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Connecting Hope is a production of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. Join us as we explore the people, policies, and programs that bridge the gap from hopelessness to hope for Mississippians, young and old.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent the views, thoughts, and opinions of the Mississippi Department of Human Services. The material and information presented here is for general information purposes only. The "Mississippi Department of Human Services" name and all forms and abbreviations are the property of its owner and its use does not imply endorsement of or opposition to any specific organization, product, or service.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;21;14
Mark Jones
Welcome to Connecting Home. My name is Mark Jones, your host for this episode. Today we will be talking with Justin Rushing and Suzanne Lefevre of the MD Division of Workforce Development and Partnership Management regarding the important work that they do across Mississippi to help connect the clients of in DHS to the programs that help them enter and remain.
00;00;21;18 - 00;00;30;21
Mark Jones
In the workforce.
00;00;30;24 - 00;00;57;01
Mark Jones
Suzanne. Justin, welcome to Connecting Home. We'll start with you, Suzanne. Tell us a little bit about your role, within the Division of Workforce Development and Partnership Management. I believe you telling about your work will help our listeners and viewers really discern what does the Division of Workforce Development and Partnership Management do, but specifically, what is your role?
00;00;57;01 - 00;01;00;11
Mark Jones
And then Justin will roll right into you.
00;01;00;13 - 00;01;24;10
Suzanne Lafever
I'm actually the chain of director in the division of, Workforce Development and Partnership Management. I work very closely with our team for assistance for Needy Families program, the chain of work program. I also work closely with chain of services, which, involves our chain of sub grants that are located throughout the state.
00;01;24;12 - 00;01;32;11
Mark Jones
It sounds like a busy job. You you work through that process for the entire state of Mississippi, all 82 counties.
00;01;32;13 - 00;01;41;21
Suzanne Lafever
I do, I have great staff that that are very supportive. And, couldn't make it without them. But yes, it's a lot going on throughout the state when it comes to those.
00;01;41;23 - 00;02;06;17
Mark Jones
Well, thank you for your work. I know that, it's in many cases Tanev can be misunderstood. So hopefully by the end of this, the whole workforce component and the of the 10th program can be better understood by our listeners. And those who are making decisions regarding this across the state. It may be informative to those who are also looking to find ways to support and do work in their communities.
00;02;06;17 - 00;02;27;06
Mark Jones
So thank you for the work you do across Mississippi, and thank you for joining us today, Justin. Another part of workforce development, something that maybe is also misunderstood is snap, snap and T component of our division of Workforce Development. So tell us what role you play within the division.
00;02;27;08 - 00;02;57;04
Justin Rushing
Yes. I serve as the snap and T director. Currently at the moment. So what we do is we focus on the employment training aspect of, of Snap. So NC is a subcomponent of Snap. We currently have to, snap, NC providers, within the state, and we are always looking for new providers in both aspects.
00;02;57;10 - 00;03;18;06
Mark Jones
So we use a lot of acronyms at DHS. We have basically an alphabet soup. We I think you you can concur that when someone comes to work for DHS, the most important thing is the acronym list. So I'm going to go back to you, Justin. What is EA and entity mean?
00;03;18;09 - 00;03;38;23
Justin Rushing
So EMT is stands for Employment training. So you have the supplement or nutrition assistance program. Part of that is the snap EMT program. So what that does is that allows our participants to participate in employment and training opportunities around the state.
00;03;38;25 - 00;04;11;04
Mark Jones
So we'll go directly into a little more description. So we'll start again with Suzanne to answer this question. But many people are familiar with Tanev cash assistance and with snap, which is the nation's largest supplemental food program, it's the nation's largest, food security program. Within there are a lot of requirements for those clients that we serve to be involved in certain work or education activities in order to remain eligible within that.
00;04;11;04 - 00;04;35;10
Mark Jones
And so, Suzanne, within the course of your work, that's why you and your team are important is to help move those clients and help connect to entities in their local community. Let's talk a little bit about those requirements and what they may be, not only in those who receive the services, but how those services may be delivered, specifically in communities across Mississippi.
00;04;35;12 - 00;05;02;01
Suzanne Lafever
With the chain of work program. Participants are required to be in a work activity, and they these are going to be, people that do not have an exemption. And they they are able to work. So what we do with the program, we are able to give them, some case management to where we help them to find out, you know, what direction do you want to go?
00;05;02;02 - 00;05;26;12
Suzanne Lafever
What are your skills? The hope is that we can get them placed into a component, whether it's maybe community service, or it could be a vocational component, or work. The end goal is, is work. So when we place those in those components, we, we follow them week to week to see what kind of, problems they may be having an issue.
00;05;26;14 - 00;05;54;07
Suzanne Lafever
We provide childcare, transportation, which is, is. So that's just a game changer for so many people that want to go to work. But if you don't have childcare or you don't have a car or the means to put gas in the car, it's almost impossible. So with the work program, it's it's just a way to take someone that may be down on their luck, in a bad situation.
00;05;54;09 - 00;06;19;27
Suzanne Lafever
So many there's so many reasons that someone is not able to work, and we have to look at everything in that individual to make sure that we can meet any need that they may have. As they're going through the work program. The other supportive service we have is, we have a work expense that's $500 per year, which that can be a game changer.
00;06;19;27 - 00;06;43;24
Suzanne Lafever
Also, they may, be able to get a job in maybe a distribution, facility, but they need the, the, the boots that they have to wear to. I can't think of the name steel toed, steel toed boots. But if they were in our program, we can help purchase that for them. They may be, a CNA that's trying to get to a program, and they need scrubs.
00;06;43;26 - 00;07;02;04
Suzanne Lafever
We can help with that, too. So the whole thing about the chain of work program is taking this person that's in this particular situation and helping them to navigate all the way through to where they can get that, that job that's going to pay them good wages.
00;07;02;07 - 00;07;28;09
Mark Jones
So and I'm going to get to just in on a similar question, but one of the assessments that I made from what you said is each individual case is unique, right. There are some standard supports that everybody entering or remaining in the workforce may need. One of the things I like is you mentioned the steel toed boots and the tennis support, removing that barrier to entering or remaining, that $500 a year.
00;07;28;11 - 00;07;50;23
Mark Jones
There's others. The example that was given to me recently, maybe a welder. They need some welding gloves, goggles, a smock or an apron. Some of the other, mechanical or, industrial components that may be there. Your team is working with them to provide supports and remove those barriers, but to also equip and encourage and uplift.
00;07;50;23 - 00;07;51;01
Mark Jones
Right.
00;07;51;02 - 00;08;19;16
Suzanne Lafever
Right. I mean, and that is probably the most important thing is because, you know, when you first, when when someone comes in and applause and that eligibility specialist talks to them, I mean, that that can be a make or break right there. Because that person, you know, they may really want to just talk about what's going on. I mean, we know we have paperwork, but you have to look at each individual, and see what their needs are.
00;08;19;16 - 00;08;36;22
Suzanne Lafever
They could be dealing with something that I, you know, I'm just like, oh my gosh, I didn't know that somebody is going through that. But that that is a big part of it. You know, many may come in and don't even have an I.D. or driver's license. So, you know, that's something that we need to think about and work on.
00;08;36;22 - 00;08;55;27
Suzanne Lafever
Because if you're going to get a job, we want to be sure that you can get there, on your own, if necessary. But, yeah, it's it can be it can be very difficult at times. But when you see the success at the end, there's nothing more rewarding, nothing more.
00;08;55;27 - 00;09;27;16
Mark Jones
Rewarding. Let's hold on to those rewarding and and hold onto those pieces of of how you guys continue to identify and remove those barriers. Because, Justin, that's a similar experience. For those who are on snap, snap is roughly 250, 280,000 Mississippians at any one given time in terms of number of cases. We have roughly what, anywhere from 400 to 600,000 people that are represented within those number of cases across the state at any one time.
00;09;27;18 - 00;09;56;11
Mark Jones
So the daunting challenge for both of your teams are connecting people who who for you, Suzanne, have come out of an experience where they don't understand, or don't have access to a lot of those supports, historically within their community, especially in underserved parts of the state. But Justin, this is our largest program economically that we do across the agency for snap, direct, assistance for your EBT card.
00;09;56;13 - 00;10;08;14
Mark Jones
But within that, y'all come in and do many of those similar supports and direct people into those services and into the training. So talk about those specific pieces that y'all offer.
00;10;08;17 - 00;10;33;14
Justin Rushing
Yeah. So like Suzanne said, we do some of the similar, tasks just in a different way. So again, we currently operate a Skills to Work program, which is a third party reimbursement program to the state. What it does, it allows us to partner with agencies around the state, and we can reimburse than 50% of the funds that they expand on our clients.
00;10;33;17 - 00;11;01;19
Justin Rushing
Similar to as Suzanne was stating, the tenant program, we can reimburse for, for tools close and, glasses, like you're talking about with the wording program, anything welding related, anything education related. Kind of a rule of thumb for skills to work is kind of the reasonable and necessary, so, within them to participate in their program, is it reasonable?
00;11;01;19 - 00;11;08;03
Justin Rushing
And is it necessary? And if it fits in those two categories, then we can reimburse, just about anything.
00;11;08;03 - 00;11;18;24
Mark Jones
So you can reimburse the client. But you also mentioned potentially a reimbursement to the partners as well, a 50% reimbursement to the partners.
00;11;19;02 - 00;11;44;01
Justin Rushing
Well, the the clients don't receive any of the reimbursement. So, the clients are having their funds paid for by the provider, and then we're reimbursing the provider. So, for instance, you have, an individual that wants to go back to school. We currently have a partnership with schools to work with Haas Community College. They can go and register for classes at Hans Hands will pay them.
00;11;44;03 - 00;12;09;13
Justin Rushing
What cards will, apply for the Skills to Work application with us? Once approved, we will, notify Hans. Hans will pay for their classes, and then we reimburse Hans 50% of, the tuition, the clothes, the books, the fees. As long as they are currently enrolled. And this goes to our program.
00;12;09;15 - 00;12;37;17
Mark Jones
I like that we we are we reimbursing our partners? Because those specific our skills to our partners would really know what those what those clients need to enter the workforce as part or to even participate in that training program that some of those things they may need up front to participate. They also, with their skills to work, they would need probably they may not have been in an academic or, technical career setting for a while or at all in their life.
00;12;37;17 - 00;12;44;23
Mark Jones
And so, do they provide those supports as well, helping them within that program thrive within that?
00;12;44;25 - 00;13;11;16
Justin Rushing
They do. So they have a dedicated staff for Skills to work participants specifically. What this allows us to do is to monitor the, success and progress of this client. So it is really beneficial to be able to have somebody on the other side that's kind of helping them, that someone that they can go to on site and say, hey, you know, this is what I got going on with classes.
00;13;11;18 - 00;13;29;01
Justin Rushing
So it's very beneficial to have somebody onsite there with our client, as you said, somebody who might not have been in school for ten, 15 years. So it it's, you know, and when they when they make that decision, they're not making it light hearted, you know, we have people that come in that they don't know what they want to do.
00;13;29;01 - 00;13;40;14
Justin Rushing
They're scared as to what you know, what what that new endeavor might look like. So to have that case management and have those individuals there to kind of guide them along that path is, is is huge for us.
00;13;40;17 - 00;14;07;06
Mark Jones
In many cases. What the work the both of you do is, a lot of people don't understand everything that's out there. They may not know how to navigate through certain situations, but it's also, just helping point people in the right direction. And being that support piece to make sure that we are removing barriers to their participation in Mississippi's workforce, which by good news, continues to grow.
00;14;07;09 - 00;14;29;06
Mark Jones
We know that in, especially in central parts of the state and over in East Mississippi, we've had the announcements some some very strong projects. But we also know that accessibility to jobs, can be a barrier. And that's one of the things that I hear you guys saying is you want to be not only that compassion, but that that voice that helps remove those barriers.
00;14;29;06 - 00;14;53;24
Mark Jones
Because if you participate in our programs, you've got to be involved for both of you. And maybe talk a little bit more about that. You've got to be involved in either some education or some workforce activities along those lines. One of the things we're also working for, you you both mentioned how you're helping, Justin go also, you mentioned Hinds Community College.
00;14;53;26 - 00;14;56;21
Mark Jones
What? You mentioned two partners for skills to Work.
00;14;56;23 - 00;15;26;28
Justin Rushing
Yeah. We also have a partnership with Refill Jackson Initiative. They're actually located downtown Jackson. They operate out of Hans Madison and, Rankin County, and they are currently in the progress of revamping their program. So they, they, they centralize around, kind of the younger demographic. They offer on the job trainings, they offer education components.
00;15;27;01 - 00;15;44;00
Justin Rushing
And they offer job retention programs. So, all that allows our participants for us to refer participants to them. And they'll receive those services, free of charge, because we still pay for those services and will reimburse, 50% of that.
00;15;44;02 - 00;16;13;01
Mark Jones
You've probably heard our executive director, Bob Anderson, mentioned this before regarding refill. If we could replicate refill in all 82 counties. We would. And that speaks to a question. And we'll get to later, is we need partners. And there are already good programs out there that can be, in many cases, replicated, but again, it comes back to capacity across the state because there are more than just the three central Mississippi counties.
00;16;13;04 - 00;16;38;04
Mark Jones
There are 82 counties in Mississippi. Suzanne, you hail from a different area than central Mississippi. And you see those that area and you're passionate not only about that, but you have teams stationed across the state. So recognizing that there is a need, there are programs that are working. It really comes down to that other word, not only workforce development, but it becomes a partnership piece.
00;16;38;06 - 00;17;03;15
Mark Jones
That one reason we're having this discussion here today is to maybe clarify, number one, how these programs work and who they're here to serve, but also who can be a part of serving and bringing tangible change to Mississippi. Tangible program to Mississippi that people can touch today, as well as providing them, as our executive director says, providing a hope for tomorrow.
00;17;03;17 - 00;17;26;28
Mark Jones
And I thank you all so much for what you do to provide a help and a hope today. Help today. Hope tomorrow is really the the the mission of. And as we get to the midpoint of our discussion here today, it's already apparent that you guys are doing that. And and you're to be commended for the challenging and daunting work that you undertake on behalf of Mississippi's Mississippians every day.
00;17;27;00 - 00;17;55;20
Mark Jones
So as we segue with my hopefully encouragement to Mississippians to be involved, to get involved, to ask questions, to give us a call. There's so many opportunities, not only for our clients and the passion that Suzanne has shown, but also for, for, trade trade organizations. Community colleges or other nonprofits that are out here in that space to become involved in a.
00;17;55;20 - 00;18;28;00
Mark Jones
So, when we talk about partnerships, let's segue directly into that. In layman's terms. What does it look like, and how do we utilize the processes built within the agency, whether it's a competitive RFP process or going out and and identifying pockets of Mississippi that need services? And how do we connect into those areas utilizing either the competitive RFP process, which is an important piece of of fulfilling our mission, but also staying accountable to the federal requirements.
00;18;28;07 - 00;18;36;15
Mark Jones
So let's talk a little bit about partnerships and the RFP process. For Tanev and Snap. Suzanne.
00;18;36;17 - 00;19;05;20
Suzanne Lafever
The RFP process, you know, when it when we are getting ready to to put a new, RFP out, we usually do post it on the website. And anyone interested can go to our website and, register to, to get those alerts when they come out. When the RFP is being written, we have to stay within the chain of guidelines, for that.
00;19;05;20 - 00;19;37;22
Suzanne Lafever
And we put in there what we're looking for. Basically it's what what are we looking for? Once that goes out, people can submit their proposals. It goes through a committee, and then the ones that have a high score are able to become a partner with us. Once that happens, the mountain of services team where we were involved, once they become a new sub grant, we're very involved with that sub grant to make sure that they understand what they need to do.
00;19;37;25 - 00;19;58;00
Suzanne Lafever
We we do have a training for them. We have a, you know, policy manual because we want to ensure that any of our partners are following all the rules and regulations, that may be federal or state. We want to be that support system for them. We do have monitoring. That's a whole separate, separate deal there.
00;19;58;02 - 00;20;17;08
Suzanne Lafever
But for my team, the chain of services team, it's all about making a connection with the people that that have that sub grant. We want to know them personally. We want them to call with questions. We want to provide anything that we can to them, just to ensure that the program is going as planned.
00;20;17;10 - 00;20;41;22
Mark Jones
So you mentioned, we put out the services that are needed. But to make it very clear, Tanith, under federal law, going back almost 30 years now, really has four tenants. The one that most people are probably familiar with is ten of cash assistance. And then there are three other tenants that really fall under the role of the workforce team, that you oversee.
00;20;41;22 - 00;20;45;29
Mark Jones
Talk about those three tenants because they guide our RFP as they do.
00;20;46;01 - 00;20;57;04
Suzanne Lafever
We have, you know, we have to promote job preparation. You know, anything relating to giving someone a job. You know that that's an end goal.
00;20;57;07 - 00;21;01;09
Mark Jones
Which is also to make clear, a component of receiving the cash.
00;21;01;11 - 00;21;28;09
Suzanne Lafever
Exactly, exactly. We want to prevent, and reduce any out-of-wedlock pregnancies. That's another federal, requirement. Also, we want to encourage, the formation and maintenance of families. You know, I think the goal for everyone is to have that family unit, if at all possible. But many times it takes things from the outside to help that to happen.
00;21;28;11 - 00;21;48;16
Suzanne Lafever
You know, so the the sub grants that we have, we have, you know, parenthood initiative. After school and workforce training and education. When you look at workforce training and education that's going to cover, you know, we want to get them job training at high school. Diploma. Do do they want to, do they have a job?
00;21;48;16 - 00;22;14;12
Suzanne Lafever
But it's not paying enough? Do they want to get in a program where they can possibly increase their income? We want to do that. After school programs. I love those. I mean, those are they're just great because you are taking, you know, young, young children, young teenagers, whatever the age may be. But, you know, these are going to be, you know, children that maybe don't have the support at home.
00;22;14;14 - 00;22;36;11
Suzanne Lafever
You know, maybe you have a single mom, and she, you know, she doesn't get off work till 7:00. You know, it may be children are having trouble in school. Having some type of issue there. But these afterschool programs, you know, they they do all the things that the children need, whether it's tutoring, they, they can offer staying programs.
00;22;36;11 - 00;23;03;18
Suzanne Lafever
There's just so many things that they do to just encourage and enrich that child, to hopefully let that child be able to move right on through life and and be successful. With the, I lost my train of thought. The Parenthood initiative. These programs are great, too, because there are so many single moms. And you could be single dads.
00;23;03;21 - 00;23;25;02
Suzanne Lafever
That face, you know, all kinds of of issues in raising that child. They may need help with, you know, what do they need? Age. How do I protect them? You know, they might. There's so many things that can go into that. And if you've got a single parent, sometimes they don't have a support system. You know, you're on their own with possibly a new baby.
00;23;25;04 - 00;23;58;17
Suzanne Lafever
You know, there's there's just so much that a single parent, you know, needs to raise their children. They need the support to in a lot of our programs. Well, all of our Parenthood initiative programs. That's what they focus on. I mean, they try to take that mom or that dyad and give them, you know, resources, you know, any that they may need to ensure that they are a, a good parent and that they can raise, you know, a child that can be, you know, good in school, make good grades, you know, have dreams and hopes.
00;23;58;23 - 00;24;12;19
Suzanne Lafever
So all of our programs are I love them. I love to see the success stories. That's the best part because it's sometimes it's just amazing to see the success of what these programs do every day.
00;24;12;20 - 00;24;54;05
Mark Jones
Essentially stabilized families after school care, child care. Really the workforce component, all three of those work to become a holistic wraparound to strengthen a parent's ability to be active in the workforce. And as you mentioned, have that element of upward mobility, right. One of the goals of the of, of the chain of work program is to give people the ability to within because ten of his actually has a five year lifetime cap, to remain on the system, that there may be gaps in there over time, but to move someone to self-sufficiency within the requirements of that program itself.
00;24;54;05 - 00;25;19;27
Mark Jones
So that's why it's critical to have partnerships in local communities, to have them embedded in those local communities where we know where the needs are, and maybe the specific training type programs or some type of program that connects them into opportunities within that community. Because what goes on in marks, Mississippi and Mississippi is going to look a little bit different than Jackson, Mississippi and Hattiesburg and the coast.
00;25;19;29 - 00;25;38;22
Mark Jones
And so I appreciate the work you do, you guys do to work locally. And that's why, again, for from the sub grant piece, and we're going to talk a little bit about some upcoming initiatives, and an RFP going out in a few moments. But to tease that that's why those partnerships are critical on the Tanev side.
00;25;38;24 - 00;25;59;00
Suzanne Lafever
And they are they are they are very critical. It makes it just makes a huge, huge difference to have them in those communities. And a lot of times they are underserved communities, communities that just have a lot of problems or issues. And they're just they're trying to they're trying to do better, but they're spending the wheels.
00;25;59;02 - 00;26;06;18
Suzanne Lafever
So it makes a huge difference. For the people in those communities that need those services.
00;26;06;20 - 00;26;31;13
Mark Jones
So, Justin, I'm going to turn to you because we've identified kind of the audience that may need us. So Tina, services and some of the work and how those partnerships come about with Snap being maybe a little bit different, how those relationships are fostered, but also, those and why they need snappy and to and I'm going to use one of those famous acronyms and and ask you to kind of expand upon it.
00;26;31;13 - 00;26;57;15
Mark Jones
That word a ball and then move into why specifically for snap, which again, I go back. It's our largest program of support for Mississippi families in this agency. It really is an entry point for many people into the services that this agency provides. And it is also an entry point for many people to be introduced to the to the work requirements as well.
00;26;57;15 - 00;27;05;16
Mark Jones
So I'm going to turn it over to you, Justin, and kind of go at it, from how you manage that expectation.
00;27;05;18 - 00;27;35;19
Justin Rushing
Yeah. So, currently Mississippi operates what's considered a mandatory program. And with that mentor program comes a, a group known as a boards, which are able bodied adults without dependents. So these these individuals are, kind of our, our target audience for, EMT. But volunteers are also able to participate in EMT. Of course, you have to be a resident of Mississippi.
00;27;35;19 - 00;27;55;16
Justin Rushing
You have to be, receive Snap benefits. There's a group of, there's a whole group of, who is in a board who isn't, you know, you have your state, you have your exemptions from a board, which is just going to turn you into a volunteer in most cases, but you can still participate in it.
00;27;55;19 - 00;28;01;07
Mark Jones
And that component is really 20 hours a week. Yes. Give or take a few, exemptions.
00;28;01;07 - 00;28;24;02
Justin Rushing
Yeah. So boards are they're required to meet, 20 hours a week, 80 hours a month. And EMT is what is a route they can take to help them meet those requirements. Again, currently we have skills to work as part of the EMT components. Anything that can allow our clients to get that, what you call, I guess, real life work experience.
00;28;24;04 - 00;28;48;13
Justin Rushing
What, what we're what we'd like to do. One identify, you know, what job duties or what job opportunities do they offer? You know, what would our client be learning in that role? You know, we don't want to send an individual somewhere where they're just going to answer a phone for 20 hours a week. Not not really learning those real job and not having that real job experience.
00;28;48;15 - 00;29;00;05
Justin Rushing
So it's identifying what that what that provider can offer our client. And then it's all about, you know, assessing that client and identifying that they're going to be a good match for that providers.
00;29;00;05 - 00;29;27;10
Mark Jones
Well, because that's a partnership. We don't want someone to feel like they're taking on a burden, but that it becomes an investment not only into the life of an individual, but also an investment and maybe into their own business. Because either, number one, they're identifying potential new employers, employees, or they're helping to give the skills of being present every day at a job to somebody or at a responsibility.
00;29;27;14 - 00;29;49;16
Mark Jones
So in their future, again, that upward mobility piece of being connected in to the daily responsibility of going out and and being actively engaged. I also love the fact that you say we want it to be worthwhile for our client. You don't want them just sitting there answering phones or shuffling papers. Those are important things to do. But we again, it goes to that.
00;29;49;17 - 00;30;16;02
Mark Jones
I love that skills to work with giving people skills for everyday life, whether it's work or family or relationships within their community. And again, they're also seeing a picture. Our clients get to see a stronger picture of how they're supporting their community and businesses and government entities and nonprofits get to see how they're a bigger part of a picture of strengthening their communities.
00;30;16;02 - 00;30;38;09
Mark Jones
So those are really perceptions that people may not have about how these programs do to strengthen a local community stroke, or to strengthen a county and even strengthen our state. And that's that's a beautiful piece to the work that you guys do. It's kind of a, less recognized piece that you guys are helping build stronger families and communities.
00;30;38;11 - 00;30;42;24
Mark Jones
So several questions, and we're going to come to over the last couple and jump in.
00;30;42;24 - 00;31;06;23
Justin Rushing
And say some jumping into what Suzanne was saying about success stories. We we love success stories. I think one of my favorites for Skills to work is we had an individual that came out of the correction system, applied for skills to work, to have community college completed, the skills to work on the college portion, and is actually now employed with Hinds Community College.
00;31;06;26 - 00;31;12;16
Justin Rushing
So I thought that was really cool. That was one of the best. See the full, you know, the full circle of how it can work. Right?
00;31;12;18 - 00;31;29;24
Mark Jones
I think one of the things that we need to do from our standpoint is we need to to tell more of those stories because there are individuals out there that either they've never had that opportunity to have success in their life. They come out of a situation where maybe, out of their family life that pushed them into incarceration.
00;31;29;24 - 00;31;57;02
Mark Jones
No matter what their experiences, they come out in need. Hope. And there is one success story out of many that you guys get to see. I'm jealous. I'm jealous. You guys get to see that, even before I do. But it's a it's a pleasure knowing that those are happening every day in communities around us. And number one, I hope you take pleasure in the work that you do to see those things come to fruition, to see lives changed and lives transformed.
00;31;57;08 - 00;32;22;18
Mark Jones
So in order to transform more lives, to get more people in God involved, to get more so grant partnerships, to bring in and build a stronger Mississippi. What would an entity that would like to partner with MDS need to know to explore more partnerships going forward? You know, what do they need to do, whether it's simply reach out and ask a question.
00;32;22;18 - 00;32;44;06
Mark Jones
A lot of people are scared to ask questions because they're scared they're going to sound, like they don't know. They don't want to sound ignorant. Well, the fact is, there are no dumb questions. Because hopefully, our listeners and our viewers can see the passion and love that you have, for serving Mississippi. And that's why we're here today, to dispel some of the myths, to answer some of the questions.
00;32;44;06 - 00;32;55;14
Mark Jones
So what are what are some of the things that a potential partner may need to know, or how would they go about getting those questions answered? I'll start with you, Suzanne.
00;32;55;16 - 00;33;12;26
Suzanne Lafever
Like you said, reaching out would be good. I would also recommend the website. When you go to the website, you can actually go in and see all of our partners. You'll have a link to go to their website, which is great. I mean, I even I do that a lot of times just to kind of see what's going on.
00;33;13;02 - 00;33;32;23
Suzanne Lafever
So what's happening? You've got some news. But you know, you can you can actually go to the website and you can kind of go and see who are partners right now and, and maybe even compare to what are they doing and what am I doing? You know, and you don't have to be, you know, a huge organization.
00;33;32;23 - 00;34;09;17
Suzanne Lafever
I mean, you can be something small. You could possibly be a charged that's running an after school. But of course, reaching out, you know, I think focusing on kind of what we've talked about with our parenthood initiative after school and in the, workforce training and, employment. You know, if you're running a program and you fall into those categories, you're doing that case management, you're you're doing, you know, with children, you're doing Steam programs or you're doing, you know, anything that helps them as a teenager.
00;34;09;20 - 00;34;30;20
Suzanne Lafever
Everything. You know, they can many of them, you know, talk about sexual abuse, you know, things that aren't that you don't want to talk about, that maybe the parent can't talk about, but, you know, those programs that they may bring in counselors to help, you know, talk to those kids to talk about things that they might not be getting at home or, you know, wherever.
00;34;30;23 - 00;34;52;15
Suzanne Lafever
But, you know, anyone that's got, you know, a program that they're doing it out to fall into those categories, you know, and it never hurts to apply it never hurts to go ahead and submit a proposal and just see. And it may be that, you know, you may not get it this time, but you may learn from this time and get it the next time.
00;34;52;18 - 00;35;18;00
Suzanne Lafever
We just, you know, we want, you know, anyone that that has a program, you know, apply to just apply and go to the process, you know, and also we've got the three that we've listed, but, you know, supportive services that that is the biggest need. I think statewide, you know, transportation, childcare, you know, those things.
00;35;18;00 - 00;35;31;25
Suzanne Lafever
And there are some people that may have a program that does the things that I offer. They may offer transportation or, you know, some type of childcare. You know, any kind of supportive service is always, you know, it's just needed.
00;35;32;01 - 00;35;35;07
Mark Jones
You don't have to offer all of them. Exactly. Just offer just.
00;35;35;07 - 00;35;36;15
Suzanne Lafever
One. Exactly.
00;35;36;17 - 00;35;50;25
Mark Jones
And I love that you emphasized, and I want to highlight that point. You don't have to be a large statewide nonprofit or a regional entity. You could be a, an individual, entity and one, one community.
00;35;50;25 - 00;35;51;14
Suzanne Lafever
Exactly.
00;35;51;14 - 00;36;15;16
Mark Jones
And you know that you could serve five 1015 more children if you had somebody come alongside you. But the question is, you can't get it if you don't ask. That's why we have your teams to answer questions and also open the door for that ask. And for that response to those competitive RFP, that that we'll get to in a second that are coming.
00;36;15;18 - 00;36;20;05
Mark Jones
And I love that you highlighted again, local communities, you know, big and small.
00;36;20;08 - 00;36;21;01
Suzanne Lafever
Big and small.
00;36;21;06 - 00;36;43;22
Mark Jones
Big and small focused. You want to make a difference. The question is how can I partner with DHS or how can DHS partner with me to make that happen? So let's go over to Justin. Really, what would a partnership I know we have Hines and refill on the skills to work side. What questions might they need answered in order to become a partner?
00;36;43;24 - 00;37;06;16
Justin Rushing
Skills to work, similar to what Suzanne was saying about if it's not a one size fits all, one of our providers anticipates to serve 300 participants in a year. The other one anticipates to serve 24. You know, we we work closely with our providers. Actually, my staff has weekly calls with our partners right now. They are.
00;37;06;16 - 00;37;37;04
Justin Rushing
And if you ask, I think if you ask our providers and my staff, they in a sense, they, they feel like they're coworkers in some calls, in some cases, they're talking daily. You know, we we offer them the opportunity to request training or calls at any time, you know, for whatever that may be. Skills to Work has an open application process, which, basically means that we have an application on our DHS website under the Skills to Work tab.
00;37;37;07 - 00;37;52;26
Justin Rushing
Again, you can also reach out to any of the county directors in any two counties, and they can connect you to the point of contact. Each DWD staff member is required for is responsible for a region around the state.
00;37;52;29 - 00;38;09;26
Mark Jones
Justin, you were mentioning that there are some contact points. We want to make sure that, we try to be as as exhaustive as we can, explaining how people can reach out and website mdh dot Mr. gov, both of your work have some some email addresses.
00;38;09;29 - 00;38;34;19
Justin Rushing
Yeah. So skills to work right now. You can submit request through DWD. That southcentral at MDH is still msgs gov. Again we're always looking for new providers. And what I like to say, what I'd like to usually tell potential providers is that, you know, odds are you're already serving Snap recipients in your day to day work, you know?
00;38;34;19 - 00;38;39;08
Justin Rushing
So why not get reimbursed at least 50% of your funds? You.
00;38;39;11 - 00;38;47;07
Mark Jones
I like that sales pitch. What's in it for me if I get your funds right. All right. Suzanne, you were going to say something.
00;38;47;09 - 00;39;10;00
Suzanne Lafever
I was just going to say, you know, we we do. We do work very closely with our, economic assistance, partner there, you know, and we, we want to commend them for all of the work that they do. You know, a lot of times, you know, it's going to fall on them first. You know, they're going to take that person and, and interview them, prove their case or deny their case.
00;39;10;00 - 00;39;31;24
Suzanne Lafever
But if it's approved, you know, then they're going to send them over to us if they're to be a P or EMT. But, you know, they they do a lot of hard work over there to, to get that, get that person ready to come over to us to get into the work program and, you know, hopefully be able to just move straight through and get a job.
00;39;31;24 - 00;39;34;06
Suzanne Lafever
You know, that's what we always want. Get a job, get a job.
00;39;34;06 - 00;39;53;11
Mark Jones
So I love that you mentioned this is one agency. Mr. Anderson many times talks about one agency. And we give a basket of support to families and our Division of Mackinac economic Assistance eligibility. Those are our 82 county offices that they are our first touchpoint. But they, we hope are not our final touchpoint.
00;39;53;11 - 00;40;13;23
Suzanne Lafever
Right? Right. Because they they are on the front line. And so, you know, what they do that, you know, determines, you know, the path that that person is going to take. So it's very important to know that we we do work very closely. You know, with them and we, we appreciate the work they do also. So.
00;40;13;25 - 00;40;40;14
Mark Jones
There's some opportunity, some new, happenings on the horizon. Regarding the work that the Division of Workforce Development and Partnership Management will be undertaking, let's talk a little bit about those new developments. So start with you, Suzanne. And then if Justin wants to add anything in there and then, I'll close because I'm just I'm overwhelmed by the amount of information that you've shared today.
00;40;40;16 - 00;41;05;09
Suzanne Lafever
We we should be having, two new, request for proposals coming out, hopefully in the next, I don't know, month, maybe a few weeks. So I really want to put that out there, you know, for people to, to go to the website and sign up to get those alerts, that, that that's going to be pretty exciting because that's going to, that's going to mean that we're going to be bringing more partners, throughout the state.
00;41;05;09 - 00;41;29;21
Suzanne Lafever
So that that's exciting for our division, of course, because the more we have, the more we can serve. But that that is, coming up. We've also with the Division of Workforce and Development, we have started a training team. We have just I think we've got a full staff now, if I'm not mistaken. So that's been very exciting for us.
00;41;29;23 - 00;41;49;18
Suzanne Lafever
And they'll be working closely with economic assistance, to hopefully, you know, be able to have that, that training unit that will be able to, to help our eligibility workers, our staff and even staff. So we're very excited about that. And looking forward to the future of our training team.
00;41;49;20 - 00;41;55;00
Mark Jones
So anything exciting on the horizon for Snap and Justin?
00;41;55;02 - 00;42;18;08
Justin Rushing
Yeah. So we have we currently have are in communications with three potential skill store providers. So we're really excited about that. As Suzanne said, we've onboarded a training unit, which I think is going to be a huge help. You know, being able to identify, you know, recurring issues or areas that we may see, and being able to, provide that assistance.
00;42;18;08 - 00;42;39;08
Justin Rushing
So that training that this training needs is as needed, especially for, you know, people that might be coming in from outside the agency, you know, just walking into, the county offices, which we know, you know, the workload that they already carry, you know, having that, having somebody else that can train an individual. That's not taking work away from you.
00;42;39;08 - 00;42;41;17
Justin Rushing
I think it's going to be a huge help for the county.
00;42;41;20 - 00;43;06;09
Mark Jones
I could not be more excited than, I am really for these upcoming RFP for the three, primary that we, we've traditionally done, which is after school workforce participation and Pi parenthood initiative. Again, some of those main barriers in communities that we identified for workforce participation across state. Number one, transportation. If you can't get to work, you can't be at work.
00;43;06;10 - 00;43;36;15
Mark Jones
That's right. And then if you don't have childcare stable of quality, childcare, you cannot be at work. And so we understand that those two are strong barriers. And the work that you guys do to eliminate those barriers and to support upward mobility in the workforce is to be commended. One thing that I will, reference that, Suzanne is referenced, and what we'll do is we'll put, Justin, we'll put your email that you mentioned and keep it here.
00;43;36;17 - 00;43;56;26
Mark Jones
You can sign up for procurement alerts by going to MDH gov to our procurement page. And scroll to the bottom where you can sign up for emails to share your email. When a new posting has been, put on our website, you'll receive that notification I don't I will break I don't know of any other agency in the state of Mississippi that does partnering.
00;43;57;01 - 00;44;09;24
Suzanne Lafever
It's been great. I mean, even with our with the sub grantees that we have, you know, that's a way for them to make sure they're because they might want to do something different. You know, so and they, they have really you know, that's been a good thing. So we'll.
00;44;09;26 - 00;44;32;18
Mark Jones
We'll put those links for both of y'all's contact information. We also as we close out, put a put some information regarding other ways to contact the Division of Workforce Development and Partnership Management. Thank you both for joining me today. The work that you do, the work that you lead with your teams to do, is commendable. It's an important part of the work of this agency.
00;44;32;18 - 00;44;44;09
Mark Jones
In many cases, it goes unrecognized, but it is not unnoticed and it is not without merit. It is an important piece of moving Mississippi forward. Thank you for joining me.
00;44;44;09 - 00;44;45;22
Suzanne Lafever
Thank you. Thank you. Having a.