Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

DVR works closely with local school districts, hospitals, and CRPs to implement the national Project SEARCH model in the Matanuska—Susitna, Kenai, Anchorage, and Fairbanks school districts. A collaborative internship model was developed in FFY2012 to provide youth with developmental or intellectual disabilities opportunities to learn real job skills in 1—year, school—to—work internship positions set up throughout the 3 hospitals involved. Sites were at Mat—Su Regional Medical Center, Central Peninsula Hospital, Providence Medical Center, and Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. Total workplace immersion facilitates a seamless combination of classroom instruction, career exploration, and OJT and support through internships or worksite rotations. The goal for each participant is obtaining integrated employment using the skills learned through the internships. The State of Alaska has adopted this model for student interns with developmental disabilities. For SY17, 24 youth participated in Project SEARCH, and 22 successfully completed their internships at the hospitals with 14 of those individuals now working in paid, competitive employment. Project SEARCH is no longer being funded by the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education. The Project SEARCH model is being used to provide Pre—Employment Transition Services to Students with Disabilities under the Client Services Component. DVR supports and participates in the Tapestry Postsecondary Transition Program through the University of Alaska's Center for Human Development. This partnership between DVR, UAA and the Anchorage School District provides students with disabilities Pre-ETS self—advocacy, career exploration, counseling towards postsecondary education, work readiness and a work experience. This program is specifically geared towards a population that could benefit from postsecondary education but needs assistance with overcoming barriers before they can fully participate. The partnership with the school district allows students, not eligible for further transition services through the district, to defer their diploma for a 1-year intensive program on the UAA campus. DVR continues to actively accept feedback from the SVRC regarding consumer satisfaction surveys to assure continuous improvement to all individuals with disabilities. DVR has continued to improve the quality of services provided to consumers by providing staff with ongoing training such as Bridges Out of Poverty, Ethics for VR, TBI, and other internal training modules. Additionally, DVR has developed in-house staff responsible for expanding DVRs presence in local communities for both employment opportunities and to increase referral sources as well. DVR attends all local job fairs whenever possible, the largest being the Veterans job fair every November. DVR staff frequently presents at partnership meetings across the state.