October2017 Monthly News and Updates
National Disability Employment Awareness Month
The DDA has been traveling around the state this month, celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month by visiting providers, speaking to stakeholder groups and holding the 2017 DDA Employment First Summit. The summit was held on Friday, 10/13 at The Meeting House in Columbia. Carol Beatty, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Disabilities, gave opening comments at the Employment First Summit and presented a Governor’s proclamation to Deputy Secretary Bernie Simons. Stakeholders in attendance heard updates about the DDA’s Employment First initiatives, as well as presentations from national subject matter experts on employment related issues. Highlights included:
Corey Smith of Griffin-Hammis Associates, talked about the importance of leadership in creating an organizational culture of employment.
David Hoff, of the Institute on Community Inclusion, provided insights into rethinking how we approach transportation
Mary Anne Kane-Breschi, Director of Family Supports with DDA talked about some person centered planning tools that can be used to help people and families to navigate the path to Employment. You can see some of the resources for Charting the LifeCourse Framework, which holds the values that: All peoplehave the right to live, love, work, play and pursue their life aspirations in their community.
Jamie Stoner and Vincent Valerio from the Arc Northern Chesapeake Region talked about their organization’s journey in using tools related to the LifeCourse framework to facilitate their services to support people on the path to employment.
For materials presented at the summit, click here.
October is Employment Data Initiative tracking time!
It’s that time of year again: time for Day and Employment providers to be tracking outcomes for the Maryland Employment Outcome Information System. A webinar was held on 9/26, outlining a few changes to tracking requirements related to the category of Community Based Non-Work, as well to provide a brief overview of the system and the accompanying website and resources. After dialogue with national subject matter experts related to best practices in community-based supports, the DDA has adopted the following definition of Community Based Non-Work for the purposes of this data collection:
•Unpaid time spent in integrated, community settings; in a group of 4 people with disabilities or less, while having access to others without disabilities who are not paid staff or family members. Activities occur at locations available to and by members of the general community, and include interactions with members of the general community to the same extent as participants without disabilities.
For anyone that missed the webinar, or would like to view the PowerPoint presentation, both can be viewed by clicking here.
Organizational Transformation Series Wrap-up
Subject Matter Experts from ODEP, Tom Wilds and GenniSassnet, joined a group of engaged providers in September for the final session in our "Provider Organizational Change" series that started in April of this year. Over a period of 6 months, Genni and Tom took providers through the concrete steps of Organizational Transformation, including the critical steps of creating a transformation team, completion of a comprehensive self-assessment, utilization of pilot initiatives and creation and implementation of action plans.
Providers in September’s session were engaged, enthusiastic and full of passion for Employment First and Organizational Transformation. Thank you to everyone that participated in this series. If you missed any of the events, all the webinars are now available on DDA’s website.
Community Pathways Waiver Renewal Info Sessions
In September, The DDA held 4 regional information sessions related to the Community Pathways Waiver renewal, which included highlights of changes and additions to the waiver. The Community Pathways Waiver Renewal regarding Meaningful Day (Employment and Day Services) proposed services have been updated to reflect input from various stakeholders.There are two options to review the new proposals including an “Edited” and “Clean” version.The “Edited” version shows the various track changes that were made to the May 2017 version shared for the Service Symposium.The “Clean” version is the current proposal without any track changes for the edits made which may be easier to review. Note that Supported Employment and Employment Discovery & Customization Services will transition into the new Employment Services in 2019 therefore; we have added the current proposal under the “clean” group for your review.
The DDA’s final proposals will be posted soon in the Community Pathways Waiver federal application for public input in November 2017.
Other Disability Employment Related Resources
Read the Department of Labor’s publication called Business Strategies that Work: A Framework for Disability Inclusion.
The Department of Labor’s Guide on Apprenticeships
Governor’s proclamation of Disability Employment Awareness Month
Principles for Person-directed Services and Supports during Serious Illness
By Edwin L. Walker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging, and Bob Williams, Director, Independent Living Administration, Administration for Community Living
At ACL we believe that every person has the right to make choices and to control their own decisions. This right is independent of age or disability or stage of illness.To help ensure that people who have serious illnesses are able to control their care and services, ACL, in consultation with its stakeholders, developedPrinciples for Person-directed Services and Supports during Serious Illness.ACL will be using these principles to inform policy discussions and enhance its existing programs and services related to serious illness among older adults and individuals with disabilities.
To develop these principles, ACL engaged in several activities: development of educational materials and resources, review of relevant literature, discussions with aging and disability stakeholders, and stakeholder review of draft principles.
Looking for Stories
Do you have success stories or promising practices to share related to competitive, integrated employment or community integration? If so, please contact me at
Things we would like to highlight:
- Self-employment
- Use of technical assistance
- Creative supports and services for people with medical or personal care needs
- Stories about community membership
- Creative organizational structures, policies, trainings or service models
Want more information about Employment First?
- Go to DDA’s Employment First Page
- Are you on our Employment First mailing list? If not, sign up here
- Want to see previous Employment First newsletters? Click here
- Questions or comments email