Project SEARCH, an innovative transition program for students, was piloted in two areas of Alabama beginning in 2012. We currently have 10 Project SEARCH sites. These programs are collaborations between our department, the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the Alabama Department of Education, the Alabama Council on Developmental Disabilities, local school systems, and local supported employment programs. The State Team is working to expand this program and hopes to have additional sites in FY 2015. This includes the potential development of Project SEARCH for students who are deaf, blind, and individuals who are both deaf and blind within the next 2 years. This year long internship offers unique highly skilled training opportunities leading to competitive employment opportunities for students with the most significant disabilities. • Collaborative efforts continue as we work with the Alabama Department of Mental Health and the SELN (State Employment Leadership Network) through the Institute for Community Inclusion. The goal is create systems change and develop resource information, effective employment systems and work as partners to maximize resources in Alabama. Through this collaboration we hope to increase the number of consumers that will be referred for community based integrated employment, and be able to utilize the waiver for long term support. To date, this collaboration has resulted in the addition of 5 Mental Health providers contracting with ADRS to become Supported Employment providers. • Certificate Based Job Coach Training is collaboration between our agency, the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the Department of Education, the Council for Developmental Disabilities, and Alabama APSE (Association of Persons Supporting Employment First). This training ensures consistency of service delivery for supported employment providers and provides access to the latest marketing and training techniques. Training is provided by Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Workplace Supports. We offer this training twice a year to SE Job Coaches, School Job Coaches, Job Coaches employed by the Department of Mental Health and other community job developers and job coaches. This year, job coaches specializing in sensory impairments also participated in this training as we work to collaborate more closely with the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind (AIDB) and their AIDB regional center staff located throughout the state. • Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, Alabama Council for Developmental Disabilities, Alabama Department of Mental Health, Alabama State Department of Education, Alabama Medicaid, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and the Alabama Department of Post—Secondary Education have been working to secure Employment First legislation and continue to participate in the Employment First Leadership Mentoring Program Community of Practice through Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). These partners will continue to collaborate with human service agencies that work with people with disabilities and the workforce investment/development agencies to support the concept of Employment First. Additionally, several partners are participating in the Vision Quest training, offered through ODEP, to assist Alabama with options to infuse integrated employment into the Medicaid waiver, State Plan Options and increased collaboration to better serve consumers as they move towards integrated, community based employment options. ADRS will collaborate with local school systems to improve transition services; ensuring students who are appropriate for SE services have access to community based Supported Employment providers while still in high school. SE providers will be active in the local high schools to present information regarding their programs to parents, students and staff. Students will also have the opportunity to participate in community based assessments or begin the Discovery Profile before they exit school, to facilitate a seamless transit ion to Supported Employment Services. 2. •The GATE program (Gaining Access to Employment) is a training program that takes consumers from sheltered work or day habilitation and fully immerses them in industry training. This collaboration between the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services and Alabama Department of Mental Health began in North Alabama and now has 5 sites. The GATE program braids funding utilizing from both ADRS and ADMH (Medicaid waiver). Adults, who are long term consumers of day programs are trained in competitive integrated employment settings using job coaches for support during their internships. Consumers are paid wages while they intern, primarily in manufacturing settings.
Extended service provision is provided to youth with the most significant disabilities in a variety of ways. This includes the Medicaid waiver, state dollars set aside to support youth in Project SEARCH, contract service provision to SE vendors, grant dollars for IPS and DEI, fund raising, and private pay. Extended services not to exceed four years.
• Extended services for youth are included in policy and in the counselor resource manual however this has not been necessary. State office has been contacted in regard to several cases of youth needed extended services, but in these cases, we were able to access waiver services for extended supports. We do anticipate that extended services for youth will be necessary for individuals who do not receive waiver services, but to date we have not had to use this provision and have been able to access the waiver. ADRS’s allotment for FY 2018 for supported employment services for youth will include post-employment services and extended services for youth. VR currently spends about 3 million on supported employment and almost 1 million additional dollars through contracts for all individuals with most significant disabilities so easily expends its allotment requirements for youth. Additionally, this year we will be adding 3 new youth programs through Project SEARCH for out of school youth with more significant disabilities.
