Vocational Rehabilitation Program (Combined or General)

Co—located within the Delaware Department of Labor, the Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has enriched connections to workforce information, resources, and other advantages for serving individuals with disabilities. Career exploration, employer engagement, and assisting our job seeker population to go to work are at the forefront of DVR’s strategic goals. Consequently, working with employers and employer engagement is not a new role for DVR staff but has become an enhanced focus. Since September of 2007, the Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation has operated with an in—house Business Relations Unit to help guide business practices. The unit consists of one Statewide Business Relations Manager, five full—time and 2 part—time Business Relations Specialists, all of whom have post—secondary degrees with concentrations in areas such as of marketing, communications, or human resource management. Unit team members consistently receive training in job development and placement, labor market and career information, marketing to business customers, employment readiness, soft skills training, the Americans with Disabilities Act and other areas required to bring proficiency to the job. The Business Relations Unit uses information from the Delaware Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information such as the Delaware Career Compass, the Delaware Monthly Labor Review and other labor market information as a guide for creating career opportunities for people with disabilities who want to go to work and for establishing linkages with business. Utilization of Delaware Job Links, the States free job matching and workforce information service for job seekers and business from the Division of Employment and Training, is also a resource used by the unit for serving its dual customer population. The Business Relations unit currently functions from a dual customer perspective and exists to: • Assist the counselors in obtaining meaningful employment opportunities for all assigned job seekers who want to gain successful employment • Identify and prepare the DVR job seekers in a timely manner in response to employer recruiting needs. • Build solid relationships and engage business and industry in collaborative activities as a resource to meet their workforce needs. • Increase state agency knowledge and participation in the State of Delaware’s Selective Placement and Agency Aide programs to help advance hiring opportunities for people with disabilities seeking employment in State government. • Work closely with local workforce development agencies, schools and community—based organizations who seek to build relationships with employers by engaging in career fairs, parent nights and other activities. • Facilitate statewide communication, training, marketing, resource sharing and other activities related to consumer placement and business development. • Work closely with state and local Chambers, SHRM, rotaries, and other professional organizations to promote a structure for networking and sharing information. • The DVR Business Relations Unit works with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program to assist businesses with Federal contracts to fulfill the Section 503 requirements regarding employment of individuals with disabilities. The OFCCCP has referred businesses that are seeking compliance to DVR for assistance. Federal contractors send lists of open positions to the Business Relations Unit. In addition, Business Relations Specialists work with the State’s office of Government Support Services where state federal contracts are awarded. • Moving forward, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation will continue to develop and enhance established partnerships with employers to identify competitive integrated employment and career exploration opportunities in order to facilitate the provision of VR services. Utilizing the current practices in place, the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation will also: • Engage employers in activities as strategic partners and not use them only in an advisory capacity. • Use employers to help identify high demand industries and occupations in Delaware • Utilize their expertise to develop career options and credentialed programs for individuals with disabilities who want to work. • Promote and encourage their expertise in activities such as apprenticeships, OJT, internships, and other work—based learning opportunities where employer input is valued. • Pursue careers, not just jobs, with individuals with disabilities who are interested in seeking employment. • Use Delaware labor market trend information to assist with developing career options. • Use the Talent Acquisition Portal as a way to highlight Delaware’s workforce talent and connect job seekers with a larger network of employers from across the country. • Make use of available tools and resources that address workforce needs and job seeker skill sets. • O’NET • Talent Acquisition Portal • Division of Employment and Training, Delaware Job—Link • Delaware Office of Occupation and Labor Market Information (OOLMI) • Collaborate with business, community service providers, colleges, universities, and other organizations for skill development training. • Work with employers to identify skills gaps and collaborate with local training programs to customize training to meet the needs. • Seek business guidance for developing curriculum for training programs. • Encourage employer feedback regarding program services through activities such as open forums, surveys, and attendance at meetings in the business community. The Delaware Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) will utilize their in-house Business Relations Unit staff, resources from Business Relations staff within the Department of Labor’s Job Career Centers, and contractual job development and placement staff from the rehabilitation provider community to develop, build and maintain partnerships with business and industry. These statewide joint efforts will serve to create coordinated business outreach and services to connect business and industry to information and resources to meet their workforce needs and demands and create widespread employment opportunities for people with disabilities in Delaware . DVR will collaborate with business partners for specific events and activities which help to market career opportunities for people with disabilities. These business activities may include targeted job fair events with business that focus on demands of precise markets and help meet the needs of specific industries, career/job fair opportunities with business as a way for employers recruiters, and schools to connect with potentials candidates and give pertinent information to potential employees/recruits, sponsored business disability mentoring days as a way of raising awareness of employment opportunities for people with disabilities and the talents they bring to the workplace, and disability awareness training and lunch-time learning offered to business partners as who are interested in creating a diverse workforce to learn on topics such as specific aspects of disabilities, assistive technology, workplace accommodations, tax credits and workforce incentives, etc. DVR will encourage business participation in the National Employment Team (NET) to develop a strategy across the footprint of a company. In addition, to offering business the advantage of national qualified applicants, DVR will facilitate business demonstrations of and access to the Talent Acquisition Portal (TAP), an online system that includes both a national talent pool of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) candidates looking for employment and a job posting system for businesses looking to hire individuals with disabilities. The DVR in-house Business Relations Unit will utilize labor market information and work with businesses to identify those jobs considered in-demand and high growth sectors. This information will be provided to DVR counselors for developing career pathways in addition to creating training and work opportunities for individuals with disabilities. In partnership with business, DVR will gather real-time labor market information based on current conditions, industry and skills segments to identify workforce needs and supports and align credentialed training with community programs to meet those needs and demands. DVR will work cooperatively with business and industry and education to determine business recognized training opportunities that meet workforce demands and creates employment opportunities for people with disabilities in the community. In collaboration with workforce partners who serve the business community, DVR will create a standard needs assessment to initially determine what business and industry need in terms of resources, information and services, and then follow-up with survey tool(s) for the level of customer satisfaction derived from the workforce services received. The survey will serve to gage areas of best practices, met and unmet business needs, and areas of improvement for providing future workforce supports. DVR will collaborate and engage in training opportunities with WIOA core partners for how to better serve the business community based on their needs.