PROJECT CHARTER EMPLOYMENT READINESS CONFERENCE PROJECT

ACME TRAINING GROUP SEATTLE, WA

DATE: JANUARY 15, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROJECT DESCRIPTION...... 2 PROJECT REQUIREMENTS...... 2 PROJECT DELIVERABLES...... 3 PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS...... 3 PROJECT MILESTONES...... 3 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS...... 4 Stakeholders...... 4 Project Manager...... 4 Project Sponsor...... 4 Project Team...... 4 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Currently in the State of Washington only 40% of the disabled who have been assessed as employable, have had continuous employment for more than one year. Many of those employable but not working have been unable to find employment or have been unable to retain position in part because they do have adequate understanding of employer expectations.

A new government training program, funded by the federal government, provides funding to each state for specialized training of persons with learning disabilities so they are employment ready. The training funds will be provided to those training organizations that possess the specialized training skills and who submit approved training grant proposals no later than 6 months from today, i.e., June 15th, 2014. This deadline is driven by the expiration of the federal government funds in 8 months, i.e., August 15th. Final contracts for the training must be in place before the funds expire. In order to ensure the federal funds are efficiently used, the training grant proposals must address a complex set of requirements that each grant requestor must meet. The governor’s committee has determined the best method of disseminating information on these complex requirements is through a state-wide conference with attendees from each county as well as any and all interested training organizations.

This project is to organize and hold a conference to disseminate critical information on the new federal government program. The attendees of the conference will be state, county, for- profit and not-for profit organizations involved with training persons with learning disabilities.

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS

 Venue must have the facilities to host a training conference including meals, audio- visual equipment and Wi-fi  Venue must be located to minimize attendee travel expenses  Speakers must be nationally recognized experts in the conference topic including federal grant writing  Registration system includes positive outreach to training organizations in all counties in WA State  Must be at least 100 attendees with representation from all Washington counties  Date of the conference must be held three months before the proposal deadline  90% of attendees survey results rate conference experience as a good use of their time, beneficial to enable them to submit grant for consideration (attendee survey results)  90% success rate for grant approval, based on post-conference grant award metrics

2 PROJECT DELIVERABLES

 Venue  Agenda & Speakers  Attendees  Food  Event Hosting  Conference Handbook  Conference Follow-up & Support

PROJECT ASSUMPTIONS

 Budget is limited to $25,000 and is limited to labor, materials, ACME staff travel expenses and venue expenses including food  Grant writers require three months to complete grant proposals  Federal government grant expiration date is August 15, 2014  ACME staff will be available as needed to plan and staff the conference  Attendees will be able to fund their travel  ACME has knowledgeable and experienced grant writers to provide post-conference support  Only State of Washington attendees  Attendees of the conference will be Washington state county, for-profit and not-for profit organizations involved with training persons with learning disabilities  Approximately 100 attendees  Grant writing support and track the success rate of the grant writers for 3 months after conference

PROJECT MILESTONES  Project Start (assemble team, charter, etc.) January 15, 2014

 Potential attendees, speakers, topics and venues identified February 15, 2014  Speaker and venue contacts signed February 28, 2014  Invitations sent March 15, 2014  Conference held April 15, 2014  Grant proposals due June 15, 2014  Final grant results report August 15, 2014

3 PROJECT PARTICIPANTS

Stakeholders  Governor Inslee is interested in maximizing the number and value of the grant awards  Governor’s Committee on Disability Issues and Employment is the source of funding and will evaluate the success of the conference  Potential training providers who will be conference attendees  Washington unemployed disabled who will be the ultimate beneficiaries of the training Project Manager  Jane Anderson Project Sponsor  Fred Smith – Executive Director Project Team  tbd

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