Co-enrollment in WIOA LWIA 7 and Statewide Grants (LWIA 90)

Overview

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DECO) awards special, state-wide grants directly to agencies. These state-wide grants are administered in IWDS, the state WIOA system of record, under LWIA 90. Customers may be co-enrolled in traditional WIOA through LWIA 7 and a statewide grant. This procedure explains:

1. When and why customers should be co-enrolled.
2. The necessary coordination between the LWIA 90 and LWIA 7 Career Coaches when a customer is co-enrolled.
3. How to track and manage co-enrollments in Career Connect (the LWIA 7 data system) and IWDS.

Any questions about this procedure should be directed to the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership) at [e-mail]. LWIA 90 grantees should copy Jim Potts [e-mail] and Kris Theilen [e-mail].

NOTE: the Attached "LWIA90 Statewide Grant Co-enrollments" document provides similar information from an LWIA90 perspective.

How Can I Tell if a Client is Enrolled in Another LWIA?

Customers may only be co-enrolled in LWIA 7 and Statewide Grants administered under LWIA 90. If a client is co-enrolled in another LWIA, including LWIA 27 / TAA, he/she cannot be co-enrolled. He/she may be transferred to LWIA 7 if the other LWIA agrees.

The only way for an LWIA 7 agency to determine if a customer is co-enrolled in another LWIA is to check IWDS before completing the WIOA Application in Career Connect. For instructions on how to search for a customer in IWDS, see “Appendix A – Search for Enrollment in Another LWIA” below.

Since LWIA 90 grantees are working directly in IWDS, they have the ability to see if a customer is already enrolled in LWIA 7, and must contact the LWIA 7 agency before enrolling the customer in LWIA 90. It is also possible, that an LWIA 90 customer could become co-enrolled in LWIA 7 without the LWIA 7 agency knowing that the customer is already receiving services. If an LWIA 90 agency suddenly sees an LWIA 7 application in IWDS, they should contact that agency ASAP. If that agency is not responsive, then please contact The Partnership at [e-mail] and we will reach out to the LWIA 7 agency.

Why Co-enroll?

Customers should ONLY be co-enrolled when there is a programmatic reason to leverage both traditional WIOA and state-wide grants, AND when both grantees agree to co-enroll and coordinate services. Reasons to co-enroll may include:

• An instance where a State-wide Grant is set-up for an innovative, non-traditional training program that is not available under traditional WIOA formula funding.
• A State-wide grant is specifically set-up for a program that meets the clients assessed needs to regain full-time, self-sustaining employment. An example of this is enrollment in an Adult Apprenticeship program currently being offered through some of our state-wide grantees.
• Limited training dollars are available under traditional WIOA formula funding, so the State-wide grant picks up the training service and the LWIA formula grant might fund the supportive services.

Only co-enroll if both the state-wide grant and the formula grant have services the individual needs.

Coordinating Co-enrollments

When a customer is co-enrolled the following must be coordinated across the two programs:

1. Individual Employment Plan (IEP) / Individual Service Strategy (ISS)
2. Services
3. Exit

IEP/ISS Coordination

The customer must have a coordinated IEP/ISS with common goals and objectives. The plan must specify which program/grant will fund the various services. For IEP/ISS forms completed in Career Connect, the IEP/ISS Objectives that correspond to each program/grant should be labeled with the providing LWIA at the beginning of the Objective. For example, if the statewide grant is paying for training, all training-related objectives should start with “LWIA 90”. If case management, supportive services, and job referral and placement services, are being paid for out of WIOA formula funds, then those objectives should start with “LWIA 7”. See below for an example.

developed in Career Connect, print the plan from Career Connect, have the participant sign, and place one copy in the LWIA 7 file and one in the LWIA 90 file since files will be monitored separately.

For instructions on how to add the LWIA to a pre-defined objected, see “Appendix B” below.

Service Coordination

A client should only be co-enrolled if each agency is providing services that the individual needs to meet his/her employment goals outlines in the IEP/ISS. Services provided should be directly related to helping clients meet the goals and objectives in their IEPs/ISSs. Therefore, the services provided under LWIA 7 and entered in Career Connect should be related to the LWIA 7 IEP/ISS objectives. Services that further the LWIA 90 objectives should be entered in IWDS under the LWIA 90 application.

Both grantees must enter and close services in a timely and accurate manner. Based on the example above, all ITA Training services (including training program exploration) would be entered in IWDS under LWIA 90. Support services, resume development, and job placement services would be entered in Career Connect.

The IEP or ISS Development service should be in both systems, since it needs to be a joint plan (and because many other services cannot be added until the IEP/ISS service is entered.)

In Career Connect, agencies must also enter the “Co-enrolled in IWDS (Check IWDS Before Closing/Exiting)” service (code 226 for Adult/DW, code 449 for Youth). This service is meant to flag that the customer is co-enrolled and that the Case Closure/Exit needs to be coordinated with the LWIA 90 provider. When entering the “Co-enrollment” service in Career Connect:

• The service Actual Begin Date should equal the LWIA 90 Registration date. (If the LWIA 7 Participation date is after the LWIA 90 Registration date, then the Co-enrollment service Begin Date should equal the LWIA 7 Participation date.)
• The service should remain open until the customer is ready for exit in both programs.
• The service should include a Case Note explaining why the customer is co-enrolled and which agency is administering the co-enrolled grant.
• Note the “Co-enrollment” service:
  • DOES NOT transmit to IWDS.
  • Is not an “Active” service, so it does not keep the customer off the 120-day exit report.

Case Closure / Exit Coordination

The customer cannot be exited from either LWIA 7 OR LWIA 90 until all services are completed in BOTH programs. Thus, the exit must be coordinated by both agencies as follows:

1. Ensure that ALL services have been entered for both programs. 

2. Close any open services in both IWDS and Career Connect. The Actual End Date for the Career Connect “Co-enrolled” service should be the exit date. Note: IWDS will not allow an Exit from LWIA 90 if LWIA 7 services remain open. 

3. Enter any measurable skills gains and credentials earned in both Career Connect and IWDS. 

4. Complete the LWIA 90 Exit in IWDS FIRST. (IWDS will display an alert on the exit screen that the customer is co-enrolled in LWIA 7.)

NOTE: If the customer is exited in Career Connect first, the exit will NOT transmit to IWDS.

5. On the same day that the LWIA 90 Exit is completed in IWDS, complete the LWIA 7 Closure screen in Career Connect. This will automatically create the Career Connect Exit with an Exit Date equal to the end date of last active service in Career Connect. (If the last active service end date is more than 120 days in the past, please contact The Partnership at [e-mail] for Exit instructions ASAP.)

6. Wait 15 minutes and then check IWDS to confirm that the LWIA 7 application is exited with the SAME Exit Date as the LWIA 90 Exit Date. If there are any discrepancies between the LWIA 7 and the LWIA 90 exit, submit a request to the Career Connect Help Desk ([e-mail]) immediately. Please include the customer name, the Career Connect State ID#, the LWIA 7 and LWIA 90 exit dates, and specify that this is a co-enrolled customer that needs the exit dates fixed to match in both LWIAs.

7. LWIA 7 and LWIA 90 agencies should continue tracking quarterly follow-up in both systems in accordance with program procedures. Quarterly Follow-ups must be entered in each system.

Co-enrollment Reporting

This section provides instructions for running Co-enrollment reports in both Career Connect and IWDS.

IWDS LWIA90 Co-enrollment Report

The IWDS co-enrollment is designed to help ensure that both LWIA 90 and LWIA 7 agencies are aware of co-enrollments and that co-enrolled customers are exited correctly in both systems (based on the procedures above). The IWDS report returns all customers that are co-enrolled in LWIA 90 and another LWIA that are:

• Registrants in both LWIAs
• Exited in one LWIA, but not the other
• Exited in both LWIAs with different exit dates

Step 1:  Log into IWDS and click on “Reporting Menu”.

Step 2: In the “Participant” section, click on “WIOA Co-enrolled in LWIA 90 Report” link.

Step 3:

• Enter your desired served start and end dates (e.g. 07/01/2018 to 06/30/2019 to get all co-enrollees in the Program Year 2018).
• Select your desired report format (pdf, Excel, or Excel extended).
• Click “View Report”

Step 4: As displayed below, the report will include 2 rows for each customer, one row with the LWIA 7 information and one row with the LWIA 90 information.

Career Connect Co-enrollment Service Report

The Career Connect Co-enrollment Service report is meant to ensure that all co-enrolled customers have been correctly identified as co-enrolled (via the Co-enrolled service). The report returns all of an agency’s customers that have the 226/449 “Co-enrolled in IWDS” service attached to them.  

Step 1: Go to Detailed Reports > Service Reports > Services Provided Individuals > Service section > List

Step 2: Select the following report filters:

• Program: Title I – Workforce Development (WIOA)
• Customer Group: Select as desired; leave as “None selected” for all customer groups
• Office: Select your office
• Activity / Service Code: Select 226 and 449 (hold down the CTRL key to select both service codes)
• Activity Completion Status: select “N/A” to return open 226/449 services; leave as “None Selected” to return all 226/449 services.
• Date Filter: Select “Actual Begin Date” and choose your desired date range.

Step 3: Click “Run Report”.

Appendix A – Search for Enrollment in Another LWIA

In order to know if a customer is co-enrolled in another LWIA, LWIA 7 agencies should log into IWDS and search for existing WIOA applications prior to enrolling a customer in WIOA. Note that customers may only be co-enrolled in LWIA 7 and LWIA 90 (special state grants) in accordance with these procedures.

If a customer is currently enrolled with an LWIA other than 90 (or has been exited from WIOA or TAA less than 90-days ago) then the customer CAN NOT be enrolled in WIOA through LWIA 7.

To check for an existing enrollment or recent exit in IWDS:

1. Login to IWDS:

https://iwds.dceo.illinois.gov/iwds/ISM0055?command=LOGON&jsFlag=Enabled&ssFlag=isEnabled. (If you are an LWIA 7 agency and do not have an IWDS account or need your account re-activated, please email the Career Connect Help Desk at [e-mail].) 

2. Click on “Search Applications”

3. Search for your customer in one of the following ways. Note that IWDS searches for exact spellings:

• Last Name
• Last Name and First Name
• Part of Last Name
• Part of last Name and part of first name
• Part of last Name and last four of SSN
• Entire last Name and last four of SSN 

A good way to search is the first initial of the last name, first initial of the first name, and last four. For example to find customer Hazel WIOA1D 9432, try:

4. If the customer displays as an “Applicant” or “Registrant” then he/she is already working with another LWIA. To see which LWIA, click “View”.

5. At the top of the Application Menu screen, you can see which LWIA is currently working with the customer.

6. Before enrolling this customer in WIOA under LWIA 7, you must contact the current LWIA. If the customer is enrolled in LWIA 90, he/she may be co-enrolled if both agencies agree and if there is a clear purpose for co-enrolling. If the customer is co-enrolled with any other LWIA, he/she must be transferred to LWIA 7. Please see the “Transfer In” procedures on the Career Connect Help Desk.

To find the contact information for the Career Planner, click on “Application Summary” and then on the Career Planner’s name.

Appendix B – Adding the LWIA to a Pre-defined Objective

In order to add the LWIA to a predefined objective:

1. In the IEP/ISS Plan (Staff Profile > Case Management Profile > Plan > Individual Employment Plan/Service Strategy) go to the Objectives screen and click on “Select pre-defined objectives”.

2. Select the appropriate Goal and Program Affiliation and the list of Pre-defined Objectives will appear.

3. Click on the Objective(s) that you want to add to the plan, add the “Date Established”, and update the “Review Date” as appropriate. Once you have added all the Objectives, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click “Next” or “Save” to save.

4. Click on the “Edit” link for each Objective.

5. Edit the “Objective” by adding the applicable LWIA at the beginning of the field. Click “Save” at the bottom of the screen.