To:	Anyone Interested in the Future of Minnesota’s Workforce
From:	Mary Haug, Chair Self-Sufficiency Committee Governor’s Workforce Development Council
Date:	January 10, 2000
Subject:	Public Input Forums

Governor Ventura has reappointed the Governor’s Workforce Development Council (GWDC) and challenged us to help him meet the workforce challenges of the next century. As chair of the Council’s Self-Sufficiency Committee, I am asking you to help us understand which issues are most crucial to meeting this challenge while also meeting our obligation – and the Governor’s firm commitment -- to ensure all Minnesotans have the opportunity to become self-sufficient.

The GWDC has set its vision: “Minnesota, where employers and skilled workers jointly prosper in world markets.” Within this framework, the Self-Sufficiency Committee sees its role as focusing on how best to use work force development tools to help Minnesotans become self-sufficient. Put differently, we need to identify those Minnesotans who are not self-sufficient and determine how best to shape a workforce development strategy that will give them the opportunities they need to become self-sufficient.

We are asking your help in shaping this agenda. We will be holding two meetings, one in January and one in February, to take public input on how we should direct our work. We are specifically looking for input on two matters:

• Who are the important groups for us to focus on?
  (Disabled, welfare recipients, racial/ethnic minorities, geographic disparities, older workers, immigrants, low-wage workers, low-income non-custodial parents, part-time/seasonal workers, etc.)
• What issues that impact people trying to become self-sufficient should we focus on?
  (Child care, health care, transportation, work place barriers, availability/quality of education and training, housing, etc.)

Logistics:

To participate:

If you wish to provide testimony at one of the meetings, please call the Minnesota Department of Human Services at (651) 296-4476 to register. The deadlines for registering: January 21 (for the January 26 meeting) and February 11 (for the February 16 meeting).

Please specify your preference for which day you would like to testify. Written testimony is also welcomed, either in lieu of a personal appearance or to augment oral testimony. Based on the response to this request, we will likely need to limit the time allotted, and may ask some people to move from one day to the other (but we will not move anyone to a different day without checking with them first).

NOTE TO SERVICE AGENCIES (Counties, Workforce Centers, non-profits and community agencies): Please post a copy of this invitation in a public area where customers of your services can view it. Thank-you.