16 March 2008 – Regional Innovations Grant Funds for Grant Writer

Background:  The Guam Department of Labor continues to pursue the Regional Innovations Grant (RIG) to assist in regional workforce development training and education planning initiatives.  On March 14, 2008, the Office of Insular Areas, Department of Interior notified the Guam Department of Labor that the OIA is pursuing the possibility of funding the grant writer for the RIG proposal.  Although, the GDOL technical team has been consistently meeting and developing the proposal, technical assistance is needed in finalizing the regional components of the proposal.  This would be the first time that GDOL will be submitting a proposal that requires a regional approach and given the complexity, it is been recommended that GDOL seek further assistance through an experienced regional workforce development grant writer.  An official letter from the Governor of Guam to OIA-DOI requesting for funding to support this effort.

19 March 2008:  State Department Meeting with Palau officials - Melinda Lucke, Country Desk Officer, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Islands Department of State updated the Guam Labor Sub-Committee Chair and Vice chair of the State Department’s recent visit to Palau.  Officials from the State Department met with Billy Kuartei, Chief of Staff for Palau President Remengasau, and Patrick U. Tellei, President of Palau Community College.  Palau citizens would like the opportunity to apply for Guam employment opportunities as will as be included in the Guam workforce database.  Ms. Lucke shared the GDOL website with the Palau team and is very pleased that the site facilitates matching laborers with contractors.  A follow-up meeting with the Palau team to discuss further efforts with GDOL will take place in Hawaii on March 24, 2008.

20 March 2008:  Superior Court of Guam Interpreter Training Initiative

Background – On October 30, 2007, the GDOL technical team met with representatives from the Superior Court of Guam and University of Guam to discuss the court systems short supply of interpreters to provide consistent interpretation and /or multilingual services.  The Judiciary affirms the importance of protecting the constitutional rights of court participants with limited English proficiency. Guam’s local Judiciary system is addressing the range of issues around client servicing and guiding the stepwise development of the current Judiciary’s Court Interpreter Program (CIP).  The increasing demand for interpreters continue to pressure current practices to formalize a comprehensive CIP program/system sensitive to Guam’s diverse clientele and come at the request of the Judiciary. On March 20, 2008, the technical team met to review the draft Certification Program policy with all stakeholders.  The GDOL team will continue to be part of the planning efforts to ensure adequate training options are available train more interpreters.  The team plans a pilot training project for this effort.