Volume 17 Number 2 • 2004
Great Tips & Techniques for Strategic Planning
By Mike Flaherty, The University of Montana
Rural Institute
The Ticket to Work is not for everyone.
Not every ticket holder will benefit from the Ticket, and not
every organization will benefit by serving Ticket holders as an
Employment Network (EN). According to Maximus, the firm managing
the Ticket, the Ticket will apply to only 30,500 people across
the country.
Having said that, there are scenarios in which the opportunities
presented by the Ticket can result in win-win outcomes for everyone.
The application to become an EN is not difficult to complete,
so many organizations have nothing to lose by filling it out, and
then judiciously serving Ticket holders for whom they are likely
to receive payment. These organizations may elect to be paid under
the Outcome/Milestone payment system, choosing to receive lower
payments that come more quickly, instead of higher payments that
are delayed because they require sustained employment with earnings
consistently over the Substantial Gainful Activity level (SGA,
$810/month in 2004).
Following are a few examples of situations that can benefit an
organization when that organization is debating whether or not
to enroll as an EN. These examples are not all inclusive, and
represent just a sampling of situations where an organization can
either
generate new money, or recoup some of the funds it would be spending
anyway.
CILs as an EN
Perhaps you are a Center for Independent Living (CIL), or other
community organization that routinely employs people with disabilities.
If you enroll as an EN, and serve a Ticket holder, you could be
eligible to receive payment for services in the following scenarios:
-
You have an employee with a Ticket who is currently grossing
less than the SGA level, but who could be working more hours, or
could be promoted to a higher paying position. If you provide any
service to that employee that results in the employee grossing
over the SGA level, you can receive payment under the Ticket to
Work. That service might be locating the higher paying position
within your organization, or providing benefits counseling around
the prospect of higher earnings.
- You are advertising for a new employee to fill a position
that pays at least the SGA level. If a prospective candidate for
the position holds a Ticket that he/she is willing to assign to
you as the EN, and you then hire that person, you are eligible
to receive payment under the Ticket to Work for locating the job.
- Perhaps your Center already offers some measure of accessible
transportation to consumers. If someone assigns their Ticket to
your Center as their EN, and the transportation you provide allows
the person to accept a job and get to work with the result that
the person grosses over the SGA amount you can receive payment
as an EN under the Ticket to Work.
- Maybe a consumer (or employee) comes to you wanting to
go to work, or who is already working, but is grossing less than
SGA. If that person assigns their Ticket to you, and you write
a PASS plan that helps the person get a job paying SGA or more,
or increase their wage so they are grossing SGA or more, you are
eligible for payment under the Ticket.
Tribal VR Agency
Because Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies (TVR) are
currently funded as a five-year grant, they don’t receive
the reimbursements from Social Security that state Vocational
Rehabilitation (VR) agencies can receive when they have “successful
closures” after providing services. If you are a TVR, you
have a finite amount of money each year that you use to serve
whoever comes your way seeking assistance to work. If you enroll
as an EN, you can receive payment for your services when someone
assigns their Ticket to you and you provide any service that
results in the person grossing over SGA. You won’t want
to serve all your consumers under the Ticket, but you can benefit
by acting as an EN when there is a high likelihood that the person
will gross over SGA. You would continue to serve everyone else
(meaning people not likely to consistently gross over SGA) in
your typical capacity as a TVR.
One-Stops &
Workforce Investment Boards
Many of you haven't realized that you are eligible to
enroll as ENs. Perhaps the thought never occurred to you because
you have only recently begun to serve increasing numbers of people
with disabilities as a regular part of your day-to-day operations.
With the increase in the number of customers with disabilities,
One-Stops are becoming increasingly more knowledgeable about
some of the resources available to persons with disabilities.
Along with the Ticket to Work, those resources might include
Social Security Plans for Achieving Self Support (PASS plans)
and additional funding from state and tribal VR agencies.
How Creative Can ENs Be?
Surprisingly, you can be very creative. Some ENs are sharing
their payments with the consumers they serve as a way to assure
that consumers continue to report their wages to the EN for the
entire time the EN is eligible to receive Ticket payments. This
is perfectly legal and allowable, and helps the EN obtain the
monthly documentation it needs to submit to Maximus in order
to receive reimbursement.
Other ENs are sharing payments with employers once someone is
placed and begins to earn over SGA each month.
Some ENs are concentrating on serving primarily one disability
group, like people who are deaf, or people who are blind.
Both Ticket holders and ENs have a choice as to whether or not
they will work with one another. This means that ENs, especially
those with more meager cash resources, can be as selective as
they wish, choosing to serve only those people for whom they
are most likely to receive payment. Other larger, non-profit
employment organizations may choose to serve many Ticket holders
who are likely to gross SGA so they can also afford to serve
some higher cost people who may never earn SGA.
To be or not to be an Employment Network? What’s YOUR
answer?
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