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Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities produces this newsletter expressly for our Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) professional audience. We hope that these articles and practical tips will be of value to you as we continue our relationship and work with participants. Our goal is to achieve quality employment, independence and disability determination outcomes through our integrated services, partnerships and innovation.
To expand the availability of Pre-Employment Transition
Services for Ohio students with disabilities, Opportunities for Ohioans with
Disabilities (OOD) has partnered with Ohio’s Centers for Independent Living
(CILs), Community Centers for the Deaf (CCDs) and Sight Centers, as well as
several county boards of developmental disabilities. These contracts, effective
October 1, 2017, are intended to help students begin to identify career
interests. They are available to students who are currently eligible for
vocational rehabilitation services, and also to those who are potentially
eligible but have not yet applied for services.
In
addition, OOD has recently created a transition-specific page on its website
for easy access to fact sheets, guidance and other transition resources. This
can be found under the new Transition Students tab on OOD's website.
Details regarding the provision of Pre-Employment Transition Services include
service maps and a fact sheet. Also included is a form titled Request for
Pre-Employment Transition Services, which educators should use to request
services for potentially eligible students.
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program was designed to
make sure that individuals with disabilities have access to extensive career
counseling and other services that may be necessary to assist them to become
successfully employed. OOD recognizes that some individuals with disabilities
seeking services, such as people with significant work experience or those
already working, may benefit from quicker access and may need fewer services.
This is why in April 2017, OOD began a Fast Track pilot. This program was
designed to identify applicants who would benefit from this model, because they
need a minimal number of services or they were ready for employment. A select
group of applicants who were either employed at application or had a recent
positive past work history were screened to be part of the pilot. The goal was
to speed up the traditional process in order to place these individuals in
employment within 90 days of their application or get them into services as
quickly as possible so that they could maintain their current job.
Six VR teams participated in the pilot, which ran from April
1 to September 1. During the pilot, the median time from application to
employment was 31.5 days, which was well below the goal of 90 days.
Beginning in October, all staff were trained on the new Fast
Track procedure, which went into effect on October 27, 2017. OOD is very
excited to see the positive effects of this process as it plays out on a
statewide level.
BSVI's 2018 Vision Loss and Hearing Loss Resources document is now available.
Broken down by
categories of general information, Deaf-Blind, Deafness and Blindness specific resources,
the updated list contains hundreds of links and articles for education,
technology, workplace, family/care giving and other types of useful public
information. Note that this is an accessible document that may take 30-60
seconds to download.
The Independent Living Older Blind (ILOB) program had a
great year, closing September 30 with 1,589 Ohioans with vision loss age 55 and
older reaching their goals. This is a 26% increase from the past fiscal year.
Our ILOB team provided these seniors with tips, technology and skills to feel
safer and more self-sufficient. The unit totaled 29 outreach activities
statewide this year, reaching an estimated 1,179 potential participants.
Assistance varies in this program from special lighting or
magnification technology for ease of reading, to tactile or high-contrast
markings for kitchen safety, to talking devices such as large-number phones and
talking clocks for communications needs. Average time from application to
finish has decreased from 7.6 months to 6.5 months. It is great to have a
fully-staffed, active team around Ohio with the training and compassion to
serve our elders desiring to continue full and independent lives, including 740
Ohioans age 80 or older.
Please see http://ood.ohio.gov/Programs-br-Partnerships/Programs/Independent-Living/Independent-Living-Services-for-ILOB for eligibility and service details about this
important program.
2017 witnessed a
busy and exciting time for the partnership between OOD and the Ohio Business
Leadership Network (OHBLN). OHBLN is composed of volunteers from the Ohio
business community, providing Ohio employers with relevant information and
resources to enhance their diversity initiatives and increase their bottom
lines through the successful recruitment, selection, training and retention of
a workforce, including qualified individuals with disabilities. Since 2011,
OHBLN membership has increased significantly, from 11 members to 157 employer
members. More than 30% of employers that participated in OOD’s four job fairs last
fall were OHBLN members.
In April of 2017, OOD and the OHBLN were awarded another
three-year grant from the Poses Family Foundation for the Workplace Initiative
of Ohio. This initiative bolsters efforts to link OOD job seekers with OHBLN
member job opportunities. The initial grant agreement resulted in more than 840
OOD job seeker hires, primarily with OHBLN member employers. Within the first
eight months of the new grant cycle, OOD has already exceeded the first-year
goal of 575 hires.
Congratulations to Chris Moranda, who assumed her new
role as the OHBLN Administrator in August. She is responsible for OHBLN
oversight and operations, outreach to employers to assist in the promotion of
OOD services, and recruitment of new OHBLN members. She is also facilitating
the development and implementation of sustainability strategies, and is
actively working with OHBLN members to identify employment opportunities for
Ohioans with disabilities. Looking to the future, OOD will participate in the
OHBLN’s annual board meeting in February 13, as part of the strategic planning
session.
In September, four staff from the Rehabilitation Services
Administration (RSA) came from Washington, D.C., for a routine monitoring visit
of Ohio's Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program. RSA is the federal agency
that administers the VR program. Areas of focus included program performance,
transition services, supported employment services, and allocation and
expenditure of funds and alignment with the workforce system. RSA reviewed
program performance data; relevant policies and procedures; and participant
case files as a part of monitoring protocols. RSA staff also met with OOD
counselors and state agency partners while on site.
On October 30, RSA held an exit conference to provide
preliminary feedback to OOD. RSA staff are in the process of drafting their
monitoring report. Based upon discussion at the exit conference, some areas of
continued focus for OOD will likely include:
1. New requirements under the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to develop the Individualized Plan for Employment
within 90 days,
2. New performance measures under WIOA related to
median earnings and credential attainment for program participants, and
3. New requirements under WIOA to make
Pre-Employment Transition Services available to students with disabilities who
have not yet applied for VR services (i.e., potentially eligible students).
The new VR fee schedule went into effect October 1, 2017.
This includes implementation of revised, streamlined reporting templates that
were jointly developed by OOD and representatives of the provider community.
Updates to the provider manual have been made based on feedback both from OOD
staff and providers.
In addition to the training associated with implementing the
VR fee schedule, OOD staff also conducted training for job developers and other
providers on October 30. This training focused on expectations of job
developers, performance-based services and resume writing. These trainings were
recorded and are now available for viewing at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV3i2M6G6mfQhJX5aEfR4Mw?view_as=subscriber.
Moving forward in 2018, there will be follow up meetings
with providers to discuss how the updated fee schedule is going. OOD can also
take these opportunities to provide feedback and technical assistance, as
needed. These sessions are slated for February or March. Stay tuned for
upcoming announcements.
Do you ever recall something from an earlier HireGround that you would like to access
again? OOD has posted past issues starting with January 2014 in the Communications tab on OOD's Website.
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