Presentation Transcript

1. NYS Disability Employment Initiative (DEI)

   Improving Effective and Meaningful Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the Workforce Elaine Kost DEI State Lead October 2011
2. Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) DEI is jointly funded and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Training and Technical Assistance is provided under contract with NDI Consulting, Inc. and its subcontractor, the National Disability Institute (NDI), forming the NDI Technical Assistance Team (NDI team) to help build system capacity. Evaluation is provided under contract with Social Dynamics, LLC in partnership with Altarum Institute; Berkeley Policy Associates, Inc.; and Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. NYS DOL received a three-year DEI grant from US DOL in the amount of $4.9 Million. Phase I DEI Nine states were chosen as pilots, 35 states applied. The NYS DEI project will focus on serving adults with disabilities, 18 years of age and older.
3. This presentation covers: The need for a Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) DEI Goals and Objectives DEI Required Project Components DEI Strategic Service Delivery Components Defining DEI Roles NYS DEI State Lead Disability Resource Coordinators (DRCs) DEI Contractors: Training and Technical Assistance Evaluation

4. Why there is a need for theDisability Employment Initiative

   Goal of Department of Labor’s Good Jobs for ALL… To promote a public workforce investment system that is coordinated, integrated, and effective for the widest range of jobseekers and responsive to business customers’ needs… By improving the accessibility, capacity, and accountability of the One-Stop Career Center system to serve customers with disabilities resulting in education and career pathways that lead to unsubsidized employment and economic self-sufficiency.
5. National Disability Statistics – Working-Age Adults People with disabilities continue to be disproportionately underemployed, unemployed, and living in poverty. In 2008, 10.4 percent of working-age (21-64 years of age) individuals reported a disability. The employment rate of working-age people with disabilities was only 39.5 percent versus 79.9 percent for their peers without disabilities, representing a gap of 40 percent. 34.0 percent only had a high school diploma or equivalent, and only 12.3 percent had a Bachelor’s degree or more compared to 30.6 percent of their peers without disabilities. Source: Erickson, W. Lee, C., & von Schrader, S. (2009). 2008 Disability Status Report: the United States. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Disability Demographics and Statistics.
6. Disability Statistics – Working-Age Adults, cont. According to a 2010 report, “although small in number relative to all One-Stop users, SSA beneficiaries [working-age SSI and SSDI] using One-Stop services were large in number and represented a large share of the beneficiaries in each state who were actively pursuing employment.” Number of SSA beneficiary One-Stop users was similar to or much greater than the number of beneficiaries participating in SSA-funded employment services—the Ticket to Work program. Findings indicate that the One-Stop system is an important resource used by a substantial share of SSA beneficiaries who are seeking employment. Source: Livermore, G., and S. Coleman. “Use of One-Stops by Social Security Disability Beneficiaries in Four States Implementing Disability Program Navigator Initiatives.” Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research, 2010.
7. DEI: Goals and Objectives The goal of the Disability Employment Initiative is to: Improve coordination and collaboration among employment and training and asset development programs implemented at state and local levels, including the Ticket to Work Program, and Build effective community partnerships that leverage public and private resources to better serve individuals with disabilities and improve employment outcomes. The DEI is designed to: Improve education, training, and employment opportunities and outcomes of youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits; and Help these individuals with disabilities find a path into the middle class through exemplary and model service delivery by the public workforce investment system.
8. DEI: Required Project Components Assisting local Workforce Investment Boards in determining the method and process for hiring and supervising local level full-time DRC positions with disability and workforce expertise in the One-Stop Career Center system to implement the state’s DEI project strategic approach. Each area is mandated to become an Employment Network to coordinate implementation of Ticket to Work administrative activities. Coordinating with the local DEI project Workforce Investment Boards to ensure issues and challenges are addressed and common goals are achieved. Representing the state in administrative communications.
9. DEI: Required Project Components Facilitating state and local DEI participation in training and technical assistance activities. Establishing and coordinating partnerships with other state level agencies. Facilitating implementation of additional data collection and process evaluation requirements. Continuous review and upgrade of One-Stop Physical, Programmatic, and Communications accessibility. Implementing efforts to sustain DRC positions and promising practices into state policy and procedures.
10. Defining Roles: National DEI Program Office Develops and implements workforce disability policy and program initiatives to address structural, programmatic, and systemic employment challenges of persons across all disability spectrums and multiple challenges to employment. Provides technical assistance and capacity building (including promising practices) to the public workforce investment system on promoting positive education, training, and employment outcomes of persons with disabilities. Develops and issues the DEI Solicitation for Grant Application, provides programmatic and support guidance to the DEI grantees, and issues annual grant planning instructions for projects. Establishes performance measures associated with the Government Performance and Results Act. Provides policy clarification, program technical assistance, and guidance to Federal Project Officers (FPO) and the NDI technical assistance team.
11. Defining Roles: Office for Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) ETA is jointly funding and administrating the DEI in collaboration with the Office of Disability Employment Policy. ODEP provides national leadership on disability employment policy by: Developing and influencing the use of evidence-based disability employment policies and practices, Building collaborative partnerships, and Delivering authoritative and credible data on employment of people with disabilities.
12. Defining Roles: National Disabilities Institute (NDI) Team The DEI training and technical assistance provider under contract with ETA: Develops, disseminates and shares information of a technical assistance nature and should serve as the primary contact for these types of needs. Provides technical assistance to grantees on the execution of the DRC position role and responsibilities. Works in coordination with the national DEI Program Office to develop and present trainings and resource materials targeted to grantees, local level project staff, and the public workforce investment system and its partners.
13. Defining Roles: DEI Evaluation Team As part of the DEI evaluation component, DOL will compare the outcomes of WIA and Wagner-Peyser adults and youth with disabilities in local workforce areas that receive grant funds to those adults and youth with disabilities in local workforce areas who have access to the standard WIA and Wagner-Peyser services but not DEI interventions. The Social Dynamics evaluation team under contract with ODEP: Will conduct an independent evaluation utilizing quantitative and qualitative data from grantees. Working with the national DEI Program Office and grantees, will collect data, implement a process evaluation tool, as well as conduct site visits to document grantee progress and to develop case studies.
14. NYS DEI Pilot Sites Chautauqua County Capital Region Chenango-Delaware-Otsego Broome-Tioga Tompkins County Niagara County Onondaga County North Country Oswego County Genesee-Livingston-Orleans-Wyoming Counties Orange County Ulster County Yonkers
15. NYS DEI Comparison Sites Columbia-Greene Counties Fulton-Montgomery-Schoharie Chemung-Schuyler-Steuben Counties Herkimer-Madison-Oneida Erie County Monroe County Jefferson-Lewis Counties St. Lawrence County Finger Lakes (Ontario-Seneca-Wayne-Yates) Rockland County Sullivan County Westchester Balance of Putnam
16. NYS DEI Service Delivery Components Integrated Resource Teams (IRTs) to coordinate services and leverage funding to meet the needs of a job seeker with a disability. Blending and Braiding Funds/Leverage Resources from multiple sources to contribute to education, training and/or employment and retention goals. Asset Development Strategies will represent various approaches to enhance long-term economic self-sufficiency. Partnerships and Collaboration will impact the ability of adults with disabilities to participate in education, training and/or employment opportunities.
17. NYS DEI Project Lead Role The role of the DEI Project Lead includes various functions, including, but not limited to: Identifying and coordinating with local WIBs participating in the initiative. Facilitating state and local DEI participation in training and technical assistance. Conducting monthly DEI conference calls. Establishing and coordinating partnerships at the state level i.e. ACCES-VR/Partnership Plus and statewide DEI steering committee. Coordinating Ticket to Work activities.
18. Who Will Deliver NYS DEI Services? Disability Resource Coordinators (DRCs) will deliver services in each NYS DEI pilot to implement the DEI approach. Twenty four DRCs have been hired. Each NYS DEI pilot is mandated to become an Employment Network (EN) to expand the workforce investment system’s capacity to serve beneficiaries under the Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work Program.
19. Disability Resource Coordinators (DRCs) Role DRCs should have disability-related skills, experience and abilities to implement New York State’s Service Delivery Components. DRCs need to have a wide array of knowledge and access to resources and tools to assist them in serving individuals with disabilities. DRCs should be Workforce Incentive Information Network (WINN) or Community Work Incentive Coordinator (CWIC) credentialed or have the ability to become WIIN/CWIC certified.
20. NYS DEI State Lead Elaine Kost NYS Department of Labor State Office Building Campus Building 12, Room 425 Albany, New York 12240 Phone: 518.485.2151 Fax: 518.485.2577 Email: elaine.kost@labor.ny.gov
21. Resources DEI Technical Assistance Project http://www.dei-ideas.org/ Disability and Employment Community of Practice provides disability and employment resources for the workforce investment system, including promising practices to promote the positive employment outcomes of persons with disabilities and Disability Program Navigator (DPN) successful strategies and promising practices. http://disability.workforce3one.org ODEP http://www.dol.gov/odep/