Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for State Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by sections 101(a) and 606 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA.
k. Coordination with Employers
In accordance with the requirements in Section 101(a)(11)(E) of the Rehabilitation Act, describe how the VR agency will work with employers to identify competitive integrated employment and career exploration opportunities in order to facilitate the provision of VR services; and transition services for youth and students with disabilities, including pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities.
Current Narrative:
The VR Business and Community Engagement (BC&E) team builds relationships with employers for the purpose of sharing information and resources that will increase competitive integrated employment for individuals with disabilities. The team continues to explore strategies to expand its capacity for business engagement to increase diversity hiring opportunities for job seekers with disabilities and meet the needs employers in their hiring efforts. Employers often seek resources around disability hiring in the form of informative and educational presentations to executive management, supervisors, and HR teams. Resources requested include information on recruiting, hiring, and retaining individuals with disabilities; creating an inclusive organization and how to ensure that all aspects of the workplace are accessible. Informational panel presentations during March Disability Awareness month and October’s Disability Employment Awareness Month, sponsored by business networking organizations like SHRM and Chambers of Commerce, are very often the first point of contact in reaching employers and have resulted in requests for more information from those employers. Employers have requested specific presentations and trainings on various topics for their management and employees. Disability etiquette & awareness training for hiring managers, information on tax credits, accommodations and opportunities to network directly with jobseekers are the majority of what the employers request. In the past two years, the Indianapolis Area Work to Include coalition launched a monthly Employer Showcase that brings employers, job seekers with disabilities and employment service providers together to network and share information. There are similar coalitions around the state doing these types of activities that result in long-term connections for job seekers with disabilities.
As part of employer engagement, sharing information on how employers can engage youth is very popular because of the potential pipeline of talent they can build. Employers are very receptive at providing opportunities to transition age youth like employer tours, informational interviews and interview preparation. Some employers have even started to provide video tours and live virtual tours and an option to increase their outreach activities for youth and the general population.
Additionally, VR youth counselors engage with employers at the local level for the provision of work-based learning activities, including work site tours, job shadowing and work experiences. Over the last two years, a portion of pre-ETS funding is used to provide stipends for students participating in work experiences. The availability of stipends combined with increased pre-ETS summer programming has greatly increased VR’s coordination with employers at the local as well as statewide level.