On Wednesday, the OOD Commission took an important step in moving Ohio’s
unified workforce plan forward.
At its monthly meeting, the Commission approved the vocational
rehabilitation section of the 2016 Ohio Combined State Plan.
Under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
(WIOA), all states are required to submit a combined workforce plan by March
2016. The combined plan is required to align
several of the state’s largest workforce programs; including the state vocational rehabilitation program (OOD).
In 2014, Ohio worked with local providers and workforce
stakeholders to voluntarily submit a single, unified plan to the federal
government for four separate workforce programs: Workforce Investment Act
(WIA), Adult Basic and Literacy Education (ABLE), Senior Community Service
Employment Program and Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education
Improvement Act (Perkins). For the first
time, these programs were aligned under one unified strategy, helping to better
connect businesses with qualified workers.
Ohio is now positioned to build upon this
success. The 2016 plan adds reforms to Wagner-Peyser (Title III), Vocational Rehabilitation (Title IV), and Jobs for Veterans State Grant to those already included in 2014.
The 2016 Combined State Plan continues Ohio’s commitment to build a strong economic climate. Ohio is building a unified workforce system that helps employers find the workers they need to succeed and helps workers access the information and skills training they need to compete for in-demand jobs.
 The Division of Disability Determination at OOD continues to be a top performing unit in the Chicago Region. As such, DDD is often asked by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to assist with the roll out of new programs and projects aimed at processing claims faster and more efficiently in an effort to save money and provide better service to applicants.
One project of high importance is the Disability Case Processing System (DCPS). SSA intends for DCPS to simplify Disability Determination Services (DDS) system support and maintenance by transitioning to a case processing system that provides common functionality and consistent support to each state disability determination agency. According to SSA, DCPS will also improve the speed and quality of the disability process and reduce the overall growth rate of infrastructure costs.
As part of this project, SSA has selected individuals to provide subject matter expertise in designing and testing the new system. DDD adjudicators, Caitlin Ling and Eric Zirger, were both selected to provide their insight and feedback to system developers that is crucial to ensuring DCPS meets the Disability Determination community’s operational needs. They will be providing input and support to SSA in Baltimore as part of this project.
Congratulations Caitlin and Eric!
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Interested in earning credits or learning more about a range
of topics related to the education of students with visual impairments or
combined low vision and hearing? Perkins
School for the Blind offers a variety of online classes, including many that
are self-paced. The offerings include free online resources as well as paid courses taken for credit. More information is
available at their website: http://www.perkinselearning.org/professional-development
Vocational Rehabilitation
Current
FFY2016
Individuals in Job Ready
Status: 3,529
2,614
(For
county level information
&
map visit our website)
Individuals Employed: 1,613
2,349
(Employed,
not yet successfully closed)
Successful Closures:
2,815
(Employed
for over 90 days,
case
closed successfully)
Disability Determination
(FFY2016 as of 02/12/2016
– Week 20)
Applications
Received: 74,222
Determinations: 77,059
Productivity Per Work Year (PPWY) 373.5
(Total number of cases processed divided
by the number of work years funded)
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