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Maine's CHOICES CEO Project

Working Together News
A newsletter about Maine's efforts to increase work opportunities for people with disabilities

In Focus

“Disability Program Navigators” in Year One

In August 2007, the Maine Department of Labor launched a new effort to make it easier for people with disabilities to access services at Maine’s CareerCenters. The Disability Program Navigator (DPN) initiative is a two-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration. There are four Navigators – one working in the CareerCenters of each of the four workforce regions in Maine as well as a Lead Navigator located in the Bureau of Employment Services.

The DPN team has been working closely with CareerCenter staff to determine what is working well and what would strengthen access to services in each region. The team is also bringing in resources and training to address needs. Navigators specialize in issues such as accommodations, Social Security work incentives, and the use of assistive technology.

They also assist customers by helping them “navigate” the many work-related programs and services that are available through the CareerCenters. Additionally, Navigators share information with employers about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities, and with community agencies about CareerCenter services.

During the upcoming year, DPN staff will be working with partners such as the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Commission on Disability and Employment, and the CHOICES CEO project, and in new and creative ways to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

Some recent activities by the Navigator team include:

• Providing refresher training on the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Workforce Investment Act for CareerCenter staff and other partners.
• Presenting to many social service providers and groups such as Central Maine Inclusive Schools and the Southern Midcoast Chamber of Commerce.
• Arranging for the Maine Center on Deafness to train Portland CareerCenter staff on the use of TTY and Maine Relay.
• Promoting expanded opportunities for Disability Mentoring Day 2008 in partnership with Jobs for Maine’s Graduates and the Muskie School of Public Service.
• Providing information to job seekers, community agencies, CareerCenter staff and employers on issues such as disability disclosure, Social Security Work Incentives, and assistive technology.
• Compiling Social Security resource guides for placement in each CareerCenter as well as online.

In the upcoming weeks the team will assist with the re-launch of Social Security’s Ticket to Work program and will join in the new “Employment Service Network” effort being developed by Maine Medical Center in conjunction with the Office of Adult Mental Health Services and the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services.

Employment Collaborative of Southern Maine (ECOSM) forming

For the last several months a group of individuals has been meeting in Southern Maine to explore the possibility of developing an Employment Collaborative.  The group, known as the Employment Collaborative of Southern Maine, began meeting in December 2007 at the invitation of the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), and includes numerous employment service providers, and state agency representatives from DVR and the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  The Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston is facilitating the group through a technical assistance grant awarded to DVR.

The purpose of the ongoing discussion is to identify whether and to what extent the individual efforts of many different employment services providers for individuals with disabilities could be coordinated through a collaborative.  Possible areas of coordination include: shared job referrals, coordinated outreach to employers, and shared training across agencies. 

The group has met monthly since December and has completed a mission and core values statement, explored several different models of employment collaboratives currently in use, and identified a number of critical issues that need to be addressed in order for the Collaborative to be successful.  With a common philosophy, a collaborative approach to job development, and by sharing job information and resources, members of the collaborative hope to better address employer and worker needs.

For more information please contact:
Chris Littlefield (207) 347-3236
Christopher.J.Littlefield@maine.gov

Working Together Participates in the Maine Human Resources Convention & Expo

The 13th Annual Maine Human Resources Convention & Expo was held at the Samoset Resort from May 6-9. This year’s convention was a sellout with over 600 attendees. Working Together, a business network of employers that support employing people with disabilities, presented a booth, distributed materials, and hosted a luncheon. The conference was an excellent venue for Working Together to recruit new business partners and to reinforce the message that “employing people with disabilities makes good business sense.”

Maine HR professionals talked to Working Together representatives at the network’s booth on day two of the Expo. They picked up resources, the new Working Together brochure, and copies of the ‘Pledge’ —a promise to support the employment of people with disabilities, which is made by employers joining the group.

A lunchtime roundtable discussion titled, “Integrating People with Disabilities into the Workplace” was hosted by Merritt Carey, Working Together business partner liaison, and Larry Glantz of the CHOICES CEO project. Participants included employers who have experience employing people with disabilities and those that haven’t but are interested in doing so. Topics discussed ranged from state and federal policy issues to specific internal business practices.

Additionally, a “Save the Date” card for Working Together’s 2nd Annual Symposium was inserted in tote bags distributed to all attendees. The Symposium will be held October 30, 2008 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport. To view the agenda, or to register for the symposium go to: www.ExpandingMainesWorkforce.com.

State Affairs

Residents of Northern Maine Provide Input on Strategic Plan

Just across the street from state’s largest job fair (see related article), the Commission on Disability and Employment held a meeting to gather feedback from residents of northern Maine about Maine’s Strategic Plan to Maximize Employment for People with Disabilities. (Residents of southern Maine had an opportunity to provide feedback in Portland this past fall.)

At the April 16 meeting, an energetic group of 22 people spent half the day reviewing the Commission’s work to increase employment opportunities. Small group discussions helped determine what has been working well, along with the barriers to achieving the six strategic priorities set out in the 2005 strategic plan. Groups identified several themes that need to be stronger. These include better communication about the issues of employment and disability; a focus on economic development; the degree to which transportation is a barrier; and enhanced partnerships with employers, including state government.

Using an action research approach, feedback meetings are part of a regular review and refinement of the plan. Commission members had a follow-up meeting with additional partners to review input on May 1. The CHOICES CEO project has provided key support to both the development and implementation of the plan.

Job Seekers with Disabilities Find Resources at Bangor Career Fair

This year’s Spring Career & Job Fair offered job seekers a staffed booth with resources targeted to the interests of workers with disabilities. The event, held at the Spectacular Events Center in Bangor on April 16, was sponsored by the Bangor CareerCenter and the Bangor Daily News. It drew 71 vendors and approximately 950 job and training seekers. “This year’s job fair was the largest recruitment event in the state of Maine,” said Paul Ruggiero of the Bangor CareerCenter.

The booth, entitled “Resources for Job Seekers with Disabilities” was organized with help from several CHOICES CEO project partners. The resource booth was featured in an April 11 article in the Bangor Daily News that discussed the importance of people with disabilities in the workplace. This article reached readers across northern and Downeast Maine. A large ad encouraging job seekers with disabilities to visit the booth was placed in the paper as well.

Booth staffers were kept busy all day. Staff interacted with job seekers who readily disclosed their disability and described how it affected or didn’t affect their employment. Booth visitors included disabled veterans and people with a variety of disabilities, such as hearing impairments, traumatic brain injury, physical disabilities, mental illnesses, emotional disorders, and cognitive impairments. Parents and teachers of children with a disability who, in the near future, will be transitioning from school to work found many helpful resources.

Issues around disclosure were brought up fairly often in conversations at the resource table. A number of visitors said that they haven’t disclosed that they have a disability to their employer.  

In addition to conversations with booth staff, job seekers found take-away information on topics ranging from interviewing skills to understanding MaineCare benefits for workers with disabilities. It was clear from these conversations that up-to-date, accurate and well placed information has value and is appreciated by those who might benefit from it.

Congressional Update

In March, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT) introduced the “Disability Savings Act of 2008,” a bill that encourages people with disabilities and their families to save money for disability-related expenses in a Disability Savings Account (DSA). The accounts would supplement benefits from other sources such as Medicaid.

Under the current plan, funds from the DSA used for specific services such as education, medical services, employment training and support, and transportation would be tax-free, as would interest on balances of less than $250,000. Low-income earners would receive a refundable matching tax credit of up to $1,000 for their contributions to the DSA. Furthermore, funds from college savings plans and special needs trusts for the same beneficiary can be rolled into the DSA without penalty. This bill will now go on to be debated in committee.

Mark Your Calendar

Serving Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD): Quality Employment Practices
June 12 and 19, 2008
9 am - 4 pm
Holiday Inn, Dedham, MA

SUMMER ONLINE TUTORIALS:
*Give 'Em What They Need: Job Coaching and Teaching Strategies
*Employment for People with Psychiatric Disabilities
July 14 - August 29

SAVE the DATES!
Disabilty and Employment Fall ‘08 Conference
September 23-24, 2008
Augusta Civic Center
Augusta, ME
Details to follow

Working Together 2nd Annual Symposium (MS Word Download)
October 30, 2008
7:30 am – 1:00 pm
Hilton Garden Inn
Freeport, ME

Ideas for Stories

Please help us… we are seeking stories! Do you know of a worker or employer that we can feature in our newsletter? Please contact Leslie Pohl.

Ticket to Work Changed: Teleconferences Held

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced improvements to the Ticket to Work Program, a program that gives people who receive Social Security disability benefits support to find a job. These changes were published in the Federal Register on May 20, 2008 and will go into effect on July 21, 2008. The new regulations can be viewed at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-10879.pdf

Here’s a quick look at some of the changes:

• All disability beneficiaries, ages 18-64, are now eligible to receive ‘Tickets.’
• Employment Networks can now earn Milestone payments earlier, more often, and at higher rates.
• For the first time, the SSA can pay Milestone payments to Employment Networks when beneficiaries have earnings consistent with part-time work.
• Total payments available on behalf of beneficiaries under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs are now almost equal.
• Payments to Employment Networks and State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies can now be paid for providing services for the same beneficiary.

Two teleconference trainings were held in late May for those who are, or are interested in, implementing the program. Notes from the calls, a side-by-side comparison of old and new Ticket to Work rules, and other resources, are posted at www.ssa.gov/wok/newregs.html

Employers Respond to Working Together Survey

16 employers have responded to the first formal survey conducted by Working Together — a network of businesses that support hiring workers with disabilities.

Here are a few of the results:

Involvement with Working Together

• 75 percent of respondents had signed the Working Together Pledge, which expresses a commitment to employ people with disabilities.
• 63 percent said that the current downturn in Maine's economy will not affect their participation in Working Together; 25 percent said it would affect participation.

Receiving information about hiring and retaining workers with disabilities

• 38 percent preferred to contact the network when they needed information.
• 63 percent expressed interest in a newsletter containing “Questions and Answers,” resources, and upcoming events.

Employer experiences/concerns
Companies were asked to pose questions about their experiences or concerns with hiring workers with disabilities. Here are some responses:

• “How does a small business actively recruit or ‘find’ disabled workers?”
• “What are best practices for hiring?”
•  “How do employers handle mental disability? Different or the same as physical?”
• “Are different procedures needed for terminating a worker with disabilities compared to other workers?”

Observations and general feedback

• “Our experience has been very positive.”
•  “If we hire someone who needs a job coach we expect the employee to do the job, not the job coach.”
• “It’s always easier to assimilate someone with a disability than you thought it would be.”

Many more experiences, concerns and observations can be viewed in the full survey results.

2008 Red Book Released

The Social Security Administration released the “2008 Red Book: A Guide to Work Incentives,” a summary of employment supports for people with disabilities under the Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income programs.

Changes for 2008 include:

• The Substantial Gainful Activity (SGA) amount was increased from $900 to $940 for people with disabilities other than blindness.

• The SGA amount for people who are blind was increased from$1,500 to $1,570.

• The monthly earnings amount that is used to determine if a month counts for the Trial Work Period increased from $640 to $670.

• The Supplemental Security Income Federal Benefit Rates increased from $623 to $637 for an eligible individual and from $934 to $956 for an eligible couple.

• The income amounts that will have no effect on eligibility or benefits for SSI beneficiaries who are students, increased from $1,510 to $1,550 per month and from $6,100 to $6,240 per year.

• The monthly Medicare Part A Hospital Insurance Base Premium is now $423 and the 45 percent Reduced Premium is now $233.

• The Part B Supplementary Medical Insurance monthly Base Premium is now $96.40.

The guide includes updates on demonstration projects, resources for employment supports, an overview of programs, a recipient guide on returning to work, and information about healthcare.

The Red Book can be found in both English and Spanish at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/redbook/index.html

Updates

National Report on Medicaid Buy-in Participants’ Enrollment, Employment and Earnings

On April 11, Mathematica Policy Research released the latest in a series of annual reports on Medicaid Buy-in programs nationwide. In Maine, this program is called the “MaineCare Option for Workers with Disabilities.”

The report examines characteristics of program enrollees in 32 states in 2006. States that have both Buy-in programs and Medicaid Infrastructure Grants were chosen because these states must report on their Buy-in program as a condition of the grant. In Maine, the CHOICES CEO project is recipient of a Medicaid Infrastructure Grant.

Key findings are listed below. Any Maine-specific findings appear in parentheses.

• Sixty-nine percent of enrollees reported earnings. (Maine’s rate, 91 percent, was much higher.)
• Buy-in enrollment continues to grow; nationwide enrollment tripled between 2001 and 2006. (Maine’s monthly enrollment grew from 514 to 801 during this time, an increase of 56 percent.)
• National enrollment increases were due to growth in existing programs and additional states implementing the Buy-in program.
• Mental health was the largest reported disability for Buy-in enrollees. (In Maine, 27 percent reported severe mental illness; 12 percent, other mental disorders; 11 percent, mental retardation; 11 percent, musculo-skeletal system disabilities; three percent, sensory disabilities; and all other conditions, 18 percent.)
• Seventy-one percent of enrollees received Social Security Disability Insurance in the year prior to enrolling in the Buy-in program. (Maine’s rate was 75 percent.)
• Average annual earnings were $8,237. (Maine’s average earnings were just above this level at $8,654.)
• The amount of unearned income, such as SSDI, that an individual received appeared to be related to earnings levels.

Download the complete report in PDF format.

The Maine RED List

The CHOICES CEO project has named its employment services provider database “The Maine Resources for Employment and Disability (RED) List.” Improved and updated data from the March 2008 survey of agencies will soon be available on the CHOICES CEO website.

If your agency has not yet responded to the survey, you can still access it by visiting www.choicesceo.org/survey. Thank you to everyone who has already responded!

Mainers Make Presentations at National Conference

In April, three people from the CHOICES CEO project traveled to New Orleans to attend a three-day national conference for Medicaid Infrastructure Grantees, of which, CHOICES CEO is one. The conference focused on employer networking and recruitment, the Ticket to Work program, benefits counseling, sustainability, and best practices for using data to affect policy.

Two Maine participants were asked to make formal presentations. One of these people was Merritt Carey, president of Graffam Solutions and the business liaison for Working Together, a network of Maine businesses supportive of employing people with disabilities. She joined a panel of business and media professionals at a pre-conference session organized by the National Consortium for Health Systems Development. Carey emphasized the need to sell the concept of employing people with disabilities to businesses. She described the Working Together group’s focus on social responsibility, the aging workforce and projected worker shortages, the impact of returning veterans, and disability as part of diversity. Her presentation, "Providing the Tools to Let Your Business Community Take the Lead" is available online in PDF format.

Larry Glantz, CHOICES CEO director, presented "Employer Engagement Strategies: Data Driven Activities,” (MS Powerpoint download) as part of an opening panel on the best ways to use data to achieve key project outcomes. He discussed employer research, highlighting a survey of Maine business owners in which one in seven businesses reported employing someone with a disability while two in five businesses reported some reluctance about hiring people with disabilities. The lessons presented by this survey included the need to change employer attitudes toward disability through education about people’s capabilities, and the need for employers to have knowledge of legal issues and programs that can provide support.
 
Maine participants also joined in a State Showcase Exhibition by featuring other Maine initiatives, including efforts by Maine's Commission on Disability and Employment, Maine's new Medicaid Support Waiver, and efforts to make Maine state government a model employer of workers with disabilities.

CHOICES CEO activities are staffed out of the Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. This web site is part of the CHOICES CEO project, funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through a grant to Maine's Department of Health and Human Services (grant #1QACMS030316). Views expressed do not represent official policy of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, or the University of Southern Maine.