Committee on Disability & Employment

September 19, 2018: 9:00 AM
Frances Perkins rm, 45 Commerce Dr, Augusta

State Workforce Board COMMISSION ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT September 19, 2018 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, Introductions 9:05 Follow up on Employment First and CDE Recommendations Guests: Co-Chairs of the Maine State Legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research, and Economic Development (LCRED) Committee: Senator Amy Volk, Maine Senate District 30 Representative Ryan Fecteau, Maine House District 11 10:15 Break 10:30 Review/approve May meeting’s minutes 10:45 Discussion: - Define term and process of adding new members - Identify stakeholder groups with which to collaborate to advance employment of MWD, including employer strategies and public awareness. - Identify DOL agency leads to invite to November’s meeting 12:00 Adjourn Next Meeting: November 7, 2018 9:00 – 12:00 Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Room

COMMISSION ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT MEETING MINUTES 09/19/18

Present: Jennifer Kimble, (Chair), Donald Rice, Jeanie Coltart, Gayla Dwyer, Karen Fraser, Rachel Dyer

Guest: Renee Doble, Senator Amy Volk, Representative Ryan Fecteau (phone)

Staff: Joshua Howe, Cheryl Moran

Welcome, Introductions Jennifer Kimble opened the regular meeting at 9:05am and asked members and guests to introduce themselves and their affiliations. Representative Ryan Fecteau apologized for not being in person. Jennifer stated there will be no approval of the 07/18/18 meeting minutes today because we need to do a little more work. She stated they will have the minutes ready for approval at the next meeting or before.

Follow up on Employment First and CDE Recommendations Guests: Co-Chairs of the Maine State Legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research, and Economic Development (LCRED) Committee: Senator Amy Volk, Maine Senate District 30 Representative Ryan Fecteau, Maine House District 11 Jennifer Kimble provided an opening statement before she introduced Senator Volk and Representative Fecteau by stating she is pleased to have the opportunity to talk with the Co-Chairs of the committee about the recommendations from the CDE. Jennifer stated the goal will be to check in with the Co-Chairs and follow up the recommendations to report in January. The question is what will they be doing to enforce the law? Senator Amy Volk stated it is tough to know because she is up for re-election. She stated she is very open to help PWD. Also, it is hard to know politically where things are at. The next Governor however will have focus on the workforce no matter who the Governor may be. She stated “Ryan and I would be willing to take on Legislation.” Representative Ryan Fecteau stated what he thinks is a challenge is that their committee not spend a lot of time having conversation about policy through a bill. They do not have much time to brainstorm. Move the legislation forward. A group outside could have a more in-depth conversation all year round.
Going back to January, how much effort is going into getting disability benefits? Representative Fecteau’s concern is that we need to work on this issue of letting recipients know that they can obtain benefits and still allowed to work. Rachel Dyer stated there are a lot of programs in DHHS that get hurt. Senator Volk stated some of their members have gone to other committees. She stated after the election and when the Legislature reconvenes in mid-January, have the Chairs of those committees get together and really look at some of the policy recommendations and where the overlaps are. Be pro-active! She thought this would be a good tactic. Jennifer Kimble stated Employment First is a law. Every year we have recommendations and what are we advising to what end? Rachel Dyer stated PWD are still under-employed. Senator Volk stated someone must be given the ball. If you really want action, have someone say this is Legislation that we are going to submit. Make sure things are not govern by Federal Law, otherwise you will have a problem. Representative Fecteau stated we can submit Legislation right now and have someone else take over. Bureaucracy is very slow to change. That’s a leadership thing too. Jennifer Kimble asked do we really need more Legislation? Not very sure? We decided to take this on because this group does not exist anymore. Senator Volk suggested we could send letters to the departments stating these are the recommendations and request a status. In January, request a report on where they’re at. Representative Fecteau asked what are you all trying to accomplish? Which recommendations may or may not need Legislation? Senator Volk stated their committee staff could look at it since this is where we are. Rachel Dyer – This is a hard time predicting the outcome if we do this. She suggested maybe have more specific questions about the report? Such as sharing data and not getting at the actual recommendations. How do we do this? What are the measures we are taking? Senator Volk stated data sharing has always been a problem. Joshua Howe suggested another approach…. attach specific ones as a committee because other things that impact PWD are not specifically related to their impairment. For example, transportation, and child care. Transportation is one of the big barriers that really needs to be looked at. Jeanie Coltart strongly stated we need to change the mindset of employers about hiring PWD. There’s a lot of discrimination. Jeanie stated she would like the new Governor know matter who it may be, appoint an aide in his office that has expertise on PWD to talk with employers and legislatures. She stated we need to be more pro-active. Always too much talk. Jennifer Kimble stated there definitely is a disconnect. Disability is everywhere. She asked the question are all the offices reporting out? BRS is very good. Both BES and OFI did not report out. What did they do? There are some specific gaps such as on-line personality quizzes when applying for a job which screens people out etc. How do we get to those employers? Senator Volk suggested have a similar Campaign to Maine Hire-A-Vet. Face to face interaction is missing also including people with criminal records.
Joshua Howe stated he attended an event at the Warren Prison where there was a panel that included both employers and prisoners. 120 employers attended. The bonding program was mentioned. What really bothered him was that Labor provided the training and did not receive media attention. Senator Volk stated she is glad to hear that the bonding program is being mentioned because it never is. She pointed out we’re at a point in the economy for example, Northeast Technical Institute cannot get people and that’s a problem. A lot of people do not know these programs exist. Employers might be willing to look at populations they never have before. Renee Doble stated training might be more important. PWD want training but how do we get there? Karen Fraser suggested have employers that hire PWD with that experience, talk about it. This could be very powerful. Representative Fecteau stated employers need to be literate to this population. For example, what does it mean to be in or out of treatment or recently incarcerated? Employers need to understand to what degree, what does it mean to hire someone with a disability. This is a very important piece of this conversation. Jennifer Kimble pointed out people are not required by law to disclose a disability. Employers already employ PWD’s. The real issues are the insurance cost around PWD’s and how to accommodate an employer. It’s a little complicated about navigating around this issue. Joshua Howe stated all employers should be accommodated because PWD are not and should not be considered “special”. Rachel Dyer stated still the process of getting around the on-line screening process or disclosing a disability is a problem. She announced their new project called “Land Trust Around Volunteers”. The issue here is that these people will have transportation problems every day. She pointed out Backyard Farms however; hired a bus to accommodate. Senator Volk stated smaller employers may not be able to do this however; someone could work from home providing they have good Internet then they would not need transportation. Gayla Dwyer stated since 1938 and now it’s 2018, when are we going to become aware? Renee Doble stated we need more “ah huh moments” in the business community that PWD are just people and may have some issues. Jennifer Kimble reiterated we must get the education out there somehow. Jeanie Coltart stated we need to speak with top management and CEO’s. Gayla Dwyer stated we also need to understand business community’s needs. We need to have these relationships because everyone with a disability does not need an accommodation.
Jennifer Kimble stated the workforce shortage affects provider agencies as well. Senator Volk stated there’s an issue with State employees where pay is concerned. The disparity between the public and private sector. Karen Fraser stated we finally have data that recognizes services to employers. And for the first time ever, we are looking at employer effectiveness measures. Most PWD do not disclose because they do not want to be hired because of their disability but because of their skills. Jeanie Coltart stated PWD do not want to be hired for an employer to receive a tax break. She reiterated again stating that is why she wants the next Governor to hire an aide. Or form an ad hoc committee to talk to the next Governor and the employers. Donald Rice – Chamber meetings at the local level are very important. Senator Volk stated this conversation illustrates an issue. She stated how she is a little confused because how do you begin to address that barrier if they are not willing to disclose? Jennifer Kimble – How do we overcome that cultural stigma? Gayla Dwyer reiterated transportation, skills, up-front screening are the real barriers. Jennifer Kimble – Hire-A-Vet Campaign seems to be more appealing, patriotic to employers. Joshua Howe stated if you have a hiring campaign, make sure a job is framed properly not because you are disabled. Rachel Dyer stated she prefers using the word non-traditional vs diverse. Jennifer Kimble – Or hiring the untapped workforce. Senator Volk reiterated by stating we would be crazy about not taking advantage of where we are right now in this economy because employers are more opt of hiring the untapped workforce more than ever. Jeanie Coltart asked what are we going to do next after all this talking? She suggested to speak with all the committee Chairs to form an ad hoc to speak to the Governor. We need to have a plan. Joshua Howe stated things do not need to come out of the Governor’s office. Next week is the SWB Chairs meeting. If we have time, we will mention this. Jennifer Kimble stated after the break, she’ll ask committee members what questions to ask the LCRD’s and to follow-up on the recommendations. Senator Volk asked what conclusion have we arrived at? She suggested to have a conference call including herself, Representative Fecteau and Jennifer Kimble.
Jennifer Kimble – Strategies going forward….She asked members to look at the recommendations. She wants to close the gaps in the report before bringing it back to the Legislature.
Karen Fraser stated this would be very helpful because the report is very long. She also suggested to pick the top 5 recommendations to look at.
Jennifer agreed they really should look at those recommendations and what specifically jumps out. She stated she was surprised that OFI (Office of Family Independence and BES (Bureau of Employment Services) were not part of this. Karen Fraser stated you need to be specific of what you want to talk about to these agencies and you should get a response for example, MaineCare.
Jennifer – People that are receiving SSI or SSDI will protect their benefits at all costs because they are living in poverty. The question is how to get through to them to change the mind set? OFI – their main focus is TANF not the entire household. These recipients need benefits counseling. Parents that are receiving SSI need to be targeted on how to reach out to them. Jennifer stated she would love to get to those families to interrupt this cycle. PWD receiving MaineCare – how many? Committee members stated they will need to look at the recommendations again. Jennifer stated they will look at APSI and the recommendations and come up with a list. The goal is to have the Labor Employment First report out. She then asked the committee members to pick a deadline. Everyone agreed the deadline will be October 12th. She asked the committee to let her know specific items they would like to include in the Legislation.
Define term and process of adding new members Jennifer Kimble stated she is in conversation with Amie Parker who used to work for Bates College in becoming a member. She hopes Renee Doble will stay on. Process – Should we maintain it being open and flexible? Terms – Continue or find someone to fill your spot? She asked does this benefit us or the way we are doing it now? Jeanie Coltart responded by stating let’s leave it the way it is and focus on getting things done. Rachel Dyer suggested we should always talk about membership at each meeting but not make it a big production. Donald Rice stated to leave as is. Renee Doble stated it does not matter to her. Jennifer – Some members that have been on the committee are in name only. She stated she still likes the idea of having an official application. Jeanie Coltart stated we need to reach more independent people. Jennifer listed 3 areas to work on: 1. Increase membership 2. Follow up on the recommendations 3. Employer outreach and public awareness strategy for this year and into the next Identify stakeholder groups with which to collaborate to advance employment of MWD, including employer strategies and public awareness Jennifer Kimble asked who do we need to collaborate with to make this happen? She suggested to brainstorm a list that we can come up with now and how can we infiltrate natural resources to employers? Due to time constraints, she suggested to table this conversation for the next meeting. Economic development is an angle. Public awareness – we have not really done anything around this. Karen Fraser pointed out that newsletters have gone out through their communication department. She also stated their communications department has a specific list to employers through the social media and public blasts. Karen announced tomorrow, September 20th is the Deaf Culture Tea event that will be held at the Hall of Flags. They could get the word out.
Jennifer stated she would like to do a campaign like the YES Initiative because she thought it was brilliant on how it was rolled out and presented. Karen Fraser – What could these forums look like and who else do you invite to make this happen? She suggested to wait until this election is over. Identify DOL agency leads to invite to November’s meeting Jennifer Kimble – Labor Bureaus; Karen Fraser, Libby Stone-Sterling, and Brenda Drummond from BRS, Ed Upham from BES, and she will reach out to Danny Bolduc from BLS especially because of the sub-minimum wage. Jennifer also stated she would like to invite the LWB’s because this is a place that really needs focus. Karen Fraser suggested she might get better traction with outreach by attending a board meeting and be part of their agenda.

Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 12:05pm.

Next Meeting: November 7, 2018 9:00am – 12:00pm Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins room

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

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