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

The Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), in collaboration with the State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) is confident that DVR achieved or made progress toward all of the identified goals and priorities and innovation and expansion activities established within the FFY 2015 state plan.

Goal 1 - DVR will increase outreach and vocational rehabilitation services to communities and cultures throughout Colorado, with emphasis on underserved populations

Strategy 1: Establish partnerships with community partners, workforce centers, educators, business and other community resources to identify and connect with underserved populations and potential applicants for VR services.

Progress: Over the most recent program year, DVR has improved existing partnerships with workforce centers and adult education to identify and connect with potential applicants. This has occurred through cross-education of staff across core programs and required partners, an increase in collocation, and DVR’s involvement with the Job Seeker Services Alignment team, which seeks to improve the customer experience for participants across partners. Additionally, DVR has established collaborative partnerships with several Department of Corrections facilities, ensuring incarcerated individuals who are preparing to re-enter their communities are provided with information needed to make informed decisions about whether DVR may be able to assist with employment upon release. Similar efforts have been initiated with Juvenile Justice facilities and DVR will continue to pursue these partnerships to ensure detained and incarcerated juveniles with disabilities are connected to DVR when appropriate. Local offices have developed partnerships with agencies providing substance abuse counseling in order to increase outreach efforts to individuals experience substance abuse, another underserved population in Colorado. These partnerships have resulted in increased referrals to DVR of individuals served by these organizations. Individuals who are deaf-blind were also identified as an underserved populations through DVR’s most recent CSNA. To address this, the Blind and Low Vision Services (BLVS) unit has developed a stakeholder committee that includes two members who are deaf-blind and also serve on the Commission on Deaf and Hard Hearing’s deaf-blind task force. In 2017, BLVS hired an orientation and mobility specialist who has extensive experience working with individuals who are deaf-blind and is fluent in ASL. DVR is also supporting a Rehabilitation Counselor for the Blind to complete ASL classes, further developing the agency’s ability to meet the service needs of individuals who are deaf-blind. Further, education provided to counselors related to deaf-blindness has lead to better identification of individuals for whom this is their primary disability, ensuring appropriate service provision. DVR has also begun to collaborate with the regional representative from the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths & Adults.

Strategy 2: Explore the expansion of technology and social media to provide better access and information to Coloradans.

Progress: Upon moving to CDLE, DVR worked closely with the Department’s Government, Policy, and Public Relations (GPPR) unit to update DVR’s website, establish social media accounts, and develop updated marketing materials. With support from GPPR, DVR has been able to create marketing materials that are professional, accurate, and more appealing to potential clients and partners. In partnership with GPPR, DVR maintains social media accounts to ensure a virtual presence and create additional opportunities for potential clients to find DVR and learn about the services available. DVR continues to seek other opportunities to utilize technology in order to improve the experience of DVR clients and intends to begin a pilot of technology that will enable electronic signatures for many aspects of the VR process, facilitating an efficient experience for both DVR clients and staff.

Goal 2 - DVR will expand transition services to Colorado’s youth with disabilities, including pre-employment transition services (PETS), to Colorado’s students with disabilities

Strategy 1: Develop and update cooperative partnerships with Colorado school districts/BOCES, education providers and core workforce development programs to encompass PETS requirements.

Progress: DVR has worked closely with the Colorado Department of Education to ensure school districts/BOCES are well informed of pre-employment transition services. All education partners have received training in pre-employment transition services. Districts/BOCES with School-to-Work Alliance Programs have incorporated pre-employment transition services into these programs. Several education partners have worked with local DVR offices and the Youth and Transition Services unit to explore opportunities to improve referral processes for students with disabilities and strategies for providing pre-employment transition services. DVR and education continue to work together to refine these processes and ensure students in need of pre-employment transition services are identified and appropriately connected with DVR. Similar efforts have been completed with other workforce development programs to ensure all partners are knowledgable of the services available to students with disabilities.

Strategy 2: Create a youth transition unit within DVR to expand and innovate excellent transition services throughout the state.

Progress: DVR created a Youth and Transition Services Unit (YSTU) in 2016. Organizationally, this unit reports to the DVR Director and consists of a Manager, a Contracts Manager, the APSIRE program, and 4 regional Transition Lead Counselors. The focus of this unit is to expand access to innovative and high qualifty transition services throughout the state. This unit has provided training, supported policy development, provided outreach to community partners, enhanced relationships with education, and supported DVR’s implementation of pre-employment transition services. While DVR continues to refine the structure of the unit to ensure it is as effective as possible, its priorities will remain the same moving forward.

Strategy 3: Explore the provision of transition services to groups of youth with disabilities who may have not yet applied or been determined eligible for vocational rehabilitation services and if feasible, develop policies and processes to provide these services.

Progress: DVR has not yet fully explored the possibility of utilizing its authority to provide services to groups as a mechanism for providing transition services. DVR will engage in additional exploration of providing services to groups should the need arise.

Goal 3 - DVR will Increase the skills of DVR staff and service providers to assure a 21^st century understanding of the labor market and the provision of quality services that meet the needs of Coloradans with disabilities

Strategy 1: Implement integrated professional development for DVR staff with WIOA partner programs to elevate internal expertise and equip them with the tools necessary to operate a comprehensive, holistic approach to talent development for business and industry, putting particular emphasis on leveraging the synergies resulting from the merger of DVR and CDLE.

Progress: Since the implementation of WIOA, DVR has been closely engaged with WIOA partner programs to ensure cross-education across partners and ensure a comprehensive approach to services for all participants. DVR is represented on the Job Seeker Services Alignment team, which seeks to create alignment of process, procedures, forms, and data collection to the extent possible across all programs, in addition to promoting cross-education across partners and co-enrollment of participants. Further, this team seeks to ensure ongoing opportunities for cross-education among partners to occur. These professional development opportunities occur at the state, regional, and local level to ensure consistent information and support local partnership. DVR’s Business Outreach Specialists are members of CDLE’s broader Business Services Team, and serve as a conduit to bring real-time Labor Market Information (LMI) back to their local teams. Further, DVR is receiving intensive technical assistance from the Job Development Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center with the goal of infusing LMI into the comprehensive assessment process to establish employment goals that tie into available LMI, leading to higher wagers and increased self-sufficiency of clients. Additional training will also equip supervisors to support, through clinical supervision and coaching, counselors in their efforts to incorporate labor market information more directly when counseling clients.

Strategy 2: Develop processes to ensure a statewide cadre of qualified vendors able to meet the requirements of working with disability-related issues.

Progress: DVR has an established vendor registration process, which involves review of provider qualifications to ensure individuals providing services have the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to provide high quality vocational rehabilitation services. DVR has a Vendor Relations Specialists who supports local teams in developing new vendors when needed. This staff also offers technical assistance to vendors when required to ensure appropriate quality and all procedures are followed. Vendors are made aware of available training that would support the development of skills relevant to the services they provide. As DVR implements the recommendations from the Employment First Advisory Parternship, it is anticipated that additional steps will be taken to further support the development of vendors providing purchased services.

Strategy 3: Implement the Colorado LEAN process to assure a customer-focused, continuous improvement culture of operational excellence.

Progress: DVR has undertaken a LEAN initiative to improve processes within the agency.This effort lead to the development of a Process Improvement team which has focused on identifying duplication and inefficiency within DVR operations creating burden for DVR staff and delays for clients. A number of policy and procedural changes have been implemented as a result of this team’s effort, which are expected to save staff time and assure the VR experience is positive, effective, and efficient for customers. These efforts are ongoing.

Goal 4 - Build and strengthen stakeholder relationships to increase employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities

Strategy 1: Expand the involvement of DVR staff in regionally-focused sector partnerships to champion career pathways within business and industry for individuals with disabilities.

Progress: Both the manager of DVR’s Work Supports and Employment Engagement unit and a Business Outreach Specialist represent DVR on Colorado’s State Technical Assistance team supporting the development of sector partnerships. Additionally, several Business Outreach Specialists have been engaged in the development of sector partnerships at the local level.

Strategy 2: Align business outreach efforts with partner agencies to leverage the identification of employment opportunities and expand awareness of disability employment competency within the business sector.

Progress: DVR’s Business Outreach Specialists (BOS) have been included into CDLE’s broader Business Services Team, and serve as a conduit to bring real-time LMI to their local teams through conversations with business and involvement with sector strategy initiatives. This team of BOS routinely provide disability awareness training to business partners throughout the state to improve awareness of disability employment within the business sector. DVR partnered with CDLE’s GPPR unit to promote Disability Employment Month in October 2017, ensuring greater visibility across stakeholders than in previous years. This efforts included engaging stakeholders through social media, highlighting dual-customer successes through a series of video testimonials, and establishing a “Shining Stars of DVR” award to showcase several employers, clients, and service providers making strides in the employment of individuals with disabilities.

Strategy 3:. Explore the provision of technical assistance to businesses that are seeking to employ individuals with disabilities and as feasible, develop policies and processes to provide these services.

Progress: DVR has included services to employers within its service delivery policy, supporting these important services as being within the scope of service provision for DVR for both staff and stakeholders. DVR’s Work Supports and Employment Engagement (WSEE) unit takes a lead in providing technical assistance and other services to the business community to support the employment of individuals with disabilities.

Goals Carried Over From Previous Plan

• DVR will have thirty day contact with all clients to increase client engagement and enhance the client-counselor partnership.
  • Based on feedback received from clients, staff, and stakeholders a requirement for meaningful contact every thirty days was determined to be unnecessarily burdensome. It did not achieve its desired effect of improving client engagement. Re-evaluating this requirement, led to a policy change requiring meaningful contact at least once every two months. This policy change has allowed for greater flexibility within the counselor relationship and supports client engagement while accounting for the unique circumstances and preferences of each eligible individual.
• DVR will improve case file documentation reflecting personalized and meaningful contact with clients,
  • DVR has maintained policies and procedures referenced in the prior State Plan that have led to improved case file documentation. DVR continues to monitor the quality of case file documentation, providing coaching, training, and guidance to staff as necessary.
• DVR supervisors will meet regularly with counselors and staff to model excellent guidance and counseling skills as well as motivational interviewing so that counselors and staff can in turn use these skills with clients.
  • Additional training has been provided by Dr. Jared Schultz from Utah State University to support DVR supervisors in developing their clinical supervision skills. Dr. Schultz will continue to provide coaching to DVR supervisors as they support counselors to engage in effective counseling with those they serve.
• DVR will generate, monitor and use information to make sound fiscal decisions to ensure the ability to provide effective individualized services to clients.
  • DVR’s leadership routinely utilizes a broad range of available data in order to make fiscal and programmatic decisions needed to ensure individualized client services. This team constantly monitors available information and adjusts strategies as needed to provide a seamless experience for clients.
• DVR will continue collaborative efforts and working relationships between local DVR offices and mental health centers and between local DVR offices and agencies serving clients with intellectual disabilities.
  • DVR maintains collaborative partnerships with both mental health centers and agencies serving individuals with intellectual disabilities.
• DVR will continue to work actively within the realm of education to assure that youth with the most significant disabilities are accessing career, transition and employment services, including supported employment.
  • DVR continues to work actively with education partners to assure youth have access to pre-employment transition, tranition, and employment services, including supported employment.