Web Site and Publication of the Week (29 january 2010)

N.D.I. Technical Assistance Team
N.D.I. Consulting, Inc.
[ http://www.dpnavigator.net ]

and

The Burton Blatt Institute
Syracuse University
[ http://bbi.syr.edu ]

One–Stop Toolkit Resources of the Week Technical Assistance Project E–Mail listserv

Please note that due to travel there will not be a One-Stop Toolkit Resources of the Week disseminated on Friday, February 5th.

Below please find the website(s) and publication(s) of the week, as well as other resources that we hope will be useful as you work on systems change activities to help improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.

To subscribe and / or view past resources of the week archives, access: [ www.onestoptoolkit.org ] and click on the link to "Resources of the Week" on the right hand side of the home page.

ONE–STOP TOOLKIT TABLE OF CONTENTS

[ Resource of the Week Highlight for Disability Program Navigators ]

[ For Your Information ]

ACTION: Revised Procedures and Criteria for Payment of Vocational Rehabilitation Services Under the Cost Reimbursement Program
UPDATED: 2001 Listening Tour to Address Critical Employment Issues Facing People with Disabilities

[ Upcoming Events of Interest ]

Workforce3 One Webinar Invitation: Indian and Native American Stakeholder Listening Session
Ticket to Work February Work Incentive Seminar Events

[ Resources of Interest ]

Find Your Regional ADA Center
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Jeopardy

[ Real Economic Impact ]

Earned Income Tax Credit
Overview of some of the key provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 affecting individual taxpayers: Tax Benefits, Credits, and Other Information

[ Websites of the Week ]

Workforce3 One Disability and Employment Community of Practice
United States Department of Labor Open Government Information

[ Publications of the Week ]

Supporting Transition to Adulthood Among Youth with Mental Health Needs: Action Steps for Policymakers

Resource of the Week Highlight for Disability Program Navigators

Check out some cool resources on the Americans with Disabilities Act under Resources of Interest that can help you as you work to build the capacity of the workforce system. I hope that all of you are aware of and, more important, use on a regular basis your regional ADA Center [ http://www.adata.org/network/ ]. If you are not familiar with these Centers and how they can supplement and enhance your work as a Disability Program Navigator, then check out the archive of the Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) / Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 2 Part Webinar Series at: [ http://dpnavigator.net/pages/tr_09.html ]. You will gain a better understanding of the services, resources and supports available to DPNs, One-Stop Career Center staff, partners and employers through the ten regional ADA Centers.

And another resource that I learned about through the DPN network is an ADA Jeopardy game [ http://hawaii.gov/health/adacoordination/hawaiiresources/ ] developed by the Disability and Communication Access Board as a teaching tool for training purposes. It comes with a list of instructions and a PowerPoint.

Under Real Economic Impact, check out the information on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and make sure you share it with One-Stop staff and community partners. This is the time to ensure that jobseekers with disabilities and other eligible recipients are made aware of this tax credit and how to access it. There is also another great resource to share from the Internal Revenue Service that provides an overview of some of the key provisions from the Recovery Act affecting individual tax payers.

Are you accessing and sharing the new Workforce3 One Community of Practice on Disability and Employment [ http://disability.workforce3one.org/ ] found under Websites of Interest???? The purpose of this new section on the Workforce3 One website is to disseminate promising practices to promote the positive employment outcomes of people with disabilities and expand the capacity of the One-Stop Career Center system to serve customers with disabilities. This site compiles information related to disability and employment in one location on Workforce3 One and along with the addition of a new “Disability” super search category will make it easier for users to find this information.

This site includes a “Promising Practices” section, which identifies the successful strategies and promising practices learned by the work that YOU - DPNs do; and provides information, resources, and contact information to assist with replication throughout the workforce system. The site currently includes two DPN Promising Practice videos and 3 information briefs…with more to come. These resources can be very beneficial for you to share with One-stop staff and partners to illustrate the impact of the DPN Initiative. Check them out at: [ http://disability.workforce3one.org/page/tag/promising_practices ]

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

ACTION: Revised Procedures and Criteria for Payment of Vocational Rehabilitation Services Under the Cost Reimbursement Program
Social Security Administration
Advance notice of proposed rulemaking
[Federal Register: December 14, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 238)]
[ http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/E9-29669.htm ]

SUMMARY: SSA is requesting comments on whether and how it should revise its rules governing payment for vocational rehabilitation (VR) services under the cost reimbursement program. SSA’s current regulations do not reflect programmatic changes resulting from the new regulations issued in May of 2008 for the Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program (Ticket to Work program). SSA is requesting comments as part of its ongoing effort to ensure that the regulations governing cost reimbursement for VR services are current and support SSA’s other return to work programs, specifically the Ticket to Work and Work Incentive programs. If SSA proposes specific revisions, it will publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the Federal Register.

This Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) gives you an opportunity to provide input concerning whether and how SSA might revise its procedures and criteria for payments to State VR agencies for VR services provided to disability beneficiaries under the cost reimbursement system. The regulations governing State VR agency cost reimbursement are found in 20 CFR part 404, subpart V, and part 416, subpart V. SSA last published rules for this program in the Federal Register on July 7, 2003. SSA is publishing this ANPRM as part of its ongoing effort to ensure that its criteria are effective and provide accurate guidance regarding the connection between the VR cost reimbursement and Ticket to Work programs.

WHO SHOULD SEND US COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS: SSA invites comments and suggestions from people who have an interest in the rules it uses to administer the VR cost reimbursement program, people who apply for or receive benefits from SSA, members of the general public, State VR agencies, advocates and organizations who represent parties interested in cost reimbursement and the Ticket to Work programs, and others.

Access the URL to read the full announcement including guidance on providing and submitting comments to this ANPRM.

The United States Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and its Federal partners will hold a series of six Listening Sessions across the country on disability employment. Agencies invited to participate in the Listening Sessions include the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA), Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), and Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and Women's Bureau (WB); the Social Security Administration (SSA); the Department of Education (ED); the Office of Personal Management (OPM); and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

ODEP Assistant Secretary Kathleen Martinez is spearheading the 2010 ODEP Listening Tour to gain rich insights into both systemic barriers and best practices to obtain input in three key areas:

February 11 - Chicago, IL
Open to members of the public residing in the United States Department of Labor's REGION V

February 16 - San Francisco, CA
Open to members of the public residing in the United States. Department of Labor's REGION VI

February 24 - Atlanta, GA
Open to members of the public residing in the United States Department of Labor's REGION III

March 3 - Boston, MA
Open to members of the public residing in the United States Department of Labor's REGION I

UPCOMING EVENTS OF INTEREST

Workforce3 One Webinar Invitation: Indian and Native American Stakeholder Listening Session
Uunited States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration
February 3, 2010 at 3pm Eastern (2pm/Central, 1pm/Mountain, 12pm/Pacific)
[ http://www.workforce3one.org/view/5000934233737920191/info ]

One of the key priorities set forth by Assistant Secretary Jane Oates is to better engage with disadvantaged and disconnected populations, and assist them in connecting to the workforce investment system. To support this goal, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will host a national Indian and Native American Stakeholder listening session via telephone and webinar. The listening session will be an opportunity for the ETA Leadership to hear about the unique employment, training and labor related issues faced by Indian and Native American workers, and engage in dialogue on how to make better connections between stakeholders, ETA, and the workforce system.

The listening session will incorporate a brief initial presentation on the Secretary of Labor's vision of good jobs for everyone and the Assistant Secretary’s commitment to orient the workforce system to better serve lower income and disadvantaged communities, including promoting a paradigm of proactive outreach and engagement. The bulk of the session will be a substantive question and response period where participants will submit questions over the phone and via on-line chat, so please come prepared with your questions and ideas!

REGISTRATION
Registration for this Webinar is limited and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please click the link below to login to Workforce3 One and register today!

Once you have an account, you can proceed to register for the listening session.

AUDIO PORTION
If you do not have internet access, you can participate over the phone by dialing in to 1-888-601-4776 and using this access code: 9925364

ACCOMMODATIONS
If you are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have speech disabilities and captioning would facilitate your participation in this Webinar, you can register for captioning service through the Federal Relay Conference Captioning. Please note the Federal Relay Service requires at least 48 hours notice (2 working days) to guarantee coverage. For more information, visit [ http://www.workforce3one.org/page/webinarcaptioning ]

Ticket to Work February Work Incentive Seminar Events
Social Security Administration
[ www.cessi.net/wise/ ].

The conference, which represents the largest meeting on learning disabilities in the world, will include the latest research and dialogue on learning disabilities, including specific workshops on Medical, Mental Health, Teacher Preparation, Public Policy, Adults, Assessment, Research, etc.

Who Should Attend this Conference: Adults with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Parents of children with learning disabilities and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Teachers of special education and general education, Principals, Administrators, Counselors, Social Workers, Researchers, Medical and Mental Health Professionals, Education Policy Advocates and College Student Support Personnel.

Forum 2010: Preparing a Competitive Workforce -- Reflection, Reinvestment, Recovery
National Association of Workforce Boards
Renaissance Hotel
Washington, DC
March 6 through 9, 2010
[ http://www.nawb.org/forum/ ].

February Work Incentive Seminar Events (WISE): Helping Beneficiaries Make Informed Choices About Work

Free Work Incentive Seminar Events (WISE) will be held during the month of February to learn about the Ticket to Work Program or other Social Security Work Incentives. WISE are community events held by local organizations for beneficiaries to learn more about available work incentives through accessible, informal, learning opportunities.

Attend a WISE to connect with local training and employment resources, explore opportunities to increase income, and network with other job seekers and employers. Local Work Incentive Planning and Assistance (WIPA) projects will be hosting 28 WISE Events in 18 states in February. Following is a list of the locations and dates of those upcoming events.

For more information or to sign up for a WISE Event in your area, access [ www.cessi.net/wise ] or call 1-877-743-8237 (voice or TTY). If there is not currently an event scheduled in your area, please check the web site often as events are added frequently.

Ticket to Work is a voluntary employment program for people with disabilities administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The Ticket program offers people receiving Social Security disability benefits age 18 through 26 expanded opportunities to obtain the services and supports that they need to work and to achieve their employment goals. SSA does this by paying approved providers of services, referred to as “Employment Networks” or “ENs”, for assisting beneficiaries to reach designated Milestones and Outcomes associated with achieving self-supporting employment. An EN can be any agency or organization that provides or is equipped to provide employment- related services and supports to individuals who have disabilities. For more information regarding the Ticket to Work program, please visit CESSI’s Frequently Asked Questions web page: [ http://www.cessi.net/ttw/faqs/index.asp ]

RESOURCES OF INTEREST

Find Your Regional ADA Center
Publications of the DBTAC: Mid-Atlantic ADA Center
[ http://www.adainfo.org/ ].

The ADA National Network is a national network of 10 regional ADA Centers that provide the most complete and experienced services for up-to-date information, referrals, resources, and training on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to businesses, employers, government entities, and individuals with disabilities.

Technical Assistance
The ADA Centers maintain a national toll free information line, (800) 949-4232 (V /TTY), and each Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC, i.e., ADA Center) responds to calls generated from within its regional service area. Technical assistance specialists provide information and answer questions on employment, architectural access, effective communication and other issues. The centers serve a variety of audiences, including employers, individuals with disabilities, government officials, business operators, architects, educators and disability service providers. All calls are strictly confidential.

Trainings
The DBTACs provide an array of training programs throughout the country, ranging from Web courses to on-site, customized sessions for employers, government agencies, disability organizations, architectural firms and others. Check out the training activities at: [ http://www.adata.org/training/index.html ]

Materials
The DBTACs maintain an online, searchable database of ADA and disability-related publications, ranging from legal documents to user-friendly fact sheets and checklists. Check out the ADA Document Portal at: [ http://www.adata.org/documents/index.html ].

Resources
The DBTACs offer a variety of regional and national resources, including customized news feeds. Check out the resources at: [ http://www.adata.org/resources/index.html ].

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Jeopardy
Disability and Communication Access Board ADA Coordination and Resources
[ http://hawaii.gov/health/adacoordination/hawaiiresources/ ]
The contents of this ADA Jeopardy Game was developed by the Disability and Communication Access Board, State of Hawaii, with thanks to the National Center on Accessibility for the development of the Jeopardy template using Microsoft PowerPoint software. Replication and use of the game is encouraged as long as it is being used for education and not-for-profit purposes.

This game is based upon the television show “Jeopardy” in which players are given “the ANSWER” and must provide the “QUESTION.” Since this ADA Jeopardy game is a teaching tool for training purposes, rather than a competition, it is suggested that the ADA Jeopardy game be played with a variation on the exactness of the response depending upon the sophistication of the audience. An audience of ADA Coordinators or disability advocates should be able to provide exact wording responses. On the other hand, an audience of the general public or novices may often respond with the correct concept but may not always have the exact wording, especially if the response is a phrase and not a single word. Thus, trainer discretion is suggested in terms of acceptance of a correct response.

Access the URL and clink on the links to ADA Jeopardy “Instructions” and “Download PowerPoint.”

REAL ECONOMIC IMPACT

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates one in four eligible taxpayers will overlook the Earned Income Tax Credit - or EITC - worth up to $5,600 or more this year. EITC is a refundable tax credit, meaning an eligible tax recipient can get money back even if they owe no federal income tax or had no tax withheld. And, if an eligible tax recipient does owe taxes, it can offset the amount that must be paid. The credit has been making the lives of working people a little easier for 35 years. Yet it remains little known, possibly because people move into and out of eligibility as their income, marital statuses and parental statuses change.

Unlike other tax credits, EITC is based on a combination of factors such as the source and amount of an individual’s income, or combined income if married, whether there are qualifying children and how many. Although children are not required for eligibility, they increase the amount of credit. Through new legislation, families with three or more children can get even more money.

The credit is complex, but worth exploring. It's even more valuable if an individual’s state has a corresponding tax credit. Individuals who received less than $48,000 in income from wages, self-employment or farming in 2009, should see if they quality at: [ www.irs.gov/eitc ]. Use IRS's online EITC Assistant to determine eligibility and the amount of credit, or use the worksheet that comes with the tax instruction package.

No-cost help is available in many communities. Volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) sites or IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers will compute the EITC and prepare tax returns at no charge. To locate a volunteer site, call your community's 211 or 311 number for local services or call the IRS at 1-800-906-9887. Locate an IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center in the blue pages of your telephone directory.

This seven-page resource provides an overview of some of the key American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provisions affecting individual taxpayers. Many of the IRS Forms and Publications referenced as additional resources are under revision due to the new tax law provisions. They are scheduled for release prior to the 2010 Filing Season. Publication 553, Highlights of Tax Changes, and IRS.gov should be used for additional information until the other Forms and Publications are available with the ARRA information.

WEBSITES OF THE WEEK

Navigating the services and resources available for assisting people with disabilities to obtain quality employment is like fitting together the pieces of a puzzle. America cannot successfully compete in a global economy without fully engaging the 33 million working-age people with disabilities in our workforce. As we meet our goal of “Good Jobs for Everyone,” the public workforce system needs to expand its capacity to provide integrated, seamless, and accessible services and programs to people with disabilities and/or other challenges to employment.

To achieve this goal and building upon lessons learned from the Employment and Training Administration’s Disability Program Navigator (DPN) initiative, the workforce system is collaborating with a wide range of partners to help people with disabilities obtain meaningful and effective employment opportunities.

The purpose of this new section on the Workforce3 One website is to disseminate promising practices to promote the positive employment outcomes of people with disabilities and expand the capacity of the One-Stop Career Center system to serve customers with disabilities. This site compiles information related to disability and employment in one location on Workforce3 One and along with the addition of a new “Disability” super search category will make it easier for users to find this information.

The disability and employment resources included under categories 2 through 4 are further subdivided into the type of resource including

Each source includes a web link, a brief description, and additional contact information (phone / e-mail), where applicable.

As a part of the Open Government Directive, each agency in the federal government is responsible for publishing a plan that describes how it will improve transparency and integrate public participation and collaboration into its activities. As a part of this process the Department of Labor will be asking for your input on how it can better be of service. Access the website to learn how you can provide comments through email, Twitter, or Facebook and ways to keep informed about Labor general activities and Open Government Initiative:

PUBLICATIONS OF THE WEEK

Last fall, the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth) released a policy brief entitled “Supporting Transition to Adulthood Among Youth with Mental Health Needs: Action Steps for Policymakers.” This policy brief provides specific recommendations to aid policymakers across youth-serving systems to better serve youth with mental health needs. The following recommendations appear in the report:

This policy brief is one in a series that NCWD/Youth published based on four major reports released in the last few years focusing on transition-age youth with mental health needs. This Policy Brief calls attention to the challenges faced by youth and young adults with mental health needs during their transition to adulthood and provides information to help policymakers at the state and local level develop and improve service delivery systems for this population.