Let's Get to Work (TASH 2012)

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, WI-BPDDbeth.swedeen@wisconsin.gov

Lisa Pugh, ADD Public Policy Coordinatorlisa.pugh@drwi.org

Russell McCulloughrussell.mccullough@wisconsin.gov