TASH/APSE Collaborative Web Training
Working Life:
Towards a Lifestyle of Employment for All
A Webinar Series on Customized Employment
Winter – 2008
Co-sponsored by Institute on Community Inclusion (ICI) UMass-Boston
Go no further than your workplace to take advantage of this exciting learning opportunity.
TASH and APSE: The Network on Employment invite your participation in a collaborative webinar training on customized employment. Drawing from the best of supported employment, customized employment is an intensive approach to individualizing and supporting jobs, with strategies designed to meet the needs of the individual and the employer. Learn from those who are storming the country with these innovative and successful approaches to supported employment. This series is designed for individuals who prefer to learn from the comfort of their own workplace, but wish to stay abreast of the best thinking in the nation on employment for people with disabilities. APSE and TASH, both well known for high quality training, have joined forces to offer this series of web based trainings to front line workers, administrators, management staff, consumers and family members who want to learn about best disability employment practices. Each session includes a lecture and interactive time to ensure the opportunity to ask questions and dialogue with the presenter. Registrants receive visuals via e-mail prior to the session and have access to the materials and the trainer in a live 1 ½ hour webcast.
Administrators and Managers !
These sessions provides a rare opportunity for your agencies to economically purchase training for your entire staff. Register your agency and make the power point materials and teleconference available to your as many staff members as you like at one site, for the cost of a single registration.
SCHEDULE
TASH/APSE WEBINAR SERIES ON CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT
(Session descriptions, fees and registration form attached)
Date / Trainers / TopicJanuary 28, 2008
1:30 -3:00 est / Mike Callahan,
Marc Gold & Associates, Employment for All / Challenges & Opportunities in
Expanding Integrated Employment
February 4, 2008
1:30 – 3:00 est / Ellen Condon
Rural Institute, University of Montana / Discovery and Profiles
February 11, 2008
1:30 – 3:00 est / Norciva Schumbert
Marc Gold & Associates, Employment for All / The Customized Planning Meeting &
Development of a Representational
Portfolio
February 25, 2008
1:30 – 3:00 est / CaryGriffin
Griffin-Hammis Associates
Corey Smith
VIA of LehighValley / Interest-Based Negotiationfor Customized Employment
For more information, contact:
TASH - 202-263-5601 –Amber Raum – 202-263-5600 –
APSE - Celane McWhorter – 804-278-9187 –
TASH/APSE:THE NETWORK ON EMPLOYMENT WEBINAR
CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT SERIES
January 28 – February 25, 2008
Registration Form
Call TASH to Register on-line (with a credit card). Contact Amber Raum at 202-263-5600.
OR
Complete the following and send to APSE:
Name: ______
Check one: - agency - individual
Address: ______
Telephone Number: ______Fax: ______
E-Mail: ______
Select session/s you are registering for:
The whole package . . .all four sessions, or:
Jan. 28, 2008Challenges & Opportunities Mike Callahan
Feb. 4, 2008 Discovery & ProfilesEllen Condon
Feb. 11, 2008Customized Planning/
Representational PortfolioNorciva Schumbert
Feb. 25, 2008Interest-based Negotiation Cary Griffin/Corey Smith
Payment due in full before each session. Calculate your fees:
TASH and APSE Members Only:
One session @ $125.00 per site
Entire Package (4 sessions) $450.00 per site
Non-members
Individual session @ $150.00 per site
Entire Package (4 sessions) $550.00 per site
Unlimited participation allowed per site
** $100.00 for each additional site added by one agency
50% Discount for Self-Advocates and Family Members
TOTAL DUE: ______
Step 4. Indicate Your Payment Method:
Check (send total due to APSE, 1627 Monument Ave, Richmond, VA 23220)
Credit Card
Card #______Exp Date: ______
Authorization Signature: ______
Step 4. Send This Form to APSE:
Fax: 804-278-9377
Email:
Mail: APSE, 1627 Monument Ave, Richmond, VA23220
TASH/APSE Collaborative Training
Working Life:
Towards a Lifestyle of Employment for All
A Webinar Series on Customized Employment
Winter – 2008
Sponsored by:
Institute on Community Inclusion (ICI) UMass-Boston
Co-Conveners John Butterworth and Mike Callahan
Session1: Challenges & Opportunities in Expanding Integrated Employment
January 28, 2008 1:00 – 3:30 est
Just do it: Lessons learned from 20 years of employment data
John Butterworth, Institute for Community Inclusion, UMass Boston
An overview of Customized Employment
Mike Callahan, Marc Gold & Associates/Employment for All
This session will review the state of the states in employment, frame opportunities and challenges at the system and individual levels, and provide an overview of Customized Employment, a strategy that provides persons with disabilities, and indeed other applicants with significant barriers to employment, with an alternative to traditional, competitive jobs.
Just do it: Over 20 years of employment data and the experiences of states and community providers that have been successful in expanding employment opportunities provide us with both the challenge to do better. This part of the session will review our progress and discuss lessons learned about organizational and systems strategy and policy that lead to better employment outcomes.
Customized employment: According to a new definition used by the US Department of Labor, Customized Employment refers to:
Individualizing the employment relationship between employees and employers in ways that meet the needs of both. It is based on an individualized determination of the strengths, needs, and interests of the person with a disability, and is also designed to meet the specific needs of the employer. (Federal Register, June 26, 2002, Vol. 67. No. 123 pp 43154 -43149)
Customized Employment relies on a negotiated rather than competitive approach to employers; therefore job developers must be available to assist applicants to develop personalized proposals for employers. This approach to employment offers the promise of welcoming all persons with disabilities who wish to work into the generic employment system and into a job that fits their needs. It also defines the critical role of vocational rehabilitation services to support both the individual with a disability and the generic system to make employment a viable option for persons once thought to be unemployable.
Session 2: Discovery and Profiles
February 4, 2008 1:00 – 3:30 est
Ellen Condon, Rural Institute, University of Montana
This session focuses on two important components of Customized Employment: Discovery and Profiles. The discovery strategy uses an examination of the job seeker’s life as a substitute to comparison-based testing procedures in that it utilizes already-existing information rather than information developed through formal assessment methods. Discovery is used as a guide for customizing an employment relationship for an applicant with an employer. This process takes into account the applicant's entire life experiences rather than single instances of performance. The discovery process begins with a provider representative who meets with the applicant and family at the home of the applicant. These visits, along with other discovery activities, give the individual and family, as appropriate, information about their powerful roles in the process and allow the provider to compile basic information that is necessary to begin the process.
A comprehensive narrative called the profile that describes the individual in a narrative manner is then developed. For students, this document becomes a work in progress during the transition years of the student’s school career passed on from teacher to teacher until graduation. For adults, the descriptive document provides information vital to planning and can substitute for traditional, comparative vocational assessment procedures. In addition to sample profile formats for a written narrative, alternative format for capturing discovered information will be offered.
Session 3: The Customized Planning Meeting and Development of a Representational Portfolio
February 11, 2008 1:00 – 3:30 est
Norciva Shumpert, Marc Gold & Associates/Employment for All
This session builds from Sessions 1 & 2, moving into customized job planning and the development of individualized portfolios. A Customized Planning Meeting is held with the applicant, family, friends, advocates, the provider, VR counselors and others chosen by the applicant. This planning meeting adheres to the values associated with the best of person-directed, person-centered values. The applicant (with support from family or others, as necessary) holds “trumps” during the meeting and decides the information that will be included in the plan. The meeting describes a customized job development plan in the form of a blueprint that includes:
*Generally speaking, “what works and what doesn’t work” for the applicant
* The applicant's preferences, contributions, and conditions for employment;
* The types of job tasks the applicant feels should comprise the job,
* Specific employment sites where work could be developed for the applicant; and
*Employment leads & relationships with possible employers.
This approach also utilizes a “presentation portfolio” as a tool for job developers to use to introduce both the general idea of persons with significant disabilities making contributions to employers and as a personalized, visual resume that represents the best of the applicant with a disability. The portfolio is a customized visual presentation on behalf of a person that will assist either the job developer or the person themselves, as they speak with employers. The job seeker’s potential contributions, necessary conditions and interests for employment are carefully matched and/or negotiated to meet an employer's unmet needs.
Session 4: Interest-Based Negotiationfor Customized Employment
February 25, 20081:00 – 3:30 est
CaryGriffin, Griffin-Hammis Associates
Corey Smith, VIA of LehighValley
The standard competitive model of hiring, that is, comparing one applicant with another to determine who is best qualified, typically works against anyone with complex support needs. Changing this equation in order to highlight an individual's unique qualifications requires a new approach to negotiation that emphasizes satisfying both the interests of the employer and the job seeker. Building on the foundation of Discovery, this session teaches the job developer how best to approach employers, how tomove from being a "smooth talker" to becoming a "smooth listener," and how to create mutually beneficial relationships within the business community.