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
18 September 2009
Good morning everyone!
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.
Have a great weekend!
***NEW CONTACT INFORMATION***
Laura Gleneck
Project Coordinator
NDI Technical Assistance Team
Phone: 781-899-0139
Fax: 781-642-0895
[ E–mail lgleneck@ndi-inc.org ]
[ http://www.dpnavigator.net ]
Good morning Navigators,
Access, Accommodation and Assistive Technology
[ http://dpnavigator.net/pages/training.html ]
Hhhhmmmm, as a Navigator what steps can you take to help address access and accommodations issues in the workforce area(s) that you cover? There have been several Disability Program Navigator Frequently Asked Questions that have been developed to provide Navigators with some strategies and resources to do just that.
Another great resource for you is the Issue Brief, Access for All Customers: Universal Strategies for One-Stop Career Centers, as described under Publications of Interest. You can access the brief directly at: [ http://www.communityinclusion.org/article.php?article_id=268 ]
Finally, two archived DPN webinars featuring the Job Accommodation Network and Disability and Business Technical Assistance Center (DBTAC) Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) are great resources:
This two-part series provides:
REMINDERS
[Includes some additional information, so be sure to read below.]October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM) and
21 October 2009 is Disability Mentoring Day (DMD)
Navigators, it is that time of year again to start preparting for the 2009 National Disability Employment Awareness Month and Disability Mentoring Day. Over the years, the national DPN Program Office and and the national TA provider have been really inspired by the different activities and events communities have planned to raise awareness during these national annual events.
Let us know what activities you are planning this year for NDEAM
and we will produce a chart that incorporates the activities and events you have planned for October and circulate it among the projects. If you would like to receive a copy of a chart that highlights what many DPNs did for last year’s celebration (you may get some ideas of different things that you can implement in your area) and/or to submit your activities and events for this year, please send an e-mail to youLaura Gleneck [ E–mail lgleneck@ndi-inc.org ] or DJ at [
To help you begin to spread the message, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy has copies of the 2009 National Disability Employment Awareness Month poster available depicting this year’s theme, Expectation + Opportunity = Full Participation, which captures the vital role that expectations play in our successes as individuals and as a society. We must ensure that both people with disabilities and their employers expect that they will fully participate in our workplaces. Such an expectation alone, however, is not enough. They must also have opportunity. People with disabilities need access to a full range of employment choices to maximize their talents. With both the expectation and opportunity.
The NDEAM
2009 Poster is available in both English and Spanish. The posters are available in one size, 20” x 15,” at no cost to you. To order online, go to:[ http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/rc/odep.htm ] .
The maximum order is One Hundred posters. You may also download .PDF
versions of the posters at [ http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/ndeam09.pdf. ]
We look forward to learning how your community will be celebrating NDEAM and DMD this year!
EXTRA…..EXTRA….
Please take some time to peruse the table of contents and check out the resources / information that may be helpful to you and your community as you work to provide more effective and meaningful employment opportunities for job seekers with disabilities. In particular, check out the disability employment resources, which may be great information to share with your Business Services Team to help educate employers on employing job seekers with disabilities.
Also, throughout the month of October, the national DPN Program Office will be featuring some of the NDEAM
and DMD
activities shared by DPNs on a soon to be unveiled disability landing page, so make sure you share your activities.
Happy Friday!
On Saturday, September 5th, President Obama announced during his weekly radio address that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will provide taxpayers with the opportunity to buy United States Savings Bonds with their tax refunds. You can access the President's announcement at [ http://www.whitehouse.gov/weekly_address/ ]. The IRS Stakeholder, Partnerships, Education and Communication) Disability Initiative (SPEC) takes much pride in this announcement. SPEC Headquarters worked with national and local partners (spearheaded by the D2D Fund and the Savings Bond Working Group) who have advocated for the inclusion of this asset building opportunity as part of the tax return filing process. Many local Earned Income Tax Coalitions (EITC) coalitions and SPEC Territory Offices have been at the forefront of this work through the Savings Bonds Pilot that has been ongoing since 2006.
At this point in time, the logistics and operating procedures for implementing this option are not fully developed. SPEC is working closely with our IRS internal stakeholders to ensure we have the most up to date information. Additionally, SPEC is working on an action plan to ensure that its national and local partners and most importantly the taxpayers, have the information they need to fully implement this option in the 2010 Filing Season. For now, the goal is to provide information that gives a global perspective of the option for the 2010 Filing Season.
To help provide you background information on the option, please review the attached Questions and Answers document. Additionally, please visit [ www.irs.gov ] for more information on not only the Savings Bond Initiative announced by the President but also other Retirement Initiatives (see URL
link above).
Leadership for the Employment of Americans with Disabilities (LEAD) Initiative
U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EFOC)
[ http://eeoc.gov/initiatives/lead/index.html ]
LEAD (Leadership for the Employment of Americans with Disabilities) is the EEOC's initiative to address the declining number of employees with targeted disabilities in the federal workforce. The goal for this initiative is to significantly increase the population of individuals with severe disabilities employed by the federal government. Please check the LEAD Update link on the right hand side of the home page for information on past and future events.
This national outreach and education campaign seeks to:
Please note that the LEAD initiative is not an employment program. Rather, LEAD staff is working to encourage federal agencies to hire and advance more individuals with severe disabilities. Thus, LEAD is not directly involved with individual hiring decisions. For information on current vacancies in the federal government, please visit [ www.usajobs.opm.gov ] and/or the website of individual federal agencies. Additionally, job seekers may find useful information on the OPM Disability Resource page - [ http://www.opm.gov/disability/ ].
Presenters:
Moderator:
Randee Chafkin, Senior Program Specialist for Disability Programs, DAS, OWI, ETA
The Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiative was initially funded in 2003 to expand the capacity of the One-Stop Career Center system to serve customers with disabilities by providing accessible, seamless, and integrated services. There are now over 420 Navigators in 42 states, DC, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico. In addition to creating systemic change, the Navigators act as facilitators to bring together multiple partners in the One-Stop Career Centers to develop an integrated resource team approach with the purpose of blending and braiding resources around an individual customer’s employment needs. This Webinar will highlight how the Oregon DPN project is using the IRT model to develop individual employment plans for job seekers with disabilities, as well as to coordinate resources across the workforce and disability systems to address multiple employment needs. Replication strategies will also be discussed.
This Webinar will highlight the promising strategies that the Oregon DPN project developed and implemented to facilitate enrollment in WIA intensive services for job seekers who have disabilities and/or multiple barriers to employment. These practices include: developing and implementing Career Mapping Workshops; Resource Planning and Coordination Techniques; and Integrated Resource Teams. The Career Mapping Workshop was implemented as a core service workshop that was available to all jobseekers throughout the state. A key component of the success of this practice which let to the expansion/replication from one pilot region to every region in the states s was compiling the requisite outcome data to document success and return on investment. The Navigator role in this process was to provide extensive training around resources coordination (including the facilitation and creation of IRTs) to WIA staff at the One-Stop Career Centers and to assist them in implementing the employment plans generated through these practices. The positive outcomes were: the WIA system provided more intensive services to untapped labor pools; WIA performance measures were exceeded for these populations; and WIA -service providers increased access to community-based services and resources for their enrolled WIA -job seekers. This Webinar will discuss how to: develop and implement an IRT; develop individual employment plans that leverage resources from multiple partners to benefit the jobseekers with multiple employment challenges including disabilities; compile outcome data; and replicate the other promising practices in your local One-Strop Career Center.
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!
[ http://www.workforce3one.org/view/5000903337502778050/info ]
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. ]
The Social Security Administration (SSA), CESSI , the Ticket to Work Program Manager for Recruitment and Outreach (PMRO), and PMRO partner, National Disability Institute (NDI), invite you to participate in a Ticket to Work Training webinar for One-Stop staff, Workforce Investment Board members, and One-Stop Operators interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the Employment Network (EN) operations as it pertains to One-Stop Career Centers who are interested in becoming an EN, or are currently an EN .
The learning objectives for the Ticket 201
for One Stops webinar are:
REGISTRATION
To participate in this webinar, please register at [ www.cessi.net/ttw ] (click on the Ticket 201 for One Stops icon).
If you would like more information on Ticket to Work please contact:
Emily Malsch, Team Lead, EN Recruitment
National EN
Specialist: One-Stops
CESSI, Program Manager for Recruitment and Outreach
[ Telephone] 703-448-6155 ext. 203
[ E–mail emalsch@cessi.net ]
You may also visit [ www.cessi.net/ttw ], [ www.yourtickettowork.com ] or [ www.ssa.gov/work ] for more information on the Ticket program.
If you have problems registering for this webinar, please call 607-255-9364, or email Erika Eckstrom at E–mail: ee224@cornell.edu ]
JAN will be providing three 1.5 hour Webcast sessions to begin the first week of December 2009 . The three part series will cover the hiring and employment of people with disabilities in the Federal government and the reasonable accommodation process. JAN welcomes guest speakers from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office of Personnel Management, DoD's Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program, and the USDA TARGET Center. Audience members will include federal disability program managers, hiring managers, supervisors, EEO representatives, selective placement coordinators, and others who may be involved in hiring and managing workers in the Federal government.
December 2, 2009
2:00 pm Eastern
Hiring People with Disabilities in the Federal Government
JAN
welcomes Jo Linda Johnson, Special Assistant, Office of the Acting Vice Chair, from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Kelly Woodall, Human Resources Specialist, from the Office of Personnel Management.
1/06/2010
2:00 pm Eastern
Best Practices in the Employment of People with Disabilities in the Federal Government
JAN
welcomes Jeanne Goldberg, Senior Attorney Advisor, from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
February 3, 2010
2:00 pm Eastern
Reasonable Accommodation Process in the Federal Government
JAN
welcomes Dinah Cohen, Director, from the Computer/Electronic Accommodations Program, Department of Defense, and Kevin Curtin, Director, USDA TARGET Center.
REGISTRATION
Registration is now open at: [ www.jan.wvu.edu/webcast/RegisterFed/ ].
Get an edge in recruiting, hiring and retaining qualified federal employees with disabilities. Attend the 28th Annual Perspectives on Employment of Persons with Disabilities Conference to find the latest information on personnel policies and practices, developments in technology, legal updates, and resources that will help your agency achieve its goals. Through workshops, keynote speakers and a general session you will hear from key officials and experts knowledgeable in disability employment issues in the federal sector. Perspectives also offers a unique opportunity to learn from and network with your federal colleagues from across the nation in an informal and comfortable setting. Federal HR and EEO specialists, hiring managers, and others who manage employment matters concerning persons with disabilities should attend the Perspectives Conference!
Access the URL
for more information including registration.
RESOURCES OF INTEREST
This website provides information targeted to employers on:
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) provides employers with a benefit for hiring job seekers most in need of employment including:
By participating in the WOTC
program, employers:
The U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) website has a whole new look and feel. Updated navigation, additional browsing options, and an innovative toolbox are just a few of the state-of-the-art features intended to help users readily access important and timely content. Stay tuned for even more new features in the coming months.
The home page has a “Browse by Topic, Audience, Location” feature and one category is “Disability Resources.” In addition, in the upper right hand corner, there is an “Advanced Search” field, where you can enter key words like “disability” to find resources/information on disability and employment on DOL’s website.
[The following is excerpted from the Introduction.]
One-Stop Career Centers serve a diverse range of customers. These include individuals with a variety of educational and work backgrounds, people from diverse racial, linguistic and ethnic cultures, as well as individuals with a wide range of disabilities and support needs. One way of addressing the needs of this diverse customer base is to develop services and systems that respond to the needs of each of these groups. However, this can be expensive and labor-intensive. A more effective way to serve this broad customer pool is to provide One-Stop services according to the principles of what is known as "universal design," using common strategies that benefit many groups‚ and that reinforce the concept of an inclusive setting that welcomes and celebrates diversity. To find a manageable approach to meet the needs of their many customers, One-Stop Career Centers can think universally about how they design their physical space, service delivery systems, and customer resources. For example, the barriers faced by people who cannot read are similar despite the cause (e.g. cognitive disability, illiteracy, or limited English proficiency). Therefore, the strategies to overcome this barrier and allow customers to benefit from One-Stop services will be similar.
This proactive approach lessens the extent of service specialization that may be required to meet the needs of some audiences. When services are designed universally, they are more likely to benefit job seekers with a wide range of learning styles, languages, educational levels, intelligences, and abilities, allowing the One-Stop to meet customer needs in a more efficient fashion.