Narrative: a. 1.

The State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) is established in Section 105 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (Act), and 34 CFR §361.16.17 of its implementing regulations. The SRC gives advice to and works in partnership with the Division of Rehabilitation Services (referred to as “the Division” throughout this report) including input on the state plan.

I. The SRC strongly recommends that the Program develops and implements marketing strategies to increase statewide awareness of VR services for businesses with hiring opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

RESPONSE: As the Division strategically implements WIOA, business will become more of a customer of the Vocational Rehabilitation Program. This will include studying the best marketing practices for new and existing services. The 17 Community Rehabilitation Training Centers and the Training Center at Smyrna will be involved in those strategies.

II. SRC encourages the Division to continue to provide opportunities for education to students, family members, and Local Education Agencies (LEA’s) regarding vocational rehabilitation and other services.

RESPONSE: The Division will continue implementation of PETS services through a phased approached beginning phase I with the Jackson/Madison School system. The Division is planning for full statewide implementation following the release of the final Federal Regulations in spring of 2016.

III. SRC encourages the administration to continue reviewing available resources related to Order of Selection and the ability to serve more individuals with disabilities.

RESPONSE: The Division continues its review of all available resources in respect to the order of selection and the new language in the law.

IV. SRC commends the achievement of exceeding the Program’s production closure goals.

RESPONSE: The Division remains committed to providing quality services that lead to competitive integrated employment. As one of the core partners in WIOA, the Division is dedicated to assisting Tennessee in having a 21st Century Workforce.

V. SRC recommends that, due to the current vacancy rate of staff in direct client services, the Division move toward fully staffing these positions to ensure continued increases in successful consumer employment outcomes.

RESPONSE: As the Division moves forward with implementation of WIOA, the personnel needs of the Vocational Rehabilitation Program will be continuously evaluated.

VI. SRC commends the Program for the development of the Business Unit and strongly recommends fully staffing this unit and expanding national and statewide business partnerships.

RESPONSE: The Division is continuing the development of the Business Services Unit. WIOA establishes business as a customer of the Vocational Rehabilitation Program, therefore the Business Services Unit will take a larger role in service delivery. The Division continues to participate in the Talent Acquisition Portal (TAP), a searchable database for clients and employers. In addition, Tennessee VR participates in the National Employment Team (NET) sponsored by the Council of Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR). The NET gives access to national business partnerships. The SENET, is specific to the southeast and increases statewide business partnerships.

VII. Due to council structure and bylaw requirements, the SRC recommends that all SRC membership nominations be reviewed and processed within six (6) months.

RESPONSE: The Division will continue its efforts to work with the SRC to meet both internal and external deadlines. The Division would like to express its appreciation to the council for providing feedback and hopes it too will be mindful of providing information to the Division in a timely manner.

VIII. The VR & SRC FY2015 Annual Report was reviewed and edited by the DHS Communications staff prior to it being forwarded to the Offices of the DHS Commissioner, the Governor and the RSA Commissioner. The SRC recommends that the VR Services Portion of the Tennessee Combined State Plan be formally reviewed and edited as well to ensure a professional quality document is presented for inclusion in the combined state plan.

RESPONSE: The Department of Human Services strives to present all documents that are professional in quality.

Input provided by the Council for the 2018 modification of the combined state plan included continued support for the Council’s original recommendations and provided the following new input:

1. As the Division has thus far not achieved the goal established in the 2016 Combined State Plan to increase successful employment outcomes by 2% or more during each of the four years of the plan, the SRC requests that the Division conduct a review of the program to identify potential causes for the decline in successful employment outcomes. The SRC further requests to receive a report from the Division regarding the findings to enable the SRC and the Division to work together to identify methods for meeting or exceeding this goal during the remainder of this Combined State Plan period.

RESPONSE: The Division remains committed to providing quality services that lead to competitive integrated employment. As one of the core partners in WIOA, the Division is dedicated to assisting Tennessee in having a 21st Century Workforce. As a result, the Division has been increasing its focus on looking at where and how human and other resources have traditionally been allocated to determine the best way to make adjustments to increase its community outreach with its partners along with reviewing its overall organizational structure to reach more individuals, including those potentially eligible Pre-ETS participants. It is anticipated that the long term effect will be a program that is agile and more readily responsible to its customers and advocates in support of the needs of both the individuals that it serves and the business that ultimately hire those customers in highly competitive positions in an integrated setting.

2. SRC commends the Division for providing recent joint trainings with stakeholders (TennCare Managed Care Organizations, Community Rehabilitation Providers and VR Staff) to discuss Employment Community First CHOICES program (ECF) and clarify roles and responsibilities.

RESPONSE: Collaborating with other state departments and programs, like the state Medicaid agency, that provide similar services to shared customers is an integral component of the state’s strategy to fulfilling its commitment to providing quality services that lead to competitive integrated employment. Further, the Division continues to explore both traditional and non-traditional partnership opportunities that not only allow for a broader base of collaboration, but just as importantly, the blending and braiding of funding resources to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery by all partners.

3. SRC commends the Division for the recent implementation of a statewide Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) team comprised of Pre-ETS Specialists and Field Supervisors. As there continues to be somewhat limited participation and ongoing confusion regarding the provision of these services, both for vendors of the services as well as the schools, the SRC encourages the Division to assist this team in providing joint trainings for these services as done with the ECF CHOICES program.

RESPONSE: The Division will continue its efforts in the implementation of the of a statewide Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) team comprised of Pre-ETS Specialists and Field Supervisors. This implementation will include both internal staff training and external training for local education agencies, vendors and other stakeholders. The Division has already completed a joint training for VR and DOE staff on the MOU. The designated staff from VR and DOE developed a joint training to present to staff from both agencies and outside stakeholders. In addition to training and adding new staff, the Division is reaching out to our contract partners to seek input on lessons learned with the hope that we along with our partners and the Local Education Authorities (LEAs) can build upon what is working and develop strategies for what is not meeting our expectations through peer guided information sharing.

4. SRC commends the Division for making changes in the Letters of Agreement (LOA) to improve the ease of use for community providers in applying for the LOA and for streamlining the services reporting process.

RESPONSE: The Division remains committed to providing quality services that lead to competitive integrated employment. Part of that commitment involves a much deeper review of all procurement methods, including LOAs, to make improvement in efficiency. The Division anticipates that the end result will be more streamlined processes, and increased accountability that leads to improved services in support of the mission and ultimately those we serve.

5. The SRC highly recommends that the VR program continue to push toward a method and/or means in receiving customer feedback. Once returned, turn it into actionable steps/initiatives in order to improve client satisfaction.

RESPONSE: Receiving feedback from customers is a critical component of the state’s continuous improvement efforts and committed to providing quality services that lead to competitive integrated employment. The Division will continue to engage the resources of the Quality Improvement and Strategic Solutions unit within the Department of Human Services (DHS) to improve channels and methods for receiving feedback from our customers, advocates, businesses, partners and the communities that we serve as well as explore ways to better analyze that feedback that make it more actionable in order to improve the Division’s agility in the way it provides services.