let's get to work (tash 2012)
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Let’s Get to WorkA Community Approach to Improving Employment
Outcomes for Youth
Beth Swedeen, Lisa Pugh, and Russell McCullough
TASH, November 2012
Learning Objectives• Use evidence-based and promising practices at the
local and systems level to measure employment outcomes
• Identify policy and practice barriers• Identify practical strategies for engaging policymakers
Project framework includes all stakeholdersCombines what research/data shows are:• Most significant barriers;• Strategies and practices that work; • policies that act as both facilitators and barriers to
employment.
Project framework includes all stakeholders• School staff• Service agencies: Voc
Rehab; Long-term care system
• Students• Families• Broader community
(including employers)
Four project components• Statewide consortium• Pilot schools• On-site coaches• Policy team
Consortium’s Role• Large: includes representation from all stakeholders,
60-70 people. • Provides input on what is and isn’t working, what
directions to pursue; what policies need to change or improve
• Includes progress updates from schools and three state agencies on progress: practice and policy changes
• Include youth and family tracks, particularly to build self-determination
Pilot Schools• Did a statewide competitive application reviewed by
all six major partners (3 state agencies; 3 ADD partners)
• Looked for interest/ability to develop a broader stakeholder group in their school and community
• Had to commit to implement evidence-based or promising practices…
Practices:• Person-centered planning• School/community mapping of opportunities• Connection general education and co-curricular activities• Summer paid/volunteer community-based jobs• Early connection to DVR• Engaging broader community through a Community
Conversation• School learning circle/community of practice to learn from
each other
Schools Also Developed Their own Creative Approaches to Engaging with their Communities
Grafton Holmen
http://youtu.be/M0rMo-uaQqIhttp://youtu.be/2ysq3AYANaA
Jobs First! of Manitowoc County
Schools also Provide Stories to Illustrate the Project
Here’s Russell’s story
Russell’s Story• Person-centered planning• School/community mapping of opportunities• Connection general education and co-curricular
activities• Summer paid/volunteer community-based jobs
Always wanted to be a driver
As a young student, I really liked riding the bus
How I got my job Russell
My current position at BPDD
August Consortium meeting at the Madison Concourse Hotel
At work, the people who support me are….
Coaches• On-site supporters/cheerleaders/practitioners who
show school staff how to try new practices• Provide resources and direct instruction training• Connect them to other professional development,
training and resources
Policy Team• Members• What it does
Policy Barriers: Vocational Rehabilitation
• Too many facility-based assessments for youth
• Lack experience and comfort in supporting individuals with significant disabilities, both among counselors and provider networks
Voc Rehab Policy Solutions • Guidance to staff and the public from DVR leadership
on community-based assessments• Youth Transition On the Job Training (OJT)• Strengthening statewide training to new/existing DVR
staff on how to support individuals with the most complex disabilities (assumption that all are employable)
Vocational Rehabilitation: In the Hopper• One pager for families/schools
describing range of voc rehab services
• Meeting with leadership to share promising practices from other high-performing states
• Legislation guiding schools to encourage early conversations with VR
State Education AgencyPolicy Barriers • No clear guidance on LRE for
youth in transition (ages 18-21)
• Inadequate pre-service preparation in transition
• Absence of guidance from state leadership
• Lack of collaboration with general education
State Education Agency Policy SolutionsOSEP guidance on LRE in community worksites
State Education Agency: In the Hopper• Transition
endorsement/certification• Work with higher education
statewide to increase masters’ training in transition
• Legislation to strengthen focus on community-based work assessments if employment is a post-school outcome
Long-Term Care Policy Barriers • Lack of competitive
employment focus in long-term care system
• Lack of understanding about the impact of employment on public benefits
Long-Term Care Policy Solutions• Expansion of promising “pay
for performance” pilot in managed care
• Work with Department of Health Services and Governor’s office to increase work incentives benefits counseling
• Strengthen managed care contract language to incentivize employment
Long-Term Care Policy Solutions• Work with children’s long-term
care system to create “culture of expectations” around employment for families
• Identified vocational services as part of children’s long-term care waiver
• Include increased employment as part of state’s Medicaid long-term care sustainability effort.
Long-Term Care: In the Hopper• Work with legislators on
Employment First legislation• Pursuing a pre-voc policy that
would prohibit/limit new entries to facility-based pre-voc
• Embed benefits counseling training into statewide long-term care system parent training and have benefits counseling expertise available at ADRCs
Practical Strategies for Engaging Policymakers• Make a solid case for change: using data, research to
create targeted asks• Focus on policy issues prominent in your state• Look at what is happening in the general population
of youth regarding employment in your state
Practical Strategies for Engaging Policymakers• Put a face and story with the issue: have legislators
meet real youth and their families
• Don’t take “no” for answer: go to the next level
Practical Strategies for Engaging Employers• Outreached directly to largest employer lobbying
organization in the state• Worked to promote disability employment awareness
month• Connected businesses with legislators on the youth
employment issue• Connected schools to local chambers
Partner with other agencies/leaders to create a “buzz”• Council’s “Take Your Legislator to Work”
• Employment First statewide coalition
• People First priorities
• WI Manufacturers and Commerce
• Walmart corporate interest
Beth Swedeen, [email protected]
Lisa Pugh, ADD Public Policy [email protected]
Russell [email protected]