Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan* must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by WIOA:
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* Sec. 102(b)(D)(iii) of WIOA
- d. Coordination with Education Officials
- 2. Information on the Formal Interagency Agreement with the State Educational Agency with Respect To:
- I. Comprehensive System of Personnel Development; Data System on Personnel and Personnel Development(Formerly known as Attachment 4.10)). Describe the designated State agency's procedures and activities to establish and maintain a comprehensive system of personnel development designed to ensure an adequate supply of qualified State rehabilitation professional and paraprofessional personnel for the designated State unit, including the following:
- i. Data System on Personnel and Personnel Development
- I. Qualified Personnel Needs.Describe the development and maintenance of a system for collecting and analyzing on an annual basis data on qualified personnel needs with respect to:
- I. Qualified Personnel Needs.
- i. Data System on Personnel and Personnel Development
- I. Comprehensive System of Personnel Development; Data System on Personnel and Personnel Development
- 2. Information on the Formal Interagency Agreement with the State Educational Agency with Respect To:
- d. Coordination with Education Officials
d. 2. I. i. I. a. The number of personnel who are employed by the State agency in the provision of VR services in relation to the number of individuals served, broken down by personnel category;
Current Narrative:
The Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) has a strong commitment to employing and retaining an adequate workforce of qualified vocational rehabilitation personnel, both professional and paraprofessional.
Collection and Analysis of Data
DVR currently has access to three existing data systems that identify the number of persons employed by DVR by personnel category. The primary one is maintained by the Department of Labor and Employment’s (CDLE) Office of Human Resources. This is the database that maintains payroll information on employees including their dates of hire, official job classifications, and home addresses. An additional spreadsheet is maintained internally within DVR by the Human Resources Liaison. It contains information on offices and regions to which staff are assigned, functional job titles, and other information about the position. Finally DVR’s electronic case management system, CO-AWARE, also contains staff information about positions to which employees are assigned. DVR uses a combination of these three data systems as well as supervisory records to continuously gather and analyze information about the qualifications of the 233 full time equivalencies (FTEs) assigned to DVR staff. When DVR transitioned from Colorado Department of Human Services to the CDLE on July 1, 2016, both Departments worked together to ensure a seamless transition of all relevant personnel data. DVR will continue to have access to needed personnel data through the CDLE Human Resources office.
Currently, 109 of the 233 positions are vocational rehabilitation counselors. The remaining 124 positions consist of 36.5 administrative assistants, 23 district and regional supervisors, 12.5 orientation/mobility & vision rehabilitation therapists, 10 business outreach specialists, 6 Business Enterprise Program professionals, 2 assistive technology specialists, 5 rehabilitation technicians, and approximately 26 central office managerial and infrastructure staff.
In addition to these positions, DVR also has the following federally or “other” funded program positions:
- ASPIRE Program: 2 central office professional staff and 8 case managers located in field offices.
Projections of the number of individuals to be served including those with significant disabilities are based on projected increases for the general population and incidence rates for disabilities, using Colorado census data and state demographics. These projections, in combination with DVR attrition and retirement rates, are used to predict personnel needs for the next five years.
The rate of attrition of DVR staff averages about 10-12%, or approximately 25-30 staff per year. It is projected that DVR will need to recruit approximately 30 new rehabilitation counselors during the next three years. In addition, DVR anticipates the need to continue to recruit high quality support staff; approximately 10 during the next three years given the average attrition rate for the agency.