A New Formula for Success in Montana: Choice + Flexibility
by Roger Shelley,
Organizational Consultant, The Rural Institute
Tom Hayes, Program Manager, Montana Job Training Partnership
Lisa Newman, Program Specialist, Montana Job Training Partnership
Cary Griffin, Director of Training,
The Rural Institute
This article was produced through a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, Title III Disability Demonstration Project.
Introduction
The Montana/Wyoming Careers Through Partnerships Project is a U.S. Department of Labor initiative to help people with disabilities re-enter the workforce. The Rural Institute Training Department at the University of Montana worked collaboratively with the Montana Job Training Partnership (MJTP) on Careers Through Partnerships. For this project, the Department of Labor asked, "What do people with disabilities need to be successful?" The answer to this question was a new formula for success: choice + flexibility, and the successful outcomes it produced profoundly surprised us. October 22, 1999
Results
What are the results of this new formula for success? How are outcomes affected when consumer choice and funding flexibility define the services delivered to people with disabilities who seek employment?
Costs are nominal. Employment takes off. Half of the participants are self-employed.
The project began the year with $127,000 for Montana participants to use for employment goods and services in "personal accounts." The initial goal was for 21 Montanans with disabilities (as defined by the Rehabilitation Act) to find work, and the projected cost for workforce reentry was estimated at $3,500 to $5,000 per person. By June of 1999, 62 people had accessed the project funds and found work or were moving toward their career goals. Thirty-one participants (50%) opted for sole proprietorship self-employment, and thirty-one (50%) chose more conventional employment situations ranging from receptionist to truck driver. Cost per person was around $4,000 and ranged from a low of $616 to a high of $10,352. Estimated average cost to this project to start a business was $4,112. The estimated average cost to this project for goods and services to obtain more conventional employment was $4,281. Of the 62 participants, 28 are also authorized for Vocational Rehabilitation services and received an average of $2,100 each for services not covered by this Department of Labor project. Two received funds through micro-loans for business expenses, and four Social Security Plans for Achieving Self Support (PASS plans) have been written and submitted to Social Security. One of these was written by the job seeker, not the professional vocational consultant.
The Power of Choice
The choice half of the equation is consumer career choice. Choice in employment and employment services has been given quite a bit of air time over the years, and has been advocated by groups serving people with disabilities. However, choice may have been limited by those service providers or agencies either directly, owing to perceived lack of funding or staff time, or indirectly, in the assertion that the people making the choices had limited abilities to make choices for themselves. One of the primary tenents of Supported Employment and Supported Self-Employment is that people are free to make any choice that appeals to them and that necessary supports will be added to ensure success in the chosen employment venture (Griffin, 1999). The Montana/Wyoming Careers Through Partnerships Project has defined itself by offering career choice to people with disabilities on an unprecedented level, using best practices from Supported Employment. Working with people to identify their work preferences and choose a career path is the job of the service provider and employment consultant. The service provider, employment consultant, and employment seeker became partners in this process.
Through the Careers Through Partnerships project, the Rural Institute provided extensive training and technical assistance to service providers, vocational providers (including Montana Vocational Rehabilitation), and professional employment consultants. Providers learned new skills for helping people with disabilities—the people we as employment consultants serve. The skills focused on helping people with disabilities choose careers they want and work toward their career goals, rather than simply maneuvering people with disabilities into whatever work came along. Training topics on consumer choice included:
- person-centered career planning,
- community development,
- employment development,
- job carving,
- situational assessment, and
- entrepreneurship.
The better the employment consultant knows the person he/she is serving and how that individual fits into the community, the greater the likelihood of success. Vocational profiling, person-centered career planning, and functional assessments are accepted, structured methods of learning about a job seeker, but less formal means are sometimes as productive. The employment consultant learns about someone's interests, ambitions, and abilities at a pace and in the place that the job seeker dictates. This may include conversations that take place in the office, but any community setting that the person chooses is quite acceptable—where ever the person feels comfortable expressing his/her choice. Be prepared to learn from the person. Let him/her lead you through his/her life. Use the power of observation and intuition when interacting with the employment seeker. Gather all the information needed and establish a working relationship that has real power for success.
Facilitating choice may not ensure 100% success
for the people we serve, but not listening to choices, making
judgements concerning personal choices, abilities, and people's
motives, and allowing those judgements to affect your support
will certainly hinder your partnership with people with disabilities
and hamper success in the endeavor.
| Facilitating Choice: What It Takes from the Employment Consultant
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Flexibility
The flexibility part of the equation included resource sharing and funding flexibility. Careers Through Partnerships actually had money available for people with disabilities to pay for employment and job development services, including vocational services. These funds could be combined with funds from other sources to get the job seeker back into the workforce. As a result, the project established partnerships with other service agencies to enhance available funding and access community resources that develop employment opportunities for all people.
All of the service personnel associated with
this project shared control of the employment process with their
partners. Everyone understood that partnerships are based upon
sharing control and responsibility.
Because of this understanding, and because the focus was on consumer
choice, everyone's roles remained flexible throughout the process.
The employment consultants became resource developers and facilitators
for employment, not the primary decision-makers in the process.
Accountability for outcomes was equally apportioned to all of
the resource partners, including related community members. In
this process, the service providers relinquished
a great deal of the control of the situation. As it turned out,
this one aspect had positive consequences on the operation of
the project. Employment consultants found that the resources involved
in building a prosperous employment venture reside not only in
the monetary resources brought into play, but also in the fabric
of the community itself. The community sees one person's success
as everyone's success. Community resource development and integration
becomes the employment consultant's primary responsibility to
the person being supported. The consultant's ability to find and
implement a variety of supports, both monetary and non-paid, and
the readiness to offer technical assistance to the job seeker,
are of the utmost importance. Technical assistance to job seekers
includes:
- Sharing a clear vision of success with the person and being willing and able to do what it takes to facilitate success.
- Making recommendations concerning goals and implementation of supports.
- Making recommendations concerning business logistics.
- Modifying business plans and applications.
- Identifying and facilitating business/employment supports.
- Supplying information and techniques to maximize success.
Service agencies leveraged available funding and community resources to improve employment opportunities. Inventiveness and networking within the community were encouraged in initial training sessions, which included service providers and job seekers with disabilities who were accessing services from these organizations. These job seekers were paid to participate in the training. Their presence made the training reality-based and functional. Partnerships among service agencies grew and provided an effective use of available funding to facilitate employment for people with disabilities. Service provider costs for the individual agencies decreased as funding streams were joined and expanded. Given choice and support, both by the service agencies and the community, people with disabilities accessed far less money per person than was originally projected and were highly satisfied with the services provided.
Money was supplied for vocational services, business development, business equipment and supplies, short-term schooling, and a myriad of other expenses that were needed for the success of the person. The primary funding mechanism for direct services through this project was the United States Department of Labor and Montana Job Training Partnership. Since 28 of the participants also received services from Vocational Rehabilitation, funding was available from that agency.
Sources of Funding
for Self-employment
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Agencies that supported people with developmental disabilities and mental illness used existing funds and resources, which were already allocated to the person. Micro loans were secured for items that could not be procured through Department of Labor or Vocational Rehabilitation. Social Security Work Incentives, in the form of Plans to Achieve Self-Support (PASS), augmented these other sources of money. Although not utilized during the current year, a lump sum unemployment payment (instead of the 26 weekly payments) could have been utilized for business start-up funding, and will likely be used in year two.
Community Business
Development Resources
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Self-Employment
During the first year of the Montana/Wyoming Careers Through Partnerships Project, a number of people with disabilities opted for self-employment. Primarily, this is due to two factors: 1.) Real supported choice for people with disabilities; and 2.) Funding flexibility from the Department of Labor and Vocational Rehabilitation, who are promoting partnerships with other public and private funders to increase the range of employment opportunities. Early results indicate that these factors may lead to increased employment for people with disabilities and a corresponding rise in their quality of life and access to their communities.
Several existing community business development resources can be utilized when facilitating self-employment opportunities for the entrepreneur with disabilities. Economic development personnel are often an excellent first call. They can keep you informed on business trends, new business starts, and businesses in search of assets to enable growth. Local Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs) can help write business plans and help facilitate funding to establish a small business. Many are also business incubators, which offer space, management, and logistical services to entrepreneurs during the start up phase. Business mentors may be found among the membership of SCORE, an organization of retired executives (attached to the Small Business Administration). Business management and marketing services may be supplied by business students at a local university who are required to complete projects related to business operation. Local Small Business Administration personnel provide information on business loans and recommendations on the application process. Business Leadership Network (BLN), a project of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, members may be enlisted for marketing and business profitability information, and as networking agents in the community. Local bankers or members of service clubs may offer guidance in establishing a business. Community members and family may be able to supply limited funding or assistance for starting the business. The list of resources available at no/low cost is as unlimited as the employment consultant's imagination and existing community connections. The identification of connections that already exist for the employment seeker within the community and their mobilization is always necessary for a truly effective employment endeavor, and is a function of getting to know the person within his/her environment.