How does the person with a disability access a system that is comprehensive by definition, and is designed to serve all state citizens in their search for decent employment? What about all of the benefits that the person may receive from the various federal and state agencies? How will these be affected when the person begins to earn income from a job?

Editor’s Note:
With the passage of the Work Force Investment Act and the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act, the landscape for employment service providers has changed dramatically. This newsletter was developed to be a resource for those service providers who will be serving people with disabilities seeking employment.

In March of 2000, the U.S. Department of Labor and the President’s Committee on Employment for People with Disabilities released requests for Work Incentive Grants that were meant to address, through training and technical assistance, these and other problems confronting people with disabilities accessing this new One-Stop system. The projects were subsequently awarded to twelve states, among them Montana.

The ultimate goal for the Montana “Diverse Abilities Project” was to “make universality and seamless services a reality so that the same employment and training services are available to individuals with disabilities as to individuals who do not have a disability.”

Various barriers in the state and local Workforce Investment Act (WIA) system were identified, among these were:

• Front-line WIA staff had limited knowledge of federal employment and training programs and resources associated with disability related systems
• Service providers did not have access to appropriate assessment and screening instruments in order to determine whether or not customers have learning or other disabilities that may cause barriers to self-sustaining employment
• Complexity of Social Security Work Incentives, their implementation, and impact upon work
• Accessibility and assistive technology in the Workforce Centers
• Lack of knowledge by local disability services providers concerning resources available under the WIA

Project Activities

In order to address the identified barriers, five activities were to be initiated:

1) Training and technical assistance to establish a Benefits Analysis Certification Program for One-Stop staff and partner agency staff

2) Provide professional development and technical assistance on topics including:
• the Workforce Investment Act,
• Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act (TWWIIA),
• Medicaid and health issues,
• Social Security Work Incentives,
• Plans to Achieve Self Support (PASS),
• job development and job carving for people with disabilities,
• supported employment,
• assistive technology, and
• self-employment for people with disabilities

3) The marketing of Workforce Investment programs to other state and local entities such as Vocational Rehabilitation, disability organizations, educational institutions, School-to-Work and transition teams, and all other interested agencies

4) Creation of an Assessment Task Force charged with the testing of assessment and diagnostic tools in the One-Stop Centers; developing guidelines for providing services to people with learning and other disabilities; and identifying training opportunities for front-line staff operating in the Workforce Investment system

5) To convene a statewide conference to highlight implementation issues and “best practices” pertaining to the service coordination of the One-Stop partners for job seekers with disabilities

Project Accomplishments

• The first round of benefits analysis training has been completed. These training sessions were two and one-half days in length and covered topics related to the effect of employment and wages on people’s Social Security benefits, Medicaid, housing costs, and food stamps. Information concerning accessing WIA funding for employment goals was made available to participants by representatives of the various Workforce Investment partners, and Social Security Work Incentives were covered. WIA personnel, vocational rehabilitation counselors, provider personnel, and people with disabilities attended the sessions.

• Nearly 2,000 hours of technical assistance and training have been provided to project participants, and almost 3,000 people have received these services from project personnel.

• Dissemination of project materials and information beyond the original scope of the grant has occurred, and will be on-going.

• Some WIA Montana Department of Labor personnel have become involved in funding support services, and writing PASS plans to fund employment goals for people with disabilities.

Eight, one-day training sessions for WIA personnel are being planned for the summer and fall of 2002. These sessions will be held in eight locations around Montana, in order to better serve the WIA partner organizations. Emphasis will be on serving people with disabilities in the state’s One-Stop Centers.