Individualized Development of Employment Aims and Life Skills (IDEALS) -- Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Overview

This is a formal collaborative between all local agencies involved in assisting the Deaf and Deaf-blind population in the Milwaukee area, including IndependenceFirst, the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), Goodwill Industries, the Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, The Center for Deaf/Blind Persons, and the Milwaukee County Human Services Department. The goal is to assist traditionally low functioning adults and young adults to improve employment and independent living skills for placement in competitive employment.

IDEALS targets its services to youth and adults who are Deaf, hard-of-hearing, and Deaf/Blind. Most of the program's consumers have severe educational and functional deficits and little work experience. IDEALS provides them with remedial education, benefits counseling, independent living skills training, work adjustment training, job placement, and follow-up counseling to help them find and retain competitive and supported employment. Youth aged 15 to 22 receive school-to-work transition services.

Three full-time IndependenceFirst staff provide assessments of employment skills and interests, service coordination, independent living skills instruction, ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation for consumers, literacy and language skills training, and use of adaptive equipment. Nearly half of the ILC's annual project budget of $450,000 supports subcontracts with three community-based agencies for tutoring, employment counseling, and Deaf/Blind instruction. The collaboration grew out of a RSA-funded demonstration project started in 1987 by IndependenceFirst. In 1996, after subsequent RSA grants expired, the state VR agency and the county funded the project. The demonstration project assisting Deaf and Deaf/Blind youth began in 1997.

Program Approach

The program has been developed to utilize a consortium of existing community resources and to create new resources as necessary. Recognizing that no single agency can address the complex needs of low-functioning Deaf and Deaf/Blind individuals, the collaboration relies on multiple agencies to provide vocational, educational, and community living services.

The program's exemplary collaborative approach is characterized by:

• Making fundamental changes in the operations of the service system for Deaf and Deaf/Blind individuals;
• Targeting populations traditionally underserved by VR or ILC's
• Collaborating with local public and non-profit agencies ;
• Cross-housing of staff; and
• Assessing consumer satisfaction specifically for the collaborative effort.

Problem or Need Addressed

The collaboration addresses the need to overcome the inability of a single organization to provide the comprehensive services needed by low functioning Deaf or Deaf/Blind persons' transition into employment. One hundred percent of consumers served by the collaboration are people identified by ILC's and VR as being underserved, and approximately 40% of participants are of minority background, including African American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American. One hundred percent of consumers are also identified as having "severe disabilities" as defined by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation eligibility standards.

Multiple disabilities and severe educational and functional deficits characterize this group of consumers. The Deaf and Deaf/Blind adults served by the project have little or no work history and low levels of reading and comprehension; Local vocational preparation programs had not adequately addressed their communication needs, and many need independent living skills training, job readiness training, and job coaching.

Program Processes

The contract under which the collaboration operates specifies services staffing for achievement of each outcome objective, including staff to provide specified services and specialized work adjustment and job readiness training, staff qualifications, and job duties of each program staff member.

Outreach is directed to the target population at DVR offices, local social services offices, public schools, state School for the Deaf, and Deaf social organizations. Staff conduct regular presentations on items of interest to the Deaf community as well as prepare a newsletter for distribution among the target population. In addition, the ILC maintains ongoing efforts to advertise services in community churches and newspapers.

Consumers, who comprise a majority of project advisory committee members, largely direct the collaboration. At IndependenceFirst, the lead agency in the collaboration, eighty percent of governing Board members have disabilities, and the Director of the project is Deaf. Staff credit the success of the project to the skills training, topical presentations, and peer activity selected by project participants. The high level of consumer control is also credited as a major contributor to the success of the project. Consumer satisfaction surveys are sent to consumers on a quarterly basis, and staff solicit feedback from consumers on an ongoing basis.

To accommodate the needs of consumers, the IndependenceFirst utilizes sign language interpreters and employs approximately 80 different interpreters on an as-needed basis. The agency also has a Braille and large print system as well as a large computer monitor for vision impaired persons. For those consumers who are not proficient in English, the ILC employs Spanish and Russian translators.

The project serves approximately 3.8% of the state VR agency's consumers who are members of the target population and 25% of IndependenceFirst's consumers.

Collaboration history and funding

In 1987, IndependenceFirst developed a demonstration project funded by RSA to provide services to a population of Deaf consumers who fell through the cracks in the service system. After the three year period of RSA funding, the IndependenceFirst retained project staff and in 1993 and 1994, the it successfully competed for two additional RSA demonstration grants that became the foundation for the existing collaborative project. Subsequently, Milwaukee County Adult Services provided funds to continue the demonstration project and, in 1997, DVR began funding the project as well as an additional demonstration project to provide services to Deaf and Deaf/Blind youth in transition from school to work.

For 1999, total program funding is $450,000, 91.5% of which is utilized for direct service costs and for purchasing goods and services for participants. In-kind support totaling about $25,000 is derived from the Milwaukee County Human Services Department, Adult Services Division, as well as agencies subcontracted to IndependenceFirst, including Goodwill Industries, the Center or the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the Center for Deaf/Blind Persons.

Staffing

The collaboration employs a number of staff at IndependenceFirst on a full-time basis including a project director, service director, independent living skills instructor, and sign language interpreter. DVR has designated a staff member to primarily work with project participants, and the County provides a case manager liaison.

Outcomes

In 1998, 25 out off 58 consumers entering the program achieved job placement: twelve in part-time employment, one in full time employment without benefits, and nine in full-time employment with benefits. Participants' hourly pay rate ranged from $5 - $8 with a median rate of $6.22/hour. Of those consumers who gained employment, six retained their position for 60 days or less, seven stayed employed between 60 days and six months, and nine retained employment between six months to one year. Few, if any, consumers had any previous work history and, in fact, had little history of following through or completing any long term tasks.

Quality of Collaboration

IndependenceFirst regards DVR as completely committed to the goals of the collaboration and believes that each agency understands and is fully committed to the others' roles and responsibilities in the collaboration. The ILC anticipates that its funding will remain stable over the next one to three years with increases for rises in the cost of living and possible expansion of the project. Over the next year IndependenceFirst is planning additional full-time collaborative contracts for two counselors, a tutor, and a Deaf/Blind instructor.

The collaborative partners contact each other as needed on a consistent basis by telephone, fax, or e-mail. In addition, staff from each agency meet with each other once a month.

As in other collaborations, the ILC perceives a basic level of trust as essential to the survival of this project and its potential replication, as well as a sufficient number of organizations and individuals with the skills to serve the target population. The only unique costs the collaboration could identify were those incurred in purchasing TTY's, vibrating time pieces, flashing lights, and other adaptive equipment for Deaf and Deaf/Blind individuals.

For more information, contact:

Lee Schulz
Executive Director
IndependenceFirst
600 West Virginia St., Suite 301
Milwaukee, WI 53204

Voice/TTY: (414) 291-7520
Fax: (414) 291-7525
lee@independencefirst.org
Web Site: www.independencefirst.org

Linda Morgan
Third Party Program Specialist
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
2917 International Lane
Madison, WI 53707-7852

Voice: (608) 243-5714
Fax: (608) 243-2681
Web Site: www.dwd.state.wi.us/dvr