The Potential Role of the DRC related to WIOA Hosted/Facilitated by: Laura Gleneck with the NDI Technical Assistance Team Presented by: Miranda Kennedy and Brian Ingram with the NDI Technical Assistance Team DEI Grantee Training Series / The Role of the DRC 2015

Host / Moderator Host / Moderator: Laura Gleneck Title: Project Manager for the DEI, NDI Technical Assistance Team Organization: National Disability Institute

Learning Objectives Upon completion of this training DRCs, their DEI Project Leads and DEI Local Level Support Staff will have : An understanding of your potential role as a Disability Resource Coordinator (DRC) in supporting the Career Centers in implementing WIOA with a focus on serving job seekers with disabilities Examples of Systems Level Opportunities that DRCs can pursue related to DEI intervention strategies being utilized in WIOA among Career Centers and partner agencies Information on how you as a DRC can use the Integrated Resource Team (IRT) approach, your Workforce EN, and Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) as vehicles to meet long-term employment goals beyond Career Centers and Vocational Rehabilitation Questions for you/the DRC and your local area to consider moving forward

Presenters Presenter: Miranda Kennedy Title: Director of Training for the DEI and TA Liaison, NDI Technical Assistance Team Organization: National Disability Institute Presenter: Brian Ingram Title: Director of Training for the DEI and TA Liaison, NDI Technical Assistance Team Organization: National Disability Institute

AGENDA Why am I here? What is going on around me? What is the mission of the DEI and the DRC, and how is this relevant to the rapidly changing service delivery environment at the AJC? What is going on around me? What changes are happening in the AJC and Why? What am I going to do about it? How can a DRC implement the mission of the DEI in an uncertain and changing AJC environment? How will my actions affect others? What opportunities might exist for systems change in a period of systems transition, what challenges?

DRC and WIOA: Situational Awareness

4 Questions for DRCs Why am I here? What is going on around me? What am I going to do about it? How will my actions affect others?

Why am I here? We hope by now you know this! 

Why am I here? Why am I (the DRC) here (in Career Center)? Your role as a DRC is to: Increase access for job seekers with disabilities to the existing array of services, supports and employment programs available at the Career Center and among AJC partners. Increase the quality and quantity of meaningful and sustainable employment outcomes of job seekers with disabilities.

Why am I here? Why am I (the DRC) here (in Career Center)? Your role as a DRC is to implement the DEI interventions strategies: Integrated Resource Teams Partnership and Collaboration Increase Participation in the Ticket to Work Program Asset Development strategies Customized Employment/Self Employment

Why am I here? Your purpose in the Career Center/AJC will not change under WIOA. This is both good news, and a good thing to remember as we move forward.

What is going on around me?

What is going on around me? What is going on around me (DRC) in the Career Center? WIOA Implementation!!! Multiple systems are changing their service models to better serve harder to serve individuals (including individuals with disabilities). This change with WIOA can be challenging but also presents many opportunities for the DEI/DRC.

WIOA; The Law NPRM citation language on section 678.800: § 678.800 How are one-stop centers and one-stop delivery systems certified for effectiveness, physical and programmatic accessibility, and continuous improvement? (6) They must also include evaluations of how well the one- stop center ensures equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities to participate in or benefit from one-stop center services. These evaluations must include criteria evaluating how well the centers and delivery systems take actions to comply with the disability-related regulations implementing WIOA sec. 188, set forth at 29 CFR part 37.

WIOA; The Law. According to NPRM, such actions include, but are not limited to: (1) Providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities; (2) Making reasonable modifications to policies, practices, and procedures where necessary to avoid discrimination against persons with disabilities; (3) Administering programs in the most integrated setting appropriate; (4) Communicating with persons with disabilities as effectively as with others; and (5) Providing appropriate auxiliary aids and services, including assistive technology devices and services, where necessary to afford individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity to participate in, and enjoy the benefits of, the program or activity.

WIOA; The Law. Excerpt from a summary of: The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking WIOA strengthened the alignment of the workforce development system’s six core programs by imposing unified strategic planning requirements, common performance accountability measures, and requirements governing the one-stop delivery system. In so doing, WIOA placed heightened emphasis on coordination and collaboration at the Federal, State, and local levels to ensure a streamlined and coordinated service delivery system for job seekers, including those with disabilities, and employers.

Opportunities for the DEI within WIOA A DEI Project can maximize upon the following: Systems are currently convening in a new way under WIOA Shared reporting and outcome structure Shared planning service delivery models and strategic goals Emphasis on serving targeted demographics This change may provide the DEI with multiple opportunities to demonstrate the effectiveness of the service delivery components Integrated Resource Teams Partnership and collaboration Workforce EN’s Asset Development strategies Individual Learning Plans The DEI is a perfect lab for the development of pilots and procedures under WIOA

What am I going to do about it?

What am I going to do about it? As a DRC, what am I going to do to maximize upon the opportunity WIOA presents? Share with your Local leadership and partners specific examples (case studies) of how you have utilized DEI intervention strategies in your local area to partner across systems and serve mutual customers with barriers to employment. Provide data on your training and placement outcomes! Track and participate (when possible) in WIOA implementation/transition activities.

Opportunities for DEI within WIOA Examples of DEI strategies from Rounds 1-5 that apply to WIOA continued: The DEI Can: Model Service delivery strategies for all participating systems Participate in small scale pilots that explore larger WIOA systems issues Use expertise around multiple systems to develop operational models

Opportunities for DEI within WIOA cont. Examples of DEI strategies from Rounds 1-5 that apply to WIOA: Active Resource Coordination (ARC) and Integrated Resource Team (IRT) approach Career Centers serving as Workforce Employment Networks under Social Security Administration’s Ticket to Work program Asset Development Strategies provide stability beyond mere employment. A focus on financial capability allows job seekers with disabilities and those without disabilities in retaining employment and participation in Career Pathways that have multiple entry and exit options, creating a path to the middle class.

Opportunities for the DRC Position The DRC position is not bound by service delivery models. Therefore… As a DRC you are a systems level specialist who can add value to the Career Center/AJC as it works to partner across multiple systems with mutual customers.

Opportunities for the DRC Position cont. As a DRC you are already working with the customer of the future under WIOA! You as a DRC now have an opportunity to showcase/re-visit/ and/or introduce for the first time the strategies of the DEI and advocate upon how these strategies can benefit all WIOA Customers.

Opportunities for the DRC Position cont. DEI Career Pathways Focus In particular, if you are a DRC under Round 5 with a Career Pathways Focus (or if you are from an earlier Round that has been looking into CP), you are already exploring service strategies for Labor and Education to serve mutually targeted populations. This can be used as a lab/ beta-test that can be used for other partners.

How will my actions affect others?

How will my actions affect others? How will my (the DRC’s) actions affect others (Center staff, partners, job seekers with AND without disabilities)? As the DRC your promotion of the DEI intervention strategies and the employment outcomes achieved in your local area for job seekers with disabilities can provide a relevant local level model for serving job seekers with AND without disabilities under WIOA. This can lead to better collaboration among partners and more quality employment outcomes for mutual customers!

WIOA; DOL Guidance “Program coordination standards might also include operational standards such as: integrated resource teams such as those piloted in the Disability Employment Initiative or other methods are used to jointly fund services to meet the specific needs of individuals; resource rooms include high-quality up- to-date information about the services and supportive services available to individuals” Excerpt on IRT and DEI is from pages 20608 and 20609 of the following NPRM Federal Register Notice: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions; Notice of Proposed Rulemaking Pages 20573-20687 [FR DOC# 2015-05528] (Joint Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with the Departments of Education and Labor).

When you are aiming at a moving target, shoot at where it’s going and not at where it has been.

How will my actions affect others? In the immediate future a DRC has the potential to majorly influence how WIOA services are delivered across all the participating systems A DRC sits squarely where the individual and systems level meet and has been tasked with demonstrating strategies that hold huge relevance to the developing WIOA system. A DRC should routinely ask themselves……..

Questions to consider… Systems Level Questions for the DEI How do we get the Career Centers/LWIBs and partners to fully understand and capitalize upon the strategies of the DEI and the potential of the DRC position?

Questions to consider… Systems Level Questions for the DRC position How do you as a DRC present the examples of your work and how it is related to WIOA to your system and partners at a leadership level? How do you as a DRC stay at the forefront of the discussion once you have presented your examples?

Questions to consider… Individual Level Questions for the DRC position How do you, as a DRC model and assist in the coordination of the IRT approach and use of ILPs, Asset Development Strategies at the individual, shared customer level for our system and our partners?

Model for how DRCs can Market/Educate DEI Intervention Strategies for WIOA

DRC Showcasing/Modelling Individual Level: A DRC works to model service delivery strategies for center staff and partners creating a community of providers familiar with the practices and bought into the outcomes they have attained with shared customers. Service Delivery Strategies: Integrated Resource Teams (IRTs) Workforce Employment Network (EN) Asset Development Customized Employment Programs/Partners Wagner Peyser WIA/WIOA Vocational Rehabilitation Community Colleges

DRC Showcasing/Modelling Systems Level: The DRC uses the community of providers and the outcomes they have attained for shared customers as the key they use to open the door and participate in the systems level discussions taking place around WIOA implementation. Shared customer strategies and outcomes Referrals and resource coordination Joint training placement and retention planning Development of long term, multiple stage, individual plans Experience, examples and tools to support all of the above Operational understanding of multiple systems Eligibility/Outcome requirements Operational Procedures Targeted areas of expertise Established relationships and trust built through customer level activities

Resources and Supports for DRCs

Resources & Supports You can access resources and supports for your role as a DRC by connecting with: Your fellow DRCs Your state leadership team Your national Technical Assistance Liaison The DEI website: www.dei-ideas.org Your Promising Practices in Achieving Universal Access and Equal Opportunity: A Section 188 Disability Reference Guide: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/Section188Guide.pdf

Questions/Comments

Contact Information Miranda Kennedy, Director of Training NDI Technical Assistance Team P: 720.890.3990 E: mkennedy@ndi-inc.org Brian Ingram, Workforce Expert P: 503.913.6139 E: bingram@ndi-inc.org