Narrative: d. 2. P. i. II.

While progress was made toward achievement of goals and priorities, the challenges experienced as part of the progress were renovations at ACTI which interrupted client training programs, counselor attrition, and transition of senior leadership.

The recent state needs assessment indicated ACTI may be an option for supportive employment services. There are several challenges with this recommendation. First, ACTI is located in West Central Arkansas which makes providing statewide job coaching and required follow-up with consumers utilizing SE services problematic. There are just too few CRPs in the rural areas adding to the challenges with providing services. In addition, significant changes would need to be made to the current admissions practices. To accommodate clients with developmental disabilities ACTI would need to dramatically increase the outsourcing and/or staffing levels to provide required attendant care, psychological/medical therapies, residential assistance, and security. This has the potential to drive costs at the center to unprecedented levels with little or no increase to WIOA performance accountability measures. However, there is a need to increase the availability of SE services for the state as demonstrated in the comprehensive needs assessment. Also in the comprehensive needs assessment it was inferred the decrease referrals to ACTI was the lack of services for consumers with developmental disabilities or serious mental health disabilities. While this may be one factor in decreased referrals, there may be others that contributed to the decrease. Part of the issue is lack of knowledge about programming options at ACTI by the field. While internal education and outreach activities are conducted, there is much work to be done because of the number of new counselors in the field and the growing variety of services directly provided or facilitated by ACTI. Field Services is assisting in this area by having the district managers include ACTI staff in the district meetings to update staff about ACTI programs and to collaborate to assist clients with services. Furthermore, ACTI and Field Services monitor referrals updates on a continual basis to review In regards to referrals from the field, the increase in field counselor vacancies contributed to the decrease as well as to the insufficient face to face contact with consumers. The lack of field VR counselors required leadership to transfer additional caseloads to existing VR counselors. This, in turn, also added to the caseload challenges from current staff. However, ACTI and Field Services are working together to address transportation issues for the clients who do not want to move to Hot Springs to attend ACTI to assist with retaining referrals. Furthermore, there is further collaboration to bring ACTI programs to the field offices by both introducing mobile training programs like OSHA, and reassigning 15 of the 18 staff previously classified as Access and Accommodations Division staff to ACTI - namely, 3 psychologists and 12 psychological examiners. These reclassified staff will continue to provide approximately 6,000 annual rehabilitation initial diagnoses and assessments for applicants and eligible consumers referred by VR counselors from ARS’ Field Services Division. But, per their reclassification and supervision by ACTI’s director, ARS proposes that these reclassified psychologists and psychological examiners will be better attuned to the full array of VR and SE services available to ARS’ consumers at ACTI. Hence, ARS projects a substantial increase of referrals to ACTI by better-informed VR counselors.