Minutes. Date: 6/10/15. Location: Attendees: Peggy Englebert, Chairperson Rebecca Shulman, Vice Chairperson Carolyn Hayer, Treasurer

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1 Peggy Englebert, Chairperson Rebecca Shulman, Vice Chairperson Carolyn Hayer, Treasurer State Rehabilitation Council Date: 6/10/15 Minutes Location: Attendees: Law Center 1 Constitution Square New Brunswick, NJ Members: P. Englebert, B. Shulman, C. Hayer, T. Jennings, P. Tomlinson, N. Richardson, J. Seath, J. Thebery, J. Oursler, B. Freeman, W. Roorda, K. Wilson, CAP: L. Lowe Reid, DVRS: A. Hunnicutt, B. Fitzgibbons, D. Free, S. Centifanti, Reps: Sondra Opoku Welcome & Introductions: P. Englebert Send a condolence card to Catherine Starghill February Minutes: P. Englebert The minutes were reviewed and approved. (Pat T. motioned Becky S. second) May Minutes: P. Englebert The minutes were reviewed and approved. (Tom J. motioned Becky S. second) DVRS Director s Report: A. Hunnicutt (refer to hard copy provided) WIOA Comments are due on June 15 th. Marriott Foundation Alice and Dan Frye had discussion in Philadelphia in March. The foundation is interested in providing some transition programs coming into New Jersey. They are interested in providing pre employment transition services in catchment area. Alice states she is hoping to do a pilot in the near future. Public Forums Alice stated we may do another round to give the public the opportunity to comment on the Unified State Plan. K. Wilson noted the Public Forum she attended there was testimony provided. Alice stated everything should be attached and she will look into it. 1

2 Accessibility requirements Alice will meet with Procurement to talk about video technology working in our offices. LTFA notice of grant opportunity Need to make sure this is a three year opportunity instead of year to year. LWD lawyer states as long as we post and are transparent and identify its multi based on funding. All grants we post are going to have a multi year application to be contingent on funding. This is big for us as we get the push back from our fiscal every year in not making everyone do a NGO every year. MOU with DDD DVR and CBVI have come to an agreement with the final document. Will have some training around it especially around F3 forms. We also want to make clear that an individual can t be judged based on the category of their disability. MOU is on the LWD s intranet. Personnel Three PDS positions have been approved. Olmstead implications for DVRS Alice attended an event at Rutgers School of Law. They are going around to all the law schools and talking to students about the impact of the Olmstead decision. As of right now their focus had been on the institution, the DD centers and the psychiatric hospitals. T. Jennings asked how did the Department of Justice shift over to sheltered workshops? Alice stated they coupled it with Title 2 and the ADA. CSAVR Alice attended the spring meeting and was invited to the White House to discuss WIOA. She was put into a small group to discuss Transition services. They then were part of a larger group along with people like the RSA Commissioner Janet LaBreck, Asst. Secretaries Michael Yuden (Education) and Portia Wu (Labor) as well as the Deputy Secretary of Labor. Michael and Alice had quite a dialogue regarding Pre Employment Transition services. It was the first time that the White House and OMB staff really keyed in on the public VR program as opposed to some other nonprofits. Project Search We may have about three by September We are moving forward in Union County, Bergen County has pushed to get a license through separate funding. The third one is in Camden County. The license allows the technical assistance of the Project Search staff to come in and do a real Project Search. It is targeted for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It will take a minimum of 8 to 10 months to get this put in place. Spring IEPs have been discussed in terms of placement for next year. Martin s Place Location is in Jersey City and is an off shoot of the One Stop. It is specifically to help individuals coming out of the prison system. Alice met with staff and have entered into a partnership where a counselor is going to be on staff as needed. The goal is to get the released prisoners to eventually be able to come to the main One Stop for more services. Job driven VR Technical Assistance Center Alice flew to Boston for the day to talk to a focus group at the Institute for Community Inclusion. There are about 10 states 2

3 represented and New Jersey was the only one that didn t have a Business Outreach Unit. Prudential Prudential wants to work specifically with the VR program. They currently have 500 job openings in New Jersey. They do approximately 35,000 interviews a year. They are under the gun because they are so huge and they are a federal contractor to be able to hire individuals with disabilities. Kessler Kessler has changed their requirements for New Jersey based companies asking for local support from them. They are required to have a letter of support from either the commission or VR program. Easter Seals They have announced the closing of the Franklin sheltered workshop due to finances. DVR did have about a 6 week notice. Our PDS is on site a minimum of 2 days a week, meeting with every family. If PDS is not available then our counselors are on site. Easter Seals is very proactive with conversations with some individuals who can move into employment. We are talking with some vendors in the area. Unfortunately this is the only workshop available in the northwest. Schedule A Will probably have to be named differently as we move forward. Schedule A is an exception to the federal hiring. Big Schedule A event happening in Hudson on June 30 th. Event has been expanded to the Vets and CBVI. Companies expected to attend are Merck and Prudential. Centers for Independent Living Alice met with the Statewide Independent Living Council. DVR will not be renewing the contract. DVR will hopefully have a grant opportunity to have coverage in their area. USDOL visit The Department is looking at whether or not the public VR along with all the major partners are collocated. Treasurer s Report: Carolyn Hayer SRC is within budget spending. (K. Wilson motioned, J. Seath second) (N. Richardson, P. Englebert abstained) Committee Reports: Legislative & Policy: J. Thebery Internet gaming is up. Casinos that remain are now in the black. Hard Rock Casino interested in coming to the Meadowlands. Will have a very high tax. Concerned about 19 programs that the Casino Revenue funds. 3

4 New program for consideration of casino revenue funds employment of people with disabilities. Priority for the SILC and the state of New Jersey. The Federal grant requires a 21.3% match from state funds. The states funds have been held constant since 2001 and this funding discrepancy threatens the funding. DVR embraces sharing first and expects an up surge of consumers as the DDD policy require employment goals for their consumers. DVRS is requesting 1.5 million which will provide critical match state funds. Commissioners are to approve the report June 11, ( J. Seath motion, B. Shulman second) Emerging Trends: B. Freeman We are in a continuous holding pattern Evaluation: L. Lowe Reid First and Second quarter of surveys compared in report. Percentages done online. Report shows 40 new cases over a 6 month period. CAP used to have anywhere from 80 to 120 cases a year. Council needs to discuss What benchmarks do we want for levels of satisfaction from the people we are serving? What are our goals and what are things done to influence? Working on having two surveys beginning October 1 st. Looking for more detailed information. Old Business: Public Forums: o Make sure to add anything done in a written format. o APSE survey not as good as the personal forum o Transportation is a problem and always has been. o Planning committee maybe add one or two VR workshops. WIOA committee o LWD put together 6 work groups o One group Individuals w/disabilities Suggestion is to identify that the state rehab councils, both of them collected together become the lead for disability employment for the state. SETC is in charge of Workforce. Membership status o Confirmed everyone s reappointment 4

5 o Names on membership list we have not seen at meetings. Bylaws state if you don t come to three consecutive meetings we can ask for a letter of resignation. o Appoint an ad hoc membership committee to look into this. P. Tomlinson, B. Shulman and J. Seath will meet at August planning meeting. WIOA comments: o Council gave multiple, excellent suggestions for revisions to comments o Eliminate the 6 month piece for the subminimum wage in Supported Employment o Remove the 18 month piece o To be consistent, start out saying competitive integrated employment. Remove integrated and seek to expand then it is consistent with itself. ( J. Seath moved to adjourn, P. Englebert and P. Tomlinson second and third) New Business: None discussed 5