Transcript Growing your facility based program into a community

Increasing
community
employment in
your program
Ellen Condon
[email protected]
Why Change?
 Facility-based
services have not proven to
be an effective preparation for
community employment;
 People
who have been in facility-based
employment earn less, work fewer hours,
and cost more to place than those
people who went straight to work;
 People
earn more and cost less (over
time) in community employment.
Why Change?

Medicaid Waiver funding is moving away
from funding facility-based services;

Young people want to work and expect to
work after high school;

Parents of youth exiting school expect them
to work in the community;

States are identifying paid community
employment as the preferred activity for
people receiving financial support from DDS.
Why Change?
We know that people with a
significant impact of
disability can work when an
individualized approach to
employment is taken and
ongoing supports are
matched to the person.
People with a significant impact of
disability can contribute to employers
Effective strategies from
leading states and
employment agencies
 By
December of
2013 XYZ will
serve 65% of our
consumers in
community
employment.
 By
December
2015 XYZ will
provide 100% of
services within
community
settings.
Establish a Clear
Goal.
In Vermont

By 2000 the state I/DD services committed to
stop funding new entries to sheltered work
shops;

They committed to closing all workshops in
2002; The last workshop closed in 2003;

Vermont’s Integrated Employment rate for
people with I/DD is twice the national
average (40%).
Communicate the goal and
expectation of employment
often and to all.
 Walk
the Talk

Shut the front door

Hire people with disabilities

Support people with disabilities to be
competent members of the agency
Communicate the goal and
expectation of employment
often and to all.
 Agency
Image in the community and
message to employers




Name
Fund raising
Advertising
Presence in the community
Is our agency supporting people to
be competent community
members?
Celebrate Success
Celebrate Success
 W.I.S.

www.theinitiative.ws
 MT


Emerging Leader project
On MT-TIRC face book
http://ruralinstitute.umt.edu
 WVA

E.
Job Squad Blog
http://jobsquadinc.blogspot.com/
Adoption of Employment First
Policies
 Expectation
that community employment
is the preferred and prioritized outcome
for working-age youth and adults with
disabilities.

Many states have adopted or are in the
process of adoption an Employment first
policy.
Communicate the goal and
expectation of employment
often and to all.
 How
to communicate that employment is
important?

Capture and share success stories

Put Work on the agenda at Individual’s
Annual meetings

Communicate the culture change at your
agency.
Outreach to schools, youth and
families to communicate the
importance of Work.
Communicate the goal and
expectation of employment
often and to all.
 How







do you get stakeholder buy in?
Families
People with disabilities
VR
Business
Facility-based staff
Case managers
schools
Invest in staff development

Different skills are required to support community
employment






Discovery
Job development
Systematic instruction
Assistive technology
Benefits analysis
Facilitating natural supports

Mentoring and ongoing supported implementation;

Employment staff need time to get to know the
businesses in their community.
Evaluate the use of your resources
to support Employment
 Does
existing staff structure support
employment?




How are staff spending time?
Do you have enough staff doing job
development?
How much time is spent in job
development? And in what activities?
Are facility based staff involved in
employment?
Are you tapping into all resources
to support employment?

SSA work incentives (PASS Plans);

Family and friend network;

Ticket to Work;

Relationships with schools;

Use your agencies connections and social capital,
board members, and staff connections.
Factors associated with Success
in increasing Employment

Benefits counseling for consumers and
families;

Peer mentoring for job seekers and families.



VT has a strong self advocate network
Peers help share the vision that work is possible
Close collaboration between VR and I/DD

VT VR allocates grants to vendors rather than
billable hours /person.
Factors associated with Success
in increasing Employment
 Rate
setting that emphasizes the value of
community employment over sheltered;

Tennessee
 Flexible
contracting methods to enable
agencies to finance employment;

OK negotiated payment for hours a job
seeker works vs hours of service
Identify and Utilize Partners
with Resources
 Vocational
Rehabilitation
 Schools
 SSA
benefits planners
 Workforce investment
 Residential and day services
 Economic development programs
 Families
 Use the agency’s social capital
Don’t wait for all the stars to
align to begin….
 Proactively
get to know job seekers;
 Begin
placing people and figure out
changes in structure and policies that are
needed;
 Set
time lines, benchmarks, & review
progress frequently;
Other tips
 Down
size your space;
 Track your progress;
 Emphasize employment is important by
tracking hours, wages, longevity;
 Consider the person’s life beyond
employment;
 Involve all stake holders.
Resources:

http://www.dshs.wa.gov/dpf/adsa/ddd/polic
y4.11.pdf Working Age Adult Policy

www.communityinclusion.org ICI

Closing the Shop Murphy & Rogan; Brookes
Publishing, MD

Marc Gold and Associates

http://www.marcgold.com/
Resources:
 Employment

www.employmentfirstgeorgia.org
 GHA


website
www.griffinhammis.org
 Rural

First GA website
Institute website
www.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/transition
Articles and products & archived webinars
Resources:
 Office

of Disability Employment Policy
http://www.dol.gov/odep/topics/Employm
entFirst.htm
 National
Council on Disability report,
08/23/12, Subminimum Wage and
Supported Employment.