Transcript Slide 1
Disability Program Navigator
(DPN) Initiative
Creating Innovation and
Transformation
October 2009
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DPN Initiative
• Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employment and
Training Administration (ETA) administers the
DPN Initiative. It partners with many Federal,
state, local agencies, and private organizations
to leverage funding to expand the public
workforce investment system’s capacity to
serve customers with disabilities.
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DPN Initiative continued…
• Training and Technical Assistance is
provided under contract with NDI Consulting,
Inc. and the National Disability Institute (NDI)
forming the NDI TA Team to help build
system capacity.
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DPN Initiative continued…
• A new position, the Disability Program
Navigator, was established in One-Stop
Career Centers throughout the country to
better inform people with disabilities about
the work support programs available at
DOL’s One-Stop Career Centers.
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DPN Initiative continued...
The goals of the DPN Initiative are to:
– develop new/sustain ongoing partnerships to
achieve seamless, comprehensive, and
integrated services;
– blend/braid resources to leverage funding for
individual job seekers;
– create systemic change;
– expand the capacity of the workforce investment
system to meet the employment needs of
customers with disabilities and employers; and
– meet the demands of the 21st century workforce.
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DPN Initiative continued…
• There are currently approximately 425
Navigators across forty-two states, the
District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam,
and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• The map on the next slide represents the
current DPN projects nationwide.
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Current DPN Projects
Round 1
(funded 2003/2004)
Arizona
California
Colorado
Delaware
Florida
Illinois
Iowa
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Mexico
New York
Oregon
South Carolina
Vermont
Wisconsin
Round 2
(funded 2006)
Alaska
District of Columbia
Hawaii
Indiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
Round 3
(funded 2007)
Alabama
Connecticut
Georgia
Idaho
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Montana
New Hampshire
North Carolina
Ohio
Puerto Rico
South Dakota
Utah
Washington
Round 4
(funded 2009)
Arkansas
Guam
Nevada
U.S. Virgin Islands
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DPN Initiative
• A Disability Program Navigator:
– Guides One-Stop Career Center staff in helping people
with disabilities access and navigate the various programs
that impact their ability to gain/retain jobs;
– Facilitates integrated, seamless, and comprehensive
services in One-Stop Career Centers to persons with
disabilities;
– Improves linkages to the employer community and
develops demand-responsive strategies to meet their
recruitment and retention needs; and
– Brings together multiple partners to foster a collaborative
effort by building Interagency Action Committees to
address systems level barriers and Integrated Resource
Teams to address individual level barriers to employment
job seekers with disabilities experience.
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Evolution of the DPN Initiative
• The DPN Initiative was designed to be
flexible so that it could fit into the many
different One-Stop Career Center
environments.
• Constantly evolving as we learn from the
experiences of the local level Navigators and
the state level DPN Projects.
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DPNs Evolving Roles
• Navigators deploy and coordinate integrated resource
team approaches across workforce and disability
systems to address multiple employment needs.
– Navigators are facilitating these integrated resource
teams (IRT) in the One-Stop Career Centers to
include members from various community and partner
agencies and One-Stop programs that serve the
needs of the individual job seekers.
• Navigators establish a seamless One-Stop Career
Center through an individualized team service design to
assure a full spectrum of program options for job seekers
with disabilities.
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DPNs Evolving Roles continued…
• Navigators are promoting the active participation of the
One-Stop Career Centers in the Social Security
Administration’s Ticket to Work Program, including
becoming Employment Network (ENs).
• Navigators are facilitating the involvement of the OneStop Career Centers in promoting asset development
strategies through financial literacy, increased use of the
IRS Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and providing
free tax preparation through Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) sites to people with disabilities.
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DPNs Evolving Roles, continued…
• Navigators are helping to coordinate transportation
and/or mobility management activities through United We
Ride and other transportation employment initiatives.
• Navigators are facilitating the transition of in- or outschool youth with disabilities to obtain employment and
economic self-sufficiency.
• And supporting other Federal Initiatives including exoffenders, people who are homeless, recipients of TANF,
older workers, and disabled veterans.
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DPN Roles-Seamless and
Comprehensive One-Stop Services
• Address physical, program and/or communication access
barriers
• Increase staff knowledge on serving job seekers with
disabilities
• Foster collaboration and streamline referral process
• Facilitate blended funding and leveraged resources
• Guide One-Stop Career Center staff to improve access to
programs that impact the ability to gain/retain employment
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DPN Roles-Improve Access to
Programs and Services
• Facilitate solutions to physical, communication, and/or
program access
• Ensure adaptive equipment/assistive technology is available
and staff and are trained in its use
• Assist the development of an accommodations policy and
procedures
• Identify talent development dollars and connect job seekers
with these resources
• Coordinate cross-program teams to address barriers and
increase options for job seekers with disabilities
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DPN Roles-Facilitate Linkages to
the Business Community
• Connect with LWIB and Business Services staff
• Conduct outreach and networking with the business community
(Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Clubs, HR Councils, BLNs)
• Host job fairs and facilitate linkages with disability employment
and training service providers
• Provide information about hiring/retaining individuals to business
• Provide employer “toolkits” with information about tax incentives
and benefits (business case) of hiring individuals with disabilities
• Promote employment opportunities with career lattices in a variety
of jobs, including STEM, High growth, and green jobs
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DPN Role-Increase Employment
Outcomes and Self-Sufficiency
• Increase registrant levels of job seekers with disabilities
• Improve job development services
• Encourage Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) and
Career Advancement Accounts (CAAs)
• Foster SSA Ticket to Work Program
• Increase on-the job training, apprenticeship, internship
opportunities
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DPN Role – What a Navigator is:
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Systems Change Agent
Problem Solver
Relationship Builder
Resource
Facilitator
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DPN Role: What a Navigator is Not
• A case manager
• A front-line staff person in a One-Stop
Career Center
• A Community Work Incentives
Coordinator
• A Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist
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Navigator Anticipated Outcomes
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Access to WIA Services:
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Core, Intensive, or Training Services
Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) or Career
Advancement Accounts (CAAs)
Increased Employment:
– Wages
– Hours Worked Per Week
– Retention
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Navigator Anticipated Outcomes
• Increased customer
satisfaction with
workforce system for
persons with
disabilities.
• Expanded partner
relationships
(public/private)
• Mental Health programs
• Mental Retardation/
Developmental Disability
programs
• Independent Living Centers
• Medicaid
• CWIC
• Housing
• Transportation
• Vocational Rehabilitation
• Other Mandated One-Stop
Partners
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Navigator Anticipated Outcomes
• Expanded access to:
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Internships
On-the-Job Training
Customized Job Development
Employment Opportunities
Accommodation Assistance
• Increased use of the Ticket by Social Security
beneficiaries.
• Increase One-Stop Career Centers/LWIBs
becoming & linking with Employment Networks
(ENs).
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Navigator Anticipated Outcomes
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Improved service, system and funder collaboration.
Blended funding support Utilization of Work Incentives.
Utilization of Benefits Counselors.
Utilization of Medicaid Buy-In/Coordination with MIGs.
Asset Development.
Individual Development and Career Advancement
Accounts.
• Access to Technology.
• Self-Employment.
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DPN Initiative Goal
• The rubber really meets the road with the
Navigators.
• The DPN Initiative is a Team effort– National DPN Program Office
– Regional Federal Officers, and
– The NDI TA Team
• We are all here to work with you and to support
you to make the DPN Initiative a success so that
we can reach our ultimate goal-competitive,
quality employment of people with disabilities.
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DPN Resources
• For more information, please:
– Refer to the Disability Online website for a list of
state contacts: http://www.doleta.gov/disability
– Refer to the DPN Technical Assistance Center’s
Web site at: http://www.dpnavigator.net
– For effective practices/ products, refer to the OneStop Toolkit website at:
http://www.onestoptoolkit.org
– For promising practices, resources and products on
disability and employment, refer to the Workforce3
One Disability and Employment website at:
http://disability.workforce3one.org/
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