Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan [13] must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA:
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[13] Sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA
j. 1. B. Who are minorities;
Current Narrative:
| FFY2016 | FFY2017 | FFY2018 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 295 | 1.6% | 286 | 1.5% | 230 | 1.5% |
| Asian | 177 | 0.9% | 185 | 1.0% | 179 | 1.1% |
| Black or African-American | 2,774 | 14.7% | 2,736 | 14.4% | 2,364 | 15.0% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 553 | 2.9% | 615 | 3.2% | 538 | 3.4% |
| Middle Eastern | 2 | 0.0% | 3 | 0.0% | 11 | 0.1% |
| Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander | 51 | 0.3% | 53 | 0.3% | 48 | 0.3% |
| White | 16,046 | 84.9% | 16,232 | 85.3% | 13,338 | 84.7% |
*Individuals may be counted in more than one category, therefore the total for all percentages may equal more than 100%.
The majority of individuals served in VR (79.8%) are white, with the second largest population at 14.1% being individuals who are black or African American. There were slight increases. For comparison, the below data compares total individuals served by race/ethnicity in VR compared to the Indiana population of individuals with disabilities by race/ethnicity.
Indiana disability population by race and VR participants served by race:
| Indiana | Number of people with a disability (all ages) | Percentage of population by race with disability | Served by VR FFY 2018 (ages over 14) | Percentage of VR participants served by race |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total for Indiana | 915,092 (12.7% of the total population) |
|
21,610 (duplicated count) | |
| Race | ||||
| White | 786,393 | 85.4% | 13,338 | 84.7% |
| African-American | 87,124 | 9.7% | 2,364 | 15% |
| American Indian/Alaska Native | 3, 233 | 0.4% | 230 | 1.5% |
| Other race(s) | 10,145 | 8.2% | 238 | 1.5% |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) | 38,386 | 7% | 538 | 3.4% |
Proportionally, VR serves a higher percentage of individuals who are African-American and individuals who are American Indiana/Alaska Native compared to the total Indiana disability population; conversely, a lower percentage of individuals who are white, individuals of ‘other races,’ and individuals who are Hispanic or Latino are reported. The overall ratio of whites to minorities served in VR appears to be comparable to the ratio of the whites to minorities’ population in Indiana.
The following is a summary of survey questions and responses in regard to services for minorities:
- What racial/ethnic groups are unserved or underserved?
- Those responding indicated that the racial/ethnic groups being unserved or underserved are Hispanic or Latino (23.6%) and African American/Black (22.4%). The remainder were below 11%.
- What are the service needs for racial/ethnic groups?
- The responses to this question were also very evenly distributed between the offered choices of addressing language barriers (33.5%), outreach on the availability of services (33.3%), and cultural awareness training for professionals (29.9).