Narrative: c. 2.

A.  Support innovation and expansion activities;

RSB supports innovation and expansion by providing support for the State Rehabilitation Council and Statewide Independent Living Council. RSB provides funding that enables each council to carry out their functions. RSB provides funding support for, council members’ travel, supplies, as well as meeting expenses. The SRC Public Forum provides a public speaker and serves as a venue to discuss RSB programs, services, new and emergent in the local area and statewide.  It is also an opportunity to provide feedback on ways to improve the provision of services.

B.  Overcome barriers to accessing VR and supported employment services;

Reduce processing time of moving individuals from application to services as quickly as possible by determining what/where delays occur and what can change to improve the time frames. RSB has implemented Docusign which has enabled applications to be processed more quickly.

RSB is always looking to improve services to individuals with disabilities that are also members of identified minority groups or that have been traditionally unserved or underserved. To address that need RSB has created the Client Recruitment Team CRT. The charge of the CRT is to increase the overall client census. This includes outreach various venues, which includes working with entities that may not be aware of RSB’s programs and services. 

RSB consistently advocates to extend quality services to the unserved and underserved. RSB provides blindness awareness training to intra-departmental stakeholders across programs. RSB has provided consultation on whether departmental/divisional forms or documents are accessible or how to improve accessibility. 

RSB will look to provide information to internal stakeholders with in the Family Support Division. This includes the participation in the “FSD Communications Group” with the goal of increasing divisional knowledge of issues related to blindness and visual impairment. Participation would also serve to provide information to divisional staff about RSB’s programs and services.

RSB provides blindness awareness training to external stakeholders including awareness of assistive and adaptive technology. RSB’s Program Development Specialist provides training in assistive technology directly to Job Centers. In addition to blindness awareness training, the training also provides information regarding the RSB referral process, and the RSB programs and services available to our dual customer base.

C.  Improve and expand VR services for students with disabilities, including the coordination of services designed to facilitate the transition of such students from school to postsecondary life (including the receipt of VR services, postsecondary education, employment, and pre-employment transition services); and

Continue to engage schools and participate in the IEP planning process and coordinate the provision of VR services and pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities in accordance with IDEA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended, and the Interagency Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

• Use of the Client Recruitment Team to create opportunities to reach out to schools, colleges and universities, parents, students, advocacy groups, and other service providers on the availability of services for students with disabilities.

• Utilize the RSB Children’s Services program in identification of potentially eligible students with disabilities.

• Continue to participate in statewide initiatives developed to enhance transition services, such as the Missouri Blind Task Force and the Missouri Interagency Transition Team.

• Expand opportunities for work based learning experiences, including group opportunities, offered year-round to students with disabilities.

• Expand training opportunities for training in workplace readiness activities and services for students with disabilities.

D.  Improve the performance of the VR and Supported Employment programs in assisting individuals with disabilities to achieve quality employment outcomes.

[text box: List and number each goal/priority, noting the basis, and under each goal/priority, list and number the strategies to achieve the goal/priority]

Goal 1: Stabilize the downward trend in new applicants to 390 in PY 2024.

Baseline data:

The number of new applicants in each year since 2018 are as follows: In PY 2019 there were 269; In PY 2020 were 284 new applicants.  The number of applicants in PY 2021 had climbed back up to 356 and increased again in PY-2022 to 372 new applicants.

1. Continue to stabilize the average number served per year per caseload from the current 104 cases per counselor through efforts to address cases stalled without action and cases where contact has been lost and all reasonable efforts to reestablish contact has been done.
2. Establish and implement minimum standards for frequency of client contact and measure that through regular and annual case reviews.
3. Each district office will be responsible for analyzing where referrals are coming from and target outreach efforts to major stakeholders and other environments where blind or visually impaired would likely come into contact with and absent from the database.
4. Utilize an online referral process to increase entry pathways to RSB services across all programs

Goal 2: Improve employment outcomes to enhance economic stability and self-sufficiency for clients who exit the VR program.

Baseline data:

In PY 2019, RSB closed 189 cases successfully employed. with an average hourly wage rate of $16.39 and an average annual wage rate of $26,529.98. PY-20 saw RSB close 177 cases successfully employed citing an average hourly rate of $19.26 and annual averages of $30,531.59. The following two program years saw increases in both average hourly wages and average annual wages.  PY-21 saw 181 successful VR closures and average wages of $19.94 per hour with annual average of $34,052.64.  In PY-22 RSB closed 183 successful closures with average wages of $22.23 per hour and an average annual earnings of $35,403.06.

1. Continue the Counselor Academy training every two years to ensure that RSB staff receive continuous, up-to-date, job specific training and skills enhancement.
2. Develop a counselor focus group to allow counselors to communicate and share information, solve problems, improve performance, build teamwork, and move projects forward. The focus groups will be led by the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors and will have the RSB Director present to offer expertise and guidance as needed.
3. Continue to monitor and emphasize the data points of percent of new applicants who are unemployed at application and use of low incident placement strategies such as on-the-job training, supported employment, work experience, and targeted job placement.
4. Continue, at IPE, to emphasize learning appropriate alternative techniques of blindness critical to successful employment, such as orientation and mobility skills; alternative skills of blindness to access, store and retrieve print information; and personal care skills.
5. Develop and improve coordination and collaboration, and participation with core partners and local Workforce Development Boards to braid services and assist clients in obtaining employment consistent with their strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, and capabilities.
6. Enhance employer engagement activities to increase employer services and recruiting, hiring, retaining, and promoting individuals with disabilities.

Goal 3: Develop and streamline the VR service delivery system to maintain consistency with WIOA requirements and improve the quality, timeliness and effectiveness in the provision of services.

Baseline Data: In PY-2019 the average length of time that clients stayed on service from opening their cases to closure was 1,411 days. There has been a steadily declining trend in the average number of days from opening to closure with PY-2020 being at 1,266 days, PY-2021 at 1,298 days, and most recently PY-2022 at 1,113 days from opening client cases to closure.

1. Continue to update and provide high quality staff training and support on implementation of WIOA, effective case service processes, and skills necessary to ensure that the personnel have a 21st century understanding of the evolving labor force and the needs of individuals with disabilities.
2. Continue to update and adjust the annual case record review process that allows for improved staff training based on case review findings, consistent and collaborative approaches to improving delivery systems, and continuous adherence to WIOA requirements.
3. Monitor movement through case and service status to ensure appropriate and timely case progression.
4. Increase likelihood for success through the use rapid engagement strategies to determine what/where delays occur.  Determine what changes can be made to move individuals who have applied for services to receiving services as quickly as possible.

Goal 4: Increase the total number of individuals receiving pre-employment transition services to 200 in PY 2024.

Baseline data: In PY-2020 the total number of individuals receiving pre-employment transition services rose to 172, up from the 114 in PY-2019.  In PY-2021 the number of PETS individuals receiving services was at 166.

1. Expand training for District Supervisors, Counselors, and Pre-Employment Transition Staff on the resource guide and provision of transition services.
2. Expand the use of Work Based Learning Experiences for those clients in school by increasing the number of vendors as needed, training staff to more appropriately and consistently use Work Based Learning, and improving the vendors’ capacity to serve blind and visually impaired clients through RSB—provided materials.
3. Expand client and family awareness of the opportunity for work experiences through use of the toolkit and related resources as early as possible, via Pre-Employment Transition staff and Counselors.
4. Determine ways to inform family members of the benefits of Competitive Integrated Employment.(CEI) and how RSB services tie into attainment of jobs and careers.
5. Expand outreach and services to rural areas.