Welcome to Workforce 3 One U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Webinar Date: January 14, 2014 Presented by: Kevin Nickerson & Mary Lynn ReVoir, NDI Technical Assistance Team U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Workforce Employment Network (EN) Business Plan

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Moderator: Randee Chafkin Title: Workforce Development Specialist Organization: Employment and Training Administration Moderator: Miranda Kennedy Title: Director of Training for DEI, NDI Technical Assistance Team Organization: National Disability Institute 3#

4# According to the SGA, DEI Projects at the state level and/or local level participating LWIBs are required to become Employment Networks (ENs) under Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) Ticket to Work Program. Training and Technical Assistance to DEI Projects in attaining Employment Network status and implementing effective EN operations is provided under U.S. DOLETA contract with NDI Consulting, Inc. and the National Disability Institute (NDI). Evaluation of the impact of the DEI Projects implementation and outcomes as Employment Network will be provided under U.S. DOL ODEP contract with Social Dynamics.

5# Upon completion of this training webinar, DEI grantees and participants and partners from the public workforce system will have the following: A brief historical view of Ticket efforts supported by SSA for Workforce Employment Networks (EN) Information about various EN Business Model structures Review of critical EN business elements Tips for EN success

Presenter: Kevin Nickerson Title: Ticket to Work Subject Matter Expert for DEI, NDI Technical Assistance Team Organization: National Disability Institute Presenter: Mary Lynn ReVoir Title: Ticket Coordinator for DEI, NDI Technical Assistance Team Organization: National Disability Institute 6#

7# SSA’s investment in Employment Networks (ENs) Review of EN models - – Local Strategy –Regional Strategy –State Strategy Understanding your EN business plan - –Staffing and Services –Goal Setting with projections –Reporting Requirements Tips for EN Operations Next Steps Q&A

Reviewing Recent Direction of the Ticket Program 8#

“The Ticket program can be valuable even if it helps only a small number of beneficiaries return to work.” “Each disability award is expensive; on average, an award costs $250,000 in DI benefits and Medicare costs over a beneficiary’s lifetime.” “…it does not take many beneficiaries to return to work for those savings to add up…” “…we still must simplify our work incentive programs and refocus our strategy to promote the idea of financial independence more vigorously…” 9# For more information: _ html _ html

10# Recent reminders have been provided by Social Security Administration, directing ENs to be sure we are focusing on Career Track employment for Beneficiaries A new focus on Workforce Development – Over the last several years, SSA, OSM and contractors have collectively worked to improve: –Billing Processes – Workforce ENs have ePay option –Outreach Methods – Workforce ENs have eDataShare option –Administrative Ease – Joint efforts to develop streamline IWP, EN Tracking Tools shared, electronic IWP assignments available to Workforce ENs –Secured Provider Portal – Allowing secure access to simplify Ticket assignments, eDataShare, EN Payment Status reports, and more

Local, Regional, State 11#

12# This example shows a collaborative web allowing for each Job Center served by the LWIA to offer and perform the EN operations to respective customers

13# Specific Advantage of collaboration with Community Rehabilitation Provider: Job Center can add expertise to regional model of service, such as SSA Work Incentives advocacy. LWIA of Record Site 2Site 3 DRC provides coordination amongst all sites, for Ticket holders, utilizing Integrated Resource Team (IRT) approach

14# Example: 10%of payments for administrative functions kept by State AEN, which is also the EN of Record Example: 90% of payments go to providers per written agreement with State AEN Payments distributed amongst participating LWIA’s based on services to Ticket holders that lead to EN payments MOU developed between LWIA’s and State AEN

15# Type of EN ModelAdvantages LWIA EN Maintain all revenue Control EN Direction Regional Workforce EN Staff sharing and coordination of services One staff covers multiple sites = better odds of sustainability State Administrative EN Streamlining of administrative tasks Only one staff person, the Portal Administrator, needs security clearance

16# Local WIA EN Model – Agreements can be developed with local community rehabilitation providers (CRP), for long-term follow up support, customized services, and/or SSA Work Incentive Advisement Regional Workforce EN Model – Agreements would be developed with “EN of Record”, and participating LWIA’s, that become sites of service. The EN of Record can also devolop MOU’s with local CRP’s State Administrative EN Model – Agreements would be developed with participating LWIAs and/or local CRP’s ALL Models may have agreement with State VR agency, indicating how referrals will be made, and in some cases, describing potential payments to ENs through Partnership Plus Agreements will spell out the role of each agency, referral process, sites of service, and any revenue arrangements

17# Today we will briefly review the following EN Business Model Components: 1.Staffing and Services 2.Goal Setting for your EN 3.EN Revenue Projections 4.Reporting Requirements

18# While the DRC is likely to be involved in serving Ticket holders, Job Center staff will also play a critical role in expanding this effort Here are some typical staffing needs to consider: 1.Ticket holder Assessment & Assignment of Tickets (determining which Ticket holders you will assign, developing Individual Work Plan, and submitting eTicket assignment to OSM) 2.Work Incentive Advisement and Planning 3.Job Placement/Recruitment services for Ticket holders 4.Long-term follow-up supports for Ticket holders 5.Payment Tracking 6.Who will be the Signatory Authority? 7.Who will be the EN/Beneficiary Primary Contact, the EN staff member the Ticket holder will contact for more information on your EN services? 8.Marketing and Outreach to Employers

19# Do you have a projected number of Ticket holders you expect to serve? Developing the number of Ticket holders you hope to serve, will help you evaluate the effort you should invest in outreach NOTE: To find the number of beneficiaries in any state, by county, see the Ticket to Work site, current link as follows: beneficiary-distributionhttps://yourtickettowork.com/web/ttw/en- beneficiary-distribution Revenue projections for the Ticket program can be tricky, based on the number of variables associated with each Ticket holder, and how the payment structure works NDI has developed an EN Revenue Projection Calculator to assist in site specific calculations, example on next slides

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22 Have you considered how you will track Ticket revenue and case management requirements (i.e. quarterly follow up)? Organizing your Ticket holder data is an important administrative task every EN has to develop There are currently two different tracking tools that Maximus has been provided by ENs that can be adopted for use, if your EN doesn’t want to create a system from scratch: –Ticket Data Manager (NY) –EN Ticket Tracker (Iowa) *NOTE: These tools will be provided on a future training, and reviewed in detail.

23# Who will maintain Ticket Holder files, and what information will they contain? At a minimum, your file will need to contain the Ticket holders signed IWP or IEP Other possible documents you may want in a Ticket holders file (although these are not required) might include: Wage Data (previous 18 months useful to understand payment potential) Benefits information, including BPQY, and written benefits analysis Consent forms Why managing your Ticket information is useful –Ease in the completion of the Annual Performance Outcome Report (APOR) –Aids in future EN revenue projections

This guide was designed to assist DEI projects in the process of applying to become Employment Networks, or who are new to providing Employment Network services. The Workforce EN Planning Guide is available for you to download, see: ideas.org/chapter6/page02m_ena p_public.cfmhttp:// ideas.org/chapter6/page02m_ena p_public.cfm 24#

25# Developing your internal operations prior to accepting Ticket holders for services will allow you to provide better customer service to all customers involved (i.e. internal staff, Ticket holders, businesses) While you can plan in advance for many of the components of your EN operations, you will continue to streamline your business operations as you mature as an EN, don’t expect to have everything go smoothly from day one, even with excellent planning Ongoing outreach to beneficiaries is critical to the growth of any new EN

26# Addressing EN operations internally first will provide you a platform to then market to Ticket holders, and other key stakeholders Take advantage of available Technical Assistance from your DEI TA Ticket Team and keep in contact with your OSM Accounts Representative There is no teacher like experience, therefore, you should connect with other successful ENs whenever possible to learn from, and to collaborate with, in order to continually improve services you offer

In today’s presentation we covered the following: SSA’s ongoing investment in Workforce Employment Networks Review of EN models Snap shot of information you will find in the Workforce EN Business Planning Guide Tips for EN Operations 27#

28# Workforce EN Business Planning Guide: Statement of Robert W. Williams Associate Commissioner, Office of Employment Support Programs before the House Committee On Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Social Security and the Subcommittee on Human Resources, September 23, 2011:

29# Are you planning to develop any local written agreements with community rehabilitation providers, or other community partner agencies, to support your Employment Network operations? A.Yes B.No C.We have not yet considered this option, but have strong relationships with community partner agencies already D.We have not yet considered this option, and need to work on developing stronger alliances with our community partner agencies to more fully serve the needs of our customers

30# Your thoughts or questions are welcomed…

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Speaker:Kevin Nickerson Title:DEI Ticket Subject Matter Expert Organization:National Disability Institute Speaker:Mary Lynn ReVoir Title:DEI Ticket Coordinator Organization:National Disability Institute 32#

the 33# Thursday, February 13 th, 2014

Thank You! Find resources for workforce system success at: 34#