Practices from the Field in Outreach to Employers and Participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program

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Practices from the Field in Outreach to Employers and Participants in the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) Program

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2013-13

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This report describes practices used by state workforce agencies to contact and educate workers, employers, and partner organizations about Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and, in some cases, to persuade key actors to participate in the program. TAA, targeted to dislocated workers who have been adversely affected by foreign trade, provides an array of services and income support benefits in order to help workers find suitable re-employment. Accessing services and benefits in TAA is complicated, involving multiple steps, many actors, and specific deadlines. Outreach has the potential to improve petition-filing, program enrollment and retention in services. The practices discussed in this paper include: mining administrative data to find dislocations or certified workers; use of a website, hotline, and brochures; involving partner organizations in service planning; town hall meetings with workers and communities; centralized technical assistance for petition filing; use of labor organizations; peer counseling; social networking; and enhanced intake and tracking processes. Three general attributes seem to characterize stronger outreach efforts: rigor in application of the practice, accountability for results, and the use of partnerships. The report also discusses the challenges states face in improving and expanding outreach: the need for better analysis of the problems outreach can address, the need for data and evaluation of the efficacy of various practices, and problems created by more restrictive federal data security requirements, which may hamper states in using third parties to conduct outreach to eligible individuals.