed and there is active public participation in both committees and full OWDB meetings. Prior to issuing RFPs for developing the workforce system, the OWDB staff met with community stakeholders to inform the policy principles and conceptual frameworks for service models. Contracted service providers were competitively procured through the FY 2019-22 RFP process.
COORDINATION
Contracts and contract amendments are supported by the Department of Workplace and Employment Standards (formerly Contracts and Compliance).
Edward D. Reiskin, City Administrator
Subject: Informational Report on Workforce Development 2022-2025 Request for Proposals Date: April 28, 2022 Page 4
Fi
nance Committee
May 9, 2022
S
USTAINABLE OPPORTUNITIES
Economic: Oakland’s Workforce Development system provides qualified workers for Oakland businesses and prepares Oakland residents for gainful employment and career paths leading to family sustaining jobs.
Environmental: This report does not directly address environmental sustainability.
Race & Equity: Oakland’s Workforce Development system prioritize services to targeted populations (African American and Latinx) and geographic areas of Oakland (East and West), that have the highest numbers of residents who face disproportionately high levels of unemployment. Per the 2020 OWDB Race and Equity Analysis, the Workforce division identified critical disparities in employment access in Oakland, specifically in “[t]he communities of East Oakland, Fruitvale and West Oakland, where a high number of Black and Latinx residents live and are unemployed at higher rates than the general population… including the zip codes 94621, 94603, 94605, 94601,94607.” A
CTION REQUESTED OF THE CITY COUNCIL
S
taff Recommends That The City Council Receive An Informational Report With Possible Action By The Council Regarding (1) The Workforce Development Board’s Call For Request For Proposals (2) What The Process Was And What Metrics Were Used In Regards To Allocating Funds, (3) And If Any Action Was Taken By The Workforce Development Board Prior To The Release Of Request For Proposals
For
questions regarding this report, please contact Sofia Navarro, Executive Director, Workforce Development, at (510) 238-3474.
R
espectfully submitted,
AL
EXA JEFFRESS
Director, Economic & Workforce Development
Department