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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDD COMMUNITY FORUM NOTES- FINAL MAY 24 2018DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 1 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL DD COMMUNITY FORUM FINAL MAY 24 2018 Topic: Employment/Community Integration Co-Facilitator-Pamela Adams 1. What is WORKING?  Pre-employment is being implemented o Student led IEP’s o Increased teacher buy-in  Like the idea of teachers fresh from college  Skookum o Increased placements o Minimal job losses o Customizing employment o Shifting from Group to Individual  Partnerships o Broad community representation o Long-term focus o Thinking outside the box  Auditor’s Office o Leading the way in employing people with developmental disabilities  Effective Transition Programs-Using them as a Model o Perseverance in rebuilding transition programs  Informational meetings with sharing of resources 2. What is NOT WORKING?  The cost of assistive technology’  Transportation/Distance from employers  Maintaining funding/consistent programs  Limited employment/willing employers  Hours less than 10 a week  Shortage of skilled employees  Limited year round jobs  Personal Care/medication needs @ work-need non job coach supports  Employer concerns about training and other needs, communication  Lack of exposure to individuals with disabilities  Lack of knowledge of abilities and needs about individuals with disabilities 3. What SUPPORTS and/or FUNDING Needed?  Employer Education o Benefits of hiring o Union/Education & Partnering  Employers (County, State, Feds, ect….) will to create jobs for individuals with disabilities-Set the Example  Support and education to create union jobs DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 2 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL Topic: Employment/Community Integration- continued  Partnerships like the past- State Initiative for Supported Employment  Natural Supports (like Mentors)  Continuation of funds for Supported Employment  Better Supports/Retention for individuals who support people with disabilities-(DVR, DDA, Employment Providers, Schools, ect…)  Benefits Planning 4. What PROJECTS or INITIATIVES are you working on or that are coming up? By your organization? What have you heard?  Coffee with a Cop  WIOA/Pre-Employment o Job shadows/Work based learning o Workshops in Schools o More opportunities for students  Transition Workshop Series o Social Security Benefits, Guardianships, Trusts 5. How can we continue and improve effective PARTNERSHIPS with organizations / Agencies / Governments & People with Disabilities in our Community?  Being Stubborn & Determined  Continue Flight Teams o Improve parental/family knowledge and involvement  Find ways to meet families where they are and when they need you o Help with or break through crisis mode  Consistent County-wide Parent-2-Parent Coordinator  Chamber of Commerce o Continue to improve relationships o Present about the benefits of hiring  Employer Advisory Group?  Rotary->Partners for Work Program  More Videos of People Working  Participate in a local Radio Show  Inclusive Service Day  Restart a Self-Advocacy Group-(in partnership with Transition Students)  DDAB sponsor a free movie at the Rose about disabilities during National Disability Employment Month  Sponsor another Work With Me Event! DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 3 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL DD COMMUNITY FORUM MAY 24 2018 Topic: Transition Services Co-Facilitator- Carl Hanson 1. What is WORKING?  Community internships with Goodwill, Food Bank, Fort Worden  DVR makes the employment process easier for 16 to 21 year olds o Pre-employment Transition services  County sponsored Transition Network meetings every other month with Schools, Employment Providers, DDA, DVR, County DD….  CCTS and self-lead student IEPS  DD County DD Advisory Board  Getting transition-aged students on the IFS Waiver  Transition Workshop Series o Welcome to the Adult Services  DVR presence @ IEPS-(when invited) 2. What is NOT WORKING?  There are a lot of people who don’t know about services o Connecting with parents and special ed teachers  Process can be overwhelming for parents- o Parents need a cheat sheet with all services listed & an explanation of services  More employment focused Transition Services  Each School District has different transition plans and have all different levels of connections with employers post School o One School provides individualized transition services until 21 years of age and one School supports transition as a group @ gatheringplace and students loose connections once they are out of School  Changing of School staff affects continuity  Integrate more social elements into employment and other community services- o or in School with other Students 3. What SUPPORTS and/or FUNDING are needed?  County and School Partnership-50/50  Schools extend contracts through the Summer  Employers who open doors for support  Public Agencies-(City, County, DSHS) for work opportunities  (Job Coaching/Development)Training for Para educators @ School districts  Funding raising (student, parent, teacher involvement) using as a job skills opportunity  School Districts for a collaboration o Social media, o email, o open houses, o parent meetings DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 4 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL Topic: Transition Services- continued 4. What PROJECTS or INITIATIVES are you working on or that are coming up? a. By your organization? b. What have you heard?  DVR Pre-Ets  Community Guide & Engagement  Employment Transition Services  County Partnering with Agency & Schools  BBQ @ Chetzemoka  Olympic Neighbors-Community Inclusion-attending events naturally 5. How can we continue and improve effective PARTNERSHIPS with organizations / Agencies / Governments & People with Disabilities in our Community?  Sustaining connections!  Face to Face meetings-Rotating locations for the Transition Network MTGS  Education about services, (training teachers @ the beginning of the year)  Learn all the acronyms  Improve the elevator speech DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 5 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL DD COMMUNITY FORUM NOTES MAY 24 2018 Co-Facilitator-Dale Wilson-(absent) Allison Arthur stepped in for him Notes in blue written by Dale Wilson, (OlyCAP Director & DDAB Member) after the Forum Topic: Housing 1. What is WORKING?  Olympic Neighbors Adult Family Home  Medicaid Waiver There are some great individual successes to be noted, including Habitat and Olympic Neighbors. Both are great models, but are limited in scope and scale. Both are heavily dependent on private local resources. The Medicaid 1115 Waiver process continues to progress, but remains complex as it attempts to find rationale and effective ways to merge healthcare and social services. The tendency of the process is to focus on traditional healthcare metrics. However, the dial is moving as the Olympic Communities of Health is championing integration concepts. 2. What is NOT WORKING?  Limited spaces  Policy ideas/government While there is a vacuum of local policy, the “blame” is not necessarily political. The communities scattered across the Olympic Peninsula are fragmented and have wildly diverse views regarding development of housing and what are the root causes for the lack thereof. Primary questions include: is the housing crisis being exacerbated by: growth management; local codes; low wages; in-migrating homeless or near homeless; gentrification. There is ongoing community confusion between homelessness and affordable housing. The two issues are different but merge at the apex of need.  Lack of funding There continues to be a general lack of funding to support affordable housing and related resources, including mental health, healthcare, case management and most importantly ongoing operational supports. However, these may not be the primary barrier to developing affordable housing resources on the O. Peninsula. I content that the primary barrier is a lack of a unified housing voice. Lack of affordable housing development is not a DD, homeless, workforce, or regulatory issue. Instead, it is all of these and a lot more.  Lack of low income housing Jefferson County has experienced a decade without any scaled affordable housing. Certainly there have been small victories along the way, but overall the scale of need has vastly eclipsed the need. A perfect storm of regulatory conditions, rapidly appreciating land values, lack of infrastructure and a vacuum of leadership continue to create a difficult environment to develop affordable housing resources in Jefferson and Clallam Counties. DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 6 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL Topic: Housing- continued  Lack of $$/Money “siloed” Certainly “siloed” funding streams negatively impact affordable development. There is no magic single source for financing affordable housing. The diverse funding streams necessary to develop affordable housing certainly contribute to the unaffordability and complexity of development.  Lack of awareness of housing needs for people with developmental disabilities The DD community throughout Washington is an emerging political and social force. As communities move toward increasingly equitable treatment of the DD population access to resources and awareness of their needs, including housing, will improve. Communities are learning that long term housing and other critical support resources are prudent investments. 3. What SUPPORTS and/or FUNDING are needed?  Capital investment for housing for people with developmental disabilities  Need permanent support funding  Transition help for moving from one setting to another o Parents home to Individual housing, adult family home/group housing o Need coordination 4. What PROJECTS or INITIATIVES are you working on or that are coming up? a. By your organization? b. What have you heard? OlyCAP is committed to supporting modest scale (30 – 40 unit) multi-family affordable rental housing. Such housing will include set-aside up to 20% for DD or other special needs populations.  Nothing~  Olympic Neighbors is working on expanding 5. How can we continue and improve effective PARTNERSHIPS with organizations / Agencies / Governments & People with Disabilities in our Community?  Increasing awareness of the need for housing for people with developmental disabilities  Hospital  Private  Non-profits  Habitat  Community Block Grant  DD Advisory Board 6. How can we continue and improve effective PARTNERSHIPS with organizations / Agencies / Governments & People with Disabilities in our Community?  Increasing awareness of the need for housing for people with developmental disabilities  Hospital  Private  Non-profits  Habitat  Community Block Grant  DD Advisory Board DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 7 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL DD COMMUNITY FORUM MAY 24 2018 Topic: B-16/Recreation Co-Facilitator-Claudia Edmondson 1. What is WORKING?  Welcoming Community Support  Small tight knit  Good working relationships with Case Managers  Creative partnerships with resources willing to work together  County DD coordinates meetings with Schools to get info out about services 2. What is NOT WORKING?  Information is not always out there-or people may not know where to find it  Alphabet soup-too many acronyms-*(DDA, DVR, RHC, CRM ect….)  No step by step brochures or info to streamline  Not enough Parent resources  Aging people with disabilities increasing  Services without funding-camps-clients may not have respite $  Turnover in all services/hard to always connect  More providers needed 3. What SUPPORTS and/or FUNDING are needed?  Camp $ & Respite are needed for those who don’t live with their primary caregiver  Waivers for Individual Employment, Community Guide and Community Engagement 4. What Projects or Initiatives are you working on or that are coming up? a. By your organization? b. What have you heard?  Birth to Three is reorganizing-All services will be provided by Concerned Citizens-no longer w/in School Districts  DDA is working to contract with more providers & have contracts for respite/community guide and engagement in the community  Initiatives to get more training to Doctors for pediatric screening  JUMP 5. How can we continue and improve effective PARTNERSHIPS with organizations / Agencies / Governments & People with Disabilities in our Community?  Keep networking  Continue to provide and grow “flight teams” to get more info to families/schools DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 8 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL DD COMMUNITY FORUM MAY 24 2018 Topic: Transportation/Safety Co-Facilitator-Kelly Matlock 1. What is WORKING? Transportation  Jeff. Transit Travel Trainer - teach routes and safety  Dial-A-Ride  New bus infrastructure improvements  ECCHO 2. What is NOT WORKING? Transportation  Significant route limitations especially in more rural areas  Underutilization of Travel Trainer. Needs more marketing.  Need more funding for more service in rural areas and on Sundays 3. What’s WORKING – Safety  On-going Critical Incident Training (CIT) for first responders and transportation staff  Project Lifesaver  School Resource Officer 4. What’s NOT WORKING – Safety  The group did not really address this, but talked in terms of possible future solutions/projects-(Kelly will get back to us about this) 5. What SUPPORTS and/or FUNDING are needed?  The group stated that funding is scarce for all agencies and projects, and most groups are not able to fund more. Despite what the group saw as a difficult topic, the following w as talked about as possibilities.  The County possibly funding more Critical Incident Training (CIT) for more and more agencies and groups.  Possible funding from church organizations.  Jefferson Community Foundation.  Specific fund raising efforts for specific projects, like an auction for money for more CIT sessions. 6. What PROJECTS or INITIATIVES are you working on or that are coming up? Transportation a. By your organization? b. What have you heard?  Chris Tibbs with the ARC talked about the Tri-City ARC that has a partnership with public transit. Public transit supplies the vans that are used and the insurance. The ARC supplies drivers who pick up individuals with developmental disabilities and drive them. Public transit pays the ARC $9.00 an hour for a part of the drivers wages. The ARC manages setting up the rides and scheduling the drivers. DD COMMUNITY FORUM- MAY 24 2018 9 updated 7/19/2018 FINAL Topic: Transportation/Safety - continued  Amanda Smith with the Peninsula ARC talked about partnering with Jefferson Transit to do a field trip to Seattle for Jefferson County individuals with developmental disabilities. Jefferson Transit with organize and provide the transportation to Kitsap and then the Peninsula ARC would organize the remainder of the trip to Seattle. The return trip would be Peninsula ARC organizing the trip back to the Kitsap/Jefferson border and then Jefferson Transit would organize the remainder of the trip. Miranda Nash, the Mobility Coordinator with Jefferson Transit, expressed interested in working on this project. Amanda stated that the initiation for this project would start with her talking to Miranda. 7. What PROJECTS or INITIATIVES are you working on or that are coming up? Safety a. By your organization? b. What have you heard?  Cop Talks  Possible work assessment site and/or volunteer work at PTPD  SMART 911  Provide Critical Incident Training (CIT) to more institutions and people in the community; for example-YMCA, Community Centers and Transit. 8. How can we continue and improve effective PARTNERSHIPS with organizations / Agencies / Governments & People with Disabilities in our Community? Transportation/Safety  Representatives from PT Police Department and Jefferson Transit stated that there is a well-established and strong partnership between these two age ncies.  John Ammeter stated that there is a strong partnership with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department through Project Lifesaver.  Representative from the Arc stated have prioritized the building of stronger partnerships in Jefferson County.  The group discussed the need to create partnerships with other groups in our community . For example, churches and businesses like the Boiler Room, but no specific ideas were generated as how to do that.