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Volume 10
Issue 2
february 2010
10th Anniversary
2000–2010
Working for Tomorrow
The newsletter of the Center for Workers with Disabilities
federal news
Federal News
CMS Issues Letter on Ticket to Work
information exchange at the state level, while $375
million will go to an initial 32 nonprofit organizations
to support the development of regional extension
centers that will aid health professionals as they work to
O n Jan. 28, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid implement and use health information technology.
Services issued a Dear State Medicaid Director More details are posted at
letter (SMD #10-002) that provides clarification on http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/02/20100212a.
the receipt of federal funds under the Social Security html
Administration’s Ticket to Work program. Through
the Ticket to Work program, SSA issues “tickets” to
eligible disability beneficiaries who, in turn, may assign
Parity Act Interim Final Rules
those tickets to an Employment Network of their choice Are Released
T
for employment-related services. The SSA pays ENs
he Interim Final Rules under the Paul Wellstone
for assisting these beneficiaries in achieving certain
and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and
employment milestones and outcomes. The ENs may
Addiction Equity Act of 2008 were published in the
also receive Medicaid service dollars. The letter clarifies
Federal Register on Feb. 2. This legislation requires
that Ticket to Work outcome and milestone payments
parity between mental health or substance use disorder
do not conflict with regulatory requirements and do
benefits and medical/surgical benefits with respect to
not constitute an overpayment of federal dollars for
financial requirements and treatment limitations (such as
services provided since EN payments are payment for an
aggregate lifetime and annual dollar limits for benefits)
outcome, rather than for a Medicaid service rendered.
under group health plans and health insurance coverage
The letter also encourages state agencies and providers
offered in connection with a group health plan. These
to consider becoming ENs. The SMD does note,
interim final regulations are effective on April 5, 2010,
however, that state agencies cannot use Ticket outcome
and comments are due on or before May 3, 2010.
and milestone payments as the state share of financial
For more information, see the Federal Register notice at
participation for Medicaid or other services.
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-2167.pdf.
The SMD is available at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/smdl/downloads/SMD10002.pdf. Administration Releases
FY 2011 Budget Proposal
HHS and DOL Announce
Nearly $1 Billion in HIT Funds O n Feb. 1, President Obama released his budget
proposal for fiscal year 2011, which provides a
O n Feb. 12, Health and Human Services Secretary number of funding avenues to states as they continue to
Kathleen Sebelius and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis deal with budget shortfalls. The budget also proposes
announced nearly $1 billion in American Recovery and several policy changes. The administration assumes
Reinvestment Act awards to help health care providers in its budget that some version of health care reform
utilize health information technology and train workers will take place, and points to principles included in last
for the health care jobs of the future. The more than year’s budget to reform health care without increasing
$750 million in HHS grant awards is part of a federal the deficit. As in previous years, though, spending on
initiative to enable widespread meaningful use of health Medicare and Medicaid continues to rise; the budget
IT. Of the total, $386 million will go to 40 states and sets spending on Medicare at $550 billion, an increase of
qualified state-designated entities to facilitate health about 6 percent from FY 2010, and Medicaid spending
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the Newsletter oF the CeNter For workers with disabilities
at $297 billion, 8 percent over last year. The Children’s additional dollar spent by the Centers for Medicare and
Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of Medicaid Services resulting in $1.55 saved or averted.
2009 (P.L. 111-3) provides an additional $44 billion in
funding over the next five years and is expected to cover With regard to Vocational Rehabilitation State Grants,
an additional 4 million children. the administration’s FY 2011 request of $3.14 billion
represents an increase of $56 million over FY 2010. Part
At the state and local levels, the budget provides $25.5 of this increase represents a proposal for consolidating
billion through the federal medical assistance percentage other VR programs underneath the state grant budget
to help states maintain their Medicaid programs. It item. Toward that end, supported employment state
also includes $79 million for an initiative to strengthen grants and Projects with Industry funding would be
regional and local partnerships among rural health care zeroed out in FY 2011. The budget also proposes
providers, increase the number of health care providers investing $6 million in short-term projects and technical
in rural areas, and improve the performance and financial assistance to improve program performance. The
stability of rural hospitals. The administration said the budget also proposes a new Supported Employment
budget will continue to help make health care more Extended Services for Youth with Significant Disabilities
efficient and accessible with $110 million for efforts to competitive grant program to be funded at $25 million
strengthen health information technology policy and for FY 2011.
$169 million for the National Health Service Corps
to place providers in medically underserved areas. In A detailed summary of the budget is available on opening
addition, the budget anticipates total savings from page of the APHSA web site at http://www.aphsa.org/
Medicare and Medicaid program integrity initiatives at Home/Doc/FY2011budgetMemo.pdf.
$889 million for 2011.
The budget proposes a mandatory national asset floor
limit of $10,000 for all federally funded means-tested
programs, a change meant “to streamline eligibility,
decrease confusion for families receiving benefits from
spotlight
sPotlight oN mediCaid iNFrastruCture
graNts
multiple programs, and allow families to save toward Illinois
self-sufficiency.” At the same time, the budget seeks to
eliminate several programs, one of which is the Advanced
Earned Income Tax Credit program. This would result
S ince Illinois received a Medicaid Infrastructure Grant
in 2000, the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services has used the funding to increase information
in a savings of $120 million in 2011, while cutting the about available services and supports to individuals with
Job Opportunities for Low-Income Individuals program disabilities, and to improve the accessibility of all state
would result in a savings of $6 million. The budget employment services. The overarching goal of the Illinois
also proposes a multi-year increase in program integrity MIG is to reduce and eliminate barriers to employment
activities as discretionary spending to combat health for people with disabilities. The project has addressed
care fraud and reduce improper payments, with each these barriers through three primary strategies:
1. Develop policy that promotes competitive,
integrated employment for people with
Working for Tomorrow disabilities;
2. Provide outreach and education to people
The Newsletter of the Center
with disabilities, family members, service
for Workers with Disabilities
providers and policymakers regarding available
editors: Nanette Relave employment supports and services; and
Frank Solomon 3. Establish meaningful partnerships to develop
trust between state agencies and persons with
CoNtributors: Jodie Anthony
disabilities.
Ilana Cohen
Tyler Middleton When Illinois first received a MIG, the primary focus
Nanette Relave was the development of the Health Benefits for Workers
Damon Terzaghi with Disabilities program, a Medicaid Buy-in for workers
Kerry Vandergrift with disabilities. In 2000, the Illinois Legislature
CoPY editor/laYout: Amy Plotnick directed the Department of Healthcare and Family
Services to establish a program that allowed individuals
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with disabilities to go to work without risking a loss of leaders on the advantages of hiring qualified candidates
health care benefits. Illinois initially used the MIG to with disabilities. Finally, the MIG is collaborating across
develop policies for the program, to establish application a number of departments to ensure that people with
processes, to upgrade state information technology disabilities are able to access contracts from the state
systems, and to train Medicaid eligibility workers on the government.
program. The HBWD began accepting applications in
2001. Although MIG funding expires in 2011, Illinois has
begun to embed many of these programs and practices in
Once the Buy-in program was established, Illinois used state government and in private industry. One of the core
the MIG to ensure that the program was operating concerns that the MIG has encountered is building trust
efficiently and effectively, as well as to ensure that between state government, private businesses and people
individuals with disabilities were aware of the program. with disabilities. Although this trust has been established
Illinois staff conducted outreach to people with and strengthened, project staff recognizes that these
disabilities on Medicaid who were already working and partnerships are fragile and require constant renegotiation
evaluated the program to ensure that the policies were to ensure that the needs of all parties are being effectively
properly supporting people with disabilities. As a result addressed and met. The MIG has also looked at ways
of the ongoing evaluation, Illinois made several changes to ensure that employment remains a core topic of
that improved the program’s ability to allow individuals discussion, and that information continues to be shared
with disabilities to work and to save for retirement. between different agencies and communities. The project
The program currently allows individuals to earn up is developing and testing an assessment tool that will
to $3,159 a month or couples to earn up to $4,250 a help communities evaluate how well their infrastructure
month while keeping up to $25,000 in assets. supports workers with disabilities, and provides tangible
action steps to improve the accessibility of the area.
Once the Buy-in program was fully established and Finally, the project is establishing core changes in the way
had been successfully operated for several years, Illinois that funding supports workers with disabilities. The MIG
focused on other initiatives to support workers with is working to ensure that people with disabilities have full
disabilities in the state. The MIG partnered with the access to government contracts and grant opportunities,
Department of Human Services and the Department of and is collaborating with community support providers to
Commerce and Economic Opportunity to develop and ensure that they are able to access appropriate funding for
implement a comprehensive strategic plan to promote employment services from Medicaid and other state and
the employment of people with disabilities. This project federal agencies.
publications
was established as a workgroup of the Illinois Workforce
Investment Board, the governor’s statewide advisory
group on preparing workers to meet the needs of Illinois’ New PubliCatioNs aNd materials
& materials
businesses. The IWIB appointed a business liaison to the
workgroup and ultimately endorsed the strategic plan
that the workgroup developed. Think Beyond the Label Campaign
The strategic plan addressed findings of a statewide Kicks Off
A
survey about the employment of people with disabilities. national marketing campaign, Think Beyond the
This survey found that many individuals with disabilities, Label, launched at the end of January 2010. The
family members and service providers were not aware campaign is the result of a collaborative effort by more
of the work incentive programs available to people with than 30 Medicaid Infrastructure Grant projects and
disabilities. Illinois established several key projects to is managed by Health & Disability Advocates, parent
increase the awareness of work incentive programs, and organization of the National Consortium for Health
to support the employment efforts of individuals with Systems Development.
disabilities. The MIG established a portal to ensure that
individuals with disabilities could effectively access and Think Beyond the Label targets small and mid-sized
utilize the Illinois workNet site. Illinois workNet is the businesses and is designed to make the business case for
primary source of information and referrals about hiring employers to hire people with disabilities by providing
and retention for jobseekers and for businesses in the them with:
state of Illinois. The MIG also collaborated with state information needed to hire people with disabilities;
and regional chambers of commerce to co-host a series tools necessary to integrate people with disabilities
of regional employer summits that educated business into the workforce; and
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the Newsletter oF the CeNter For workers with disabilities
local resources to help them access this segment of pursuing and achieving their work goals and 20 percent
the labor pool. to 22 percent interested in working but not engaged in
any work-related activities; 60 percent viewed gainful
The campaign includes television and print advertising
employment as neither a plan nor an option.
as well as Internet marketing. It has generated interest
from the business community and garnered local and “With up to 40 percent of working-age disability
national attention from a broad range of disability beneficiaries having work goals and expectations,
employment stakeholders as well as media. National it appears that both the government and program
TV ads are running on news outlets including CNN, participants could greatly benefit from Social Security
Headline News, ESPN and other channels. Wirestone, disability programs that provide greater economic
the media agency that created Think Beyond the Label, incentives and supports for employment,” said Gina
has developed a comprehensive social media strategy that Livermore, a senior health researcher at Mathematica and
includes the use of a web site or digital hub, http://www. author of the brief.
thinkbeyondthelabel.com, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIN
and other Internet markets. The study also identifies differences between the 40
percent of beneficiaries who are work-oriented, citing
State partners of Think Beyond the Label are using local that they “were younger, more likely to be nonwhite,
media buys to leverage the national campaign’s message and more educated.” In addition, they “had been on
about hiring workers with disabilities with the assistance the disability rolls for a shorter time during their most
of Kelly Scott & Madison, a national media planning recent period of entitlement, were more likely to have
firm. KSM is helping MIGs create state or regional plans experienced childhood disability onset, had lower
that draw on the national campaign and maximize local levels of non-SSA benefits and income from assistance
opportunities. programs, and reported being in better health.”
The TBTL digital hub includes individual state pages to To read the full report, click here: http://www.
connect interested businesses to each state’s resources mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/disability/
for recruiting and hiring people with disabilities. States work_oriented_brief09-05.pdf
are using their state pages on the digital hub to direct
businesses to local Business Leadership Networks,
Vocational Rehabilitation agencies or other state USBLN Launches Disability
contacts through web sites, e-mail addresses or phone Supplier Diversity Program
T
numbers. For states that do not have a MIG project
or another feasible point of contact for businesses to he U.S. Business Leadership Network has
reach, the Council of State Administrators of Vocational announced the launch of the Disability Supplier
Rehabilitation is serving as the point of contact on state Diversity Program. This program offers businesses that
TBTL pages through its employer outreach initiative, are owned by an individual with a disability, including
The NET. service-disabled veterans, an opportunity to increase
their access to potential contracting opportunities with
For more information about Think Beyond the Label, corporations, government agencies and one another.
visit http://www.thinkbeyondthelabel.com or contact The USBLN Disability Supplier Diversity Program
Melissa Turner at mwturner@hdadvocates.org or Barbara is a certification program for businesses owned by an
Otto at botto@hdadvocates.org. individual or individuals with disabilities. Businesses
that obtain certification as a Disability-Owned Business
Enterprise are eligible for increased contracting
Report Examines Work Goals opportunities with USBLN DSDP Corporate Partners.
For Disability Beneficiaries Additionally, the DSDP will also provide opportunities
A
for certified DOBEs to meet face-to-face with potential
study released by Mathematica’s Center for
clients at USBLN DSDP events. This initiative was
Studying Disability Policy has found that 40 percent
piloted in 2009 and, following its official launch, will
of Social Security disability beneficiaries are interested
focus on certification, supplier education and facilitating
in employment. Work-Oriented Social Security Disability
buyer/supplier relationships.
Beneficiaries: Characteristics and Employment-Related
Activities suggests that beneficiaries fall into three broad For more information, visit http://www.usbln.org/
groups based on work-related efforts and expectations, programs.html.
with 18 percent to 20 percent of beneficiaries actively
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NTAR Center Hosts Webinar to receive due to tighter regulations, and too little
subsidized housing and inadequate funding for Housing
On Employer Partnerships Choice Vouchers make closing the gap between low
O n Jan. 28, the NTAR Leadership Center
held a webinar on its national research on
partnerships with employers. Employer engagement
incomes and rental costs difficult. Further problems
arise when various agencies and organizations differ on
their funding mechanisms, philosophies, definitions and
remains a key need and challenge for the workforce eligibility criteria.
development system. NTAR Leadership Center
researchers have identified and profiled market-driven Even still, the report highlighted some innovations
practices that increase hiring, retention, promotion and that states are taking to increase capacity to choose and
accommodation of people with disabilities through sustain accessible and affordable housing for individuals
partnerships with employers. These practices include: with disabilities. The report noted the “increasing
collaborations between major national employers and cross-coordination of housing with community living
public-sector agencies; models that focus on an industry and support systems, funding, and service delivery,”
or occupational sector; private and “alternative” staffing essentially allowing consumers to receive coordinated
services that place people with disabilities; partnerships housing and community living support by entering
that expand opportunities for college students and through a number of different “doors.” In addition,
graduates with disabilities; and local and regional hubs individuals can also utilize housing locator systems online
that connect people with disabilities and employers. The to search for affordable housing units. Among others, the
webinar provided an overview of these practices and report highlights SocialServe.com, a nonprofit agency
partnerships, drawn from a national study entitled Ready with rental properties in 27 states, and the National
and Able: Addressing Labor Market Needs and Building Accessible Apartment Clearinghouse, which has more
Productive Careers for People with Disabilities through than 80,000 accessible apartments across 50 states.
Collaborative Approaches.
To read the entire report, click here: http://www.ncd.gov/
The presentation and audio from this webinar are newsroom/publications/2010/NCD_Housing_Report508.
available at http://www.ntarcenter.org/research/webinars_ pdf
and_audio_conferences.php.
Article Outlines Savings Strategies
NCD Issues Report on Housing For Post-secondary Education
O n Jan. 19, the National Council on Disability
submitted a report to President Obama entitled
The State of Housing in America in the 21st Century: A
R esearchers at Virginia Commonwealth University
have published an article in the Journal of
Vocational Rehabilitation entitled “Saving for post-
Disability Perspective, which offers recommendations secondary education: Strategies for individuals with
to improve housing opportunities for people with disabilities.” Citing misconceptions among individuals
disabilities. The report draws on previous NCD research with disabilities, family members, and the disability
on livable communities, and highlights the need for services provider community, the article clarifies and
additional housing that is affordable, accessible and details saving opportunities for students with disabilities
appropriate. that are in line with the Social Security disability benefit
program rules.
The housing needs of those with disabilities appear to
exceed what resources are available. In 2007 nearly one- The provisions covered include:
third of all U.S. households (35.1 million) had one or
more people with a disability; 41 percent (14.4 million) Plan for Achieving Self-Support, a Social Security
of these households could not afford their housing. work incentive that allows individuals to set aside
In addition, less than half of all accessible units in the income or resources needed to achieve a stated
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development occupational goal;
multifamily housing portfolio are designated for people Educational Savings Accounts or 529 Plans, which
with disabilities. allow individuals to (1) prepay tuition at a qualified
educational institution at today’s tuition rates or (2)
Barriers that prevent people with disabilities from save money in a tax-deferred account (earnings only)
attaining accessible and affordable housing are also to be used to pay for education at future tuition
significant. Financing is increasingly more difficult rates;
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the Newsletter oF the CeNter For workers with disabilities
Coverdell Accounts, which enable families to put Report Focuses on Broadband
away $2,000 per beneficiary, per year and use the
money—tax-free—to pay for college expenses; Availability, Awareness and Usage
Educational grants, loans or scholarships, including
Pell grants, Federal Educational Loans (Federal
PLUS Loans, Perkins Loans, Stafford Loans, Ford
I n The Impact of Broadband on People with Disabilities,
a report commissioned by the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce, the authors argue that broadband is
Loans, etc.), Upward Bound, and Work-Study “becoming an essential assistive technology.” Broadband
programs; and access can assist people with disabilities by: facilitating
Individual Development Accounts, a provision where interactive communications via email, instant messaging,
earnings deposited by an individual are matched at a text messaging, and video relay services; increasing
particular rate, usually between $2 and $4 for every educational opportunities through distance learning
dollar deposited, by a combination of government applications; providing employment opportunities by
and private-sector funds. enabling telecommuting and launching and managing
a home business; and ensuring access to in-home and
To learn more about these provisions as well as others, remote telemedicine services.
read the full article here:
http://www.worksupport.com/research/viewContent. Though broadband is widely available, service can be
cfm/847. difficult to get in rural areas. People with disabilities are
also less likely to have a computer at home or have public
Brief Debunks IDA Misconceptions access, and are less aware of broadband. While 63 percent
T
of homes have broadband, only 24 percent of people
he Office of Community Services’ Assets for with disabilities have adopted broadband, citing cost as
Independence Resource Center has released a brief a factor (particularly if add-on adaptive technologies are
on Overcoming Common Misconceptions regarding Assets required).
for Independence Individual Development Account
programs and persons with disabilities. The brief A few of the recommendations from the report are:
addresses six common misconceptions about serving
people with disabilities in such IDA programs. These Policies, stimulus funds and the continued use of
misconceptions include, for example: AFI IDAs were public-private partnerships are necessary to ensure
designed for low-income individuals, not people with continued deployment of advanced broadband
disabilities; AFI IDA programs do not have participants networks to rural, underserved, and unserved parts
with disabilities; people on disability benefits cannot work of the country.
or accrue assets; and IDA staff would not be able to meet Stimulus funding should be used to raise awareness
the needs of people with disabilities. and spur further adoption of broadband among
people with disabilities.
The brief also describes four actions that AFI grantees Broadband access should be affordable for people
can take to reach out to and serve participants with with disabilities.
disabilities. These include:
The report includes an analysis of broadband use among
Perform outreach to people with disabilities and people with disabilities; the social, economic, and health-
disability service providers; related impact; and detailed recommendations. The
Ensure access to AFI IDA services, which includes report can be found at https://www.uschamber.com/assets/
making sure that facilities are accessible; env/0912broadband_dis.pdf.
Support IDA participants with disabilities to
successfully complete IDA programs, which may Advocates Create Long-Term
include providing accommodations; and
Accommodate the needs of people with disabilities Quality Alliance
in required financial literacy programs by including
“benefits literacy” and adapting programs as needed. A group of health, consumer, and aging advocates
has formed a new alliance—the Long-Term Quality
Alliance—to address quality of care in long-term services
The brief is available at http://www.idaresources.org/files/
Overcoming%20Common%20Misconceptions.pdf. and supports. The alliance will focus initially on two
health care issues—how to improve care coordination
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or transitions in care and how to avoid unnecessary The authors of the report emphasize that infrastructure
hospital admissions among those needed long-term care. must be increased and enhanced, particularly through the
Additionally, the alliance’s priorities will include: use of incentives for current and future workers as well
as cooperation between the public and private sectors.
Identifying which performance measures and Specifically, the recommendations include the following:
evidence-based practices offer the most promise for
assessing and improving quality of care and quality of Expand BLS data coverage of occupations specific
life for people receiving long-term care; to the disability services in order to better plan for
Recommending ways to apply available measurement shortages in these positions;
and performance improvement strategies in Begin planning strategically to hire more from the
high-priority areas such as care coordination pool of workers with disabilities;
more consistently in a wider range of clinical and Encourage partnership opportunities between the
community settings; public and private sectors;
Proposing ways to build on and reinforce other Promote opportunities to encourage new entrants
quality initiatives currently underway; and into critical infrastructure occupations, such as home
Achieving tangible improvements in care through health aide, personal care assistant, mental health
pilots, demonstrations, technical collaboration and worker, and rehabilitation counselor;
other efforts. Increase the salaries, benefits and flexibility in work
schedules for infrastructure employees;
For more information on the alliance, visit http://www. Develop new ways to achieve the necessary
ltqa.org/. competencies and credentials for infrastructure
occupations; and
Report Identifies Needs Fund research to develop a strong evidence base for
In Workforce Infrastructure the services offered by employment, health care and
education support programs.
O n Jan. 20, the National Council on Disability
submitted a report to President Obama entitled
Workforce Infrastructure in Support of People with
To read the entire report, click here: http://www.ncd.gov/
newsroom/publications/2010/NCD_Workforce508.pdf
Disabilities: Matching Human Resources to Service Needs.
The report examines the extent to which disability Report Evaluates JARC
workforce infrastructure—health, education and social
services programs—support people with disabilities in
And New Freedom
addition to examining the potential imbalance between
demand and supply for these services in the future. After
a careful analysis of national trends and barriers, the
A n evaluation of Job Access and Reverse Commute
and New Freedom services for 2007 and 2008
has been released in a report entitled Connecting People
report offers a list of recommendations to meet the needs to Employment and Enhancing Mobility for People with
of people with disabilities with respect to the workforce Disabilities: An Evaluation of Job Access and Reverse
infrastructure, including taking a proactive approach to Commute (JARC) and New Freedom Program Services
meet shortages through cooperation between the public provided in 2007 and 2008.
and private sectors.
The JARC is a federal Department of Transportation
The need for health, education and social services is program intended to address transportation challenges
expected to increase significantly in the coming decades for low-income individuals and those in receipt of
for several reasons: (1) the elderly population, which federally funded assistance programs. The New Freedom
tends to have higher disability rates, is growing; (2) program targets new transportation options for people
improvements in child survival rates mean more children with disabilities, beyond the requirements of the
are born with birth defects and developmental disabilities; Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The evaluators
and (3) a large number of baby boomers are reaching point out that both JARC and New Freedom results
retirement age and thus fewer human service workers will reported for 2007 and 2008 should be considered
be available. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics “snapshots” at the end of 2007 and 2008, not as trends,
confirmed that many infrastructure occupations will be in due to several factors. The JARC program has evolved
high demand, particularly those in the field of health care. from a federal competitive grant program to a formula-
The report also notes that the national health care debate based grant with a local selection process. Consequently,
as well as stimulus funds allow for an avenue to address the mix of grant recipients and sub-recipients is fluid.
the needs of people with disabilities.
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the Newsletter oF the CeNter For workers with disabilities
The New Freedom reports are being collected for the first In addition to the basic reporting summarized above,
time, few services were in effect in 2007, and the project JARC and New Freedom grantees and sub grantees were
grants are awarded for various time periods, resulting in asked to complete brief profiles for each service, such as
staggered project timelines. Thus, annual fluctuations in a short service description, lessons learned, information
service provisions may not necessarily reflect trends in on local service evaluation and major program
program performance. accomplishments. New Freedom profiles are available
and can be viewed at http://www.fta.dot.gov/documents/
Evaluation of the JARC-funded transportation services NewFreedomProfiles091030_final.pdf
concluded that 85 percent of the services provided were
trip-based for both 2007 (19.6 million one-way trips)
and 2008 (23.5 million trips). Through use of external
Data Note: VR Outcomes
data sources combined with trip data, the evaluators For Youth With Autism
T
estimated the number of jobs made accessible through
he Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass
these projects was 35.9 million jobs in 2007 and 51.8
Boston has released a study comparing vocational
million in 2008. Trip-based services are transportation
rehabilitation employment outcomes for youth with
services provided directly to individuals, including fixed
autism and other disabilities. The study found that
routes, flexible routes, shuttles, demand response and
youth with autism fare better in some categories but
user subsidy programs like vouchers, ridesharing and
lag in others. While youth with autism had a higher
guaranteed ride home. The most commonly reported
rehabilitation rate (63 percent) than youth with all other
trip-based services for both years were fixed route and
disabilities (55.6 percent), they worked fewer hours a
demand-response trips. The remaining 15 percent of
week (24 versus 32) and earned $120 fewer per week
JARC-funded services were almost evenly distributed
on average. The study calls for policymakers to focus on
between information-based and capital investment
“not only employment but also the number of hours
projects. Information-based projects most commonly
VR customers are working and the degree to which
include mobility management/brokerages, trip planning,
employment offers the opportunity for greater economic
internet-based travel information and trip-planning,
self-sufficiency through earnings.”
informational materials, and one-on-one transportation
training, all aimed at improved access and connections. To read the full report, click here: http://statedata.info/
Capital investment projects include transportation datanotes/pdf/DN26_F.pdf.
facilities and infrastructure, such as availing vehicles to
individuals and organizations, facility improvements and
technology to support transportation services.
More than half of New Freedom outcomes for 2007
and 2008 were trip-based. Information-based services
accounted for approximately one-quarter of the services,
and capital investment projects accounted for 17 percent
in 2007 and 18 percent in 2008.
The evaluation can be viewed at http://www.fta.dot.gov/
documents/08_Evaluation_Report_091030_doc12-10-
09_(5).pdf.
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calendar
CoNFereNCe aNd eveNt CaleNdar
Pacific Rim Conference on Disabilities 2010
Center on Disability Studies, University of Hawaii
April 12–13, 2010
Hawaii Convention Center
Honolulu, Hawaii
For more information, visit
http://www.pacrim.hawaii.edu/.
21st Annual APSE International Conference
Employment First: Not Just a Slogan
June 8–10, 2010
Atlanta, Georgia
For more information, visit
http://www.apse.org/training/conference.cfm.
US Business Leadership Network
13th Annual Conference
Sept. 19–22, 2010
Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
For more information, visit
http://www.usbln.org/events.html.
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