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What is Mississippi getting for $350 million a year in workforce development? Leaders vow to find out.

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Eric J. Shelton, Mississippi Today/Report For America

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann wants to know how the state is spending $350 million a year in workforce development funds.

Mississippi spends roughly $350 million in state and federal funds on workforce development and training each year, a new budget report drafted for the first time this year revealed.

But for all the celebration of the state’s advancement in the workforce over the last few years, newly elected leaders are finding little more than smoke and mirrors. They’re questioning what the state has really accomplished with the money as its workforce participation rate remains among the worst in the nation.

“We didn’t have the structure to start with,” Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann told Mississippi Today. “Like, how are we training? Are we doing it in schools? How is that going? Are the community colleges meeting the needs? Where are they not meeting the needs? Is everything running as smoothly as it should?”

Training programs are crucial in ensuring not only that Mississippians have access to jobs that pay enough to support their families, workforce specialist say, but also that employers have a pool of skilled applicants to choose from, supporting industry across the state.

Workforce development generally refers to training or classes that help adults receive a certificate or otherwise prepare for a job, but don’t necessarily correspond with college credits.

Mississippi, often listed as the poorest state in the nation, also purportedly relies on these programs to lift adults out of poverty, in many cases requiring public assistance recipients to participate in them in order to maintain their benefits.

Just under 54% of working-age Mississippians were either working or looking for work in July, the third lowest rate in the nation, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Mississippi also bottomed the list at 56% in February before the pandemic, compared to the national rate of 64%.

Hosemann said state economic experts estimate about 40,000 Mississippians who lost employment during the pandemic will not return to the jobs they had before.

“We have an immediacy to act here,” Hosemann said.

There is no true repository of information on all workforce training efforts happening in the state and their efficacy, several officials told Mississippi Today, despite the creation of the State Workforce Investment Board years ago to serve that purpose. Board members and other officials have complained that the 45-member board of economic leaders mandated by federal statute was too large to meet meaningful goals.

So this year, the Legislature passed a bill to shrink the board to 31 members and create a smaller Mississippi Office of Workforce Development, which will consist of a director, the state’s workforce czar, who has not yet been named, and staff of professionals. The legislation also requires more accountability and reporting from each entity that receives and spends state or federal money for workforce development.

Hosemann said that when the workforce czar is in place, the Legislature intends to allocate enough resources to make serious advances to workforce training efforts. Through this restructuring, Hosemann said he has lofty goals of raising Mississippi’s workforce participation rate 1% each year.

“It solves economic issues. It solves health care issues. It helps with crime issues,” he said. “Whatever — you pick the topic, but if we could get our labor participation rate up anywhere close to 60%, somewhere in the 58, 59, 60% range, we will solve a myriad of both social and economic issues.”

In preparing the bill, lawmakers asked their budget analysts to compile a list of all state and federal funds used for workforce development. It was a tall task in part because “workforce development” — which longtime Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory said he considers a buzzword — can be hard to define.

“People say workforce development, workforce development, workforce development,” Bryan said, “but I question whether anyone looks carefully at what specifically is going on under the title of workforce development. If what we’re talking about doing is training our citizens, that’s called education. And learning to think critically is as important as learning how to make a widget.”

Analysts from the Legislative Budget Office found 14 state entities conducting dozens of programs that they considered workforce development — the largest among them the Mississippi Department of Education, Community and Junior Colleges, Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services, Mississippi Department of Employment Security and Mississippi Department of Human Services.

Officials say they do not have a good grasp on where all of those dollars are spent and an even worse understanding of the outcomes of the programs they fund.

“Part of the problem is that workforce development has been way too ambiguous,” said Patrick Sullivan, president of the Mississippi Energy Institute and chairman of the State Workforce Investment Board. “Basically our workforce strategy has been: ‘Workforce development is important.’ Well that’s great … but what does it mean? What does success look like and what are the targets?”

Mississippi Today has chronicled some workforce development programs in the state, such as the federally-funded services delivered by Mississippi Department of Employment Services through the WIN Job Centers and the work program through the Mississippi Department of Human Services’ federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant — the subject of a massive ongoing embezzlement case.

State-funded workforce development efforts include the $50 million Mississippi Works training fund, just one-tenth of which has been spent since it was established and housed at the Mississippi Development Authority in 2016, Mississippi Today reported.

Mississippi makes its biggest state investment in workforce development each year by transferring about $20 million — called Workforce Enhancement Training, or “WET” funds — from its unemployment trust fund to the community colleges.

Both of these funds — Mississippi Works and WET — are spent based on requests from employers, so they would not necessarily pay for an individual’s desired training unless a company had already requested it to train their existing employees.

“For people who don’t have a job, the options at the community college would be career and technical programs,” said Mississippi Community College Board Director Andrea Mayfield. “I would love for us to have state-appropriated workforce training dollars, but the fact is, we don’t. We don’t. The state doesn’t appropriate workforce training dollars to conduct the actual training. The actual training is from WET dollars and the priority has to be on incumbent workers.”

In 2019, Mississippi’s community colleges reportedly used $23.2 million in WET funds on 255,295 trainees, according to reports Mississippi Community College Board supplied Mississippi Today. A fourth of those represent people receiving Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training, knowledge required on many worksites, and which employers would typically have to provide, but which does not necessarily equate to a new skill.

The next most utilized programs were medical and health care training, serving 50,269 trainees, furniture manufacturing (18,575), industrial production (17,286), and welding and soldering (13,804).

The most expensive per-person training offered was marketing ($3,731.41), instrumentation (3,422.50), adult education ($2,386.54) and a program called train-the-trainer ($1,298.97).

The unemployment trust fund, which has historically provided most of the dollars for the state’s own workforce development efforts, is quickly becoming depleted after unprecedented job loss as a result of the pandemic.

“The catch-22 is, you have more people who need workforce training. Because you have more people who are unemployed and need training, you have lower tax revenue collections and now you have a possibility for WET fund reductions,” Mayfield told Mississippi Today back in May before the Legislature appropriated the CARES Act dollars.

When they did, lawmakers set aside $55 million for a workforce development initiative called ReSkill MS, which is being administered by the Mississippi Department of Employment Security and four planning and development districts across the state. The community colleges were able to request funding for their needs, and they expect to use most of the money on equipment and technology purchases and less than $5 million on training tuition vouchers for jobless Mississippians, Mississippi Today reported. Lawmakers also provided that any relief money not spent by the end-of-the-year deadline would be transferred to the state’s unemployment trust fund instead of returning it to the federal government.

Historically, some of the state’s workforce programs have reported meager results: one nonprofit engaged by Human Services in part to “increase employability” among the lowest-income residents received $30 million in welfare funds and reported helping 94 people complete a resume and 72 people fill out job applications in the same time frame. Employment security reported serving 1,297 people with job training through its partners, mostly community colleges, in its 2018 annual report — a significant reduction from previous years. It stopped reporting the metric in newer reports.

Sloppy and non-standardized reporting may be to blame for some of the obscurity surrounding workforce development outcomes across the state — despite the fact that the state has spent millions creating and maintaining a system called the Statewide Longitudinal Database System housed at the National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center (NSPARC) at Mississippi State University to track just that.

The Mississippi Department of Employment Security — whose slogan is “Helping Mississippians Get Jobs” — spends about $27 million each year in federal workforce development funds in conjunction with its Workforce Opportunity and Investment Act plan to the U.S. Department of Labor, which requires quarterly performance reporting. But it cannot quantify how many people actually got a job with their help.

Department leaders told Mississippi Today last year that as technology has advanced — such as the Mississippi Works phone app, the mobile version of a job search engine that has existed for years — the agency stopped capturing data to show the total number of people it placed into employment. Annual reports show the number has only dropped — from 36,000 people in 2013 before the app launched to 23,000 in 2018. After Mississippi Today’s inquiry, it stopped reporting the metric in its annual reports.

The maze of workforce development services in Mississippi is so cumbersome, even to the state’s top specialists, that advocates question how vulnerable workers are supposed to navigate the system.

“In one way, it sounds like we have this plethora of educational and training opportunities for people,” said Carol Burnett, director of the Mississippi Low Income Child Care Initiative and Moore Community House, which operates the Women In Construction Program on the coast. “And on the other hand, it’s so daunting and confusing and your average person doesn’t know what’s out there, or what the entry points are, or what the various eligibility requirements are. It just seems like it’s incredibly confusing.”

The post What is Mississippi getting for $350 million a year in workforce development? Leaders vow to find out. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Four Mississippi legislative races headed for runoff after Tuesday special elections

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Four Tuesday special elections for the Mississippi Legislature to fill vacancies appear headed to October 13 runoffs, according to unofficial and incomplete results from Tuesday’s voting.

The nonpartisan special elections held Tuesday were:

House District 37

Former Lowndes County Schools Superintendent Lynn Wright and business owner David Chism appeared headed to a runoff, in a three-person race to replace longtime Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus (cousin of David Chism).

The district includes parts of Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties.

House District 66

Jackson City Councilman De’Keither A. Stamps and former teacher Robert C. “Bob” Lee Jr. appear to be headed to a runoff. The two led others in a six-person race to replace Rep. Jarvis Dortch, D-Raymond, who resigned to become director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi.

The district is in Hinds County.

Senate District 15

Businessman Bart Williams and educator Joyce Meek Yates appear headed to a runoff after the two led polling in a four-person race to replace longtime Sen. Gary Jackson, R-French Camp, who resigned in June for health reasons.

The district includes parts of Choctaw, Oktibbeha and Webster counties.

Senate District 39

Attorney Jason Barrett and bank chairman Bill Sones appeared set for a runoff after the two led in a crowded field of nine candidates Tuesday night. The race is to replace longtime Sen. Sally Doty, R-Brookhaven, who resigned in July to take a position as the director of the state Public Utilities Staff.

The district includes parts of Copiah, Lawrence, Lincoln and Walthall counties.

The post Four Mississippi legislative races headed for runoff after Tuesday special elections appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Beta will bring rain to North Mississippi beginning Wednesday

Good Wednesday morning everyone! Temperatures are in the low to mid 60s th9s morning, under cloudy skies. The remnants of Tropical Storm Beta will move through the area bringing increased rain chances today and more widespread on Thursday. Today, showers will be likely, mainly late afternoon. Otherwise expect cloudy skies, with a high near 69. East northeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

TONIGHT: Showers are likely with a Low around 60. East wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible

THURSDAY: Showers with a High near 72. East wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches posdible.

THURSDAY NIGHT:A 40 percent chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. East northeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Democratic Senate candidate Mike Espy has raised $1M since Justice Ginsburg’s death

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Eric J. Shelton/Mississippi Today, Report For America

Mike Espy, a Democrat running for U.S. Senate this November, has raised $1 million since Friday.

Democrat Mike Espy, who is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in November, said Tuesday morning his campaign has raised $1 million since Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death on Friday.

“Since Friday, September 18, Mike Espy has raised five times more than Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith did during the entire second quarter,” Espy’s campaign said in a press release. “Last quarter, Espy for Senate outraised Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith three-to-one.”

Democratic donors nationwide have been pouring money into Senate races since Ginsburg’s death and ensuing debate over whether Republican President Donald Trump should quickly name a replacement for the iconic liberal judge or wait until after the presidential election.

Both Hyde-Smith and Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi have sided with Trump, saying a replacement for Ginsburg should be nominated post-haste and ratified by the Senate before the election.

READ MORE: Wicker, Hyde-Smith want to consider Trump’s Supreme Court nominee in 2020

Mississippi’s Senate race this year has not been considered competitive by most pundits, with Republican incumbent Hyde-Smith expected to easily win reelection in one of the reddest states in the country.

But one poll released this week showed Hyde-Smith with only a one-point lead and the Espy campaign said it has “momentum,” as evidenced by its historic fundraising levels and other polls showing he is closing the gap with Hyde-Smith. The campaign said that over 23,000 first-time donors to the campaign since Friday made an average donation of $23.

READ MORE: Democrat Mike Espy within 1% of GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, new poll shows

While a fundraising advantage doesn’t translate to votes, an influx of cash 42 days from Election Day could loom large for Espy, who has acknowledged his need to reach more Mississippi voters during the COVID-19 pandemic and has largely been ignored by national Democrats.

Hyde-Smith, meanwhile, has struggled raising cash this cycle. Among incumbent senators, Hyde-Smith has raised less than 96 incumbent senators, including Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker, who doesn’t face another election until 2024. The three Senate incumbents who raised less than Hyde-Smith have announced they will not seek re-election.

“It’s more clear than ever that people are tired of Senator Hyde-Smith’s record of hurting this state and holding it back,” Espy’s campaign manager Joe O’Hern said. “Mississippians are looking for an independent leader who is standing up for them — not a Senator who has hidden from them during a pandemic and the crushing economic crisis.”

The post Democratic Senate candidate Mike Espy has raised $1M since Justice Ginsburg’s death appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Food Truck Locations for Sept. 22. Get Your Grub On.

*****UPDATE****Local Mobile has had to cancel their day due to truck issues. We wish them good luck getting it back in order.

A6 is at the Exon on 45 in Guntown

Gypsy Roadside Mobile is in Baldwyn at South Market

Taqueria Ferris is on West Main between Computer Universe and Sully’s Pawn.

First day of Fall forecast for North Mississippi

Good Tuesday morning and welcome to the first day of Fall ya’ll!! Temperatures are hovering around 60°F this morning, under mostly cloudy skies. We have a slight chance of showers today, but the greater chance will come overnight. Expect mostly cloudy skies, with a high near 75. East wind 5 to 10 mph.

TONIGHT: A 50% chance of showers overnight. Otherwise, expect cloudy skies, with a low around 60. East northeast wind around 5 mph. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Are you planning to vote? Mississippi’s deadline to register is two weeks from today.

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The deadline to register to vote in the November 3 general election is Monday, October 5; exactly two weeks away. What can you do right now to be prepared for the polls? Check out the voting information from our 2020 Voter Guide below. You can view the full 2020 Voter Guide here.

We also want to hear from you about your voting plans. Please take a moment to fill out our quick survey at the bottom of the page. You can skip ahead to the survey here.

Register to vote.

Don’t know if you’re registered?  Search your name on the Secretary of State’s website and find out if you are registered.

Not registered? The deadline to register to vote in the general election is October 5, 2020 at 5:00 pm.

Applicants who register in-person in the Circuit Clerks’ Offices no later than 5:00 p.m. and those who mail registration applications post-marked no later than October 5 are eligible to vote in the November General Elections. Apply through the Secretary of State’s Office.

APPLY HERE

Know where to vote.

Find your polling place by visiting the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office and entering your address.

FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE

Know what to bring.

What do you need to bring to your polling place or to the Circuit Clerk’s office for absentee voting? Visit the Secretary of State’s list of acceptable forms of ID and find out if you need a Mississippi Voter Identification Card.

VIEW HERE

Mark your calendar.

Mark your calendar for the General Election day, Tuesday, November 3. Make sure to set a notification so you’re reminded in advance. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

ADD TO CALENDAR

What about early voting?

Mississippi is among the minority of states that do not allow no excuse early voting.

To vote early in Mississippi, a person must be away from home on election day, over age 65 or must have a permanent or temporary disability. During 2020, a person can vote early if under physician-imposed quarantine because of COVID-19 or taking care of someone under a physician-imposed quarantine.

*Lawsuits are currently ongoing over exactly who can vote early under the coronavirus exception.

Absentee voting, in person or by mail, begins today, Sept. 21, in Mississippi.

The absentee ballot became available today, Sept. 21, at the local circuit clerk’s offices. The local circuit clerks also take absentee or early voting requests.

People voting early in person can do so at the local circuit clerks’ offices. People voting early by mail can obtain a ballot request by contacting the local circuit clerks.

The ballot application must be filled out and notarized. When returned, if eligible, the person will then receive a ballot. The ballot also must be notarized under state law.

The mail ballots must be postmarked by the day of the election and must arrive in the circuit clerk’s office no more than five days after the election.

We want to hear from you. Take our quick voting survey:

The post Are you planning to vote? Mississippi’s deadline to register is two weeks from today. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Prime Time aced his introduction to JSU. Now comes the really, really hard part.

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(Charles A. Smith/University Communications)

Deion Sanders was all dressed up in JSU colors just before his introduction.

Yes, winning the introductory news conference is a real thing in 2020. And Deion Sanders, introduced as head football coach at Jackson State on Monday morning, knocked his out of the park like a 450-foot, walk-off grand slam home run.

Clearly, he is, not for nothing, known as Prime Time.

Dressed in a blue sports coat with red buttons, Sanders killed it is what he did, drawing loud cheers from the socially distanced crowd in the Lee E. Williams Athletic and Assembly Center. He spoke with the fervor of a Baptist minister and received more than a few “Amens.” He shed tears. Then he flashed that wide smile. He even invoked a call and response toward the end.

Rick Cleveland .

“Do you believe?” he shouted to his audience.

“We believe,” they shouted back.

On a scale of 1 to 10 for enthusiasm, he was a solid 12. JSU faithful ate it up.

He promised much: to bring Jackson State football back to prominence, to win the SWAC, to successfully recruit players recruited by power five conference teams, to help recruit for all the other JSU athletic programs, to play hard, fast, tough disciplined football, to look good winning and to win professionally.

“I have a commitment to excellence. I believe this is going to be a marriage made in heaven,” Sanders said.

Now then, comes the hard part: Doing it.

(Charles A. Smith/University Communications)

Deion Sanders lived up to his Prime Time nickname Monday.

His job is to rebuild a once proud program that hasn’t experienced a winning season since 2013. The combined record of the last three JSU head coaches over the past five seasons: 21 victories, 40 defeats.

Sanders has to hire a staff, which he has never done before. He has to be the CEO of a team, which he has never done before at this level. He has to supervise an offense, a defense and special teams, which he has never done before, at least at the college level. He has to recruit, which he has never done before (again, at least at the college level).

All this Sanders must do with resources that are minimal and in facilities that are lacking.

You should know Sanders was in the Jackson area in August as the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian (near Dallas), when Trinity played at Madison Ridgeland Academy. Trinity was led by quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion Sanders’ son, a four-star recruit who has committed to Florida Atlantic over Alabama, Florida State, Georgia and others.

MRA, the defending state private schools champion, won the game, scoring late for a thrilling 27-26 victory. I watched it. Both teams appeared well-coached until a questionable decision late in the game. Trinity led 26-20 with under two minutes remaining, needing only to run out the clock behind a big, physical offensive line to win. Instead, on second and seven (from their own 23) the visitors ran a risky reverse, fumbled and MRA recovered and went in for the winning score.

On the other hand, with Sanders calling the plays, Trinity has averaged 46 points a game in the four games since. And, no, we don’t know yet whether or not Shedeur Sanders, clearly a big-time talent, will follow his father to JSU.

We do know from multiple news reports that Deion Sanders was previously involved with another coaching job at another private Texas high school. In fact, Prime Prep Academy, a grouping of charter schools in north Texas, was co-founded by Deion Sanders in 2012. It did not end well. After numerous and well-publicized problems, the school was closed in January of 2015 due to financial insolvency.

Of course, none of that mattered to Jackson State faithful Monday morning when Deion Sanders added to the lengthy list of Pro Football Hall of Famers associated with JSU. The school of Walter Payton, Jackie Slater, Robert Brazile and Lem Barney is now also the school of Deion Sanders.

Winning the introductory press conference does not count in the standings. But for the man known as Prime Time, it was a promising start.

The post Prime Time aced his introduction to JSU. Now comes the really, really hard part. appeared first on Mississippi Today.