Familiar Faces in Community Places -- Vincennes, Indiana

This multi-agency informal collaboration involves ATTIC and Knox County Vocational Rehabilitation Services in rural Indiana, as well as local schools, Vincennes University, and employment specialists. The goal of the project is to increase employment opportunities with appropriate supports for youth with mild to moderate mental retardation. The collaborating agencies and individuals work to develop employers' awareness of the capabilities of these young people and the types of supports they need for successful employment.

The project has created a poster of people working in the community, developed a training video of a young person in a transition plan from high school to the workforce, and has organized a Community Partners' lunch where employers and employment specialists meet to discuss the needs of consumers in their job settings. ATTIC has developed a facilitated support and self-advocacy group for young people starting work, and ATTIC staff conduct person centered planning with participants to help them identify job goals, select job coaches, and use other community supports. The VR agency provides payment for the job coaches that consumers select.

The project was initiated in 1995 by the Special Populations Commission, an informal collaboration of ATTIC, the state VR agency, educators, case managers, and others concerned with increasing employment options for youth and young adults with developmental disabilities.

Program Approach

Familiar Faces in Community Places has been established to heighten community awareness, create a forum for employers to address practical concerns about employing young people with disabilities, and to provide direct employment-related services to young people. Notable features of the program's exemplary approach include:

• Making fundamental changes in the operations of the service system;
• Targeting populations less well served by VR agencies or ILCs;
• Consideration of cultural, not just racial, diversity;
• Collaboration with other local public and non-profit agencies; and
• Recognition of employers as potential customers.

Problem or Need Addressed

The collaboration addresses the problem concerning youth with mild to moderate mental retardation who tend to be tracked into sheltered employment and have difficulty finding and retaining competitive employment. One hundred percent of consumers served by ATTIC are identified as being underserved as members of a rural population. Nearly 100% of consumers are also identified as individuals with significant, primarily cognitive, disabilities.

Program Processes

The collaboration does not operate under any contract though there is a long history of cooperation between local agencies. The collaboration conducts outreach through work with schools and relies upon word of mouth to inform potential consumers in the community about its services. The collaboration serves about 20% of the ILC's consumers who are members of the target population, and they currently have more participants than they can accommodate. ATTIC can provide direct services only to Knox County residents, but has helped start similar programs in other counties to prepare young people for supported employment.

The core of the collaborative activities is a systems-level attempt to make employers more receptive to hiring and retaining young people with cognitive disabilities. The project has developed a video depicting a young person successfully engaged in a transition plan from school to work and has created a poster depicting people with disabilities working in the community. Local schools, Vincennes University, employment specialists have been involved in this collaboration along with VR and ATTIC. The project has also launched a Community Partners lunch where employers discuss ways to provide appropriate employment supports for current and prospective workers. Agency staff and employment specialists involved in the collaboration provide technical assistance for these employers.

Direct services and self-advocacy facilitated by ATTIC complement the community- and employer-focused activities. ATTIC counselors guide young people through a process of person-centered planning to help them identify their personal and vocational goals, find needed community supports, and learn how to select a job coach. VR provides case services dollars to pay the job coaches that consumers select.

Through social skills training provided by ATTIC, consumers learn appropriate on-the-job behaviors. Through a facilitated support and self-advocacy group, young people stay motivated to succeed in the workplace and share their success stories with others. Youth who do not have disabilities are encouraged to attend as participating members to get a better understanding of people with disabilities and how they want to be supported.

ATTIC is a very consumer oriented organization with programs reflecting the requests of consumers and their families. With a facilitator's supervision, consumers conduct their own fundraising and run their own meetings. Ninety percent of the Board of Directors of the ILC are individuals with disabilities. Continual assessment of consumer satisfaction is solicited with a biannual survey and assessment following termination of services. Survey results are published in an annual report to the state and Rehabilitation Services Administration.

The ILC and other collaborating agencies serve large local Amish and German communities, and have made culturally sensitive accommodations in outreaching to and serving families from these communities.

Collaboration History and Funding

The collaboration was created in 1995 by the Special Populations Commission, in order to target problems faced by an underserved population of mentally retarded youth who were having difficulty retaining employment. The program aimed to demonstrate that employing these young people helped the local economy as well as the individual workers. The project has always involved a cross-section of local agencies, schools, and employment specialists, and has not received any independent funding. ATTIC allocates about $4,300 of its funding from the state and RSA to hire a group facilitator under contract and to support other activities of the support/self-advocacy group. The County building provides space for meetings free of charge and the speakers who present also do so free of charge.

Staffing

At ATTIC, the collaboration involves 2 part-time staff: an adult service coordinator, an assistant director, and a group facilitator under contract.

Outcomes

Out of eight young people that originally entered the direct-services program at ATTIC, six have paid employment, one is in a training program and one has moved out of the area.

Quality of Collaboration

Most of the communication between collaborating agencies takes place during the monthly Special Populations meeting held. Despite earlier concerns that VR was not emphasizing consumer choice with respect to employment goals, ATTIC acknowledges that VR has improved this aspect of their program. ATTIC maintains that VR is highly committed to its responsibilities in the collaboration and anticipates a stable relationship with VR in the future. Several other counties have shown interest in starting facilitated peer support/advocacy groups for young people with disabilities, and ATTIC hopes that with increased funding and support it will be able to expand the program to other counties.

For more information, contact:

Pat Stewart
Executive Director
ATTIC
PO Box 2441
Vincennes, Indiana 47591

Voice: (812) 886-0575
Fax: (812) 886-1128
INATTIC@aol.com

Susan Carpenter
Knox County Vocational Rehabilitation Services
307 N. 2d St.
Vincennes, Indiana 47591

Voice: (812) 882-7208
Fax: (812) 886-1490
SCARPENTER@fssa.state.in.us

Web Site: www.ai.org/fssa/HTML/PROGRAMS/2bVRS.html

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