Sheltered Workshop Alternatives Team -- Utica, NY

Overview

This formal collaboration operates under a multi-agency agreement between the New York State Office of Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities (VESID), Resource Center for Independent Living (RCIL), Catholic Charities, and the local public mental health center. A separate contract between the ILC and the county Social Services department specifies case management services for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients with disabilities. SWAT's goal is to demonstrate that individuals traditionally targeted for sheltered employment can obtain and maintain community-based integrated employment.

SWAT targets working-age individuals with chronic mental illness and individuals with various physical, mental, and learning disabilities, as well as TANF recipients with disabilities. RCIL and other agencies provide these consumers a range of vocationally-related services including job search training, job placement, vocational counseling, on the job training, and job retention services, as well as independent living skills training and advocacy.

One program component focuses on helping individuals with chronic mental disabilities get and retain supported employment, using a choice model that encourages consumers to choose their employment goals. In the TANF component, a case manager from RCIL is outposted at the county Social Services office to serve TANF recipients. The case manager provides a fast-track service for TANF recipients who are eligible for VR services and identifies services and supports in the community for these consumers. Staff from Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center and Catholic Charities (comprising one FTE) are housed at RCIL and provide service coordination, job readiness training, independent living skills training, and other off-the-job supports.

Program Approach

The close interagency cooperation is meant to remove systemic barriers to employment of people with severe disabilities and offer consumers immediate access to the services of all collaborating agencies. Salient features of the program's exemplary collaborative approach include:

• Making fundamental changes in the operations of the service system;
• Cross-housing of staff;
• Targeting populations less well served by VR systems or ILCs, including TANF recipients;
• Assessing consumer satisfaction specifically for the collaborative effort; and
• Collaboration with other local public and non-profit agencies.

Problem or need addressed

The collaboration addresses the twofold problems of the high unemployment rate among people with disabilities and the routine placement of people with severe disabilities in sheltered employment. About 63% of consumers served by the collaboration are people identified as underserved by ILCs and VR, including Hispanic consumers and individuals with psychiatric disabilities. One hundred percent of participants in the collaboration are identified as having "significant disabilities" as defined in New York state regulations. The program's TANF consumers, in particular, face the additional barriers of minimal or no work histories.

Program processes

The memorandum of understanding under which SWAT operates specifies services and staffing to be provided by RCIL, the local psychiatric center, and VESID; referral arrangements; evaluation of referrals; and what is to be reported in inter-agency reports on consumer progress.

Collaboration staff conduct in-service training for staff at the county Social Service Department and Mohawk Valley Psychiatric Center to familiarize them with the program's operations, referral procedures, and benefits for consumers. To attract consumers, the project has held a series of "lunch-ins" where staff from RCIL, VESID, and the psychiatric center provide a meal, explain the program's benefits, and answer consumers' questions.

Consumers participate in the collaboration on multiple levels. As a consumer-directed agency with 51% representation of people with disabilities on its Board of Directors, RCIL brings a strong consumer-focused orientation to SWAT's program planning and oversight processes. RCIL's planning and evaluation processes for its service components include annual program reviews by an internal Quality Assurance Committee, that review findings of consumer satisfaction surveys and focus groups of consumers and community members. Consumer satisfaction surveys are provided annually for all SWAT participants.

To accommodate the needs of consumers who are not proficient in English, RCIL utilizes bilingual staff, foreign language translators, and an agency that serves the needs of the local refugee and immigrant communities.

SWAT serves about 5% of the state VR agency's consumers who are members of the target population and 21.5% of RCIL's consumers.

Collaboration History and Funding

The collaboration, originally funded as a demonstration project by a grant from RSA, began in 1994. RCIL developed the original proposal and VESID offered a letter of support. After the RSA funding ended, support for the program was assumed by VESID, the state developmental disabilities agency, the state mental health department, and the Oneida County Department of Social Services.

For 1999, total program funding was $391,000. Eighty-two percent of the annual budget covers direct service costs and purchases of goods and services for SWAT participants. In-kind support of about $63,000 annually is derived from public and private collaborating agencies, including a computer for statistical reporting provided by VESID and office space furnished by RCIL for Catholic Charities and the psychiatric center staff.

Staffing

SWAT involves several staff at RCIL on a full-time basis, including a program coordinator, vocational program coordinator, employment trainers for intensive and extended services, three job developers and an administrative assistant. A senior employment trainer and director of employment services are engaged part time in this project. VESID provides a dedicated vocational rehabilitation counselor to facilitate supported employment activities. Vocational services coordinators employed by Catholic Charities and the psychiatric center are housed at the ILC.

Outcomes

In the 1997-98 fiscal year, 53 individuals achieved employment with an average starting wage of $5.50, with a median of 20.5 hours per week of work.

Quality of Collaboration

SWAT has achieved stability through the involvement of multiple public and private agencies and the ongoing support of VESID. RCIL regards VESID as highly committed to the collaboration's goals, with a complete sense of understanding of the partner agencies' roles and responsibilities. In addition, RCIL sees flexibility on the part of the VR agency as key to the program's ability to serve consumers, in particular the local office's willingness to open consumers' services at intake rather than after a mandatory orientation session and to allow consumers with substance abuse problems to receive services while still undergoing treatment. Both RCIL and the local VESID office credit SWAT's viability with the willingness of both agencies to acknowledge their differing perspectives on what "rehabilitation" entails and to work together on the common goal of helping consumers obtain work in integrated settings.

Collaborating agencies in SWAT exchange service information frequently and through multiple venues, including monthly program reports, frequent phone contact, and weekly face-to-face meetings. RCIL anticipates that its funding and level of in-kind support will remain stable, and that the program's level of staffing will continue and perhaps expand in its TANF component.

SWAT also acknowledges employers as its customer base. It develops employment opportunities for consumers through face-to-face contact with local businesses, membership in local business organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, and involvement in the local Supported Employment Coalition and local county economic development agency.

For more information, contact:

Joann Marshall
Director of Employment Services
Resource Center for Independent Living
401-409 Columbia St., PO Box 210
Utica, NY 13503-0210

Voice: (315) 797-4642
TTY/TDD: (315)797-5837
Fax: (315) 797-4747
joann.marshall@rcil.com

Web Site: http://www.rcil.com

John Tracy
District Office Manager
New York State Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities
270 Genesee St.
Utica, NY 13501

Voice: (315) 793-2536
Fax: (315) 793-2724