Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

Strategies to support Goal 1 — Avoiding an Order of Selection: • Continue efforts aimed at drawing the maximum federal share available for Alabamians with disabilities, and when possible/necessary re-allotment funds. • Monitor and manage service delivery time-frames to ensure efficient processing time and eliminate potential bottlenecks or other delays in eligibility determination or initial plan development. • Investigate and implement case management system improvements which streamline the eligibility determination, vocational assessment, and plan development processes. • Ensure that counselors have sufficient resources to meet caseload demands. • Continue efforts to promote efficient spending, the utilization of comparable benefits, and the management of indirect/administrative costs. • Seek additional sources of revenue as needed. Strategies to support Goal 2 — Maintaining high levels of consumer satisfaction: • Align the VR General, VR Blind, and VR Deaf consumer satisfaction surveys to provide the same core set of measures. • Improve upon existing efforts to communicate consumer satisfaction results to counselors and their supervisors. • Utilize satisfaction survey results more extensively in leadership meetings, and supervisory discussions. • Set and attain consumer satisfaction goals at the state and unit level. • Provide high—quality training and support, ensuring staff have the knowledge and skills needed to deliver high—quality vocational rehabilitation services. Through statewide case reviews, build an organizational culture of quality to strengthen substantial counseling and guidance. • Continue to invest in practices and technologies that make VR counselors more accessible to their consumers. Seek specific improvement on the consumer satisfaction survey question which asks about the customer’s ability to reach their counselor whenever they need to. Strategies to support Goal 3 — Expand and improve competitive, gainful employment opportunities for Alabamians with disabilities: • Strive to uphold past levels of closed rehabilitated outcomes among VR consumers. • Expand and leverage new employer and state agency partnerships to achieve Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act common performance measure outcomes. ADRS should build upon the existing business engagement activities, as well as state partnerships facilitated by the Alabama Workforce Development Board, to promote labor exchange between ADRS participants and employers seeking talent; with an emphasis on in-demand occupations. • Enhance career guidance competencies of VR counselors by fostering knowledge of local labor-market information and in-demand careers. Having access to accurate and up-to-date labor market data, as well as information and guidance about career and training opportunities, can help individuals make better decisions about training and lead to better outcomes. • Improve counselor competencies regarding career guidance and job placement efforts for older individuals with prior work experience. Consistent feedback from the SRC and consumer satisfaction surveys indicate that some older individuals placed into employment were dissatisfied that job outcomes did not capitalize on prior existing skills and abilities. • Engage with employers and industry professionals with the goal of improving the alignment of training to employer needs. • With youth and students, emphasize early work-site experiences with real employers in the community. Work experience for youth still in school, including paid summer jobs, has some important results in terms of employment outcomes, particularly if job skills and education are combined. • Emphasize, wherever practical, work-based learning, such as paid internships or cooperative education. Research has shown that the more closely training is related to a real job or occupation, the better the results for training participants. • Implement, when feasible, new reports and tracking systems which align with WIOA performance measures and are designed for staff use. Provide training on the data reports, performance measures, and tracking systems underpinning WIOA implementation. Build upon existing data analysis capacity and tools to support data—driven decision making. • Develop capacity to measure factors influencing employment retention over time. Identify and invest in methods to ensure that placements have greatest likelihood of longevity. Strategies to support Goal 4 — Continue to improve services and outcomes for those with the most significant disabilities: • Maintain access to a broad range of assistive technology services for individuals with disabilities on a statewide basis. • Monitor and address the need to offer VR services to those individuals who are currently being served within day programs, in particular, to individuals with severe and persistent mental illnesses and individuals with significant development disabilities. • Support and advocate for efforts aimed at improved access to transportation for individuals with disabilities. • Continue to support and advocate quality independent living outcomes for individuals with disabilities in Alabama through an active partnership with the State Independent Living Council. • Develop further options, resources and capacity for Customized Employment services. • Maintain and improve efforts to provide individualized guidance to persons who receive Social Security and are afraid of losing their benefits if they earn too much. Strategies to support Goal 5 — Continue to expand and improve upon a variety of supported employment providers and approaches: • Maintain and increase the number of Project Search sites in Alabama. • Continue to explore avenues of service delivery based upon the Individualized Placement and Supports model.