Narrative: j. 1. E.

An important and unique group of possible customers for State Services are students and youth with disabilities. This category includes students between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one years of age, and youth through age twenty-four. We have identified three gaps that need to be filled; these gaps were identified in previous needs assessments and still are ongoing needs.

1. students being unprepared for post-secondary training
2. spending the 15% set aside
3. services for students who have multiple challenges 

As is generally the case, identifying gaps does not imply that nothing is currently being done in these areas. The intent here is, rather, to indicate that the need for more attention is a priority.

SSB has maintained a very strong and innovative Pre-ETS program.

SSB is in the process of expanding its Pre-ETS staff. We are planning to hire a Pre-ETS Manager to manage the Pre-ETS budget, contracts, policy, and supervise Pre-ETS staff. We are also adding a second Work Opportunities Navigator to be located in Greater Minnesota. These 2 new staff will add to our compliment of 1 Pre-ETS Coordinator, 1 Work Opportunities Navigator, 3 dedicated Pre-ETS counselors in the metro area, and 1 dedicated Pre-ETS Accessible Technology Technician. We also have 1 employment Specialist who specialized in working DeafBlind Pre-ETS students and our counselors in greater Minnesota carry combined caseloads with adults and Pre-ETS students. 

SSB also plans to begin expanding Pre-ETS services with our Community Providers and clarifying services for the 2022 contracts. The plan is to engage our Community Providers in order to increase the amount of Pre-ETS services and service providers available to our customers. Especially with service providers who can assist with providing Pre-ETS work opportunities. SSB will soon begin working on Request For Proposal (RFPs) for paid community partners to provide paid work-based learning experiences to Pre-ETS students. 

SSB is interested in a possible contract with Wilderness Inquiry and is in the beginning stages of exploring the options related to self-advocacy. 

In April of 2020, 5 peer educators were hired to create, design, and facilitate summer Pre-ETS programming. Those programs were delivered in July 2020 as 4 (3 week) programs on the topics of self-advocacy, college readiness, disability identity, sight loss and resilience. The peer educators facilitated all the virtual programs. There was one program in August on interacting with your sighted peers.

In the summer of 2021, 4 peer educators were hired along with 1 marketing and outreach associate and 1 student literacy associate. The peer educators again created, designed, and facilitated summer Pre-ETS programming which included:

• Movie Night
• Presentations
  • Confidently College Ready
  • Social Media Savvy
  • The Confident Self-Advocate

• Confidence through the Arts program
• Exhibition Night

The student literacy associate worked with the SSB Rehabilitation Instructor and helped to develop and run a student Braille club, worked in the NFB Bell program, and tutored an elementary student in Braille. SSB plans to continue the tradition of hiring peer educators over the summer as student work experiences.

Ever year new programs like the Level Up program in 2020 are created. This program met virtually once a week for 8 weeks teaching self-advocacy through music, movie, and pop culture. In the Fall of 2021, SSB hosted a monthly series called “Bring You’re A Game” that connects Alexa games to job and work skills. For example, we connected “The Price is Right” to budgeting and money management. 

SSB has contracted with The Blind & Socially Savvy group to provide presentations to our Pre-ETS students on the general subject of being blind and socially savvy, being emotional savvy, and being virtually savvy. The Blind & Socially Savvy group was able to adapt their presentations virtually when it was no longer feasible to meet in person due to Covid-19. The last presentation from the group was during the Summer Transition Program (STP) in the summer of 2021. SSB’s contract has expired and the group is no longer in business so it is not possible to continue with this service.

The Elevate Your State collaboration between Michigan, Delaware, Kentucky, and Minnesota began as a Pre-ETS initiative between states to focus on peers and self-advocacy. The group began in September of 2020 and met each quarter hosted by a state who procured a speaker. The group closed out in June 2021 at the end of the school year and a new group began in September 2021 at the beginning of the next school year. Sessions focus on self-advocacy and make sure that the voices of students are heard about what they need so the programming can be rooted in student needs.

A contract with Envision for the all-virtual College Success Program (formerly offered through Learning Ally) has been executed for services. The all-virtual College Success Program offers a holistic support system that utilize the knowledge and experience of experts in the blindness field as well as blind or visually impaired college graduates to help guide students as they transition from high school to college and employment. That support system includes:

• Resources – Robust, carefully crafted and designed to address situations encountered by blind or visually impaired college students.
• Mentorship – Mentors, that are recent college graduates who are blind or visually impaired themselves, help their mentees navigate college experiences and a job hunt that is unique to them and provide them with as much or as little support as they’d like.
• Meetups – Held virtually, these Meetups are opportunities for students to connect with their peers to talk about issues, ask questions, network, make connections, and more.
• Audiobook Solution – College Success Program membership includes access to Learning Ally’s Audiobook Solution with over 80,000 human-read audiobooks.

Looking forward, SSB is hoping to contract with the Sky’s The Limit program by David De Notaris. This program offers workshops in college readiness, workplace readiness, and self-advocacy. We are considering if it would be better to wait until the summer of 2022 and hold the training in person. 

Another gap is the challenge of spending the 15% set-aside. SSB continues to identify, develop, and implement creative effective approaches of spending this money. We have developed some very innovative programs but with the relatively small number of Pre-ETS students it is a struggle to spend all the dollars.

To accurately outline and address solutions for the concerns highlighted above, SSB continues to develop a yearly Pre-Employment Transition Services Blueprint using the framework put into place by WIOA. The Pre-Employment Transition Services Blueprint outlines SSB’s plans to address the five required activities and nine authorized activities as required by WIOA.

SSB has a Transition Core Group to better address the increasing needs of transition aged youth and students. This is an internal, multi-disciplinary group that focuses solely on the provision of pre-employment transition services. That team is comprised of the following staff complement:

• Director

• Deputy Director of Program Services

• Workforce Development Unit Supervisor, who specializes in pre-employment transition services

• Pre-Employment Transition Services Coordinator, who is responsible for the statewide coordination of services provided under the BRIDGE to Success framework

• Pre-Employment Transition Services Rehabilitation Counselors, who have a caseload of only students with disabilities who are receiving pre-employment transition services

• Pre-Employment Transition Services Assistive Technologist, who is responsible for the assistive technology assessments and recommendations for all students statewide

• DeafBlind Rehabilitation Counselor, who provides consultation on pre-employment transition services for DeafBlind students

• Greater Minnesota Rehabilitation Counselor and Vocational Rehabilitation Technician, who provide consultation on pre-employment transition services for students living in rural Minnesota

SSB is in the process of adding a new position to the Transition Core Group and a second Pre-ETS Work Opportunities Navigator once it receives HR approval. The new Pre-ETS Manager will manage the Pre-ETS budget, contracts, policy, and supervise Pre-ETS staff.

To track and organize the plethora of activities the Transition Core Group has implemented or is involved in, a calendar of events and activities is maintained for the year.

Additionally, SSB has created transition programs to provide student work experiences and programming to augment work done by school districts by offering activities for students in the evening and/or on weekends. The goal of the program is to provide more opportunities for Minnesota students who are blind, visually impaired, or DeafBlind to enhance their skills and readiness for post-secondary work and training.

The third gap in services is for those students who have multiple challenges. Those students might not initially be referred to SSB since their primary disability might create more barriers than vision loss. Once they are connected with SSB, the programs might not fit their individual needs. Because our expertise is in the area of blindness rather than other disabilities, we need to seek partners who can augment the programs with supports for those students. SSB has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State Medicaid Program (Department of Human Services-Disability Services Division) which will assist individuals who are receiving waiver services and vocational rehabilitation services to have seamless referrals and service transitions. The MOU has been implemented as of July 1, 2021. Although SSB receives very few referrals through this new system, staff have been trained and the program has been successfully implemented. 

In summary, there are three gaps that are related to students and youth with disabilities. They are reaching more students, dealing with the challenges of allocating and effectively spending 15% of federal dollars, and better serving students with multiple challenges. We know that Minnesota State Services for the Blind is already aware of these gaps and are working on addressing them. We continue to work to gain a better understanding of these efforts in the next cycle of this process. Finally, it has become apparent that DeafBlind customers of transition age are often very isolated. According to the “Unduplicated Child Count” available from the Minnesota Department of Education, there were 44 transition-aged students primarily identified as DeafBlind identified in 2018.  29 in 2017, 26 in 2015, and 32 in 2013. The total number of transition-aged students who were identified as visually impaired or DeafBlind in 2019 was 194.  154 in 2017, in 2015 was 158, and in 2013 was 137. Over the past four years, the percentage of DeafBlind transition-aged students was consistently between 20% and 25%. This is a small enough number, that when distributed throughout the state, would indicate that these students would most likely not be in contact with one another. The DeafBlind Committee is working on the development of a mentoring program to provide contact with adults who can serve as role models and suggest ways of handling social and educational challenges. It seems likely that this might be an area into which some of the newly required 15% of federal dollars that must be used for transition customers could be directed.