LIGHTLY EDITED FILE Community Partners + SSB Staff Forum Meeting April 16th, 2024 State Services for the Blind Remote 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (CDT) * * * * * DISCLAIMER This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format and is the work product of the CART captioner. Any reproduction, publication, or other use of this CART file without the express written consent of the captioner is strictly prohibited. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility, and this lightly edited CART file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings, nor should it be considered in any way as a certified document. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled. This text may also contain phonetic attempts at sounds and words that were spoken, and environmental sounds that occurred during the event. * * * * * CART PROVIDED BY Kristi L. Arntzen, RPR, CRC PARADIGM REPORTING & CAPTIONING, a Veritext Company 612.339.0545Captioning-paradigm@veritext.com CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Jennifer Beilke: Okay, I see we have Natasha has joined us. We are a couple minutes, just two minutes after 10:00. Let's see. Might give it one more minute. For anyone else to join us. And I'm gonna get our presentation ready. Hopefully. >> Jennifer Beilke: All right. We can stop sharing just for one moment. All right. I think we'll get started. Let me just start the recording before I forget. Also want to make sure if we have anyone needing interpreters. Okay. And record -- >> Recording in progress. >> Jennifer Beilke: Okay, let's get started. I would like to welcome everyone. I will share the screen. So today we're here for our community partners and SSB staff quarterly forum. Let's see if I can -- there we go. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I'm Jennifer Beilke. Most everyone, hopefully should know me. I want to just go through a couple housekeeping items before we really get started with our forum today. We have interpreters here with us today. They are designated as cohosts. And appear in the top of the participant list. We have spotlighted them rather than multi-pinning them. If anyone needed to change that, you can let us know. We also have CART services or closed captioning. We do a live stream link in the chat if anyone would like that as well. We do ask that folks would mute your microphones, at least while we are presenting. It does help to keep some of the feedback and interference down. If you're speaking, feel free to turn it off and ask questions. But for the most part, we ask that you please do mute your microphones. When you do speak, please identify yourself for the interpreters so that we know who is speaking. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT If you have any technical issues, you can email myself, Jennifer.Beilke@state.mn.us. And just reminder that we are recording this session. We record all of these sessions. And then afterwards, we will distribute these through Gov Delivery, along with the presentation, a copy of the agenda, and any other items that we may be sharing. So -- So just a real brief plan. Our agenda today. After we welcome everyone here today and hear a few words from myself and from our director, Natasha Jerde, we'll be talking about some updates from our community partners team. And then we'll be doing some updates and announcements regarding SSB. And then we will be -- Natasha will be talking about our draft community partners strategic plan. We'll be introducing that and giving a overview of that plan. We'll be taking a short break. And then talking more in depth about some specific community partners strategic projects that we are CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT focusing on. And then we will wrap up and adjourn for this forum. So we'll start with -- actually, saying a few words. I'm getting a little ahead of myself. You know, again, thank you all for coming to our forum. It's always a good opportunity for us to have our providers with us. We are smaller, you know, when we compare ourselves with rehab services. Although we do share some of the same providers and we use some of the same providers. But I think we're a smaller tight-knit group. But it also affords us the opportunity to have more dialogue and have a more intimate opportunity to share information and receive feedback and information and have that dialogue. Which I think is really a nice opportunity and you don't necessarily have that with rehab services. So that's our sister agency. So I'm really pleased that we have these forums and that we have this opportunity for our providers. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And I'm thankful that you've joined us today. And hopefully continue to join us in the future. So thank you. I'm gonna ask if Natasha would like to say a few words before we move along to our community partner team updates. >> Natasha Jerde: Sure, and I'll be brief before we get into the updates. So this is Natasha Jerde. If we haven't met before, I'm the director of State Services for the Blind. And I do provide the supervision for the contracts team. Our presentation today I think highlights some of the investments that we're making to support all of our community partners. We have a lot of ideas and thoughts, many of which are actually are at the direction of our community partners for what they're looking for. So we're hoping over this next year, you will see some of those ideas reflected in the changes we're gonna be making. And I'm excited to have us kick off what some of those projects are. And we really hope that you can provide some CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT insight and work alongside us to make the changes that we're hoping to make. As part of that investment, I'm really pleased to say that we have an additional member of the contracts team joining us. Jennifer Beilke, over the course of her several years, decades, I think we're approaching over two decades, right, Jennifer? Her position has evolved from someone who was not lonely doing contracts but working on the state plan and working on a variety of things to now being solely focused on community partnerships and contracts. We've hired someone, Lisa Rogers, who is dedicated to the state plan, in addition to the outreach efforts. Which has now allowed us to bring on Susan Kusz who is our assistant contract specialist. Susan has worked for SSB. She was our state rehab council liaison. She was our accessibility champion. And she was what I call another Jill of all trades who did a lot of things for the organization. She is moving into the assistant contracts specialist role. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Which will allow Jennifer more time to focus on working directly with the community partners on processing their applications, amendments, trouble-shooting, problem-solving, and Susan, which we'll talk about a little bit more, will be provided a lot of support in areas of monitoring, website development, and our handbook. But, Susan, would you care to say a few words and introduce yourself to the team? >> Susan Kusz: Hi, this is Susan. Well, Natasha, you pretty much covered everything I was gonna say already. [ Laughter ] But it is my pleasure to be here. And change roles and be working with the community partners. And our workforce development staff as well. And trying to trouble-shoot some of the issues that have been going on through my recent Adjustment to Blindness training with a couple of providers, it was really great to be able to hear from them. Some of the areas that we really need to improve upon. So I am really thankful and grateful to have this CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT opportunity to switch gears at State Services for the Blind. And work with our community partners. So for those of you that haven't seen me or met me, I look forward to doing that in the upcoming community partners monitoring and possibly working with you on some of the other projects that we'll talk about during this forum. With that, I'll turn it back over to Jennifer or Natasha. >> Natasha Jerde: And I think we can go on to the next slide. We do talk a little bit more about what is the difference between Jennifer and Susan and what they're going to be doing. Susan will be conducting the criminal background checks. Compiling the insurance documents. Coordinating the resumption of our monitoring, which we put on hold for COVID. Helping with the instructor standards for ATB and any other required certifications. She will be helping with the adult learning course and teaching demonstration. Helping with the logistics of these forums. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And generally just being communicative to everyone, answering your questions, and providing information so that you have multiple points of contact who can assist you questioningly. Quickly. And Jennifer is our request for proposal administrator. She's the one doing all of the high level -- updating all of our application documents, posting those to our website, developing new contracts, amending your current ones, providing training, and training not only to our community partners but to our staff as well about how do you administer contracts and follow contracts. She'll be helping with the -- our policies and procedures. Making sure, you know, all of our requirements that we have are either streamlined or better, based on the feedback that you all are providing. And, again, she is always here to help problem-solve and answer questions as well. And so you may be wondering, well who do I email for what? Well, we have one email address and they have access to -- both of them have access to it. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT You can send everything you need and every question you have to the ssbcontracts.deed@state.mn.us. Of course if you email one directly, they will respond directly. But feel free to use this mailbox and if someone's out, the other person will be able to address your questions. And now onto some updates which I will turn it to Jennifer and Susan to talk more about. >> Jennifer Beilke: Yes, this is Jennifer. I have some more reminders, I suppose, than updates. Just some billing reminders and attendance reminders. Regarding billing, for our community partners, a reminder, when you are doing your billing, to send those in, send in your invoices in within 45 days of the end date of that authorization or the last date of service. We have been, you know, getting some invoices that our staff have been reporting that they have been coming in past that date. Also, make sure that the dates on the invoices are within the authorized dates as well. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So we need to pay attention to those. And also, you know, making sure that dates match between the invoice and reports. So paying attention to those. As far as attendance goes, staff have just been noticing some things. So if you pay attention to attendance, you know, according to the contract, if you do have our customers who, you know, for whatever reason are not showing up, you need to let our staff know within, you know, 48 hours. You need to let our staff know. You know, and it benefits everybody, because, you know, we know that, you know, as a provider, unfortunately, we can't pay you if our customers aren't showing up. And so we want to know that. We want to address that with our customers and make sure that they're ready and able to participate in their services. And so if they're not, we want to talk to them and, you know, address that. So -- and if they're, you know, if they're not in attendance, please pay attention, make sure that that's reflected correctly in the invoice, and CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT it's also matching on the report. So when our staff go through and cross-check between the invoice and the reports, they need to be, you know, they need to be in compliance with each other. So -- and -- oh, the last piece also with that was, when you send in a request for authorized hours for the next month, staff have just asked if you please send those in early enough so that our staff have time to process those and get those invoices -- excuse me, get those authorizations to you in time. So that was -- that was my reminders. So I will turn it over to Susan. >> Susan Kusz: This is Susan. Thank you, Jennifer. The criminal background checks do need to be done annually. This is something that is in your contract. Some have gone out recently. At the end of last year. The other ones that are due are forthcoming. I did develop a tracking system now. And so you will be receiving a notice if you're overdue. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Certificates of insurance, these also can be sent to the SSB contract mailbox. If we don't already get them. We do appreciate receiving them from you. And we do keep them and we will be tracking those as well. So notifications will go out if we haven't received them. They need to be current. One last announcement. You should have received the first newsletter yesterday from us. If you didn't, please sign up through Gov Delivery. If you need information on how to do this, please contact me. I'm happy to help you. There also is a free inclusive career fair that we would like to inform you about. That's happening this Friday, April 26th, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. central time. It is virtual. And I'll be sending this out as well through Gov Delivery today. Jennifer? CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Jennifer Beilke: This is Jennifer. The -- the inclusive virtual event, the deadline for sign-up is this Friday. It's -- it's -- was it April 26th, I believe, is the event. But the deadline for sign-up is this Friday. So, yeah. No worries. Yep, we'll send out the information for that if anyone's interested. Okay. So this is Jennifer. I would like to talk about the Employment Related Services training. We have talked about this before. This is for providers who are providing employment related training or pre-employment transition services, those Pre-ETS services. As required by your contract, there is a SSB training on employment services. This was -- this has been in the contracts for several years. And it was recently redesigned. This past summer, Allanna Strickler, had joined one of our forums and gave a presentation on the CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT redesign of this training. It's a very short training. It's 35 minutes long. And it's meant to be a really brief introduction to basically, you know, working with an individual who is blind. It's geared towards -- it's geared towards providers who provide employment services who maybe have very little experience with services for the blind. Or working with a blind individual. Or, you know, for folks who have worked with blind individuals, this is probably going to be very familiar. But like I said, it's -- it's very general, very brief. And it's good information. It gives a broad introduction to services for the blind. Who we are, what we do. The roles and responsibilities of the counselor. You know, the team that works with an individual. What SSB can do. What the employment individual can do. It talks about a very, very brief introduction to CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT accommodations, job accommodations. There's some resources available. And where to go for those resources. And so this training was redesigned. It is a electronic training. And so we've made this training available that staff can do it on their own time or, you know, on their own as needed. We made that training available through the YesLMS platform. Which is SSB's training platform. We've made that -- we offered that free to our community providers. It was an opt-in system. So we sent out a little survey to our providers. All you had to say was, yes, I'm interested in it. And we would get you access to our YesLMS platform. And you would be able to use that and take that training. We did not have a overwhelming response to that. It was very underwhelming. And so we did get some feedback that some folks did not find the YesLMS platform very user friendly. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So we have made that training now available through the state's YouTube channel. And so we have the link here. I don't know that we really need to go into it. But we will make this available. It's an unlisted video. So you won't be able to just Google it. So you have to have the link. We have to provide that link to you. But it is available. It's very simple now to just, you know -- you click on the link, and watch this 35-minute video. There are three documents that go along with the video. We will be making those videos -- or those documents available. But -- so the point is, is that this is -- this is mandatory. If -- if you have gone through this training in its former versions, you do not have to do it again. This is for anyone who is providing Employment Related Services and hasn't been through it, and new staff. For new staff, you know, if you're a community CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT partner and you have a new staff, the contract says they have six months to take this training. And we will be -- we will be verifying this. This will be a -- this will be a piece that we'll be -- that will be monitored when we do contract monitoring. So just want folks to know that we will be looking at this to make sure that it is being done when we do contract monitoring. So that is all I have on that. And I am gonna turn it over to Natasha now. >> Natasha Jerde: Thank you, Jennifer. So this is Natasha. This is actually hot off the press. In fact maybe, like, three people know about this because the meeting that I'm having is right after this meeting. So last week, I was at CSAVR, which is a national organization for Vocational Rehabilitation. And our federal partners, the rehab services administration, officially launched a new disability innovation fund, that they're calling 21st century employment. The applications are due on July 8th. And in the past, these innovation fund grants are CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT typically awarded to very large, general or combined agencies. And individuals who are blind, low vision, and deafblind often don't see the benefit of these grants. The benefit of a disability innovation fund grant is it's a chunk of money good for five years that has a lot more flexibilities than the grant that we get for Voc Rehab. Which means you are allowed to do a lot more creative things than what you can do with the federal funds you get. And when they launched this 21st century employment D.I.F. grant, they call them a D.I.F., my brain started swirling about how can we make this about getting more people with vision loss into employment. And there's a big focus on technology. And advanced technology. So we are considering applying for this. And using, if we were given the funds, to create a really multi-faceted approach or model that's different than what we've been doing before to help people get into employment and keep employment. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And there is part of me that had been thinking about, how can we use this to benefit our community partners? And bolstering the training that's available, providing financial incentives as part of this application towards our community partners and getting people into employment, providing advanced technology training. There's -- the idea is not completely flushed out yet because, granted, they just launched this last week. But I want there to be a community partner focus to this, to incentivize our partners and to have them a part of this process. So there'll be more to come. But our next community partner forum won't be until July, after the applications are due. So I wanted to use this opportunity to just share that we are considering applying. And I would really love any innovative or thoughtful ideas on how you as community partners can be folded into this. In helping people get quality employment and by quality employment, it's not just entry level positions, but high paying jobs with benefits, CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT working more than part time. So, please, any and all ideas that you may have, this is -- this is the opportunity to do that before we submit our application. And I think this presentation will get sent out. There is a link in the presentation that talks a little bit more about what they're looking for. And there's six topic areas. We are looking at the two topic areas that have to do with advanced technology. And topic area six, which is basically a free for all. Whatever idea we have. So we're trying to get creative. So that's all I have on the disability innovation fund for now. Really just to spark ideas and to get you all thinking on how community partners can be folded into this. >> Jennifer Beilke: This is Jennifer. I would just ask, Natasha, we are a little bit ahead of schedule. So do you want to invite any comments on that at this point? Or -- CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Natasha Jerde: Sure. If anyone has any -- even if doesn't seem like it fits with what I just said, if anyone has any burning ideas or things that we could do to better support community partners, not currently allowable with our current structure, we can -- now's the time to share those. >> Jennifer Beilke: This is Jennifer. If I May? I have a question. Would it be -- well, I guess I -- I'm not gonna ask if it would be feasible. Because that's not how it's supposed to be structured. What about, like, SSB paying for folks to get, like, a CADIS certification or something like that? You know, paying for folks to get additional -- or paying for folks to get, say, JAWS scripting training or something like that, because we desperately need JAWS scripting training, you know, somebody who can do JAWS scripting. That's an idea. >> Natasha Jerde: Those are all great ideas. And I see Kim mentioning something about financing CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT the costs of provider training, insurance. Then she said, we're thinking alike. In fact, one of the ideas I threw down, I just started writing, included paying for staff -- community partner time to do trainings, paying for trainings themselves, or paying for the actual training, plus the time to actually take the training. One of the complaints is, it's really hard to do professional development because that takes away time from actually working with customers and making money. So what if we were able to cover community partners' salaries so that they can do professional development. Paying for professional certifications. The JAWS scripting is a huge one I didn't even think of. Paying for community partners to get that training to have JAWS scripting. I like, how can we offset some of the costs to become a vendor with the State of Minnesota? Can we provide support for that? What can we do to provide training on A.I. for our community partners so that they can use A.I. in CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT their work? A lot of stuff around technology is a big focus. So all of these things are absolutely possible. Some of the other states I've talked to, they offer bonuses or incentives to their community partners. For instance, in -- I think it's Wisconsin, they give a bonus to employment service providers if they get people jobs in careers that make a certain income or careers where they're working more than 32 hours or they get benefits. They'll get a bonus for that. I would love to consider something like that. As well as looking at how can we incorporate that for Adjustment to Blindness training providers? How can they get incentives for maybe instructing people on certain advanced technologies? Kim mentions, promoting and recruiting for providers in Greater Minnesota. So perhaps there's some financial incentives around that. So any ideas like that, frankly, are absolutely feasible and possible to include. And Mary said, one of the biggest challenges we face as a community partner in technology has been CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT the inconsistency of referrals and the mixed messages as to whether we will receive referrals, I.E., that SSB prefers to do the tech training themselves and we have often had excess capacity in this area. I appreciate that comment, Mary. And I think others have expressed that same concern. Is, well, are you even using the community partners you have? Or are you completely doing things in-house? And I think we need -- I need to -- I think we need to really get to the bottom of that. And really understand what is the messaging internally that we're providing versus what you guys are hearing. And I don't think I have an answer for that. And I think we need to figure that out. >> This is Rob. >> Natasha Jerde: Oh, go ahead, Rob. >> Rob: So I would say, 90, to 95% of the time, I vend out assistive technology training. And I mean, John Hess, as far as I know is the only one who will provide in-house training. I don't think it's happening as much as people CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT think it is. >> Natasha Jerde: And this is Natasha. Thanks, Rob, for that perspective. Susan? >> Susan Kusz: Yeah, this is Susan. So recently in attending ATB training in Duluth, and VLR, one of the things that I realized about some of the clients or customers that we serve is that it's really difficult, I think, for some of our partners to help people get into employment when it's not really individually -- some of the things -- and I don't really know how to explain this, other than, like, we have to be looking at the person and all of the things that it takes to get a person into employment. He and I have had some conversations about this, where there's other barriers to employment for the people that we serve. So transportation. Food -- I forget how Thea puts it. But it's, like, a -- they have problems with maybe having access to housing. Food. So, you know, if you really want someone to be successful in employment, and I'm speaking to this CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT as a person who has a disability that was on Social Security and went from being, you know, not employed at -- to being self-sufficient, because I've been a state employee for 19 years. But, you know, having these issues with daycare and transportation and housing and food and if we're not looking at it as a person-centered approach, then one of those dominoes falls down, then the whole system for that person that we're serving in their employment can go off track. And then their employment may not be successful. Or they're working toward getting employed, may not be successful. And I'm just wondering if we couldn't look at maybe trying to develop a different model where we're looking at the whole entire issue with a person rather than -- and I get this sounds like it's not dealing with the employment approach, but it really is, because if a person has one major hiccup, their daycare isn't working anymore, their transportation, or what have you, their employment then goes off track and then they're not successfully employed anymore. And working towards self-sufficiency. I appreciate you listening. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I'm sorry if I talked too much. But I hope I made my points clear. >> Natasha Jerde: No, thank you, Susan. I think it's -- it's easy to only focus on maybe one or two specific things, but you have to look at the whole person and the entire situation and environment that they're in. And those are all things of course we can help with. But it's easy to maybe forget that those other things still exist. You need to put food on the table, for instance. You may not be able wait for a -- the dream career. You need a job right now to survive. So that you can focus on getting that dream career. So I think those are all important points. And back to your comment, Mary. Oh. Yes, Susan, there has been confusion, historically, about who is responsible for what elements of the holistic model. At one point, we were told to entirely stay out of the employment realm. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Now, gratefully, we are hearing SSB wants to help with this. But it is sometimes hard to know who is going to do what. I don't think John Benson is on this call. He's our deputy director. But I have copied and pasted your message and have sent it to him, because I think -- I think there has been some mixed messages that we want, you know, we have a referral to a partner. And we want to keep within that scope of that referral. Which completely get. But sometimes as you're working with our customers, you spot things that maybe we have missed. Gaps that need to be addresses. Addressed. And then you get in an uncomfortable situation of, okay, I'm noticing this is an issue. We want to help, but maybe it's outside the scope of what we were asked to do. Now what? And then it can get into some really awkward conversations and situations. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And I don't think that's unique. I think that does happen. And so I think we do need to figure that out. And it's a balance. You know, keeping within the scope, but also knowing sometimes that scope can expand. And who best to help overcome that barrier than the people working most closely with that individual? So I am kind of rambling a bit, mostly because I don't have an actual answer for you at this moment. I think this is a bit of a cultural and mind-set shift that we need to work through and I think the only work to work through that and working alongside our partners and figuring out what's gonna work. I think it's gonna depend, again organization the person and the holistic needs that they have as Susan mentioned. So I have this as part of our strategic planning, I think, that we need to address is some of the mind-set and how do we work with our community partners better and more collaboratively. >> Jennifer Beilke: All right, this is CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Jennifer. We can move along if that's all right. >> Natasha Jerde: Perfect. >> Jennifer Beilke: I know we could continue this discussion for quite a while if we allowed it to, but we do need to move on October so -- and I believe we are next onto our -- oh, monitoring. So Susan or Natasha, were you going to talk about this then? >> Natasha Jerde: I'll start. And then Susan may -- I think she's in her brain-storming phase right now with monitoring. So our goal is to resume monitoring July of 2024. We went on a hiatus because of COVID and capacity, frankly. But this is -- this is absolutely an expectation of our federal partners that we do this. And so we are resuming it. We will be rolling out the monitoring protocol and what that's going to look like at our July 9th community partner forum. We're going to dip our toes in it, so we're not going to just start monitoring 50 people in a month. And we may, the first few providers, community CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT partners we monitor, might be a little bit of a learning period as we try to work out any kinks with the monitoring process. And Susan will be the one coordinating that. So, Susan, I don't know if you have anything to add right now? >> Susan Kusz: Yeah, I do, actually. This is Susan. So you're absolutely correct. I will be dipping my toes in this, because the contract monitoring that I did when I first started with Jennifer pre-COVID, I was kind of sitting in the passenger seat. And now I'll be kind of changing roles and being the driver. And so I need to kind of learn the ropes. I am going to be going through the documentation that we have. And trying to pair it up with where it matches in the contracts. Or contract language. So that maybe it's a little bit easier to follow. I do know that there are some things that have changed because of WIOA and that. So I may be contacting some of you to get some CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT feedback. Well, especially about, you know, the first couple people that I go out and monitor or places that I go to monitor, I'll definitely want some feedback on how to better do that. I may also tap into our buyers and payers to see if they have any input or other people in the Workforce Development Unit. Thank you, Jennifer. Back to you. >> Natasha Jerde: And this is Natasha, if I may quickly. At least -- so monitoring, as a person who went through monitoring on the other send, can often be, like, oh, great, so now people are gonna come in and start showing all the stuff that I'm doing wrong. I have learned to change my mind-set, and I hope this helps. That our goal for monitoring isn't -- it's not, what are you doing wrong? It's, first, what are some areas that we can help support you in? Yes, what are some areas that may be out of compliance? CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT But most importantly, it's, what can we do to help you be the best community partner you want to be? What are some areas that maybe we're putting up, unnecessary barriers to you doing your job that we can get rid of? Like we have heard loud and clear confusions around invoicing requirements that we have, progress report requirements, all things that hopefully will be addressed when we do our new community partner handbook. But we know there are some things that we have put in place that probably are causing a lot of confusion. And frustration. And there may be some things that we can do to alleviate that confusion and frustration. And the monitoring visit is a really good time to have that one on one conversation about how we can also help. So it's more than just checking the box if someone did or did not do something. >> Jennifer Beilke: This is Jennifer. I would add to that. When I -- when did monitoring visits, first thing I would tell people is, you know, relax. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT This is not a CARF visit. If anyone is familiar with CARF. It's an acronym for an organization that certifies facilities that provide, you know, basically like rehab services. And it's a -- a big deal that people go -- an agency goes through. We are not CARF. Our monitoring visits tend to be informal and relaxed. And what I have heard from agencies when we went through it was, a lot of them thanked us and enjoyed it. And said it was helpful. Because it, you know, like Natasha said -- was not to point out what they were doing wrong. It was to point out, you know, what they were doing right. And, you know, sure, there were a few things that maybe they, you know, didn't realize they weren't doing that is in their contract. But we're not there to, you know, slap their hands or anything like that. We're just there to remind folks of what they should be doing and -- and it was really, really CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT helpful for us to hear about really cool things that agencies out there are doing that we didn't know about that we could share with other folks, that would be helpful for other agencies as well, and answer questions. You know, because a lot of agencies, as Natasha said as well, had questions or misconceptions or, you know, things like that, clarify things. So it was really helpful for us and for a lot of agencies, and they actually really enjoyed it, and a lot of them were surprised, you know, it was -- it was not what they were expecting. So that was my experience with it. So -- All right. Moving along. We're gonna move along into the draft community partners strategic plan. And this will be handing off to Natasha for this. >> Natasha Jerde: So our -- since we got Susan on board, we now had additional capacity to actually do all of the things that Jennifer has been really wanting to do, as well as myself, that we've had a bunch of ideas. We've had things that we wanted to put out there. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT But y'all know, you also have the day-to-day you have to do, and it can be really hard to do some of those things that you really want to do. So we did put our strategic plan down on paper. It is draft. But we wanted to share with you all the things that we are going to be doing over this next year. And our first goal is around the ongoing and the timely communication with our partners. Making sure that you are in the know of what's going on. Making sure that you know if there are any changes. And also giving you opportunity to influence how we work with you. So our first strategy is implementing a monthly newsletter. Around part of it is -- around part of it is a way to actually highlight you as a partner, sharing your success stories. This newsletter also, I believe, goes out to our staff. So it's a way to get your name out there that, hey, I'm here. I'm ready for referrals. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And here's some cool things I'm doing as one of the partners. That monthly news letter kicked off yesterday. It's the bare bones right now because it's our first. But they will be coming out moving forward every month. We will be of course continuing our quarterly forums. We want them to be helpful. To you all. We want people to join us. But I know it's really hard during the day to do so. So the recordings of course are always available if you can't attend. We are updating our web page. We know our web page is not the easiest to navigate. Sometimes you really want to know, well, who's so and so and who, what territory are they serving? How do I quickly find my contract documents? So we are completely revamping our web page. And we've already started that work. We are updating our community partner handbook. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT This used to be called the vendor manual. We want this to be basically your guide book to being a partner with us and basically giving tips, tricks, examples for how to do invoicing, everything you could possibly want to know. And it's also our opportunity to maybe streamline and change some of the ways we've been doing things. And our final strategy under this is we want to implement an annual community partner satisfaction survey. Community partner satisfaction survey. This is a survey that you get to fill out about us. How are we doing? What is working? What is not working? It's a way to provide it anonymously. And it's a way to just give us feedback. You know, we do a survey on you all with our customers. You get to do a survey on us. And John shares in the chat. Excellent goal, likewise, I can do better to communicate with admin, counselors, and partners CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT too. And I think that's an excellent point, John, and how can we do this so that it's not just us communicating with you, but how can we help you communicate with us? Our next goal is around monitoring. And I won't -- and I apologize, my dog of course wants to go out at the most inopportune time. I won't belabor this, but one of our goals is to reinstitute our monitoring protocol. And we will be sharing more about that with you all in July. Our next goal is simply around managing our contracts. We want to be able to organize all of the information we have. We want to train our staff better on all things related to, contracts. Training on, how do you -- from the logistics to how do you authorize for certain services, to, how do you communicate with partners if there's an invoicing issue? How do you have more consistency? Because we know that every -- every counselor or counseling team probably does things a little bit CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT differently. And that's not bad. Everyone has their own style. But how do we bring consistency when more consistency is needed? Strategy three is updating our rate setting methodology, like, how we come up with rates. And as part of that, I want us to look at our current rates. I think it's been a handful of years. And a lot of cost of living increases since we have last looked at our rates. So I want to be able to not only look at how we're coming up with our rates, but what are our rates currently, and what should they be in this new world? Because inflation is ridiculous, as you probably know. And we need to reflect that in our own rates and what we pay. And finally, we want to develop a contracts checklist. Essentially, we want to make applying for and amending contracts as plain language as possible. I'm gonna tell you when I looked at the R.F.P. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT documents and I was reading everything, I don't know if I could apply to be a contractor if I'm being 100% transparent. It is complex. It is so complex. And there are a mountain of documents. So we want to make it easy for people to be a contractor with us. Or is as easy as we can make it, anyway. Our next goal is around developing new community partners. And I think we should also say, develop new community partners and retain the community partners we have. And I think that kind of gets to what Mary is saying. And I want to incorporate that into this strategy plan is, how do we make sure we are using our community partners, and we are maximizing the services that you all can provide? I don't know if we're fully tapping into what you can offer. So we're gonna revise this goal. And include retaining our current community partners. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So our strategies for this is, how to be a new community partner. This is a plain language, what does it mean to become a partner with us? What does that look like? We're gonna be developing an outreach plan for identifying potential partners. Especially in Greater Minnesota. This will also include how do we expand our current community partners' offerings, and if you're willing to serve other regions and other locations. We need you. We have a great gap in services in the far corners of our state. And part of this goal is we need to update our community partner standards and assessments. We have some -- some teaching demonstrations we offer. But I think this is an area we can improve on, and how do we know that the community partners that are coming in have the skills and qualifications to provide quality training? And I know our community partner input is gonna be really valuable for that. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So that's our strategic -- our draft, I'll say draft, because you all are helping us influence what this draft is looking like. Are there any -- are there any questions? I'm gonna look at the chat quick. Mary shares that she appreciated Rob's comment about vending out. Lighthouse is actually quite busy with tech referrals, awesome. But Mary was just saying that there has been some great variation in the past, sometimes without much predictability, and at times we have been told SSB intends to do almost all of it themselves and that's not the case right now. Including a new staff member who will be starting next month. And if we need to train or hire more, we certainly can as well. As executive director, Mary doesn't want to overinvest if referrals will suddenly stop. And we appreciate that comment so much, Mary. And I think some of this is -- we're looking at internally, looking at our own house and making sure we're all on the same page and being as consistent as possible. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And John shares, John Higgins shares that he is here to serve all corners of Minnesota, and please share with us again where to send those client success stories. And you can send those client success stories to the ssbcontracts.deed. You can also email them directly to Susan, who is the one coordinating our news letter. But basically, you can send them to anyone, and we'll make sure we include them. All right. Angela -- or Jennifer, is it our break time? >> Jennifer Beilke: We have a few minutes if there's more questions. If you have questions, we've presented quite a bit of information up to now. So hopefully if you had a question earlier, you haven't lost it. But any questions? We'll give a few more seconds. >> This is Debbie Bock. I have a couple questions from everything that we've gone over. So my first question is, where do I obtain and how do I know when I need to do this, the criminal CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT background check form? Do I get that from SSB? >> Susan Kusz: This is Susan. I can answer that. Thanks for the question, great question. By the way. So I developed a tracking system. I went back and looked at, like, when your contracts were executed. And then I started sending out emails for those that were due. I do need to double-back, been extremely busy with training and trying to get up to speed. So I need to do a double-back and see who else is needing to have their criminal background checks completed. At this time. I will take your name down, Debbie. And just double-check. While we're on break, and I can put in the chat when yours is due. If you hadn't received an email recently from me, like, at the end of last year, that's when I had started doing the -- developing the tracking system and that. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT If you didn't receive anything then, my guess would be that, yes, you're probably due for one soon. [ Laughter ] So I will take a peek and let you know during the break. >> Natasha Jerde: And Susan, this is Natasha. Would you send -- are you the then that sends the form out or do they have to go and -- >> Susan Kusz: So, you know, initially, I was sending them, I believe, with Jennifer's email address and people were sending them back through her. I think the idea is then maybe they would send them back to me. But I'm the one that sends out the form. With the instructions. And where it talks about it. I believe in the contract language. So it's not something that you have to go digging for. And then also as the accessibility champion, because I just ran into this with our SRCB members, I do make sure that these forms are accessible. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And fillable, hopefully, by folks. The question I guess I would have for Jennifer is, do they need an actual ink signature on them, or are they able to do an electronic signature? Because at this point, you know, that's kind of changed back and forth. So, Jennifer? >> Jennifer Beilke: Sure. This is Jennifer. And thank you, because I wanted to put the reminder out there. What we are talking about here is for a -- when we have a provider who has no employees, so we have a employer who is a single person provider, with no employees, SSB will -- we will provide a form that must be notarized. So it will -- it has to be a live signature that you sign in front of a notary, who then notarizes it. SSB will provide a form that provider signs, notarizes. We will then pay for that background check to be processed through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. For providers who have employees, they are CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT responsible for running background checks on their employees and then submitting those to SSB. Unless you have negotiated some other terms in your contract. And some of other variability in your contract. And so -- I hope that answers the question. I know Debbie had more questions as well. And I know Sam has a question too. So I don't know if we -- if we wanted to continue with Debbie's question or if Sam's question is about the background checks, or I'm not sure if we want to -- how you want to handle the order of the questions. >> Natasha Jerde: Debbie, do you have other questions? >> Debbie Bock: Yes, just a couple. And I won't take too long. Do I need to submit my insurance certificates on an annual basis? Or is what's on file, you know, enough? That would be one question. And then just wanted to quickly say that, you know, the ideas for the new grant definitely helping to pay for training for things like JAWS scripting, you know, or anything else out there CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT would be a great help to us. You know what I went through trying to get the insurance for this contract. So I am glad that we are trying to simplify everything. And that's all I have to say. I can mute now. >> Natasha Jerde: Awesome, thanks, Debbie. And, Sam. >> Sam jasmine: Hi. I just want to -- I'm pretty sure that I did my background check, but if somebody could check and confirm it at some point soon for me, that would be appreciated. >> Susan Kusz: This is Susan. So, yes, Sam, yours was done. >> Sam Jasmine: Excellent, okay. >> Susan Kusz: Debbie Bock, if you could tell me what your company name is. I'm having trouble finding your name as the main contact on a business. >> Debbie Bock: Yes, this is Debbie Bock. It's Hands on Tech Inc. >> Susan Kusz: I'm sorry, can you say that again? CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Debbie: Hands on Tech Inc. >> Susan Kusz: Okay, so you must have a newer contract that's out? >> Debbie: I think it was executed at the end of last September. So I may not be due quite yet. >> Susan Kusz: Yep, it's due annually. So then it would be the end of September. So I'm gonna have to add you to my list, because I don't have you on there. But, yeah, it's due annually. So anyone else that had recent contracts that were issued, that is -- it's your execution date -- [ dog barking ] >> Jennifer Beilke: So this is Jennifer. For the background checks, it goes by -- they are due annually. And it goes by the date of execution. Of the contract. For insurance, insurance generally is, you know, annual policy. But often those dates can be all different. If you look at insurance policies, sometimes even the different coverages or, you know, the different -- there might be different policies CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT within one -- listed within one certificate of insurance, and they may have different expiration dates within that certificate of insurance. And it is very helpful. The contract does require that -- that SSB is listed as a -- I forget the actual term. SSB is supposed to be listed on the policy, only in the sense that when your contract -- or excuse me, when you're insurance automatically -- when it renews or, you know, if it lapses or what have you, a copy automatically gets sent to us. That's all. And that's very helpful because then you don't have to worry about dealing with. If you have SSB listed on there as a -- I forget the term, but it's listed in the contract, because it's supposed to be required. But not everybody actually does this. But if you do have SSB listed on there, then those things happen automatically. And you don't necessarily have to worry about that. So -- Are there any other questions before we -- before we move on? CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Daniel Beal: I have a question. This is Daniel Beal. Following up on a question from our last meeting together. I was wondering if State Services for the Blind was successful in changing the requirement for data security insurance. I'd asked whether we could make that into an option last at another time instead of a requirement. But I don't know what was decided on that. >> Natasha Jerde: Thank you. I do not have an update yet. But I'm gonna add this to my conversation with Jennifer. I think right now the option is part of the negotiation process. And utilizing the -- the waiver process that exists for insurance. Am I on the right track, Jennifer? >> Jennifer Beilke: Yes. If that's what Daniel is referring to. The -- you're referring to the -- the data security insurance requirement? In -- and being able to waive that required CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT coverage? >> Daniel Beal: Well, previous, one had to file a waiver for that. And I'm wondering whether that will still be required, if they're not requiring it, then we don't have to do the waiver. But if we have to do the waiver, my next question is, can we send in our application early so that the waiver can be sent to the commission to get that signs off on earlier than last time to avoid a delay in services of nix from two to six weeks? >> Jennifer Beilke: Yeah, I see what you're saying. Well, I can tell you, well, first of all, that wouldn't -- for you that wouldn't come up -- I mean, it wouldn't be an issue until the next -- until the contract expires in the next -- the next contract cycle. When -- when -- when I worked on this contract cycle, the -- this contract cycle, this five-year cycle. And those new coverages were presented to me. There are certain coverages that the state requires, and then there are certain coverages that the state recommends, but ultimately leaves CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT up to the agency to determine if, from the nature of the services, they wish to -- or they feel should be included. And the data security is one of those coverages that is recommended but is ultimately left up to the agency to determine if it should be included due to the nature of the services. And so we included it. So it could be in the future, when we do the next five-year cycle of the contract, we reexamine, that and to determine do we really need this or not? It could be that, you know, if we do a more in-depth look at it, contact risk management, and contact MNIT as well, maybe we do determine it really isn't needed. So we can do a more in-depth look at that. To determine if it really is needed. >> Natasha Jerde: And Jennifer, remind me, when is the next contract cycle? >> Jennifer Beilke: 2027. June 30th, 2027. >> Daniel Beal: Yeah, that was my next question, thank you. >> Jennifer Beilke: Yeah. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Natasha Jerde: Yeah, I think we're hearing loud and clear, the insurance in and of itself is just a bear. It's expensive. It's hards to get. It's hard to get. It's burdensome. And so I guarantee we will be looking at what actually needs to be required and what can be optional. Encouraged, but optional. >> Jennifer Beilke: Yes. Okay, any other questions? I will let folks know, if you do have questions that come up, you know, after -- we do have some -- another section to talk about. So we may have some more time after our next session for more questions, but if you do have questions that come up after our forum or, you know, if you're like me, and you're, you know, in the middle of the night, and you think of a question, you certainly can email us, you know, those questions later on. But I think, so for now, we're going to move ahead. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT With our next section. Oh, actually. I missed the break. I think we will take a break. And we will give our interpreters a short break as well. So let's see. We will take a break -- let's go until 11:25. We'll take a short ten-minute break until 11:25. And then we will come back. And talk about more specifically about the community partners strategic projects. That we've been working on and give some updates on those. So we will see everybody back here shortly then. >> Recording in progress. >> Jennifer Beilke: Okay. I think we'll get started again. And let's see. We're ready to see if Susan is ready. We are going to talk about some of our strategic projects. That we have in progress. And give some more details on the progress we've made and what we have -- what we've done so far. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT We have Susan ready yet? Or -- >> Susan Kusz: Yeah. >> Jennifer Beilke: Oh, okay. Let's see if I -- there we go. If you're ready, you can take it away. >> Susan Kusz: All right. Thank you, Jennifer. This is Susan again. And welcome back. And thank you, everyone, for attending today. Excuse me. So the community partner handbook, formerly known as the vendor monitoring manual, I believe, in the newsletter that went out yesterday, there was a link for people to sign up to help out with the revamping of this. This is one of the very first things that I was asked to do when I took on this new position, was to go through the manual and see where -- pardon me -- and see where there were things that could be improved upon. Or things that were missing. Or that sort of thing. So I devised a short survey. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I put it in the newsletter. If you aren't signed up on Gov Delivery to get that newsletter, if you could reach out to me, via email, directly to me, and let me know if you're interested in working on this project. We are looking for input from our community partners as to things that are missing, things that you'd like see in there. So your input is very, very valuable to us. And then one step further on this project, once we do get it kind of done and ready for publication, as I would say, I want to divide this out into topics on our web page. So like the handbook would all be in one area, may have links to other areas that are important like the billing authorizations and stuff like that. However, I think instead of having an actual, like, 30-page or 100-page document, we are going to chunk it out into subject topics on the web page. So it'll look and feel a little bit different. But like I said, we are really looking for your input on this. So your help would be really appreciated. Now, the next project I was also asked to help CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT on -- [ Laughter ] Was the web pages for our community partners. And one of the things that I was told was that we kind of, you know, like, we partner with VRS. That's our sister agency. And so we really kind of want to have our website kind of mirroring theirs. Theirs was -- we liked what their look and feel was. So we got together with the two Lisas, Lisa Rogers and Lisa Larges, who will our community outreach folks. And sat down and kind of started plotting out what this might look like. So we already have I.T. working on it. We have some graphic designs that are gonna be in place. We'll have the squares kind of like VRS's pages are. And then it will also have, like, a left navigation as well. Because we want to make sure that, of course, it's accessible for the folks that use it. That's one of our top priorities is having CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT everything accessible. So, yeah, we just want to have easier navigation. Some continuity with the VRS pages. We will be adding some new topics and bolstering the information that's already out there. So some of this will be based on the information that we get for the handbook as well. And then as far as messaging and communication enhancements, well, again, for probably the fifth time, the newsletter did go out yesterday. And this is one of the things that -- another one of the first things I was asked to do. And so I did work with our community outreach folks. We have kind -- we meet on a regular basis. And so we are gonna be sending this out monthly. So, again, please send me directly or you can send it to that contracts email address, any spotlight interests that you have, also the next focus area will be the community partners satisfaction survey. I'm also looking for input on that. And what kind of questions you think would be important for us to be asking you for feedback about. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I know it sounds a little backwards. But I want to make sure that we're asking the right questions of our community partners to get important feedback. If you're interested in helping with this, I did not have that in the messaging or communication that went out in the news letter. May decide to develop a short survey of interest for that. But, again, you can contact me directly or through that contract email address. And let me know that that's what you're interested on. Please specify in your communication which area or areas you're interested in helping with. Your feedback is vitally important for these projects. So, please, please, we're asking for help. And this is really also, I just want to mention, that it's not just the community partners. But it's also SSB staff. If there's any staff folks that are interested also, please reach out to me, because, like, we are just really trying to get things on a much better communication and platform and what have CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT you. So please let me know if you're interested in helping at all. And with that, that's pretty much all I had to say. Are there any questions about anything that I just went over? If not, I'll pass it back to Jennifer. >> Alicia? >> Susan Kusz: Yes, Alicia. >> Alicia: Hey, Susan. As far as communication goes, if a vendor has a new program that they want to make counselors aware of, what would be the best way of communicating that? Like, if a flyer is available or something? >> Susan Kusz: I mean, I'm more than happy to take that communication from you. There may be other ways to help promote that as well. I think the networking amongst us -- amongst the community partners and the staff is super important. So if you want to work with me, I think part of my role as well in being an assistant is, trying to CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT take some of this stuff off of Jennifer's plate. >> Alicia: Okay. [ Laughter ] >> Susan Kusz: And so since I am in charge of communication stuff, I'm more than happy to take it, unless Jennifer has been issue with that, which I highly doubt she does, because she's got enough things to do. [ Laughter ] And so, yeah, you can just send it may way, and I can figure out what to do with it. Same thing -- yeah, no go ahead. >> Alicia: I've been sending stuff to Jennifer, but I'm not sure if that's the appropriate person to share the news of new stuff. >> Susan Kusz: Well, this is Susan again. I think in the past, like that, she was the only person. And so that's where people gravitate to. And now that I have this new role, and I am an assistant, I'm happy to filter things through. Even if you send it to me and I'm not the correct person, I can guarantee you, that I will get it to the right person and the right people. Where it needs to go. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT But a lot of this is, Jennifer has a lot on her plate with doing the contracts and the amendments and keeping up with a lot of other stuff. And, you know, like, I realized this early on when I first was hired seven years ago. At SSB. That, you know, like dealing with the contracts stuff, and the community partners, you know, like, in general, it's a lot for one person to be dealing with. So I'm very honored and very grateful that I was chosen to step into this role. And so like I said, I'm here to help. So any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to either figure out where it needs to go or, you know, whatever. So -- >> Alicia: Thank you. >> Susan Kusz: Yeah, no problem. Thank you for your question. Are there any other questions at this time? >> Jennifer Beilke: This is Jennifer. I don't have a question. Just a follow-up with Alicia. And thank you for that -- your question. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT It was a good question. And just to reiterate what Susan said. But, yes, typically, when providers have information about their program, the procedure had been, you know, send it to us. And we will forward it out to the appropriate unit. Whether it's just, you know, if it's -- if it's an employment related, you know, for Alicia, for your particular organization, it's just gonna go to our Workforce Development Unit. But for another organization, we might be sending it to our senior services unit and our Workforce Development Unit. But -- and, yes, yes, those kind of things Susan can greatly help me by taking care of them, sending those out for me. But for all of our providers, you know, we're happy to send the information out to our staff if you have, you know, programs coming up or, you know, you just want to promote your services. And, you know, perhaps -- perhaps there's an opportunity in this direction for something -- something more formalized, some sort of system. For, you know, promoting these type of things. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I am not sure what that might be. Maybe that's part of -- part of the grant. I see Natasha has popped on, so she might be thinking the same way. But, yes, that's been our procedure, and, yes, thank you so much to Susan for helping me. But -- and you can certainly -- any provider can, you know, certainly send it in to Susan or myself. If you send it to myself, I might forward it off to Susan to say, please send this out for me. But please know that we will get it out to our staff. So they see it. So -- Thank you. >> Natasha Jerde: And this is Natasha. I think one of the issues we found that -- we don't know what we don't know. And staff aren't spending a lot of time perusing through all of the contract offerings. So the best way is to get our partners to bridge our partners and our staff, so that they know what exists. Because a lot of really cool programs that you all are doing, they may not even be aware they're an CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT option. So you may be wondering, well, why in the world am I not getting a referral for this. Probably the easiest answer is they may not even know. One of the goals we put on there is how do we be a better bridge between you all and the staff so they know what exists and they know what they can refer you to our customers for. >> Susan Kusz: Natasha, this is the Susan. You know, we did have -- I just came in on the tail end of the different types of community partners that we have. And they were able to share with staff what they do. We kind of went Round Robin. And let our community partners talk. But I also think like this is a good opportunity. So with the spotlight, you know, I don't want to open the flood gates too much. But we are looking for, you know, areas where you have a success story with your client, but I also think that spotlighting, if you do get a new service like Alicia is talking about, the community partner newsletter that's going on, that CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT would be another great place to spotlight this or highlight this as well. So, please, just feel free to work with me. I'm, you know, trying to brain-storm on different ways to get communication and messaging out to folks. So when in doubt, just send it my way. And I'll figure it out. And I'm a poet today, so -- Jennifer? >> Jennifer Beilke: Sure. Do we have any other -- any other questions that we can answer? Or comments? Or -- Anything? I'll give a few seconds for people to find their unmute buttons if they are finding anything. I'm not seeing anything. So we can start with our wrapping up and just say thank you for everybody who was joining us today. And listening to us. We have a lot of things happening. I'm really, really pleased that, you know, we have a team now. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I mean, we have a team, a contracts team. It's really exciting. Yay! It's really exciting. And, you know, I know personally, I am really excited that a lot of the -- I'm excited to see that a lot of the projects and a lot of the -- the things that needed to happen are starting to happen. And they're going to be beneficial for everybody. For, you know, for SSB staff and for our, you know, our community partners. You know, things like the handbook. You know, that desperately needed to be updated. And that I desperately was trying to get to and just couldn't. And so I'm so pleased to see those things happening. And, you know, it's gonna be great that -- to get that done and make life easier for all of us. So -- and, you know, we really do need your help because we want this to benefit you. So, yeah, so thank you, everybody. I'm gonna let Susan and Natasha say a few words. If they would like to. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Susan Kusz: Sure, this is Susan. Again, thank you all for joining us today. I am gonna work a little harder on trying to do some community outreach to get more of our community partners to join these forums. I think it's really important, along with our staff. Good information is communicated here. It's always a good conversation. I have attended these in the past. So it's really a privilege and a honor. I'm so grateful to be a part of the contracts team. And just really grateful to be here today. Natasha, if you have anything? >> Natasha Jerde: I don't, because I think everyone is probably ready to roll. So with that, happy Tuesday. And we will chat with you all later. >> >> Alicia: Ms. Jennifer. Can you send me the CART link too, please? I'm deafblind too. I don't know how to copy it from the message. >> Jennifer Beilke: Yes. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT I will make sure I get that for you. >> Alicia: Thank you. >> Jennifer Beilke: Yes, we do send out, like side afterwards, and one we may not have actually said, but Susan will be taking over with forums as far as sending out notifications of the forums and -- but we always send out the link afterwards of the -- with the presentation -- or excuse me, the recording. And a copy of the presentation. And I will -- I'll make sure we get the CART link. It's the link you want? Or the transcript? >> Alicia: The transcript, really. >> Jennifer Beilke: transcript, okay, I will, I'm another sure I've done that before, but we will make sure we make it happen for you. >> Alicia: Thank you so much. Have a great day, ladies. >> Jennifer Beilke: You too. Bye, everyone. >> Recording stopped. DISCLAIMER This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format and is the work product of the CART captioner. Any CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT reproduction, publication, or other use of this CART file without the express written consent of the captioner is strictly prohibited. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility, and this lightly edited CART file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings, nor should it be considered in any way as a certified document. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled. This text may also contain phonetic attempts at sounds and words that were spoken, and environmental sounds that occurred during the event. CART CAPTIONING FILE – NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT