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Organizational
transformation in
integrated employment
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Dan BurkeThe Arc of South Norfolk &
Lifeworks
Allison Hall, Institute for Community Inclusion,
UMass Boston
Amie LulinskiThe Arc
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• What’s necessary for successful
organizational transformation towards
integrated employment?
• How should providers prioritize activities?
• What are the most effective strategies?
• What practices are replicable within your
organizations?
Questions to guide this session
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Individual and family knowledge & engagement
Effective employment supports
Organizational change for community
rehabilitation providers
State-level policy and strategy
www.thinkwork.org
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RRTC on Advancing
Employment for
Individuals with IDD
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Supporting providers to evolve their service delivery framework
through:
• a model framework for building capacity
• a toolkit to guide organizations through the
process
• an efficient scalable strategy (a facilitated,
peer-to-peer learning community) for
supporting transformation across networks of
providers.
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Early ICI research
• Training and Technical Assistance for Providers (T-TAP) project
• Butterworth et al (2007). Community rehabilitation programs and organizational change: A mentor guide to increase customized employment outcomes.
http://www.ttap.org/documents/mentor_guide.pdf
• Case studies that identified 6 characteristics necessary for transformation
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Purpose of the Delphi Panel
• Method for getting a group of experts to
agree on a topic
• “What is most important for providers during
transformation?”
• 2 rounds (identify and then rank)
• See if feedback supports what the research
says …and what can it add?
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Who participated in the Delphi ?
• 36 experts in the field of organizational
transformation
• Represented a range of stakeholder groups
(provider staff and management, self-
advocates, families)
• Had knowledge of, or had participated in, a
transformation process
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Top 10 Characteristics of
Transformative CRPs
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Characteristic #1: Have clear and
consistent goals
Establish an explicit commitment to increase employment.
Goals should be:
• measurable
• flexible
• compelling and easy to grasp
• directly reflective of the core mission
• specific to an established time frame.
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Characteristic #2: Reallocate and
restructure all resources
• Reinvent job positions and expectations
to clearly focus on employment
outcomes
• continuous opportunities for staff
development.
• How organizations invest their
resources is a direct reflection of
priorities, and it has a significant
influence on outcomes.
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Characteristic #3: An active, person-
centered job placement process is
accessible to all, including those with the
most significant disabilities
• Find jobs for 1 person at a time.
• This “just do it” approach creates momentum
and enthusiasm; recognize and celebrate
achieved employment outcomes.
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Characteristic #4: Develop multiple and
diverse
community partnerships
• Create buy in to the change process
• Include local businesses, school districts,
state agency offices, faith-based organizations
• Effective partnerships:
- promote actions that improve outcomes
- foster positive change within systems
- meet local economic needs
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Characteristic #5: Embrace a
holistic approach throughout the
employment process
• Consider the whole person
• Include a career planning process that involves
multiple stakeholders (staff, parents, friends.)
• Pay attention to maintaining personal relationships
as well as developing new ones.
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Characteristic #6: Communicate
expectations often and to all
Internally, intent is communicated:
• By simple, visible practices and daily decisions,
• with employment as a clear and authentic expectation.
Externally, by:
• how money is spent,
• goals-based data tracking,
• policy initiatives,
• simple outreach activities such as newsletters, and
• conversations during all family meetings.
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Characteristic #7: Customer focus and
engagement
• Partner with stakeholders (including self-
advocates, families, and the business
community)
• Identify and solve workforce issues by
matching need with interests and skills for a
mutually beneficial outcome.
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Characteristic #8: Ongoing professional
development of staff
• Frequent and ongoing training, continuing
education, conference participation, and
mentorship opportunities lead to core
competencies and implementation of best
practices.
• Support employees at all levels to
meaningfully contribute their ideas and
energy to the mission.
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Characteristic #9: Agency culture
• Guides what the agency will do (support people
to work in the community) and not do
(sheltered work/subminimum wage).
• Values positive thinking, learning, creativity,
innovation and continuous quality
improvement.
• Transmitted through values-based training,
ongoing technical assistance, and mentoring of
staff that take calculated risks to support
positive outcomes.
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Characteristic #10: Employment
performance measurement, quality
assurance, and program oversight.
• Share accountability across all staff
• Understand baseline data
• Technology-enabled systems for tracking
individual outcomes and staff activities
"What gets measured, gets done."
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2015
National Council of
Executives of The Arc
Summer Leadership
Institute (SLI)
Forum on Employmentdownload it here:
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What they’ve learned…
• Shift to higher
expectations for
employment.
• Increased use of person-
centered approaches;
• Need for organizations
to evolve to meet the
demand.
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Moving forward…
• Messaging and guidance
• Information on
best practices
• Communications
planning
• Engagement strategies
• Funding resources
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Next step: case studies
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List of Candidates & Early
Screening Process• 28 individual organizations were nominated by Delphi
panelists, research team members and other individuals• Initial screening process: Internal conversations among
research team– Consideration of Delphi panelist notes
– Identification of outliers and low-hanging fruit
• Follow-up web research and follow-up with remaining providers using 3 inclusion criteria:
– (1) support at least 50% of persons with IDD; – (2) no longer finance sheltered work; and
– (3) underwent organizational transformation process within past 10 years.
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Screening process: Second Round
• Of the original 28, 9 were selected to go
through to the second round of screening
process
• 30-minute interviews scheduled with key
contacts of each organization
• Key areas covered during interviews
• Other considerations (geographic location,
size, milieu, etc.)
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The Finalists
• AtWork! - Bellevue, WA (Seattle metro)
• Work, Inc. – Dorchester, MA (Boston metro
and Cape Cod)
• The Arc of Westchester – Westchester County
(NYC metro)
• Penn-Mar Human Services - Glen Rock, PA
(rural)
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Words of Advice
• Plan, plan, plan!
• Culture of change
• Engage and empower stakeholders
• Communicate
• Organizational commitment
• It takes time!
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Dan Burke
President & CEO Lifeworks, Inc.
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Massachusetts Transition
• In 2009, our funding sources announced a commitment to Employment First as state employment policy
• In 2011, lawsuits and legal action in Oregon and Rhode Island prompted strong concerns over the future of sheltered workshops
• 2011- Commonwealth announced a Goal to close all sheltered workshops by 2015
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• Dept. of Development Services formed Employment Blueprint committee with funding source representatives, advocacy organizations such as The Arc, vendor agencies and elected /appointed state officials.
• Committee developed Blueprint plan, agreed to postpone closure date for one year due to delay in 2011 plan implementation and funding plan.
• Plan’s goals included Commonwealth providing $27.6 million over 5 years, including money for improved community Based Day Services to complement, enhance and supplement Employment goals.
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Total Number of Individuals Served
175
200
225
250
275
FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016
Total Served
Total Served
Fiscal Year
Num
ber
of
Indiv
iduals
Serv
ed
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Individuals Served Under Each Contract
Service
Service FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016
Sheltered 116 112 159 47 0
Competitive 59 66 83 92 104
Group 27 44 68 99 111
Community Day 0 0 14 137 198
Total Served 202 222 223 247 262
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Individuals Served in Each Service
Num
ber
of
Indiv
iduals
Serv
ed
Fiscal Year
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
175
200
225
FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016
Sheltered
Competitive
Group
Community Day
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Number of LES Employees
30
35
40
45
50
55
60
65
FY2012 FY2013 FY2014 FY2015 FY2016
Staff
Fiscal Year
Num
ber
of
Em
plo
yees
Employees
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Number of Employees
Fiscal YearNumber of
Employees
Individuals
Served
Staff to Client
Ratio
FY 2013 37 222 6:1
FY 2014 42.5 223 5.24:1
FY 2015 53 247 4.66:1
FY 2016 60.75 262 4.31:1
• There was a 74% increase in the number of
employees working in our Employment
Services from FY 2012 to FY 2016
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Contract Dollars
Service FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016
Sheltered $1158447.40 $1574227.20 $496836.00 $0.00
Competitive $670483.50 $356111.60 $229201.00 $291680.70
Group $330969.00 $555063.60 $636180.00 $703123.80
Community Day $0.00 $249718.00 $1658755.00 $2591564.00
Totals $2159899.80 $2735120.40 $3020972.00 $3586368.50
Grand Total: $11,502,360
• Funding increased 58% from FY 2012 to FY
2016
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Contract Dollars
Fiscal Year
Am
ount
(in M
illions
of
Dollars
)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
FY 2013 FY 2014 FY 2015 FY 2016
Sheltered
Competitive
Group
Community Day
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Employment Opportunities• Strong organized effort to develop job
opportunities
• Increased incentive program for all employees
to provide job leads
• Hiring of an additional job developer
• Hiring incentive for companies- agency will pay for first 2 weeks of person on payroll, with guarantee of an interview at completion and an exit interview if not hired, for both person and agency.
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Staff & Family Supports/Training
• Meeting with Staff- large groups, small groups and individually-conducted by agency leadership
• Training- provided by agency and in conjunction with the ICI, consultation provided by ICI
• Family Forums-hosted by our agency and others in 2014 with the Arc, schools and funding sources. Our agency continued to host these in 2016.
• Newsletters, e-mails and regular communication with families and staff
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Conversion of Existing Sheltered
Contractors
• Worked with all contractors for Sheltered Work. Began informing them in 2014 of this plan of conversion.
• Provided a 1-year written letter on July 1, 2015 that we would be ceasing activity on June 30, 2016 or earlier
• Converted 2 of 3 largest contracts to enclaves, 3 small contracts hired individuals on an as-needed basis hourly to do mailings at their site
• 2nd largest contractor attempted to do enclave- was not amenable to developing production goals, having a quality work area and developing at least a break-even pricing model. We terminated relationship on Jan. 1, 2016
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Issues/Challenges
• Future of 14 (c ) certificates for group employment
• Increase in Minimum Wage- $8 in 2013 in Mass. to $11 on 1/1/17- $15 minimum looming
• Role of the economy and production/assembly work vs. use of technology
• Ability to identify diversified work opportunities in the big-box store environment
• CMS guidelines and the development of acceptable levels of integration in Group Employment
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Issues/Challenges - cont
• Continued financial support and increased need
for transportation supports.
• Continued need for increased financial support
from the state. Currently have paid $9.5
million of $27.5 million promised 4 years ago in
the Blueprint. This money is primarily
designated to staff ratio in employment and
day services programs to achieve expected
levels of integration and size of groups.
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Questions?Dan Burke [email protected]
Allison Hall [email protected]
Amie Lulinski [email protected]
www.thinkwork.org