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Ticket to Work Ambassadors Turning Disability Into Employability

Ticket to Work Ambassadors Turning Disability Into Employability. San Diego Pioneer Front-Liner Team: Darah Gerou and Amy Giffin. Background Research. Average of 12,000 college students who are beneficiaries graduate every year. 50% make a work connection 50% go home and stay on benefits

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Ticket to Work Ambassadors Turning Disability Into Employability

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  1. Ticket to Work AmbassadorsTurning Disability Into Employability San Diego Pioneer Front-Liner Team: Darah Gerou and Amy Giffin

  2. Background Research • Average of 12,000 college students who are beneficiaries graduate every year. • 50% make a work connection • 50% go home and stay on benefits • College students who are beneficiaries, like any other student, have a tremendous drive to graduate and go to work. • These students are not making appropriate connections to understand their benefits.

  3. Trusted Source • Most college students on benefits don’t trust SSA • Most college students on benefits don’t understand SSA resources • Students DO TRUST their peers *Information based on student interviews.

  4. Cost • Average lifetime SSA benefit cost for a student who graduates from college and stays home instead of making a work connection. • $400,000 per student • $400,000 per student x 6,000 per year = $2.4 billion per year on SSI/SSDI benefits alone • Cost to students who stay on benefits • A LIFETIME OF POVERTY

  5. Idea behind the Ambassadors • Research shows we have to act now • Research shows students trust their peers • Simple answers was to hire and train students on work incentives and disseminate that information to their peers.

  6. San Diego Team: Pioneer Front-Liners • San Diego was the first site created to study the effectiveness of this project • Project started in April, 2010 • Darah Gerou and Amy Giffin are the first two trained Ambassadors

  7. Program Goals • Train Ambassadors on high level understanding of work incentives and who to connect to in the community to obtain assistance • Outreaching to college and newly graduated college students on benefits using current technology • Minimizing student confusion regarding SSI/SSDI and other work incentives programs in order to make information user friendly • Connect students on benefits to community resources to assist them with using work incentives

  8. Goals Continued • Through outreach activities, recruit new Employment Networks • Study what works and what doesn’t when outreaching to this demographic

  9. Why the Ambassadors? • Ambassadors have a peer to peer point of view • Ambassadors are encountering similar frustrations with SSA and understanding work incentives • Ambassadors and their peers learn from each other

  10. Increased self-esteem Obtain financial independence Learn how to manage their own benefits MAKE A WORK CONNECTION Student Incentives

  11. Contact Information Karla Bell – San Diego Site Mentor Phone: 619-594-5381 Email: kbell@interwork.sdsu.edu Darah Gerou – Ambassador Phone: 858-254-6748 Email: darahruth@gmail.com Amy Giffin – Ambassador Phone: 858-442-6580 Email: amydgiffin@gmail.com

  12. Contact Information Please visit the San Diego Ambassadors on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-CA/Daniels-Associates-Pioneer-Front-Liners/132096373493859?__a=7& Talent Knows No Limits http://www.talentknowsnolimits.info/

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