Committee on Disability & Employment Meeting

March 22, 2017: 9:00 AM
Frances Perkins Room, 45 Commerce Drive Augusta

State Workforce Board COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT March 22, 2017 9:00 AM ? 12:00 PM Central Maine Commerce Center 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta Frances Perkins Room Call in: 877-455-0244, Conference code: 9218175360 AGENDA 9:00 Welcome, Review/approve November meeting?s minutes 9:15 Review Annual Report and draft Goals for 2017 10:00 DEI wrap-up and beyond ? Peaches Bass 10:30 Break 10:45 SWB and SWB Committee Chairs? Update 11:00 Credit Checks as a Barrier to Employment ? Cheryl Moran 11:30 Follow up on other Employment for PWD Efforts 12:00 Adjourn Next Meeting: May 24, 2017 9:00 ? 12:00 Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Room

COMMITTEE ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT MEETING 03/22/2017 Present: Jennifer Kimble, Gayla Dwyer, Jeanie Coltart, Don Rice, Peaches Bass, Mike McClellan, Karen Fraser, Rachel Dyer (phone)

Staff: Joshua Howe, Cheryl Moran

Welcome, Review/approve November meeting?s minutes Jennifer Kimble opened the meeting with welcomes and introductions and asked for approval of the 11/16/16 meeting minutes. Don Rice motioned. Gayla Dwyer seconded. Minutes were approved after corrections. Jennifer introduced Mike McClellan, Executive Director of the Maine Statewide Independent Living Council (SILC). She stated he is part of the 5 Council groups and it is nice to have ?cross pollination? on board.

Review Annual Report and draft Goals for 2017 CD&E Annual Report 2016 ? Handout was provided. Cheryl Moran stated the Annual Report is no longer in draft and was submitted to the State Legislature January 2017. Jennifer Kimble stated the issues identified last year continue to present challenges for PWD and employment in Maine. The areas of discussion will be tied to these: ? Poverty ? Cultural Perceptions ? Access to Effective Services ? Transportation

She then referred to the 4 bullets in reference to ?What does the CD&E want to see in Maine regarding employment of people with disabilities in 2017?: ? Increased opportunity for people with disabilities to be engaged in the employment and training process, and encouraged to have a voice regarding the access to and effectiveness of services that are designed to facilitate their access to employment and economic advancement. ? Promotion of ability and reduced cultural stigma regarding the role of people with disabilities in our communities and economy. ? Development of creative and aggressive strategies to get people with disabilities hired in jobs that meet their financial needs. This should include development of employer awareness and recognition of people with disabilities as a potential untapped labor pool. ? Universal design and access to services ? where everyone in the State of Maine who needs employment-related services is able to access them easily and efficiently, including people with disabilities of all kinds.

She asked the committee to think about what we need to do going forward.

Draft Goals for 2017 ? Handout was provided. Jennifer Kimble - She drafted 2 proposed focus areas (#1 Monitor and report on (to who/where?) Implementation of policies and recommendations already made to improve employment outcomes for PWD; #2 Identify and participate in opportunities to reduce stigma and dispel myths about employment of PWD) including bullets. Additional bullets were suggested such as: the Blue Ribbon Commission (which is related to transportation), monitoring and advocacy, systemic barriers, and policy. Jennifer stated she will update the goals document and get it out for final approval because this will be the overarching agenda for the committee?s future. Peaches Bass suggested under Proposed Focus Area #1, 1st bullet - WIOA Plan and Section 188 could say sustainable initiatives recommended by the DEI. Proposed Focus Area #2, suggested putting time into fleshing out each of the bullets as to what they would look like if implemented. She feels some are doable. She likes how we are drilling down these goals so we can see what is manageable as a committee.
Joshua Howe ? What already is in the works and how do we engage this group. Peaches Bass suggested bringing in some guests to help us out with this. Mike McClellan provided an update on the Maine SILC Travel Voucher Pilot study. The Maine Pilot Program is to evaluate transportation vouchers in rural areas. A lot of research has been conducted. He stated that this program will work for people with employment but not specific to employment. $100,000 has been appropriated to use in 3 pilot sites around Maine (Aroostook County, Washington County and Western Maine). He stated it is a resolve but would be nice if it could be Law. If you would like more information about this program go to: www.mainesilc.org . Jennifer Kimble ? It will be great to stay informed when it goes to public hearing. Peaches Bass stated dependent care, meeting employer?s needs, and transportation are big issues that need to be addressed including access to the Internet and the hardware. Gayla Dwyer stated regional transportation forums held around the state experienced some problems- No matter what was suggested by attendees, ideas were shot down by facilitators stating ?a lack of federal dollars?. She, along with other attendees, was disappointed because this forum didn?t appear open to hear suggestions that weren?t part of their current focus/delivery plan. We need to look at things already out there and expand. Joshua Howe stated we need to have transportation that is affordable. Jeanie Coltart stated she dislikes the same answer ?too expensive? but if you weigh out the ROI, it will pay for itself. We need to move past that!

DEI wrap-up and beyond ? Peaches Bass The DEI Grant ended January 31, 2017. The DEI Grant was a 3 year federally funded project limited to Central/Western Maine full service CareerCenters and satellite offices. The main focus was to improve services and performance of PWD in non-vocational rehabilitation areas of the CareerCenters. And to increase the number of PWD that we serve, the average wage and employment rate. Overall, there was a modest gain. The grant did not tie us to quantitative funding but did have targets. The most important provision of assisted technology is to maintain and improve our procedure and enable staff to become more adept, and to have the CareerCenter plan in place on how to maintain.

Financial capability ? There is no mandate in the law. Peaches stated she would like to offer more resources around their financial capability. Delivery of integrated services ? that really works for the people. Ticket?to?Work ? sustainable recommendations - more staff trainings and routine staff trainings.

From November to the end of December she was focused on winding down with flexible employment however she does not have the numbers yet.

Disability access listening session notes BES Managers Meeting January 18, 2017 handout: Peaches stated this was the last deliverable on the grant. She wanted the panel to talk directly to the Program Managers and the CareerCenter Managers in reference to this program. She wanted them to tell us what is ?good and bad? of their interactions with the CareerCenters. She wants the panel to have further conversations with the managers. Her perception was that they ?want to or should do? came out of the listening session. She felt there was still perception of the stigma but not at high level. This is something to keep an eye on and have further conversation. She suggested inviting Ed Upham, Bureau Director of the Bureau of Employment Services to a committee meeting. Joshua Howe stated he attended this meeting and thought the group was ?spot on? and very receptive to feedback. Great meeting! Peaches feels that the libraries will become more of a valuable resource in the future. What is the CareerCenter using for revenue with the Ticket-to-Work program? She pointed out that there were 60 tickets assigned last year which was good revenue for our system. This would be a good conversation to have with Ed Upham.

SWB and SWB Committee Chairs? Update Joshua Howe stated since we met last November, a lot has changed with the Unified State Plan (it is a 4 year plan that will be reviewed in 2). The Steering Team has been established with representation from the Core Partners and the Local Workforce Board (LWB?S). The Steering Team acts a guide for implementation strategy of the Unified State Plan. Also up and running is the Universal Access Group. Universal access is how we will deliver services in the most accessible way. He pointed out that PWD and Foreign Language is included.
Josh asked, how do you approach PWD? And how do we implement policies in the CareerCenters? Goal: Develop a model that can be repeated across the state. He pointed out that another part of the Plan is outreach. He stated there are a lot of Bills in the Legislature they are tracking. Jennifer Kimble stated she had a meeting with Garret Oswald and Joshua Howe on the role of what the Commission can be and what are our parameters. Jennifer attended the Youth Committee meeting recently. The committee invited the LWB Directors to discuss credentialing and statewide consistency. She initiated conversation regarding PWD. Her impression with Joanna Russell, Executive Director of the Northwestern Workforce Development Board was clear that they serve PWD without seeing it. Don Rice stated Joanna?s Board has a disability group in reference to WIOA that he belongs to. He strongly stated that Joanna is really committed to serving everyone with no discrimination. He stated accessibility seems to be low priority in the CareerCenters which is an issue. Jennifer ? People should feel empowered to speak up/push back. Getting back to the Chairs? update...she pointed out that we all have a common need to discuss issues of what we want to represent to the LWB?s.

Credit Checks as a Barrier to Employment ? Cheryl Moran Three (3) federal Bills were introduced and referred to the House Committee on Financial Services and were not enacted: H.R. 645 ? 113th Congress (2013-2014) Equal Employment for All Act, introduced 02/13/2013, Sponsor: Rep. Steve Cohen, (D) TN, H.R. 3524 ? 114th Congress (2015-2016) Equal Employment for All Act of 2015, introduced 09/16/2015, Sponsor: Rep. Steve Cohen, (D) TN and H.R. 5282 ? 114th Congress (2015-2016) Comprehensive Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 2016, introduced 05/16/2016, Sponsor: Rep. Maxine Waters, (D) CA. Eleven (11) states including New York City and Chicago have passed laws limiting the use of employment credit checks. Despite important goals of reducing barriers to employment, existing state laws on credit checks are undermined by the significant exemptions they contain. Examples of exceptions are: employees handling cash or goods, access to financial information, management positions, law enforcement positions and employees of financial institutions. Research has found that there have been no successful legal actions or enforcement taken under the laws, even though they have existed for a number of years. A key reason that states have not taken enforcement action is because they receive very few complaints about violations of the law. Public education and outreach efforts about credit checks laws have been minimal in many states. This explains why few people are aware of their rights. In 2015, New York City passed the nation?s strongest law restricting employment credit checks. New York?s pubic outreach effort is exemplary. Examples of outreach efforts are; ads on subways and buses and on the cover of the city?s free newspapers. Bottom line, greater public awareness would increase effectiveness. Suggestion: speak to state Legislatures, provide witnesses. Peaches Bass ? Everyone should know their rights, be educated and financial capability. She believes there are a lot of coalitions that would not mind participating/advocating. Jennifer Kimble suggested to invite Gilda Nardone, Executive Director of New Ventures Maine to discuss what they do in reference to financial capability. This will be put on the next agenda.

Follow up on Review of Statewide Efforts related to Employment of PWD Jennifer Kimble stated due to time constraints, this topic will be discussed at the start of their next meeting since this is never discussed.

Next meeting agenda: Plan on inviting the LWB?s, Ed Upham from BES and plan out for the year of who to invite.

Meeting Adjourned

Next Meeting: May 24, 2017 9:00 ? 12:00 Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Room

Respectfully submitted to Cheryl Moran

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