Narrative: d. 2. P. i. I.

The State Rehabilitation Council and VRS are committed to a disciplined process for making decisions that shape and guide VRS as an organization. Consumers, stakeholders and VRS staff contributed insights over many months to the planning process, resulting in the five goals. A strategic planning process is never finished. Changing consumer needs – as reflected by the Comprehensive Statewide Needs Assessment, program evaluation and ever–changing social, legal and economic circumstances – prompts an annual review of the goals and process measures.

Goal 1: More jobs, better jobs

The result of this goal is expanded job opportunities and improved employment outcomes for Minnesotans with disabilities. VRS will:

A. Increase the number of employment outcomes

B. Increase the quality of employment outcomes C. Expand development of long–term supports D. Improve consistency of transition services received by students who are in high school Goal 1 Outcome Measures: A1. Using FFY 2013 as the baseline, employment outcomes will increase by 25 annually in each of the next two FFYs (2014 and 2015). Progress to Date: The 2013 baseline is 2,738 placements. The 2014 performance was 2,869, a 131 increase over the previous fiscal year. The 2015 performance was 3,104, a 365 increase over the 2013 baseline. B1. All VRS managers, counselors and VR Technicians Seniors will have attended four informational sessions on Social Security work incentives and benefits planning by the end of FFY 2015. Progress to Date: All teams participated in training on Developing PASS Plans and a Disability Benefits 101 refresher. New employees participated in benefits planning training provided by local WIPA staff. An advanced course on benefits planning was also offered to all staff. VRS is one of the sites for the Institute for Community Inclusion’s SGA Project. Eight staff completed a comprehensive three week training course on benefits and financial planning to help determine if in–house financial planning services will improve employment outcomes for SSDI beneficiaries. In addition to traditional benefits planning services, the financial specialist also helps people develop strategies to build savings, improve credit ratings, and achieve other financial goals. B2. VRS will collect baseline data during FFY 2014 on consumer satisfaction with their employment outcomes. The baseline data will be used to establish future targets for customer satisfaction. Progress to Date: VRS has decided to initially focus on determining the factors that keep consumers engaged in the VR process. Although satisfaction with employment outcome is very important, it is equally important that the person stays engaged in the process. A new Consumer Engagement survey has been developed. Consumer Engagement is operationalized by the measure of three constructs:  empowerment, partnership and performance. The survey was developed through meetings with 5 teams who contributed input into the development of the constructs to measure consumer engagement and survey items for those constructs.  Once a survey was drafted, meetings were conducted with 5 teams to review and suggest modifications of the survey. Once the survey was developed, it was field–tested with approximately 50 consumers.  Modifications were made based on the consumers’ comments. The survey was administered to a statewide sample.  Response rate was over 80% and composite scores for consumer engagement it constructs were compiled.  Overall, engagement across the State was in the 89–90 range on a scale of 1 to 100. The responses to the statewide sample were used to conduct a statistical analysis (Factor Analysis) to validate the construct measurements.  Modifications to the survey items were made based on this analysis. Some items thought to measure one construct actually measured another, or were equivocal.  The survey will be offered to all consumers during the first counseling session after plan development. C1. Increase annually the number of VRS consumers who are leveraging Extended Employment/Supported Employment funding for on–going supports. Progress to Date: All direct service staff have received training on the available funding streams for supported employment. Measuring the impact of this training has been difficult due to the complexity of the funding streams, and the fact that a person may access multiple funding streams to meet specific needs. VRS works closely with the SSA funded Employment Networks to encourage leveraging of Ticket to Work funding to provide on–going supports. In FFY 2015, Employment Networks received over $250,000 in SSA funding for post–VR job retention services. D1. Improve work experience opportunities for VRS consumers in school to work transition. Progress to Date: The Olmsted Plan places heavy emphasis on “Work First”. Transition students will have opportunities for integrated work experiences in the community before less integrated options are considered. VRS continues to support work try–outs, on the job training and paid work experiences to assist students make the transition to integrated competitive employment. Goal 2: Organizational vitality The result of this goal is a vibrant organization providing the best possible services to Minnesotans with disabilities. VRS will: A. Develop a program evaluation framework Progress to Date: VRS has developed and implemented an evaluation framework with three aspects:  1) A Director of Program Evaluation and Service Quality has been hired. He has clarified and articulated a development model of program evaluation and created a plan to progressively move VRS’s evaluation work from compliance reports to sophisticated program analytics to measure State Plan and program outcomes and the factors supporting/hindering those outcomes; 2) revised internal operation details to support the model and ensure that there is alignment of evaluation efforts with VRS’s direction and that new initiatives develop an evaluation design prior to the start of the initiative, and 3) VRS took steps to “demystify” data and program evaluation and increase the data skills of staff and managers.  For common reports and common requests, VRS has been creating a series of Excel spreadsheets which are populated with client data.  Each spreadsheet has a specific topic, e.g., placement, assessment, service costs, and includes data elements for those topics.  In this way, managers and staff only need knowledge of Excel, Excel’s Sort function, some capacity to create tables/charts and rudimentary skill with Pivot Tables to quickly answer their questions in these topic areas. This approach improved the productivity of evaluation staff to more quickly answer manager’s questions and continued to embed an “evaluation” culture within VRS. The Director position is currently vacant. An interim Director is continuing the focus on program evaluation, with an emphasis on identifying new data elements needed for WIOA reporting. Managers received initial training on using Excel spreadsheets. Additional training will be provided as the report structure Is finalized.

B. Establish a leadership development program for current and emerging leaders Progress to Date: The VRS Leadership Exploration and Development (LEAD) Program was launched in November 2014.  Thirteen VRS staff participated in the 12 month program, which included opportunities for self–assessment, increasing awareness of VRS strategic priorities, developing skills in leadership related competencies, experiential learning through leading a project, and reflective learning via participation in a peer–coaching process. The State of Minnesota’s Emerging Leader’s Institute (ELI), a 7 month program designed to help participants explore leadership within State government, is available to a total of 60 State of Minnesota employees each year.  Three VRS employees completed ELI in 2015, and one employee is participating in the 2015–16 ELI cohort. Goal 3: Effective partnerships The result of this goal is the strengthening of system–wide collaborative partnerships that fully use resources to serve Minnesotans with disabilities. Strategic priority: A. In FFY 2014 and 2015 the State Rehabilitation Council and the Community Rehabilitation Program Advisory Committee will rate the effectiveness of their partnership with VRS as at least 80 percent effective.

The State Rehabilitation Council conducts an annual survey of the Council to rate the effectiveness of the Council. The average ranking for the questions ranged from 62% to 96%. Topics that exceeded the 80% threshold included VRS giving meaningful consideration to Council’s advice (94.5%), clarity of the information provided by VRS (92%), clarity of data submitted to RSA (92%), completeness of the information provided about the required data reports (96%), timeliness of discussions (91.5%), and informing the Council of their statutory responsibilities (87.5%). Two areas of concern emerged from the survey. Some members felt member training and development would be improved if members mentored each other and if there was an expanded orientation for new members (62% ranking). Some members were either unclear or was unaware that there was a Council Work Plan (78% ranking).

The Community Rehabilitation Advisory Committee meets an average of six times per year. There has been substantial discussion this year on deepening and strengthening collaboration. Activities included co–hosting a statewide community partners meeting, sharing an understanding of WIOA regulations regarding Pre–Employment Transition Services and the impact this will have on VRS and CRPs, discussing a pilot program at ProAct (a center–based employment site) that will help transform centered–based programs to competitive integrated work opportunities, and providing an effective conduit for sharing important information with community providers and consumers.

Goal 4. Employer engagement The result of this goal is that VRS and the VR community will embrace serving businesses and other employers as key customers. This effort will produce long–term, enduring, mutually satisfying relationships and increased employment outcomes for VRS consumers. New strategic priorities are included in Section (G) Coordination with Employers. Following is a progress report on the previous priorities: Strategic Priorities A. Throughout FFY 2014 and 2015 VRS and Community Rehabilitation Program (CRP) managers will continue to develop local placement partnerships throughout each of Minnesota’s three regions and to create a locally consistent framework for service that engages and meets the needs of businesses and employers.

Progress to date: There are currently 18 local placement partnerships operating across the state. Placement 101, the joint training of VRS and CRP placement specialists, continues. To date, over 300 placement specialists from VRS and our community partners have attended this training.

B. By the end of FFY 2014, an active placement partnership will be established for 80 percent of the VR teams. By the end of FFY 2015, an active placement partnership will be established for 95 percent of VR teams.

Progress to date: Each of the 17 VRS teams is represented on at least one of the 15 active placement partnerships. The more established partnerships are hosting job fairs, mentoring new staff, and operating as an effective partnership. Newer partnerships are still defining how they will operate and expanding community awareness of their services.

C. Placement partnership members will share and track job leads within the VR Community on a timely basis and in a coordinated manner in order to a) improve responsiveness to employers, and b) increase employment outcomes for VR consumers.

Progress to Date: Job leads are shared via email or Google, and successful placements are tracked. Members frequently co–host Career Fairs and other employer events to engage employers.