AzDAC

Arizona Disability Advocacy Coalition

Crisis! Arizonans with Disabilities…

Want to work and be financially independent

Are employed at half the rate of their non-disabled peers

Without employment often live in poverty on government subsidies

.

ArizonaDES/RSA/Vocational Rehabilitationis one solution!

VR has a track record of successfully getting Arizonans with disabilities into meaningful and sustained work,reducing and eliminating reliance on government programs.

Vocational Rehabilitation gets a $ 4 Federal match for every AZ $1

AZ is losing $16 M federal $s targeted for Arizona FY2014!

Without additional Arizona funding…

2014-No new clients served/ 3,130 Arizonans on Waiting List for VR Services

ACTION NEEDED

Find a source for $3-4 M additional funding to DES/RSA/VR to secure more available federal match dollars.

For every $1M Arizona dollars + the $4M Federal Match, an additional 646 Arizonans with disabilities will get help to become financially self-sufficient through employment.

Funding VR is a Win-Win

Unemployment is costly to the vitality of Arizona’s economy. If VR is fully funded, everybody wins. Arizona businesses will benefit from additional skilled labor and the economy will benefit with more people who pay taxes and have more disposable income. According to the Social Security Administration, for every $1 that VR spends on assisting an eligible individual with a disability to secure quality employment, $7 is returned to the U.S. Treasury (7 to 1 investment!).

More Information 

BACKGROUND

General Fund appropriations for the DES/RSA/VR program have been stagnant since 2009, at $3.2 million for client services and $3.8 million for staffing, losing thousands in federal match targeted for Arizona, untapped and donated to other states. Any new additional funds would be spent on direct client services, such as job training, education, vocational training, assistive technology, assessments, etc. Due to funding cuts, VR is unable to serve all the Arizonans applying for vocational assistance, so they have put people on waiting lists, and by federal standards, have prioritized services to only serve the most severely disabled for FY2013. If VR does not get additional funding, they will have to stop taking people off the waiting list.

Length of time Arizonans with disabilities have been waiting for VR services

Less than 1 year / 589 / 18.8%
1 year / 713 / 22.8%
2 years / 664 / 21.2%
3 years / 1,164 / 37.2%
Grand Total / 3,130 / 100.0%

Vocational Rehabilitation Facts

Profile of people with disabilities who received VR services

  • 44% no longer need public assistance
  • 76% continued to be employed and have increases in salary 3 years after job placement
  • 99% of those employed have positions in a competitive labor market
  • The amount of the taxes they pay in 2 – 4 years of employment matches the cost of the VR services they received. (Re: CSAVR, U.S. Congress Longitudinal Study)

Arizona Disability Demographics

  • 546,773 individuals between the ages of 21 – 64 have a disability
  • Over 200,000 Arizonans on SSI or SSDI disability payments
  • 87,483 individuals with disabilities are eligible and able to benefit from VR services today!
  • 21,497 individuals with disabilities are receiving VR services in pursuing employment
  • 65,986 individuals with disabilities who are eligible and able to benefit from VR services are not receiving services. (Re: AZ RSA, VR)

For additional information or questions, contact David Carey, AzDAC Chair

602.443.0723, or