CRP-RCEP

CRP-RCEP News : Pennsylvania

May 2007 Employment Update

from the Pennsylvania Office of Developmental Programs (ODP)

Pennsylvania Association for Persons in Supported Employment Holds First Annual Conference: Building Bridges to Employment Opportunities on June 7-8 The newly-formed Pennsylvania Chapter of APSE (PAAPSE), an organization devoted to supported employment for people with disabilities, has joined with the Greater Pittsburgh Supported Employment Association (GPSEA) to host this Chapter’s first employment conference. The Conference is in Pittsburgh on June 7 and 8, 2007. The conference features leaders in the field of customized and supported employment, subject matter experts on a great variety of topics, best practice practitioners, and panels of state and local agency representatives on state initiatives for supporting individuals with disabilities in accessing the workforce. A registration brochure is attached. See Brochure for registration.

2007 National Autism Conference to be held July 30 - August 3 This conference is scheduled for July 30-August 3, 2007 at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA. It will provide comprehensive, evidence-based information to assist educators, providers, and families in developing effective educational and therapeutic programming for all students with autism spectrum disorders. You can view the entire agenda from the website or download and print a brochure at www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/autism.

2007 Pennsylvania Low Incidence Institute to be held August 6-10 The Pennsylvania Low Incidence Institute will be held August 6-10, 2007 at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel in State College, PA. The Low Incidence Institute, which includes Great Start, will focus on topics related to serving students and young children with deafness and hearing loss, deaf/blindness, blindness, visual impairment and multiple disabilities. New this year will be presentations directly related to the educational needs of students with mental retardation, including children with Down Syndrome. The sessions will address research, assessment, effective instruction, and service delivery models.

Please read all session descriptions carefully throughout the brochure, as they will help participants make appropriate session choices. Visit the website for sessions and presenter information. Registration will be open one hour prior to the first session of each day.
Lunch and snacks will be provided. You may register directly on-line
Reimbursement for travel expenses will be available to parents attending the Pennsylvania Low Incidence Institute, August 6 -August 10, 2007. Parents interested in attending this institute have until July 25 to apply for reimbursement of travel expenses by filling out the application form on the PaTTAN Web site

Evidence-based Practices in Supported Employment: A Training Session for Experienced Practitioners to be held May 30-31 CRP-RCEP is offering this training opportunity on May 30-31, 2007 at the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation located at 300 Laird St, Wilkes-Barre, PA. To contact the OVR, please call 570-826-2011. The training will be held from 9:00am-3:00pm, and the presenters will be Vicki Brooke and Howard Green, from VCU. This 2-day session will be highly interactive with field-based activities, allowing participants to apply principles discussed in a classroom setting. Research findings in supported employment will be covered along with organizational marketing, developing a job plan, disclosure, and supports. Register online http://www.crp-rcep.org/registration/training/step2.cfm?trainingID=53

Work Incentives and Planning Assistance and Ticket-to-Work trainings to be held June 12, 13, and 19. The Pennsylvania Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (PARF) is sponsoring three sessions entitled “Helping People with Disabilities Manage Benefits and Gain Greater Levels of Employment” in June, 2007. The presenter is John Miller, Project Director for the SSA WIPA Program in Western PA.

June 12 – Harrisburg
June 13 – Bethlehem
June 19 – Cranberry Township

All three sessions will be held from 9:00am to 12:30pm. For PARF and PANO members, rates per organization are $49 for one registrant and $39 for two or more; the non-member rate is $79. To register for these sessions, please see the attached brochure.

Eighth Employment Support Symposium: “Visions and Realities to be held June 5-6 in Philadelphia This symposium is being held in Philadelphia on June 5 & 6, 2007. The Employment Support Symposium is a place for learning, exploring, networking, sharing, and celebrating the positive outcomes of employment in Philadelphia. This year’s symposium highlights “We’re on the Job!”, Philadelphia’s Vision for Employment 2010, and activities relating to increasing employment outcomes. AS in past years, innovative and unique approaches will be shared reflecting both a local and national perspective on employment supports.

For questions regarding registration, scholarships, and payment, please contact Shauna Roman at 215-546-4112 or shaunar@networksfortraining.org.

Pennsylvania Business Leaders Network breakfast at the Employment Symposium On June 6, 2007, the second day of the upcoming Employment Symposium, the Pennsylvania Business Leadership Network (PA BLN) is hosting a breakfast for employers from 7:45-8:45am. It will be held in the Doubletree Hotel at Broad & Locust Sts. in Philadelphia. The theme fro the breakfast is “Distinguish Yourself from Your Competitors: Strategies for a Disability Friendly Company”. In addition to learning about the topic for discussion, there also will be the opportunity for employers to network with one another, learn about the PA BLN, and even become a member of the PA BLN and join other employers who know the benefits of being a part of the PA BLN and the hiring of individuals with disabilities. Please help make this breakfast a great success!! The registration form for the breakfast and the one-page description of this event are attached to the update.

PA Community on Transition 6th Annual Forum to be held July 18-20. The Pennsylvania Department of Education, Bureau of Special Education, in collaboration with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and the other members of the PA Community on Transition, has announced their 6th Annual Transition Forum. Don't miss this great opportunity to learn from and network with the transition community. Please find additional information at http://www.pattan.net. Click on 2007 Community on Transition Forum in the What’s New Section on the home page.

What's Happening in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvanians with disabilities face a daunting challenge in the area of employment. High unemployment rates among this population are exacerbated by a number of factors including a lack of information to consumers and their families on new federal and state work incentives, and a lack of information and experience in how to provide supported employment services and support.

The Office of Mental Retardation, in coordination with other state offices, private and public agencies, and expert instructors from inside and outside the state, is coordinating a training and technical assistance series to promote employment outcomes for people with disabilities.

The name of this series is Person Centered Employment: A Collaborative Training and Technical Assistance Series. The goal of the training and technical assistance series is to ensure that people with disabilities and their families, together with the agencies that provide their support, have access to quality training and technical assistance to promote person centered employment outcomes.

Vicki Brooke, VCU’s CRP-RCEP Technical Assistance Liaison was invited to join this perstegious Pennsylvania planning group which includes Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR), Department of Education – PATTAN, Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services (OMHSAS), Office of Social Programs (OSP), Office of Income Maintenance (OIM), Office of Mental Retardation (OMR), Office of Mental Retardation Consulting System (OCS), Center for Independent Living of North Central PAIL, RESI/PARF, NISH, and PA Training Partnership for People with Disabilities and Families. Together this group had agreed to pool public and private resources to minimize training and technical assistance cost to participant agencies and individuals.

Training and technical assistance will begin in fiscal year 2006-07 and be continued in subsequent years based on an annual needs assessment that will be done in conjunction with the VCU Region III CRP-RCEP provider needs assessment.

Training and Technical Assistance Curriculum for FY 2006-07

The training and technical assistance offerings of Person Centered Employment Series planned for fiscal year 2006-07 consist of the following:

PA Training / TA Table (PDF | Word)

Currently there are 21 individuals from Pennsylvania enrolled in the Web-Based Certificate Series for Supported Competitive Employment for Individuals with Mental Illness and another 95 participants in the Supported Employment Web-Based Certificate Series (Geared to participants working with person with physical and/or developmental disabilities).

The PARF Annual Conference was held at the Nittany Lion Inn in State College, PA and ran from Tuesday, September 26 until Friday, September 29. This year's theme was Rehabilitation NOW: Networks, Opportunities and Will. This annual event was designed to highlight major disability issues confronted by individuals with disabilities, their families, professionals, and communities focused on rehabilitation. Leaders and representatives of various programs and systems that seek to include people with disabilities fully in society and to assist them in exercising their rights will be featured. Three plenary sessions, an annual meeting, an awards luncheon and more than 40 Conference sessions were conducted.

The VCU CRP RCEP took responsibility for an entire training track at this event. Sessions included the following:

Public/Private Partnerships For Employment
Valerie (Vicki) Brooke, Virginia Commonwealth University CRP RCEP
This presentation features findings from a regional public/private summit hosted by the Bank of America identifying key elements of mutually beneficial partnerships between public vocational rehabilitation programs, community rehabilitation programs, and private sector employers.
Business Relationships & Supplement Staffing Models
Howard Green, Virginia Commonwealth University CRP RCEP
This session will examine how strong business relationships are developed to increase the employment of people with disabilities through the use of supplemental staffing organizations. The session describes how staffing organizations such as Manpower can serve as key community partners. Outcomes from demonstration projects will be presented.
Inclusive Employment: Best Practices and Outcomes
Paul Wehman, Virginia Commonwealth University CRP RCEP
This session evaluates the performance of employment services for people with disabilities and reports on successes in employment across disabilities and ages.
Inclusive Employment: Building Capacity
Paul Wehman, Virginia Commonwealth University CRP RCEP
This session features assessments from executives on building program capacity to expand employment services for individuals with severe disabilities. Efforts and achievements in supporting customers, using workplace supports, marketing services, and securing stable funding are reviewed in a roundtable discussion

State forums are currently being scheduled and information on how to register for these training events will be psoted in this space in next few weeks. Bookmark this site for upcomg details.

If you have questions about what is happening in Pennsylvania, please contact:

Vicki Brooke, PA State Liaison
Voice: 804/828-1873
E-mail: vbrooke@vcu.edu