11:59:50 >> Hi everyone, we will get started in a few minutes, or a few seconds.
12:00:14 >> Hello, and welcome everybody to the national transit disability employment or nTIDE lunch and learn series.
12:00:18 Just a few housekeeping items before we begin.
12:00:24 This webinar is being recorded.  We will post an archive of each webinar each month
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12:01:13 Thanks for joining us and enjoy today's webinar.
12:01:18 >> Hi everyone, welcome to the nTIDE lunch and learn,
12:01:24 my name is Andrew out fill from the university of New Hampshire and today's nTIDE
12:01:28 occurs as you know nTIDE occurs on the first Friday of every month
12:01:33 it's a joint effort of the university of New Hampshire Kessler Foundation
12:01:37 and the association of university centers on disability.
12:01:41 Today's program is split into four parts.
12:01:50 First Elaine Katz from Kessler Foundation and I will talk about the numbers.
12:01:50 The second part will be from Denise Rozell from the AUCD
12:01:54 we will talk about nTIDE and give some news updates.
12:02:01 Then we will have our guest speaker, David Jones for the ministration for community living
12:02:05 Department of Health and Human Services you will be speaking today,
12:02:16 and in part 4 typically around 12:45, 50 up to 12, we will open it up to Q&A
12:02:20 for all sections of nTIDE.  There is also the Q&A box
12:02:27 in the controls that you can use to ask questions during the webcast.
12:02:33 All right, so I will start with the numbers by turning it over to Elaine, Lane take it away.
12:02:39 >> Thank you Andrew.  The monthly nTIDE report is a press release and infographic
12:02:43 that looks at employment numbers issued by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
12:02:50 through a disability lens reporting on job and employment situations on the first Friday of each month
12:02:53 known as jobs Friday.  Next slide.
12:02:58 The nTIDE report is compiled from data issued by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
12:03:03 currently known as CPS.  It is the official source of the unemployment rate
12:03:09 that is used in the news.  Our statistics include civilians ages 16 to 64
12:03:13 not living in institutions and this information is been available on the CPS
12:03:20 since 2008.  That is the year that the six disability questions were added to many federal surveys.
12:03:26 Since our data is not seasonally adjusted we compared dated to the last --
12:03:31 to the same time in the year before rather than a month to month comparison.  Back to you and you.
12:03:35 >> Great, thank you.  All right let's take a look at the numbers.
12:03:40 The first thing I am going to do a show you the employment to population ratio.
12:03:46 This is the percentage of individuals you are employed and again as Elaine said
12:03:54 it is ages 16 to 64, people ages -- so the first thing you notice is likely
12:04:02 the U shaped.  This is indicative of the great recession which started just prior to these numbers coming out
12:04:10 in 2008, and we see a decline in jobs for both people with and without disabilities.
12:04:13 You also notice that the line for people with disabilities
12:04:17 is lower than the line for people without disabilities.
12:04:23 And that is indicative of what we call the employment gap.
12:04:28 So you end up having, say, in the beginning of October 2008
12:04:34 you have people without disabilities, 73.8 percent who are employed
12:04:39 well for people with disabilities it is only 32.7 percent.
12:04:44 You see that that kind of gap basically mimics all the way
12:04:54 to last -- this is last March, before the pandemic started to hit.
12:04:59 You see that this gap pretty much stayed the same throughout.
12:05:03 It expanded a little bit in 2014, 2015,
12:05:10 Anne Arundel little bit in 2016 at 2017, the gap between these two lines starts to narrow
12:05:14 which was actually one of the first times we have ever seen that happen.
12:05:18 That is back in the days of full employment.
12:05:25 Then you have the Covid pandemic, so this is past March and you can actually see some decline.
12:05:30 There was some decline in employment and marched largely due to China shutting down
12:05:36 and a lot of the foreign trade was starting to be impacted
12:05:39 even though the US had yet to close.
12:05:43 To give you a sense, these numbers are from early March,
12:05:47 the second week in March.  And San Francisco was the first major city,
12:05:52 the first major jurisdiction to shut down and they shut down on March 16.
12:05:55 So these are just before the big shutdowns started.
12:05:58 I am going to go through the months and we will see April,
12:06:04 April was the time of the big national shutdown and you can see the employment
12:06:10 to population ratio severely declined for people both with and without disabilities,
12:06:16 and for people without disabilities it is 63.2 percent, down from 73.5 percent.
12:06:21 For people with disabilities it is gone down from 31.7 percent
12:06:26 226.3 percent.  One thing to notice is that people with disabilities
12:06:32 did not go below their previous low.  People with disabilities are in some sense percentage wise
12:06:36 not quite as affected because it did not actually go below
12:06:43 the trough of the great recession back in 2013 and 2014.
12:06:52 Whereas people without disabilities, it is well below the trough from 2009, 2010,
12:06:56 and that said we will see what happens when the recovery starts.
12:07:01 I am going to take through the months and we will see some recovery.
12:07:05 In May people both with and without disabilities increased.
12:07:07 June there was an increase.
12:07:14 July we start seeing both people with disabilities decline a little bit but also people without disabilities,
12:07:19 the increase was not so big.  This is beginning to show
12:07:27 the Midsummer rise and parts of the state in Arizona, Georgia, Texas,
12:07:33 and -- Arizona, Texas, and Georgia.
12:07:37 Then we see some recovery again in August.
12:07:42 In September the people without disabilities start slowing down.
12:07:48 Again, people with disabilities are kind of ratcheting around slowly increasing
12:07:53 month to month.  Again, October we see some improvement
12:07:56 for people both with and without disabilities.
12:08:00 People with disabilities again are kind of ratcheting around a little bit.
12:08:05 November same thing, we actually see a decline for people with disabilities.
12:08:13 This is before Thanksgiving, these numbers are from before Thanksgiving.
12:08:17 Even then we started seeing both people with and without disabilities slow down a little bit.
12:08:22 For December, these are the new numbers.  For December we see
12:08:27 for people with disabilities went up slightly from 29.1 percent
12:08:33 229.4 percent, and for people without disabilities we see
12:08:39 a slight decline from 71.1 percent to 70.9 percent.
12:08:45 So this is the second week in December, so this is when we are starting to see rises
12:08:54 in Covid cases and also some pulling back of -- certainly pulling back of opening up,
12:09:00 if there was any improvements they have stopped.  But also California, some areas of California
12:09:05 started to put in restrictions at this time in California is a big part of the US economy.
12:09:11 So again we see this kind of slowing down.  We see big improvements after the April
12:09:18 shut down, but really over the fall we have seen kind of a very much slowing down,
12:09:24 fall into September.  On our calls we do this morning,
12:09:31 we do a call with me and John O'Neill at Kessler Foundation, Carol [can't understand] at Kessler Foundation
12:09:36 and Elaine Katz at Kessler Foundation, we get together and chat.
12:09:41 We are really try to think ahead and say when do we expect these numbers to improve?
12:09:47 And we all kind of agreed that the first thing is the public health aspect of it,
12:09:54 that when the vaccines start getting spread around the country, then we will probably see marked improvements.
12:09:58 Until then it depends on the spread and how much jurisdictions need
12:10:02 to put in public health restrictions
12:10:06 and shutdown businesses or close businesses or restrict businesses
12:10:12 to stop the spread, and we all of course mentioned the UK strain
12:10:20 and some of the more rapid strains of Covid and how that may affect the economy going forward.
12:10:24 Right now people with disabilities are pretty much tracking
12:10:33 the same as people -- people with and without disabilities, are in some sense tracking
12:10:40 the same kind of pattern, really slowing down in the fall and some big increases later on.
12:10:46 Now, one of the things I have been pointing out -- oh, and this is compared
12:10:50 to last December, so again people with disabilities
12:10:57 are kind of closer to last December.  People without disabilities are a bit further away.
12:11:03 One of the things we track in the nTIDE report is also the labor force participation rate.
12:11:08 This is not only are you working but also the percentage that are working,
12:11:13 and/or on temporary layoff, or looking for work.
12:11:19 And so this is much more how active people are in the labor market,
12:11:24 whether they are in layoff, looking for work, or actually working.
12:11:27 We have been tracking this for people with disabilities
12:11:31 and there is actually a bit of good news I think from a long-term perspective.
12:11:35 So here you have the labor force participation rate.
12:11:42 Again you have the U shaped from the great recession and you don't have much improvement
12:11:49 for people without disabilities.  Some of this is in part related to changes
12:11:54 in labor force participation across the country.
12:11:59 We see summarize for people with disabilities over this period of time.
12:12:05 But let's keep an eye on this number.  This is last March, all right?
12:12:08 This is just before Covid hit.
12:12:10 And let's take another look.
12:12:15 And these are all of the current numbers, so up until this past December,
12:12:19 so what you see is a big drop in labor force participation for people
12:12:25 without disabilities, and then a quick march back up.
12:12:29 Some of this may have been due to some reporting issues.
12:12:36 But you see a decline and not really a recovery yet.
12:12:39 So this means that they are out of the labor market.
12:12:43 They are not looking for work, they are not on furlough,
12:12:53 and they are not on -- this should be 75.1 I think, I forgot to change that, sorry.
12:12:59 For people with disabilities, you can see that the labor force participation rate
12:13:08 is really kind of flat, and if you put in -- 75.7 -- so if you put in a straight line
12:13:14 across December of last year and December 2018,
12:13:19 you see it is relatively flat.  For me this is a really good sign.
12:13:23 It is that people with disabilities are staying engaged in the workforce.
12:13:28 When you leave the workforce you either stop looking for work, you are not on furlough
12:13:33 or not working at all, you are leaving, getting distance from employers
12:13:39 and you are not staying engaged.
12:13:42 And particularly you are not going onto any kind of benefit program,
12:13:46 long-term benefit program.  So for me this is actually a positive.
12:13:50 Now, it could also be an indicator that people are really struggling
12:13:55 and staying engaged because they have to and they need the income.
12:14:01 And so while it is good for long-term prospects, I think it is a sign of
12:14:07 people really needing the income and staying engaged in the labor market for work.
12:14:15 I am going to leave it there and I'm going to turn it next over to Denise.
12:14:18 If you have any questions you can estimate the Q&A box
12:14:23 and you can also wait for the end and ask them during the Q&A session.
12:14:24 Take it away Denise.
12:14:28 >> Hi everybody, let's go to the first light.
12:14:33 As you all know we start with the federal policy update.  To much, there you go.
12:14:37 It is been a wild and wacky week in Washington this week
12:14:41 and I'm not going to comment on any of that, but there are some things you need to know about
12:14:46 in addition to what you hear the news these days.
12:14:51 First of all the end of December, Congress did pass,
12:14:55 the last Congress because the new Congress starts on January 1,
12:15:04 we are jokingly calling it Corona bus.  It was the omnibus meaning all of the appropriations
12:15:12 of the government, Covid so there were also -- like the $600 payment you have probably heard about.
12:15:18 Some tax stuff and tax extenders, and the things you need to know for this call
12:15:26 first of all the short term patch on evictions and food stamps and unemployment benefits.
12:15:30 That was extended.  Otherwise it would have gone away at the end of December.
12:15:41 $600 are coming out -- $600 payments to all adults.  It does not include
12:15:44 adult dependence.  That was an issue the last time around,
12:15:47 it continues to be an issue this time around.
12:15:52 This is a big celebration, there was a three year extension of money
12:15:58 for [can't understand] past in that bill.  For any of you who follow money
12:16:03 I know there are people on this call who cared about [can't understand]
12:16:10 instead of three months and six months and nine month extensions we have been having, there is a three year extension, a big deal.
12:16:16 Then a three retention on the impoverishment programs, the household impoverishment stuff.
12:16:22 That is with the money follows the person stuff, that has been month to month to month basically.
12:16:28 And anybody -- an interesting one, the Marshall Islands now has Medicaid coverage.
12:16:32 That was done away with several years ago and they put it back in this time.
12:16:37 For the folks in the Marshall Islands, they have been fighting for that for quite some time.
12:16:42 So that is what is in there.  Most of the disability programs in terms of appropriations
12:16:45 are pretty flat, again not unexpected.
12:16:48 And I can answer questions about some of the rest of it if you have any.
12:16:52 The new 117th Congress has already started.
12:16:57 Given the results in Georgia this week and there will be new leadership in the Senate.
12:17:01 There will be new chairs of committees in the Senate.
12:17:05 There are obviously new members and emerging new members,
12:17:10 if you haven't yet of there are nine new senators and 60 new representatives.
12:17:16 The chair of the Senate health committee, health, education, labor, and pensions
12:17:19 is likely to be Senator Patty Murray from Washington State,
12:17:26 that is something we are all pretty excited about.
12:17:26 But if you have not met your new members yet, send a note,
12:17:30 tell them congratulations, meet them, let them know what you cared about.
12:17:33 The transition obviously we are in the midst of the transition.
12:17:39 I suppose President-elect Biden, former Vice President Biden,
12:17:43 is naming all of his cabinet officers so keep an eye on that.
12:17:46 And then the Leslie, I talked with you guys about that before
12:17:51 and I want to do it once more today -- just keep an eye on what is going on in your states
12:17:55 on vaccine distribution.  One change that happened just in the last week,
12:18:01 CDC added Down syndrome, so people with down syndrome, to the list of folks
12:18:08 who have coexisting conditions that are affected by Covid
12:18:15 which means they have moved into a different category of where to vaccines or how soon
12:18:21 they can be given vaccines.  Some states are interpreting that very strictly is only people with Down syndrome.
12:18:27 Already you know people in [can't understand] settings are of the list and some other conditions.
12:18:31 But some are interpreting that very narrowly to people the Down syndrome,
12:18:35 some people are interpreting it more broadly to people with intellectual disabilities.
12:18:40 You should check with the state about that and friendly you should be watching what's going on in your states anyway
12:18:42 on vaccine distribution.
12:18:47 And talking to them about the importance of who needs to be vaccinated and when.
12:18:53 There is some good stuff on the ACD website if you want to go look for that.
12:18:56 Andrew can you flip to the next slide for me.
12:19:03 Next slide, a couple of ADA things that have come out that you should know about
12:19:08 particularly for folks on this call.  EEOC, equal implement opportunity commission
12:19:14 has come out with a new guidance on Covid and -- it is really a Covid and what employers must do
12:19:18 in terms of vaccinations, it's a vaccination guide for employers.
12:19:22 For our purposes there is some good ADA stuff in there.
12:19:26 And I have gone through some of that here, a vaccination is not a medical exam
12:19:32 for ADA purposes, although they can ask a prescreen questions.
12:19:38 If you are asked to take
12:19:39 a vaccine, it has to be job related
12:19:45 and consistent with business necessity.  If you are asked to take a vaccine,
12:19:48 showing proof of vaccination is okay.
12:19:52 If you say somebody has to be vaccinated and you can't get a vaccine
12:19:57 because of disability, the employer can exclude that person from the workplace
12:20:03 only if there is no reasonable accommodation that will eliminate any direct threat.
12:20:09 If there is a reasonable accommodation you can't, and you can't terminate them for that.
12:20:14 This is all really good stuff.  These are things that employers have been asking about
12:20:17 and employees with disabilities obviously have been concerned about.
12:20:23 The link to it is up in the top and we can put that in the chat in a few minutes as well.
12:20:27 But go look it up because that is an important one I think for a lot of people
12:20:32 trying to decide both when and how to have a vaccine and when and how to [can't understand].
12:20:37 >> I'm only going to do my slide if they turn my video back on.
12:20:41 I am back sitting down.
12:20:44 >> Okay, slide Andrew.
12:20:48 This is a new one ADA, addiction, and recovery.
12:20:52 There is a whole series of these and I don't think I talked you guys about it
12:20:55 when the one on implement cannot so that is my bad.
12:21:01 Andrew, I think that is your mouse has got the link up
12:21:06 and discovering up some of the slide.  Back, there you go.
12:21:08 Next one.
12:21:12 There was one ADA and employment that came out some time ago
12:21:17 and I give you the link frontier as well around addiction recovery guidance and that kind of stuff
12:21:22 for interviews.  The new one is on ADA addiction and recovery
12:21:25 and it is specifically for state and local governments.
12:21:29 Again advancing the intersection of ADA and social services,
12:21:34 and the rest of them all run through the definition of addiction under the ADA,
12:21:38 the definition of recovery.  They are really nicely done.
12:21:45 They are really short, they are neither funded, out of the regional ADA centers,
12:21:49 they are short and it's another one of those things that if this is in there you work in
12:21:55 I would suggest printing out or saving a link on your computer and they are really well done.
12:21:58 Next one Andrew.
12:22:02 A couple of things that have come out on studies.
12:22:08 This one is employment trends in Rhode Island.
12:22:09 It's interesting to me in particular,
12:22:13 and you can see it is on integrated employment at particularly
12:22:17 it was interesting to me because Rhode Island has a consent decree
12:22:21 that they agreed to to do away with all of their sheltered work
12:22:25 in a certain amount of time and there was a lot of things in that and that was the result of a lawsuit.
12:22:31 So what this looks like in part is the effect and the change in employment outcomes
12:22:37 after the consent decree, or the consent discrete follow the [can't understand].
12:22:41 So obviously one of the things and found which as a policy geek I would tell you anyway
12:22:46 is that policy initiatives can lead to reduction in reliance is unsheltered work
12:22:51 and facility based work.  The consent decree in this particular case.
12:22:55 And then it went through some other things that were important as they moved
12:23:01 accordingly because they had to under the consent decree to competitive integrated employment.
12:23:07 In the importance of the planning for that.  They found not interestingly enough,
12:23:09 it is not surprising I think to anyone on the call
12:23:16 but the best predictor of competitive employment over time is previous experiences and integrated employment.
12:23:19 We have been saying that for a long time and this is a nice study that shows it.
12:23:24 And then the importance of ongoing support employment and transition services
12:23:29 because that is part of what gets you into competitive integrated employment.
12:23:32 In the idea of continuing those services again,
12:23:36 it's a really nice piece to be able to say this is why we continue to need
12:23:41 these services, transition services engines supported employment
12:23:45 and estate budgets will get tighter, I keep telling you, as state budgets get tighter
12:23:50 I can imagine state saying well maybe we don't need to fund these things at such a high amount.
12:23:53 But here is some data that shows that yes we do.
12:23:55 Next slide please.
12:23:58 This is an interesting one on volunteering as well.
12:24:01 Again it is what leads to employment.
12:24:08 So many folks with disabilities start out by volunteering.
12:24:15 Interning, whatever it is that leads them to experience in employment
12:24:20 just as everybody else does actually, lots of people go into implement by first volunteering.
12:24:24 What was interesting is this is a study of where people with disabilities
12:24:34 and again it is a Nigel are studying and people with disabilities have lower volunteer rates
12:24:40 but higher in social community organizations,
12:24:46 lower in the professional or coaching or mentoring activities, lower for people with disabilities.
12:24:58 Higher distribution rates of activities and that doesn't surprise me either.
12:25:03 The captioner wants me to slow down, I know, I talk really fast.
12:25:06 Let me work on that.
12:25:12 It leads to less access to leadership roles because if you are volunteering in more leadership activities,
12:25:15 if you are volunteering from a social and community activities,
12:25:20 not as many coaching are teaching and mentoring activities, you are not getting leadership roles
12:25:25 and you are not getting opportunities for skill development.  I think that's another really important one
12:25:29 to look at and maybe for more research in the future but also
12:25:35 to look at where we are helping people, assisting people if you are supported employment
12:25:39 or whatever you do, how are you helping people find volunteer activities
12:25:43 and where, and maybe we need to look at that more.
12:25:46 And then a higher level of segregation by disability status.
12:25:51 That doesn't surprise me either, that my gender, race, and ethnicity.
12:25:54 People with disabilities volunteering at some of the same places.
12:26:02 Maybe we need to work harder, we need to look at how to get folks into other types of volunteering.
12:26:04 Next slide.
12:26:09 There are a couple of intersectionality slides here
12:26:13 on two different studies all using the same data.
12:26:17 And it is Canadian.  This one is on disability and gender.
12:26:25 It is the gender intersection in the workplace with Canadian workers with and without disabilities.
12:26:30 Like 900 in each group, and it looked at workplace supports,
12:26:36 and what it found was strategies for -- the quote at the very bottom --
12:26:42 strategies to address workplace support needs to consider the intersection between disability and sex and gender
12:26:47 because again as we are finding in other things, women tend to have,
12:26:54 for instance the intersection between disability of various types and sex/gender,
12:26:58 women with both physical and nonphysical disabilities have the greatest likelihood
12:27:03 of having unmet workplace support needs when compared to nondisabled men
12:27:09 and to disable the men.  So we talked a lot about intersectionality and gender,
12:27:14 but this is another one where there is some actual data and it is data around employment.
12:27:17 And I was really pleased to see that.  Next one Andrew.
12:27:22 And using the same data, a different article from the same people
12:27:32 on data, age, and tenure.  And again this is comparing people and what we call
12:27:38 precarious work, and I guess everybody knows what precarious work is but I didn't.
12:27:43 It is uncertain, unpredictable, unprotected, low-paying and limited job control.
12:27:49 They are saying what is the effect of age and tenure for people disabilities and those jobs
12:27:55 and what they found was people with disabilities, if you were older or if you are a newer worker
12:28:01 it is more likely you are going to be in employment that -- precariously employed,
12:28:08 that is low-wage, low job control, and that did not surprise me so much for younger people.
12:28:13 But it really did suppress before the older people and for the longer job tenure
12:28:16 and I thought that was interesting as well.  It may be a reflection
12:28:22 of the move where we are currently in and some of those older workers
12:28:26 not having the same access to competitive integrated employment,
12:28:29 but I believe that to the researchers to figure out.
12:28:33 Next slide, a few things to just point out to you.
12:28:36 These are just webinars of things coming out.
12:28:42 There is a new webinar on Medicaid buy-in that the bipartisan policy Center is doing.
12:28:47 Henry Claypool be on that as well, somebody from Robert Wood Johnson.
12:28:52 They did a year-long study about recommendations to improve Medicaid buy-in programs,
12:28:56 that is program for people who were actually working and they can buy into Medicaid
12:29:02 it's usually on a sliding scale so they don't lose their Medicaid as they start working.
12:29:07 There are some states to do that, they have done a report on it,
12:29:12 there are recommendations.  They have engage stakeholders and as you would imagine
12:29:16 the bipartisan policy Center and Robert Wood Johnson would do.
12:29:21 I'm looking forward to this one I think it should be really interesting and some great recommendations coming out of it.
12:29:25 And maybe some things we can change to make Medicaid buy-in work better for people
12:29:30 so they can keep Medicaid and work, and that is only something we will have to do
12:29:33 to keep moving toward competitive integrated employment.
12:29:40 Next slide, I talked last month about the Harken implement summit.
12:29:47 Harken employment summit, it's all online now, if you miss the Harken employment summit
12:29:51 in the middle of December I guess they have a Harkin Summit YouTube page,
12:29:55 it is always captions and is divided up and you can watch anything you want.
12:29:58 The Harkin Summit is always wonderful.
12:30:04 It always has a very international implement flavor to it which I also really appreciate
12:30:07 because I don't tend to hear those folks in other venues.
12:30:12 It's about providing real unaccountable business leadership in the Covid era,
12:30:17 there is inclusive businesses, creating inclusive societies,
12:30:20 all about the intersectionality and inclusive cultures.
12:30:25 Dissolving about technology, and people on there like I said,
12:30:31 all kinds of folks from LinkedIn, from the World Bank, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble,
12:30:36 Johnson & Johnson, all kinds of advocates both national and international.
12:30:40 It is all available to you now for free so I really recommend it.
12:30:42 Next one Andrew.
12:30:49 I thought I would tell you NID I LR are is looking for peer reviewers.
12:30:53 If you have not seen this I would highly suggest it because the people on this call
12:30:59 would be great for reviewers, there looking at all kinds of disability and rehab research
12:31:04 for some up-and-coming grant competitions, obviously if you are
12:31:08 writing a grant that's a conversation, but it is all virtual.
12:31:11 So you don't have to travel to Washington.
12:31:15 You can go in and register you in the reviewer recruiter module,
12:31:22 is a link up above that is in the slides and they will be looking for folks I really highly, highly encourage people
12:31:27 to go in and do this, it's really important to have people that are knowledgeable
12:31:35 and have people who are knowledgeable including implement some of these panels.
12:31:46 Next slide Andrew.  And tack, the national technical assistance Center on transition,
12:31:53 they are now the collaborative so they are trying to do a whole one-stop shop for secondary transition personnel
12:31:58 from education, vocational rehab everywhere else.
12:32:02 There will be a new website although
12:32:07 they are working on it now although the current website will remain active for a while.
12:32:12 And a bunch of the materials are also going to continue on a national clearinghouse
12:32:18 for rehab training materials which is like all of the TA centers on that one,
12:32:23 a bunch of materials will be there and if you are looking from something for
12:32:28 NTACT this is why start looking a little differently.
12:32:32 They did a webinar overview of what the new collaborative would be like
12:32:38 and I give you a link for that too if it is something that you have interacted with regularly,
12:32:40 you might look at the webinar too.
12:32:46 And then the last one, next slide Andrew, is the disability compendium.
12:32:51 Here is the reminder, registration is open February 9-12.
12:32:56 From noon until 1:15, it is over a lunch hour for several days.
12:33:01 This is the release of the annual disability statistics compendium.
12:33:06 Join us for all days.  I will be there and others on this call I'm sure will be there.
12:33:10 For federal updates, indications of Covid,
12:33:13 and a whole thing I'm excited about as well about intersectionality.
12:33:20 Disability and the African-American and Black community and what that means
12:33:23 around employment and disability.
12:33:27 So the link is there, go register, this is another big one coming up.
12:33:33 The next one I get to introduce David I think.
12:33:35 Awesome.  I am through to introduce David.
12:33:39 Is interesting, I actually met David which he may or may not remember
12:33:45 for the first met last year's compendium, we were sitting next to each other
12:33:49 and he was not had ACL yet but we were talking about employment and disability
12:33:53 and we should get together more and talk and then Covid happen and there you go.
12:33:56 But I'm thrilled to be able to introduce them today.
12:34:02 Is currently serving as the director of the office of intellectual and developmental disabilities
12:34:06 within ACL, the administer should not community living at HHS.
12:34:09 He has a long history which I will not go into so we can talk
12:34:14 of working in the field of disability employment and so he brings a real expertise to this.
12:34:18 There is a new TA center out there and he is going to talk about that.
12:34:27 We thought you might like to hear what is going on with the new TA center and employment.
12:34:27 David I will turn on my camera and microphone and toss it to you.
12:34:31 >> Great, thank you Denise and happy new year everyone.
12:34:36 We can go to the next slide, and I want to say it is an honor to help kickoff
12:34:41 the 2021 lunch and learn series.  For me this is a nice way to reconnect.
12:34:46 Several years ago I was introduced to this forum to the office of disability implement policy
12:34:53 and the assistant secretary for ETA Porsche wound, and at that time we were talking about
12:34:58 the advisory committee on increasing competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities
12:35:05 also known as [can't understand] and in Washington we like acronyms.
12:35:11 That's how I learned about this and we are glad to be back in today and also reconnecting with Denise and Andy
12:35:16 who I met at the compendium of statistics before and also I know some of my DOL
12:35:22 former colleagues around the call so I feel like I am amongst good acquaintances, nice to be with you all.
12:35:27 As we reflect back on 2020, we know there were a lot of key milestones.
12:35:34 We have the 30th anniversary of the ADA, we have the 50th anniversary of the DD counsel,
12:35:39 and also the 100 year formation of the vocational rehabilitation program.
12:35:43 Today I would like to help share our vision within ACL for 2021
12:35:50 as we try to pivot in a post Covid environment to maximize competitive integrated employment
12:35:53 in communities across America.  Next slide.
12:35:59 Today we are going to first kickoff was sharing some background about
12:36:07 out in AOD we are approaching our work to address this mission.
12:36:08 Second we will introduce this new disability employment TA center
12:36:11 that Denise talked about, and also want to take some time
12:36:15 to highlight a few of our disability implement initiatives,
12:36:20 and then finally hopefully there will be time to talk about our integrative work being done
12:36:24 by our UCED the community.  Let's get started.
12:36:35 I thought it would be nice to kickoff with a question how can we turn a challenge into an opportunity,
12:36:39 and our spirit within [can't understand] look to this question closely.
12:36:44 What we have done is we look at things the way health equity lens
12:36:48 as well as an economic security and mobility, and within the health equity lens
12:36:54 Jennifer Johnson our Deputy Director, she has been really convening stakeholders
12:37:01 as it relates to mental health and COVID-19 as it relates to the DD community
12:37:06 and also currently leading the effort to raise awareness about the vaccination strategy.
12:37:10 Also we have the economic security and mobility
12:37:14 and this is an effort that I am helping lead within AOD right now.
12:37:19 And as Andy said earlier we are definitely in the midst of a health crisis.
12:37:23 But also we are in a new normal right now and any time
12:37:27 we are in a new normal there is an opportunity to lay a foundation of what is possible.
12:37:32 So we wanted to share with you here some of the things that we are
12:37:35 employing right now as we try to pivot in this new normal.
12:37:37 Let's go to the next slide.
12:37:46 The first thing we want to highlight is our new TA center that started last fall
12:37:52 to deliver innovative, collaborative, and evidence-based practices to support our AOD grantees.
12:38:04 We came up with a tagline.  Is going to be known as the AOD disability employment TA center.
12:38:10 We are also including transforming networks through systems change, innovation, and collaboration.
12:38:15 Overall we are trying to communicate a very forward vision.
12:38:20 And I think what I would like to do is highlight some of the keywords that we have
12:38:25 as part of our vision statement.  We have systems change, innovation, and collaboration.
12:38:33 As it relates to systems change, what it is doing is trying to look at the functional root of the problem.
12:38:39 With the AOD disability employment TA center, one of the first six we are trying to do
12:38:43 is really assess our environment and we recognize that when system change happens
12:38:46 we need to have the different voices from the field.
12:38:49 As it relates to innovation, innovation is about
12:38:54 integration of new products, [can't understand], and service and innovation
12:39:00 seeks to improve effectiveness and efficiency.  I know innovation has been a big buzzword
12:39:04 over the past few years as it relates to the workforce innovation and opportunity act.
12:39:09 And also with collaboration, collaboration is about working together with different groups
12:39:13 towards a common goal and one of the things we know what ALDs we need partners.
12:39:19 But the one keyword in this slide you see here is the word transforming.
12:39:26 That word really tries to tie it all together.  We believe a transmission leadership,
12:39:31 we are a learning organization and we take small steps each day and we are not afraid to fail.
12:39:35 We are going to pilot things and test things and learn from our mistakes.
12:39:39 We want to grow, we want to be bold and innovative whenever possible.
12:39:41 Next slide.
12:39:49 As it relates to the disability employment TA center we're talking about right now,
12:39:55 the concept is very simple.  Instead of providing training and technical assistance on disability employment
12:40:00 in silos within the AOD program, we are very much wanting to support collaborative
12:40:05 across programs and working toward a common goal.  The purposes we will provide
12:40:11 evidence-based training for TA across our five AOD programs and I will highlight that shortly.
12:40:15 But we are going to be doing that the technical assistance and that is going to be
12:40:19 scalability, sustainability, and evidence-based practices.
12:40:26 We are going to be doing that through our TA tool focused on skills development,
12:40:30 Resource development, strategies, and partnership and collaboration.
12:40:38 What I would like to do, as I mentioned, a key thing to think about assumes over customer.
12:40:42 For this project our customers are our five AOD programs.
12:40:45 They include centers for independent living,
12:40:49 university centers for excellence in developmental disabilities,
12:40:52 state councils on developmental disabilities,
12:40:55 state protection and advocacy systems,
12:40:58 in the traumatic brain injury state partnership programs.
12:41:03 Each of these program support multiple initiatives and the common thread
12:41:07 throughout the five programs is to increase competitive integrated employment.
12:41:14 Through this collaboration we see how good [can't understand] can occur.
12:41:16 For example there could be a very good innovative self advocacy practice
12:41:22 developed by the TA system that can support our DD counsel as well as our
12:41:27 [can't understand], TDI state partnership program.  We want to have a method
12:41:32 through which knowledge can be shared across the different programs within AOD.
12:41:40 On this slide what I would like to do is share how this will get operationalized.
12:41:43 Overall we fundamentally believe teamwork is key.
12:41:52 To help carry out this work AOD will be working closely with the Lewin and cash groups
12:42:02 in the Lewin and tash they have been hitting the ground running on this and doing what we call
12:42:07 a landscape assessment, and that is what we talked about earlier, getting to know our field.
12:42:10 We have some rock stars in this group,
12:42:14 we have Serena Lowe and Amy Gonzales who many of you probably no one this call.
12:42:20 Both the AOD and the Lewin task team will be collaborating with different stakeholders.
12:42:25 The AOD grantee workgroup, the strategic partners, the national subject matter experts.
12:42:29 Electrical of a three-pronged approach and over the next three slides
12:42:35 we will talk about these three groups, so let's talk about next line the AOD grantee work.
12:42:39 What we are doing is we are going to be
12:42:44 again we believe in collaboration so we want to get voices from the field.
12:42:50 We are currently in the process of the 15 member workgroup
12:42:55 to have direction, plans, and goals for the TA center.
12:43:02 The breakdown is as follows.  We will have seven members from the centers for independent living,
12:43:06 for members from the state councils on developmental disability,
12:43:12 one member from the use and community, one member from the P and A community,
12:43:17 and one member from the TBI community and finally one member with strong expertise
12:43:24 in developing competitive integrated implements assistance change.
12:43:24 You are probably wondering why the ratio is what is
12:43:30 but it is a matter of funding and how it has been allocated for individualized support
12:43:33 for the programs in respect of their funding level.
12:43:36 We currently do have a call for nominations that we have been working with
12:43:40 our grantees in December and we have a stakeholder call next week
12:43:45 and if this is something you are interested in and if you are on that one individual out there
12:43:50 send me an email my email address is David Jones at ACL that HHS that gov
12:43:55 and I will be sure to make sure you get a link to apply if you wish to be
12:43:59 an ex officio member and we do plan on having our first kickoff meeting
12:44:01 in late February.
12:44:12 This is our second prong hireling different strategic partners.
12:44:17 These partners work closely with the five AOD grant programs are highlighted earlier.
12:44:22 First [can't understand] affiliated with the program, affiliated
12:44:26 they include the association programs for rural and independent living
12:44:29 National Council on Independent Living,
12:44:32 national association of centers on developing the disabilities
12:44:36 affiliated with the state councils on developmental disabilities,
12:44:42 national association of state head injury administrators affiliated with the TBSA program
12:44:47 and finally NDRN affiliated with the DA system.
12:44:49 It's a team collaborative effort, next live.
12:44:56 This is the third prong.  This is the national subject matter expert pool.
12:45:03 We are very very fortunate to be capturing the expertise of current and former AOD grantees.
12:45:07 We have currently recruited over 60 subject matter experts
12:45:10 with expertise and competitive integrated employment.
12:45:16 Approximately 40 percent current former leaders of AOD grantee networks
12:45:20 and approximately 60 percent are from outside the network and that is good because
12:45:23 we always want to get a fresh perspective as we tackle this work.
12:45:27 We have additional partners and they include Transcend,
12:45:33 we plan are working with them on the training module that we will be developing
12:45:40 and those will be collaborating with wise and they have varying degrees of expertise
12:45:44 and competitive integrated employment and we will be tapping into that expertise as well.
12:45:53 This is the slide were I would like to highlight how capacity building
12:45:59 through technology -- I served on a panel many years ago with Cornell University
12:46:02 and it was title something called technology changes everything
12:46:06 and we fundamentally believe that technology is a great way
12:46:11 to bridge information together.  So one of the ways we are going to be doing that
12:46:17 is developing a virtual clearinghouse to support our grantees with materials and resources.
12:46:23 This site will include tailored resources that will be designed for their programs
12:46:28 as well as resources that can be collaborative across all five AOD programs.
12:46:33 We want to make sure the resources we post are going to be viable and compliant.
12:46:39 We do have another initiative within AOD
12:46:44 and I think there might be time for me to continue and if not I can't stop.
12:46:47 One more minute, okay.
12:46:51 I will highlight the disability implement initiatives
12:46:58 and for the first one, next slide, there is three of them I would like to highlight
12:47:02 and maybe I can highlight one here.
12:47:09 Within AOD last year Commissioner Hocker shared an announcement about the collaboration between
12:47:15 ACL and OSHA and this is something that we are very proud of because we know that
12:47:18 they are doing a lot of great work with transition and
12:47:25 we can tap into their work as it relates to people with disabilities.
12:47:30 Within the by grant it is the partnership for integrated employment and
12:47:35 it is basically investing in grants for the state to collaborate.
12:47:41 And we have the third one focusing on employers, very important ingredient.
12:47:46 We have an inclusive talent pipeline for the American business by challenge
12:47:51 and basically what that is we invited American businesses
12:47:56 to apply for a cash prize based on their innovation with inclusion
12:48:01 and we have received over 50 proposals, and I understand over the next
12:48:04 few months we are going to be announcing the winner.
12:48:12 So overall we are trying to exude the spirit of inclusion wherever possible.
12:48:22 Next slide.  And finally, next slide, we do have the UCED community
12:48:28 and I know there was a competition among our 68
12:48:35 and 10 of them were awarded planning grants, and we can go to the next slide.
12:48:40 Basically these other ones that we are focusing on employment,
12:48:44 there are others that focused on have equity but these are the three that focused on employment
12:48:49 and there are a few others and within that I will highlight one.
12:48:55 Georgia, basically what they are seeking to do is address the systemic challenge
12:49:01 and they are focusing on Autism.  And the challenge they raised was although an increasing number of students
12:49:06 with Autism are attending college many struggle to continue way without services and successfully compete
12:49:12 for job following graduation and so basically they are developing a coalition
12:49:22 of folks to really hone in on that challenge and to make sure there is a smoother transition.
12:49:27 And I know we want to have time for Q&A so we will go to the next slide.
12:49:30 Basically I want to close out with a positive message.
12:49:36 This is one of my favorite quotes, it is from President John F. Kennedy,
12:49:41 a rising tide lifts all boats, and I know this has been in reference to the economy
12:49:46 but I do think it does speak to the spirit of our work which we are working together
12:49:52 in this new normal especially as we try to think of what is possible in the post COVID-19 environment.
12:49:57 On behalf of ACL I really appreciate the opportunity to engage with you
12:50:05 about our work, next slide, and we really sincerely wish you all a healthy and happy new year.
12:50:07 So thanks for having me on today.
12:50:11 >> Thank you for a much David, that was a great summary
12:50:18 and it's really great to see what you guys are planning for in the coming year.
12:50:26 One thing that comes to mind when I think about
12:50:34 some of the -- the program you just mentioned with the folks in Georgia.
12:50:41 Is there a place to learn more about the various groups that got funded under that competition?
12:50:43 >> That's a very good point.
12:50:47 One of the things I did was I wanted to make sure we really captured
12:50:52 when each of the 10 grantees were doing and that is something that we shared internally.
12:50:58 So I think there is an opportunity for me to maybe work with
12:51:04 a OCD to see if we can get that information posted because
12:51:11 it is really exuding the spirit of innovation as we think about how they address different complex issues really.
12:51:16 And how they are convening different partners to address it.
12:51:21 So I don't believe the summaries are available on the public website,
12:51:25 but there is definitely information we have that should be an opportunity for folks to know
12:51:29 what good work is being done by our grantees,
12:51:35 and I would be glad to look into that further, Andrew, to see how we can get that publicly listed.
12:51:40 >> As the ACD person on the call we would be happy to work with you on that David just let us know.
12:51:48 >> Also someone asked how soon will the virtual clearinghouse come online?
12:51:48 What's the timeline?
12:51:53 >> Right now the plan is February, that is our timeline for the virtual clearinghouse.
12:51:56 That is our targeted timeline right now.
12:51:59 >> A minute is probably going to grow thereafter right?
12:52:03 >> Yes and I think we can learn from our federal partners.
12:52:07 I know there's a lot of great work being done by NC RTM with RSA
12:52:19 also our partners over at [can't understand] and we want this to be collaborative and not duplicative.
12:52:24 We want to build a niche and make sure that we are being helpful.
12:52:30 >> All right, so let's see.
12:52:39 There is another question.
12:52:47 First, Joseph Barry, early on in the conversation mentioned is there a certain reference
12:52:55 or source?  We can contact you for the statistics that were presented earlier.
12:53:01 If you reach out to us, someone will follow-up with you.
12:53:09 About the methods and ways to cite the work and find out more about the work.
12:53:15 There is some statements about some documents that are available
12:53:23 for a Covid policy brief through [can't understand] over at DOL, the deal funded project.
12:53:32 Ask [can't understand] dot org as information on Covid.
12:53:37 There is also a comment about a competitive integrated employment predictors
12:53:44 of successful transition.
12:53:50 Most school districts -- it talks about the expectations and labels
12:53:57 and those things being important predictors of successful transition to employment.
12:54:02 The expectations and policies at the high school level.
12:54:09 One question I have, I came up with a question and now I lost it.
12:54:15 I have been doodling too much.  Let's see, a couple more questions have come in.
12:54:24 What is tash's role as a subcontractor to Lewin.
12:54:32 >> They have different expertise from different groups and I know within the tash
12:54:36 group would have Serena low, I know many of you in the field know her.
12:54:39 We are proud to have her as part of our effort.
12:54:44 And so they basically divide and conquer with different tasks that we have assigned
12:54:50 based on our statement of work.  So it is a subcontractor to the Lewin group.
12:54:58 >> Somebody mentioned that there is a similar clearinghouse culty disability cocoon.
12:55:05 Disability cocoon dot com, again disability cocoon dot com.
12:55:12 They have mentioned that perhaps you would be interested in seeing that.
12:55:17 >> The thing I would like to mention again as we are designing this clearinghouse
12:55:21 for our grantees.  Our customers that we mentioned earlier
12:55:25 because we want them to better support of their customers in the field.
12:55:29 So when we designed this clearinghouse, that is the framework in which
12:55:34 we are designing it because we know there was a lot of great clearinghouses out there.
12:55:43 >> We have a new question from Allison Taylor and that is the exact question I wrote down and I forgot about it.
12:55:49 In the transition, Denise, and David you can't answer this question,
12:55:57 but Denise, when we have the transition there is a number of resignations
12:56:06 and cabinet sublevels.  First, do you expect any of the recent transition
12:56:11 and also recent resignations to influence grants or policies?
12:56:16 But then also I would add on top of that do you expect
12:56:23 what opportunities are there and will you keep the nTIDE audience aware
12:56:30 of opportunities for comment on appointees because the appointees
12:56:36 are going to be really important for all the programs were talking about.
12:56:41 So do you have any sense of -- a lot of times they are little bit delayed
12:56:43 because they are further down.
12:56:48 >> What your hearing right now and as a matter fact you probably heard yesterday
12:56:52 it leaked out and I don't think they have made a formal announcement yet that the recommended
12:57:01 secretary of labor is the current mayor of Boston, is it the current mayor?  Marty Rosen I think.
12:57:05 That leaked out yesterday and has not been named officially and we are still waiting
12:57:10 for health.  A couple of things.
12:57:13 The first part of the question about the resignations and all of that and
12:57:17 whether that will have any impact on policy or grants, no.
12:57:25 Particularly resignations.  What you are hearing now, except to the extent that there are I suppose
12:57:29 fewer people in the buildings, but the people who are running the grants
12:57:36 are the people like David and others who are first of all further down the chain,
12:57:40 and secondly not the big political appointees.
12:57:43 Certainly in any transition there will be new people coming in
12:57:49 and clearly in a change of administration that also includes a change of party
12:57:54 there will be new people coming in and they will look at new priorities and they will look at grants
12:58:00 and new regulations and I am sure there will be some because I'm involved in some of those conversations
12:58:04 about withdrawing existing regulations and things like that,
12:58:10 and withdrawing is a bad way to put that, reversing some of the things that happened in the last four years
12:58:14 some of which are regulatory.  So that will all happen but not immediately.
12:58:20 In the immediate thing we are seeing this week should not have affects on grants and projects
12:58:25 and even policy because again the policy changes are really going to happen
12:58:30 after the inauguration as new people come into those jobs.
12:58:35 But again there will be policy changes in the new administration,
12:58:38 so well I keep you up-to-date on that?  Of course.
12:58:42 We will have speakers, we will keep a good check on that
12:58:47 on some of those as you recall in this last year at times I will come onto these calls
12:58:53 and say there is a notice of rulemaking out, you need to comment on this if you feel strongly about it
12:58:59 and here is what it is and here is how you do it.  There will definitely be more of those coming out as well.
12:59:05 >> Denise, what about 503 employers?
12:59:12 They are obligated by law, so -- I think this might be a response to another question.
12:59:16 About 503.
12:59:21 There was an early question about --
12:59:23 [CROSSTALK]
12:59:30 certainly 503 federal contractors and also federal agencies
12:59:35 are under a 7 present significant substantial disability.
12:59:40 >> There was an earlier question asking if there were any states that required
12:59:44 hiring of people with disabilities basically, to which I did a private answer
12:59:49 but I'm happy to answer it here saying no, there are federal requirements
12:59:54 and in some states additional state requirements against discrimination
12:59:57 of people with disabilities but not requiring hiring.
13:00:01 And Elaine is coming on so she might be able to answer that too.
13:00:06 But anyway this answer, I wasn't thinking about 503, you are right, 503
13:00:11 makes some federal requirements, not state requirements but federal requirements.
13:00:16 >> I was going to add to that there is a website and there has been a couple of webinars
13:00:21 about working in the new administration especially encouraging people disabilities to apply.
13:00:28 >> Yeah, actually let me say that.  If you are interested at all in a position in the new administration,
13:00:37 the website is build back better.  Go to build back better, you can fill out a form
13:00:42 and they will ask for resume and don't worry if you don't hear right away they say because obviously
13:00:45 this is a process that works down from the top.
13:00:49 But if you are interested in working in the new administration there opportunities.
13:00:53 There is been a lot of outreach to people with disabilities