Committee on Disability & Employment

November 7, 2018: 9:00 AM
Frances Perkins rm, 45 Commerce Dr, Augusta

State Workforce Board COMMISSION ON DISABILITY AND EMPLOYMENT November 7, 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 DOL Guests: Libby Stone-Sterling, Director, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services Brenda Drummond, Director, Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services Dawn Mealey, Deputy Director, Bureau of Employment Services 10:30 Break 10:45 Review/approve July and September meetings’ minutes 11:00 Discussion: - Identify stakeholder groups with which to collaborate to advance employment of MWD, including employer strategies and public awareness. - Identify individuals from DOE to attend January meeting for EFM report out - Initial strategy to follow up with LCRED 12:00 Adjourn Next Meeting: January 9, 2019 9:00 – 12:00 Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Room

COMMISSION ON DISABILITY & EMPLOYMENT MEETING MINUTES 11/07/2018

Present: Jennifer Kimble, (Chair), Donald Rice, Rachel Dyer, Gayla Dwyer, Karen Fraser, Renee Doble, Amie Parker

Absent: Mel Clarrage, Jeanie Coltart

Guests: Libby Stone-Sterling, Director, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services Brenda Drummond, Director, Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services Peaches Bass, Program Manager, Bureau of Employment Services

Staff: Joshua Howe, Cheryl Moran

Welcome and Introductions Jennifer Kimble opened the regular meeting at 9:05am and asked members and guests to introduce themselves and their affiliations.

Follow up on Employment First and CDE Recommendations DOL Guests: Libby Stone-Sterling, Director, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services Libby provided handouts on Pre-Employment Transition Services, Employer Information – Looking for your next generation of workers? School to Work Services, Employment Services for People with Disabilities, and Youth Career Opportunity Assistance. She opened her presentation by stating over the last few years, she is now seeing a lot of collaboration with agencies and within their agencies. She highlighted some areas of what’s happening in DVR. • Foster care liaisons are assigned. • Pre-Employment Services (New) – provides more of a focus working with young people starting earlier at the age of 14. • Common measures – through collaboration, there’s a new opportunity on how they are collecting data. • Department of Corrections – DVR is working very closely, but they have been for quite some time. Samantha Fenderson will be taking this on.
• Work experience before students end high school. Everyone is on-board with this message. • Paid work experience – BRS has been working closely with employers. Some of the feedback has been very positive. • Progressive Employment model from Vermont – this model continues and is going very well. • BRS is working on how to get local employers to work with them. • BRS is working with Goodwill in the Brunswick area on the Pre-Employment Transition Services – this is working with students that might want to go to college but prefer to work. • Peer mentoring – is a Pilot Program with Alpha One. Libby stated BRS has been very focused on meaningful work, which is very important. She also stated BRS has a team that helps businesses understand the services they have to offer. Recommendations – BRS will be going out to bid for their community hub providers. Brenda Drummond, Director, Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Bureau of Rehabilitation Services Brenda opened her presentation by stating her agency works with clients from birth to death and they always touch on employment. She stated how important it is to involve parents in their child’s needs because they need to gain blindness rehabilitation skills first. She briefly spoke about 3 programs; Life 1O1, Life 2O1, and the College Prep Program. • Life 1O1 started 3 years ago, and is a 2-week program where they learn the basics of everyday living in a dorm setting. Most students have never been away from home. • Life 2O1 – Is a 3-week program and added VR classes and a work experience. • College Prep Program is a 5-week program held at the University of Maine at Orono where the student can earn 3 college credits and have a work experience. She stated they had 8 participants. The students can commute but a lot choose to stay on campus. This past summer they had another 5-day program, Living on Your Own (LOYO). She pointed out that this program really emphasized parent involvement because most of the students have never been overnight or away from home and it is important for parents to be engaged in helping their sons and daughters gain skills to live independently as adults. Brenda noted that the population of people who are blind or visually impaired served by DBVI is small and this year, 40 of their clients were employed competitively. Peaches Bass, Program Manager, Bureau of Employment Services Prior to Peaches presentation, Jennifer Kimble stated she was disappointed not to see Ed Upham or Dawn Mealey but was happy to see Peaches. Peaches stated she will attend again in the foreseeable future. Peaches opened her presentation by stating the Bureau of Employment Services (BES) does not exclusively work with individuals with disabilities. It’s all about integrating PWD into populations of the people they serve. She pointed out that the biggest challenge was when staff greeted a PWD, they would take a seat and automatically referred to a VR counselor.
Now, everyone is greeted the same with a more intense conversation on where to properly direct and serve. BES now has a Policy in place that is tied to WIOA – not and automatic referral. Peaches stated BES services are already set-up to have you re-employed such as looking for a job, interview, resume that sells, Job Banks (Maine Job Link). As of 6 months ago, BES no longer provides employment and training support under WIOA Title 1B. WIOA Title 1B is now administered by other providers such as ACAP, EMDC, WMCA, and Goodwill Workforce Solutions however; BES still works closely with them.
BES is now focused on looking, getting and keeping the job. The Competitive Skills Scholarship Program (CSSP) is a recipient of unemployment tax funds paid by employers and the Trade program is a recipient of federal funds. BES still administers the Apprenticeship Program. This program is working a lot by including PWD. She pointed out that EEO and Affirmative Action standards must be met and BES makes sure this is enforced. CSSP is designed to target individuals who can benefit training through high demand occupations. WIOA Title 3 was formally called Wagner-Peyser. This is what you see at the front entrance of every CareerCenter. This program is designed to build skills and keep your job. Employers cannot keep an account on the Maine JobLink if they discriminate. This is an added feature. Youth Services – We know we are serving a high number of youth with disabilities. Peaches stated she is sent out in the field to make sure everyone is trained on the Non-discrimination Policy. Training is provided and agencies are required to adhere to the Non-discrimination Policy. BES makes sure this happens. Josh Howe is working on a Accessibility Guide that will be provided. The Disability Veteran Outreach Program or DVOP provides services and work with the disabled veteran population. BES has a strong partnership with New Ventures Maine and they are working with them to improve their outreach involving PWD. A staff person in each CareerCenter is in charge of the assisted technology equipment. Assisted technology has been a big improvement in the CareerCenter. Data – BES discovered that OSOS did not do a good job of tracking PWD. The Maine JobLink does okay. Metrics on employment outcomes. Jennifer Kimble asked is it a requirement to be re-employed full-time? Peaches response, no it is not. Joshua Howe stated there’s not a lot of performance data available yet. Peaches stated she wish they could do more documenting. Jennifer Kimble stated what actually is being collected is what needs to be looked at.

Review/approve July and September meetings’ minutes Jennifer Kimble called motion to approve the 07/18/18 meeting minutes. Don Rice motioned. Gayla Dwyer seconded. The 07/18/18 minutes were approved unanimously as written. Jennifer called motion to approve the 09/19/18 meeting minutes. Karen Fraser called for a correction on the last page, first paragraph, second line, committee should be changed to communication. Don Rice motioned. Gayla Dwyer seconded. The 09/19/18 meeting minutes were approved unanimously after correction.

Membership Jennifer Kimble - Renee Doble stated she wants to be a new member - hopefully Amie Parker will come back. In terms of adding a new member – Jennifer asked committee members, should we go by the Bylaws or just vote? The membership forms are old and outdated so we are not able to use. Jennifer asked committee members to look at the Bylaws again and at the January meeting, have an official vote about adding a new member.

Next meetings’ agenda • Invite Roberta Lucas from the Department of Education • Strategize on goals for 2019 • Have an official vote about adding a new member

Meeting adjourned at 12:00pm

Next Meeting: January 9, 2019 9:00am – 12:00pm Central Maine Commerce Center Frances Perkins Room

Respectfully submitted by Cheryl Moran

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