Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
and
The Burton Blatt Institute
Syracuse University
One-Stop Toolkit
Resources of the Week Technical Assistance Project E-Mail listserv
14 April 2006
Good morning everyone,
Below please find the web site and publication of the week, as well as other resources that we hope will be useful as you work on systems change activities to help improve employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
To subscribe and / or view past resources of the week
archives, access: www.onestoptoolkit.org
and click on the link to "Resources of the Week"
on the
right hand side of the home page.
To view an indexed list of the resources of the week by subject matter, visit the LPHDC web site at http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/lhpdc/resources/wig/default.asp. It currently includes 20 categories, covering over 300 annotated references. Each category opens to a new window with each Resource of the Week which covered material in that area.
Have a good day and weekend!
Laura Farah
Program Associate
Law, Health Policy & Disability Center
University of Iowa College of Law
P: 617-489-0086
F: 617-489-1374
[ E-mail laura-farah@uiowa.edu ]
[ E-mail LFarah8@aol.com ]
[ http://disability.law.uiowa.edu/dpn/ ]
[ http://www.onestoptoolkit.org ]
[The full announcement is located under the section heading "Resources of Interest."
]
Whether you are a new or experienced Navigator, you may be looking for guidance, direction, and/or support on a wide variety of topic areas. Or you may just not have the time to research and keep up with all of the available resources in the world of workforce development and disability. In order to answer commonly asked questions from Navigators nationwide, as well as to help research valuable resources for you, the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center (LHPDC) is disseminating bi-weekly Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) with additional contributions from key stakeholders in the DPN program. This is an opportunity to receive ongoing guidance and direction from the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) Division of Disability and Workforce Programs, who oversees the DPN initiative and reviews all FAQs before dissemination. While the answers to the FAQs are not meant to be exhaustive, they are meant to highlight a specific topic area, share best practices and provide valuable resources to use in your role as Navigator. In addition to accessing the FAQs on a regular basis, please let your state's LHPDC Technical Assistance Liaison know if there are specific questions you would like addressed in a bi-weekly FAQ.
If you or your One-Stop / community is involved in any activities to help celebrate and bring awareness to mental health, please send me a description to highlight in a One-Stop Toolkit Resources of the Week during the month of May.
This 50-year tradition, which helps improve the lives of millions of Americans every year, promotes mental wellness and overall health in your community. The theme for this year's observance is MIND Your Health, which focuses on the mind-body connection. The National Mental Health Association offers materials that give practical tips that people of all ages and backgrounds can use to help balance everyday stresses, increase their awareness of mental health issues, and improve their overall health. Resources also provide how-to's for reaching out to specific audiences.
This website contains all the materials you'll need to launch a successful Mental Health Campaign this May and throughout the year:
Online materials: provide planning and activity ideas, fact sheets and a media guide you can use to engage your entire community in this important mission - all free of charge! Two products of interest include the 2006 Mental Health Month Messages (http://www.nmha.org/may/messages.pdf) and Fast Facts (http://www.nmha.org/may/fast_facts.pdf) [ Get free Adobe Reader ]. We will be sharing some of the messages and fast facts in the May weekly resources.
MIND Your Health Workplace Guide: The newly updated Workplace Guide can be used to launch a wellness program in your own workplace and to distribute to other employers. Realize the benefits of worksite wellness programs: savings on health and mental health expenses, improved productivity, reduced absenteeism and better morale.
[This article was shared by Ed Beane, SSA liaison to the DPN project. The following is excerpted from the article.]
The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed in 1990, prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, yet the employment rate for those with disabilities has been nearly flat for almost 20 years. Only 34 percent of working-age people with disabilities had full time or part time jobs in 1986. In 2004, the figure was 35 percent, according to surveys done by the National Organization on Disability in conjunction with the Harris Survey. People without disabilities have an employment rate of 78 percent.
People with disabilities are nearly three times more likely to live in poverty than people without disabilities; 26 percent of people with disabilities had a 2004 annual household income below $15,000, versus 9 percent of those without disabilities, the survey found. "Employers still have fears and misconceptions about people with disabilities," said Nancy Starnes, vice president and chief of staff at the National Organization on Disability, a non-profit focusing on the participation of people with disabilities in all aspects of community life. Starnes, who has used a wheelchair since 1973, when a plane crash left her paraplegic, has made a career of trying to open doors to other people with disabilities.
People who train disabled workers not only have to find willing employers, they have to prepare their clients for a tough search. Students who have spent their school years in special needs classes also have to adjust, quickly, to the less sheltered world of work.
Access the URL to read the full article. It includes examples of experiences students and adults with disabilities are having trying to seek employment.
What is it that business is looking for and how can you add value to the business bottom line? Erin Riehle provides an overview of how her program has added value by increasing diversity in the workforce, changed public perception, and overcome business issues such as turnover, absenteeism, and tenure. Learn how you can provide quality services to businesses which adds value to their organization. You will hear how you are perceived by business and why you should provide quality services.
J. Erin Riehle, MSN, RN is a recognized authority and national leader in promoting employment opportunities for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment. She is a founder and Co-Director of Project SEARCH, an employment program that has received national recognition for innovative practices pioneered under Ms. Riehle's guidance.
Access the URL to view / download the presentation, transcript, as well as supporting materials including a Case Study and Fact Sheet: The Realities of Hiring People with Disabilities.
The Law, Health Policy & Disability Center (LHPDC) of the University of Iowa College of Law (Technical Assistance Provider to the Work Incentive and Disability Program Navigator projects) is disseminating bi-weekly Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), with additional contributions from key stakeholders in the DPN program. All FAQs are reviewed by the Division of Disability and Workforce Programs, of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA); however, this review does not constitute DOLETA policy. DOLETA serves as the administrative entity for the DOL - SSA jointly sponsored Disability Program Navigator Initiative.
Answers to the FAQs are not meant to be exhaustive. They are meant to highlight a specific topic area, share best practices and provide resources for additional information. While these FAQs have been created to assist Disability Program Navigators, the strategies and resources shared in the answers to these questions can be of great benefit to all workforce professionals that are working to provide effective and meaningful participation of job seekers with disabilities in the comprehensive One-Stop system. The site is updated bi-weekly and currently includes the following set of questions with links to the answers:
On behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA), the Community Transportation Association of America (CTAA) has developed an Employment Transportation Toolkit. This technical assistance toolkit will help the publicly-funded workforce agencies to understand the transportation services available to dislocated workers and other unemployed and under-employed people, and will help this network in linking workers with transportation services to employment and training sites. The toolkit includes the following information:
The toolkit also includes a list of funding opportunities for transportation solutions, a glossary of transportation-related terms, relevant websites, and more.
The toolkit is available online (access the URL), on CD-ROM for free (contact Rich Sampson at 800-527-8279, X 132 or Sampson@ctaa.org. The toolkit is also available in hard copy for $50. To order a hard copy, contact:
National Transit Resource Center
Community Transportation Association of America
Tel.: 800.527.8279
Fax: 202.737.9197
E-mail: jeskey@ctaa.org
The National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC) is directed and staffed by the Special Education Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, in partnership with the Special Education Programs at Western Michigan University and Appalachian State University. In order to ensure full implementation of IDEA and help youth with disabilities and their families achieve desired post-school outcomes, NSTTAC will help states build capacity to support and improve transition planning, services, and outcomes for youth with disabilities and disseminate information and provide technical assistance on scientifically-based research practices with an emphasis on building and sustaining state-level infrastructures of support and district-level demonstrations of effective transition methods for youth with disabilities. The NSTTAC will provide efficient and effective large-scale implementation and sustainability of research-based secondary transition.
The website includes links to transition resources for students, parents and professionals.
[Excerpted from the beginning of the publication.]
One-Stop career center staff are well aware of most needs of the individual who seeks their help: a job, job training, job search strategies and other employment services. However, what often is missing is a concentrated effort to ensure that people can reach required services and jobs by exploring transportation options. One-Stops can play important roles in helping people find rides to jobs and training opportunities. Jobs are often located away from mainline transportation or in suburban industrial parks. In rural areas, jobs may be decentralized and situated in communities or areas where there are long distances between employees and work sites. Add to the mix the reality of not having a personal vehicle readily available and people are faced with the daunting question, "But how do I get there?"
While transportation is an issue for everyone, the lack of it in the lives of many people with disabilities is a major obstacle to community access. Only 35 percent of people with disabilities report being employed full or part time. That compares to 78 percent of people who do not have disabilities. Inadequate transportation is cited as one of the most significant barriers to finding and/or maintaining employment.
This is unfortunate, because, as you especially know, people with disabilities offer skills, dedication and reliability to the work force. With the support of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), people with disabilities benefit from improved access and public accommodation in the work place and the transportation system. Knowing this, One-Stop centers can help the job seeker with disabilities find a job AND a ride.
[Excerpted from the Executive Summary.]
This report is the first comprehensive survey and grading of state adult public mental healthcare systems conducted in more than 15 years. Public systems serve people with serious mental illnesses - such as schizophrenia, bipolar illness, and major depression - who have the lowest incomes. The report confirms in state-by-state detail what President Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health called a fragmented "system in shambles."
Nationally, the system is in trouble. Its grade is no better than a D. Too many state systems are failing. Only five states receive a B: Connecticut, Maine, Ohio, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Seventeen states receive Cs, 19 states get Ds, and eight get Fs. That's without the pluses and minuses. Those states that are failing are: Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
This report includes tables that indicate each state's overall grade as well as its grade in each of four categories: Infrastructure, Information Access, Services, and Recovery. Each state grade is based in part on a "take-home test," in which survey questions were submitted to state mental health agencies during October and November 2005. All but two states responded. Colorado and New York declined. They have been graded "U" for "Unresponsive."
Access the URL to download the full report. You can also download the table of contents, which will include links to the individual sections.
[The following is excerpted from the Abstract.]
We use longitudinal data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) spanning the 1996 to 1999 period to estimate the prevalence of short and long-term poverty among working-age people with and without disabilities. Several alternative measures of disability are used, including measures of long-term disability. Depending on the disability measure used, annual poverty rates are two to five times higher among working-age people with disabilities compared to their counterparts without disabilities, with poverty rates highest among those with ore severe and longer-term disabilities -- 1997 annual poverty rates ranged from 10 to 32 percent among people with disabilities, compared to six percent among those without disabilities. The prevalence of chronic (i.e., long-term) poverty is lower for all groups, but the prevalence of chronic poverty among those with disabilities relative to those without disabilities is much higher than the relative prevalence of short-term poverty, especially for those experiencing disability over a long period. At the extreme, those reporting work limitations for more than 36 months during the 48-month period were 14 times more likely to have incomes below the poverty line in all 48 months than those with no work limitation.
We also estimate disability prevalence among those in poverty and find that people with disabilities make up a very large share of the working-age poverty population, especially when long-term measures of poverty are used. People with disabilities represented about 47 percent of those in poverty in 1997 when an annual measure of poverty is used; when a longer-term poverty measure is used, 65 percent of those in poverty for at least 36 months of the 48-month period have a disability.
Despite the fact that disability is an extremely important risk factor for long-term poverty among working-age adults, it often receives little attention in the poverty literature and policy efforts to alleviate poverty. One reason may be that most statistics are based on short-term poverty and disability measures, which partially mask the strong relationship between long-term poverty and long-term disability. Another reason may be outdated perceptions of the relationship between disability and the ability to work.