[Rehab] New Newsletter from CSAVR

[Andrews, David B (DEED)]

From: info at CSAVR.org<mailto:info at CSAVR.org> [mailto:info at CSAVR.org]
Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2019 2:18 PM
Subject: CSAVR In Focus January 2019


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[VISION 2020 | Leading change. Today. Tomorrow. Together. CSAVR]

In Focus

January 2019

CSAVR In Focus January 2019

As always, a strong American workforce is an inclusive workforce, one in which all people, including people with disabilities, who want to work can work-and, if needed, have access to the services and supports to enable them to do so. Providing these services and supports is the purpose of the nation's Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) programs. Published quarterly, In Focus highlights innovative ways VR agencies are fulfilling this charge as core members of state workforce systems. It is framed around four focus areas.

[Image of an older man helping a young man writing]



Meeting the Needs of Individuals with Disabilities as Customers

For students with significant disabilities likely to join the workforce after high school, Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services developed Job Exploration Training (JET), which combines job-readiness training and paid, community-based summer work placements. Participants undergo discovery and career assessment to identify interests, as well as soft skills training, resume preparation and mock interviewing. Programs, implemented by community rehabilitation programs, are three to five weeks in duration, with an equal amount of time spent in job readiness training and the workplace.



[Overhead shot of individuals sitting around a table including an individual in a wheelchair]



Responding to the Needs of Businesses

The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission implemented an electronic employer account management system through which Job Placement Specialists and Employment Services Specialists can build and maintain relationships with employers at the local, regional and statewide levels. Its electronic tool, called RESUMate, facilitates matching employers with groups of qualified individuals at a moment's notice, often before open positions are publicly advertised.



[Image of a woman writing on a whiteboard]



Collaborating with Public Agencies and Community Partners

A few years ago, Minnesota Vocational Rehabilitation Services (VRS) partnered with the Institute on Community Inclusion to improve customers' earned income through rapid engagement. As part of this, VRS, the Social Security Administration and the state's Department of Human Services developed an information-sharing process allowing for quick initial needs assessments related to money and asset development. Whereas previously it took up to a month to receive vital information, VRS now receives it in three days or less. As a result, presumed eligibility now occurs on average in three-and-a-half days.



[Image of people standing and talking including an individual in a wheelchair]



Informing and Shaping Federal and State Policy and Practice

To incentivize VR counselors regarding focusing on Supplemental Security Income/Social Security Disability Insurance beneficiaries, Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services worked on developing and passing state-level legislation to provide VR counselors and assistants with a cash incentive when a beneficiary achieves nine months of substantial gainful activity-level employment in a 12-month period. Funding for the incentive comes directly from Social Security Administration reimbursement revenue and is paid out yearly in a lump sum.



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Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR)

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Rockville, MD 20850
Telephone: 301-519-8023
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[CSAVR VISION 2020. Leading change. Today. Tomorrow. Together.]







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