Iowa Workforce Development Communications
For Immediate Release
Date: April 11, 2016
Contact: Courtney Greene
Telephone: 515-281-9646
Email: courtney.greene@iwd.iowa.gov
Des Moines, IA - Today, the Iowa Core Partners under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) released the final version of Iowa’s Unified State Plan (USP). The final version of the Iowa USP was submitted to the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and United States Department of Labor (USDOL) via the federal online submission portal prior to the submission deadline. The Iowa USP is the end product of months of collaboration between Iowa’s WIOA Core Partner agencies:
- Iowa Department for the Blind (IDB)
- Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services (IVRS)
- Iowa Department of Education, Adult Education and Literacy (IDOE)
- Iowa Workforce Development (IWD)
The Iowa Department of Human Services, Department of Aging, and Department of Corrections have been valuable partners in laying the groundwork for an integrated workforce development system in Iowa, that increases access for individuals with barriers to employment and meets the needs of jobseekers, workers, and employers.
The State Workforce Development Board (State Board) voted unanimously on March 25, 2016, to approve the final draft of the Iowa USP for submission to USDOE and USDOL. After the State Board’s approval, the Core Partners submitted the Iowa USP via the federal submission portal. The federal portal had a limited capability for supporting and accepting graphics and images, which required converting to charts or text some graphics and images that were included in the final draft version of the USP that was approved by the State Board. The information contained in the final, submitted version of the Iowa USP is the same as that in the final State Board-approved draft version, but in a different format. In addition to being necessary for submission via the federal portal, the formatting conversion had the effect of making the Iowa USP more accessible—a unanimous goal of the Core Partners.
This version of the Iowa USP contains the content that was submitted to and accepted by the USDOE and USDOL. It supersedes all previous draft versions that the Core Partners have made available.