The one-stop delivery system brings together workforce development, educational, and other human resource services in a seamless customer-focused service delivery network that enhances access to the programs’ services and improves long-term employment outcomes for individuals receiving assistance. One-stop partners administer separately funded programs as a set of integrated streamlined services to customers.

Through the one-stop system, partner programs and their service providers ensure that businesses and job seekers — a shared client base across the multiple programs — have access to information and services that lead to positive employment outcomes. Under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the one-stop system:

• provides job seekers with the skills and credentials necessary to secure and advance in employment with family-sustaining wages;
• provides access and opportunities to all job seekers, including individuals with barriers to employment, such as individuals with disabilities, to prepare for, obtain, retain, and advance in high-quality jobs and high-demand careers;
• enables businesses and employers to easily identify and hire skilled workers and access other supports, including education and training for their current workforce;
• participates in rigorous evaluations that support continuous improvement of one-stop centers by identifying which strategies work better for different populations;
• ensures that high-quality integrated data inform decisions made by policymakers, employers, and job seekers.

The management of the one-stop delivery system is the shared responsibility of States, local boards, elected officials, the core WIOA partners, other required partners, and one-stop center operators.

Components of the One-Stop Delivery System

The one-stop delivery system must include at least one comprehensive center in each Local Workforce Development Area (LWDA).  To supplement the comprehensive one-stop center(s), the system may also utilize:

• An Affiliated Site or a network of affiliated sites, where one or more partners make programs, services, and activities available.
• A network of eligible one-stop partners through which each partner provides one or more of the programs, services, and activities that are linked, physically or technologically, to an affiliated site or access point that assures customers are provided information on the availability of career services, as well as other program services and activities, regardless of where they initially enter the public workforce system in the LWDA.
• Specialized Centers that address specific needs, including those of dislocated workers, youth, or key industry sectors, or clusters.

The design of the LWDA’s one-stop delivery system must be described in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Comprehensive One-Stop Centers

A comprehensive one-stop center, also known as the American Job Center (AJC) or the IowaWORKS Center in Iowa, is a physical location where job seeker and employer customers can access the programs, services, and activities of all required one-stop partners.

Required one-stop partner programs must provide access to programs, services, and activities through electronic means if applicable and practicable. This is in addition to providing access to services through the mandatory comprehensive physical IowaWORKS Center and any affiliated sites or specialized centers. The provision of programs and services by electronic methods such as web sites, telephones, or other means must improve the efficiency, coordination, and quality of one-stop partner services. Electronic delivery must not replace access to such services at a comprehensive IowaWORKS Center or be a substitute to making services available at an affiliated site if the partner is participating in an affiliated site. Electronic delivery systems must be in compliance with the nondiscrimination and equal opportunity provisions of WIOA sec. 188 and its implementing regulations at 29 CFR part 38.

All comprehensive IowaWORKS Centers must provide:

• Access to programs and activities carried out by the following required one-stop partners:
  • Programs authorized under Title I of WIOA, including:
    • Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth programs
    • Job Corps
    • YouthBuild
    • Native American programs
    • Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Advocacy System
  • WIOA Title III Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service program
  • Activities authorized under Title II of WIOA
  • Vocational Rehabilitation programs
  • Senior Community Service Employment program
  • Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act career and technical education programs at the postsecondary level
  • Trade Adjustment Assistance activities
  • Jobs for Veterans State Grants programs
  • Community Services Block Grant employment and training activities
  • Housing and Urban Development employment and training activities
  • Unemployment compensation programs
  • Reentry Employment Opportunities programs
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, in Iowa this is Promoting Independence and Self Sufficiency through Employment (PROMISE JOBS)
  • Other entities that carry out a workforce development program, including Federal, State, or local programs and programs in the private sector, may serve as additional partners in the one-stop delivery system if the Local Workforce Development Board (WDB) and Chief Lead Elected Official approves the entity’s participation
  • Employment and training programs administered by the Social Security Administration, including the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program
  • Employment and training programs carried out by the Small Business Administration
  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) employment and training programs
  • Client Assistance Program, administered by Iowa Department of Human Rights
  • Programs authorized under the National and Community Service Act
  • Other appropriate Federal, State or local programs, including, but not limited to, employment, education, and training programs provided by public libraries or in the private sector
• Career services
• Access to training services
• Access to employment and training activities
• Workforce and labor market information

Providing career services in the comprehensive IowaWORKS Center does not mean that each required partner must provide these services directly on-site. However, it does mean that some career services must be provided directly on-site.

Career services for other required partner programs may be provided at IowaWORKS Centers through access to one-stop partner programs and activities in one of three ways:

• Having a program staff member physically present at the IowaWORKS Center;
• Having a staff member from a different partner program physically present at the IowaWORKS Center appropriately trained to provide information to customers about the programs, services, and activities available through partner programs; or
• Making available a direct linkage through technology to program staff who can provide meaningful information or services, which includes:
  • Providing a direct connection at the IowaWORKS Center, within a reasonable time, by phone or through a real-time web-based communication to a program career planner who can provide program information or services to the customer.
  • A direct linkage cannot exclusively be providing a phone number or computer web site or providing information, pamphlets, or materials.

IowaWORKS Centers are required to be open during statewide core business hours, at a minimum of 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; other service hours may be established to accommodate the schedules of individuals who are not able to access IowaWORKS Center(s) during regular business hours.  Title I Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth and Title III Wagner-Peyser staff must be present and available full-time during posted work hours; this includes having Title III and at minimum one Title I staff physically present at the IowaWORKS Center. Staff must be trained to provide information to customers about the programs, services, and activities; and providing technology-based support such as a phone for job seekers, use of a fax machine to transmit paperwork, or access to a computer that can provide a direct connection to program information or services. Required partners must be available on-site or through electronic or referral means.

It is imperative for the success of integration that all IowaWORKS Centers have all core partners coordinating and providing services to all customers throughout the Center process. This includes both Title I Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth and Title III Wagner-Pesyer team member’s participation on all functional teams to include, but not limited to: Welcoming, Exploratory, Career Services and Business Engagement. Title II and Title IV core partners will also participate on functional teams to benefit the customers, both job seekers and businesses and are encouraged to co-locate in IowaWORKS Centers either full-time or on an itinerant basis and will be given priority over other tenants when space is assigned.

All IowaWORKS Centers must be physically and programmatically accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Affiliated Site

Local (WDBs), in consultation with their partners and the One-Stop Operator, may choose to designate affiliated sites.  In addition to the comprehensive IowaWORKS Center in the LWDA, affiliated sites make available to job seeker and employer customers one or more of the one-stop partners’ programs, services, and activities.

If used by LWDA’s as a part of the service delivery strategy, affiliated sites must be implemented in a manner that supplements and enhances customer access to services. An affiliated site does not need to provide access to every required one-stop partner program.

Affiliated sites must be physically and programmatically accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Co-location of Title III Wagner-Peyser Employment Services in an Affiliated Site

Title III Wagner-Peyser employment services cannot be a stand-alone affiliated site.  If Title III Wagner-Peyser employment services are provided at an affiliated site, there must be at least one or more other partners in the affiliated site with a physical presence of combined staff more than 50 percent of the time the affiliated site is open.

The partner programs administering Local Veterans’ Employment Representatives (LVERs), Disabled Veterans’ Outreach Program Specialists (DVOPs), or Unemployment Compensation programs would not count as the other partner for purposes of this requirement.  If Title III Wagner-Peyser employment services and any of these three programs are provided at an affiliated site, an additional partner or partners must have a presence of combined staff in the center of more than 50 percent of the time the affiliated site is open.

The frequency of program staff’s physical presence in the affiliate site will be determined through partner Memorandum of Understanding negotiation at the local level.

Specialized Centers

Based on local workforce needs, Local (WDBs), in consultation with their partners and the One-Stop Operator, may determine that a specialized one-stop center is more appropriate to serve a particular population such as youth, veterans, or individuals with disabilities, key industry clusters, or a specific group of dislocated workers affected by a regional layoff.

Specialized centers do not need to provide access to every required partner, but should be knowledgeable about, and prepared to make referrals to, partners in the comprehensive IowaWORKS Center or affiliated site. Any network of one-stop partners or specialized centers, must be connected to the comprehensive IowaWORKS Center and any appropriate affiliated site, for example, by having processes in place to make referrals to these centers and the partner programs located in them.

Partner services provided through specialized centers must be determined through partner negotiations at the local level and incorporated into the MOU.

Co-location of WIOA Title III Wagner-Peyser Employment Services in a Specialized Center

Title III Wagner-Peyser Act employment services cannot be a stand-alone specialized site.  If Title III Wagner-Peyser Act employment services are provided at a specialized center, there must be at least one or more other partners in the specialized site with a physical presence of combined staff more than 50 percent of the time the specialized center is open.

The partner program administering LVERs services, DVOP services, or unemployment compensation services would not count as the other partner for purposes of this requirement.  If Title III Wagner-Peyser employment services and any of these three programs are provided at a specialized site, an additional partner or partners must have a presence of combined staff in the center of more than 50 percent of the time the specialized center is open.