Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Vocational Rehabilitation (Combined or General)
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services Portion of the Unified or Combined State Plan [13] must include the following descriptions and estimates, as required by section 101(a) of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by title IV of WIOA:
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[13] Sec. 102(b)(2)(D)(iii) of WIOA
j. 2. Identify the need to establish, develop, or improve community rehabilitation programs within the State; and
Current Narrative:
LRS received comments from the public, workforce partners/stakeholders and LRS staff members to determine the need to establish, develop, or improve CRPs within the state.
The LRS employee survey revealed that 47% of respondents felt that new CRPs were needed to adequately serve consumers and 36% felt that the current CRPs should be improved or expanded. Forty percent of LRS employees felt that the CRPs present in their region did not provide an adequate range of services to meet the needs of their consumers. Fifty-two percent indicated that CRP staff needed more education/training to effectively serve individuals with disabilities.
Additionally, 48% of counselors indicated that the quality of services provided to meet the needs of consumers could be improved. Seventy percent of staff responding felt that more CRPs are needed in their area to serve specific services or to serve specific disability populations. Populations that were identified as needing further CRPs to serve include the deaf, deaf-blind and blind/visually impaired, felons/ex-felons with disabilities, individuals with cognitive impairments/intellectual disabilities, autism, mental illness, paraplegic/quadriplegic, and traumatic brain injuries. In addition, it was noted that more CRPs are needed to provide services to transition students, to provide services such as supported employment in rural areas, job readiness/placement, sign language interpretation, assistive technology services and training, training, and customized employment.
Eighty-six percent of respondents to the public survey indicated that more CRPs are needed to provide services and 66% of existing CRPs need improvement. Some populations identified as needing more services include those having intellectual disabilities, autism, psychological disabilities, those who are blind/deaf-blind, deaf/hard-of-hearing. In addition, it was noted that CRPs are needed to provide particular services such as those needed by students transitioning from high school into employment and to individuals with disabilities exiting the correctional facilities and have felonies.
A need for additional vendors who provide specific services to individuals who are blind or have low vision, to include orientation & mobility assessments, low vision assessments, and vocational assessments was also noted.
Additional CRPs who provide job placement services, including supported employment, are needed in the regions serving rural areas as some areas do not have CRPs that are conveniently located for consumers’ participation.