the lehigh valley employment coalition: collaboration that
TRANSCRIPT
8/8/2017
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The Lehigh Valley Employment
Coalition:
Collaboration that WORKS
Objectives
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Presenters:
Joe Mancini, The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Director of
Programs
Vicki Henshaw, VIA of the Lehigh Valley, Director of Community Employment
Wendy Smith, Employment Coalition Chairperson
Corey Cook, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Vocational Rehabilitation
Supervisor
Kim Roselli, SPIN, Assisting Director of Employment Services
Andrea Consigny, SPIN, Division Director of Employment Services
Mission Statement:
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LVEC: History
Began in 2002 as a Communities of Practice pilot funded by Department of
Human Services, Lead by Dana Olsen, Director of Quality Improvement
Initiative of ODP
Employment Manual devised with guidelines – incorporating best practices
Committees must meet at least 6 times per year
Maximize available resources
Clarify roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders
Ensuring services/practices are person centered and outcome based
Checklist for Best Practices in Transition Services broken down by age
groups (committee updates 2010)
LVEC: History
Collaboration between educators, employment providers, OVR District Offices, and county representatives in CMP and LN Counties
Yearly Goals Created
Discussed alternative funding – pilot to provide extended follow along job coaching to working employees with disability
No more than 10 hours per month
Documentation created by committee members (2007)
Information recorded from county office to state
Included: Name, age of individual, name/location of job, # of hrs. worked weekly including follow-along job coaching hrs., name of OVR counselor, service provider, county and school district and benefits received
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LVEC: History Educate students, families, businesses, and educators on the importance of
competitive integrated employment
Changing mindsets
Increase in numbers of committee members: 20
LVEC: Moving forward: 2009 - Present Parent Night Seminars: Understanding the Importance of Financial Planning for
a Child with a Disability, Entitlement vs. Eligibility
Step-by-step process of how to become eligible for services for individuals and
families (handout)
Logo/Mission Statement
Letterhead including logo, Facebook address and agency representatives
Employer Recognition Breakfast (Plaques created by incarcerated youth at YFC)
Newsletters and Bookmark
Invoice for yearly dues to off set costs
http://www.facebook.com/LVemploymentcoalition
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LVEC: Coalition Guiding Principles Members identified needs.
Developed a manual that incorporates best practices
Committees meet 6 times per year
Utilize and seek out available resources
Ensure services are person centered and outcome based
Create yearly goals
Discuss alternative funding streams to help support additional job coaching
Grow membership
Share information-newsletter, social media, Facebook, logo creation
Sustainability: yearly dues to off set costs
LVEC: Purpose
Creation of a Transition Manual
Discussed alternative funding – pilot to provide extended follow along job
coaching to working employees with disability
Changing mindsets
Step-by-step process of how to become eligible for services for individuals
and families (handout)
Educate students, families, businesses, and educators on the importance of
competitive, integrated employment
Changing mindsets
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Collaboration in the context of WIOA
and Transition
WIOA is landmark legislation that is designed to strengthen and improve our
nation's public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and
those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and
careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.
Major focus in WIOA is COLLABORATION and enhancing opportunities for youth
with disabilities to develop skills for competitive, integrated employment
OVR must set aside 15% of Federal VR funds to provide Pre-Employment
Transition Services to assist students with disabilities in secondary transition
What Research Tells Us About
Collaboration
Key component and “best practice” in secondary transition programming
(Landmark, Ju, & Zhang, 2010)
Predictor of positive post-school outcomes for students with disabilities (Test
et al., 2009)
A clear, purposeful, and carefully designed process (Rowe et al., 2014)
Requires communication across agencies and programs (Mazzotti & Rowe,
2015)
Collaboration with a focus on purpose and outcomes (Fabin & Luecking , 2014)
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When Does Collaboration Work?
Collaboration works when partners are focused and outcome driven.
When collaboration is directly focused on outcomes for youth and the systems
that serve them.
Collaboration works when all partners contribute and benefit from the
relationship.
Collaboration creates OPPORTUNITIES!
Youth and families have access to wider range of services and supports
Reduces the likelihood of duplication and overlap of services
Improves referral systems and relationships between service providers
Provides opportunity to identify opportunities to leverage additional
funds/resources among partner organizations
Improves trust and working relationships between organizations
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Potential Obstacles to Robust
Collaboration
Time, financial, and human resource commitment
Lack of consensus about scope, specific objectives, and targets of the inter-
agency endeavor
Lack of formal policies and procedures governing inter-organizational
relationships
Lack of transparency/trust between organizations
Inter-agency collaboration not a priority within organizations
Growing pains- 2017 is a year of major changes within LVEC
VIDEO: Perspectives
from the Lehigh Valley
Employment Coalition
Members
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Questions
Collaboration
Employers
Legislators
Partnering Organizations
Families
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Employers
Employers must begin to recognize the importance of hiring individuals with
Intellectual disabilities
Loyalty
Skilled
Can improve your organization
Tax Benefits for hiring individuals with disabilities
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FPIeCubuPo
Employers Working together with supportive employers is allowing us to create
meaningful long-term work experiences for those we serve
Organizations like:
Wegmans
Barns and Noble
Walmart
The Sands
These agencies and many more are utilizing individuals with ID
This is not pity these organizations see the value these individuals can provide
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Employers
How Can we support these
organizations
Job Analysis
Job Carving
Job Shadowing
Supported Employment
Recognitions Events
Breakfast Video Link
Legislators Employment First State
#IWANTTOWORK Campaign
Senator Browne, Senator Boscola,
Mayor Pawlowski, Senator Scavello
are some of the many legislators
helping in our local area with this
movement
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Supporting our Employers
Job Carving
Customized Employment
Keeping the surgeon at the table
Discovery Process
OVR Supported
Supporting Partnering Organizations Our coalition works because we work together
When we silo we help less people
Our goal is to serve as many people as we can as well as we can
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Supporting Partnering Organizations
Sharing new information
Helpful techniques
Leads on employment
Sharing trainings
Family Support Begin at an early age. Transition begins early and with help from the school.
Work is an important part of an persons sense of self
Everyone is employable
Your benefits will not be lost if you work
WIOA
Ticket to Work
Utilize your local supports.
The community wants to support. The world is more accepting.
Show Video of Christine’s speech
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What do we all need to know
Where can support be found and what is available to all of us
Everyone is employable no matter how severe the challenge with the right
support
It is our responsibility as employers, Social Service Workers, Families, and
Individuals to help obtain work for those who want to work
The only way we can be successful is by working together to complete this
goal
Questions
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The Silo Effect
The definition of a Silo:
A trench, pit, or tall cylinder for making and storing silage.
(The Merriam-Webster Dictionary 2004)
What is the Silo Effect:
The Silo Effect refers to a lack of
information flowing between
groups or parts of an organization
(How To Eliminate the “Silo Effect”
in LTC Organizations Eleanor
Feldman Barbera, PhD March 2012)
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Interagency Collaboration
Interagency collaboration is an important factor in the development of
effective and efficient organizations in a range of fields; collaboration is
associated with a reduction of duplicated effort, more integrated
supportive services for both users and professionals, and improved
communication between service providers with the same
students/clients/consumers.
(Bloxham 1997; Friedman et al. 2007)
Why Should We Break Down Silos?
Working together just makes sense!
Focus is on individuals we serve
Not organizations providing services
Promotes cooperation
Sharing of ideas
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Breaking Down Silos
Removing silos fosters innovation and increases productivity
Unlocks information needed for collaboration
(How To Eliminate the “Silo Effect” in LTC Organizations Eleanor Feldman
Barbera, PhD March 2012)
Silo: A trench, pit, or tall cylinder for
making and storing silage.
We don’t want to fall in to a pit or a trench!
We want to engage with other organizations to enhance overall services for
the individuals that we serve everyday.
Where and How To Begin
With communication: reach out to other organizations, school districts and
government entities.
Take that first step, take the initiative
Collaboration is the key to success for ALL!
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Logistics
Clear leadership and mission – what are we
working toward?
Defined roles
Meetings scheduled for the full year in advance
Rotate locations
Logistics
Welcoming environment for all (esp. new
members)
Meeting minutes distributed quickly
Sharing information with membership and
community
Events, Success stories, Opportunities (services
and jobs)
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Sustainability
Change in leadership
What’s next?
Emerging leaders
Treasurer, Steering Committee/Board
Growing membership
People with disabilities
Families
Sustainability
Transition events
Support underserved schools and students
Share strategies and best practices – elevating services for all people
Understand new legislation and service definitions
Grow social media presence and branding to create awareness of Employment 1st
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Sustainability
Ensure meetings are relevant to all stakeholders
Consistent membership
Intermittent membership
New goals and events
Develop sub-committees as appropriate
Sustainability
Encouraging new coalitions
Call to action!
Join a local employment coalition
Start your own
Spread the mission of Employment 1st
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Questions
Thank you!
Joe Mancini, The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton Counties, Director of Programs
Vicki Henshaw, VIA of the Lehigh Valley, Director of Community Employment
Wendy Smith, Employment Coalition Chairperson [email protected]
Corey Cook, Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Vocational rehabilitation Supervisor
Kim Roselli, SPIN, Assisting Director of Employment Services [email protected]
Andrea Consigny, SPIN, Division Director of Employment Services [email protected]