Fw: [ILAssnMicroboardsandatives] FW: RICES Phase II

[Guest guest]

FYI

Rural Illinois Customized Employment Sustainability Project (RICES)

Notice of Opportunity to Apply to Participate as a Mentorship Site Program

Phase II: March 1, 2010 - July 30, 2011

This announcement and application is being sent statewide to encourage your

application to participate in the Rural Illinois Customized Employment

Sustainability Project (RICES), an investment of the Illinois Council on

Developmental Disabilities. RICES is a collaborative project operated by

-Hammis Associates, LLC (GHA), Health & Disability Advocates (HDA), and

Marc Gold & Associates (MG & A). The application makes local communities eligible

for selection as a Customized Employment Mentorship Site, which provides your

organization with training, technical assistance, and mentoring tailored to your

community, job seekers, and needs. Eligible applicants must:

1. be located in rural communities, which we have defined as " any community of

50,000 population or less, at least 50 miles by Interstate from a Metropolitan

area; " and

2. commit to learning and applying new approaches to customizing employment for

people with developmental disabilities.

3. willing to coordinate with community partners to develop collaborations for

coordination of systems and blending of current funding streams to support

customized employment

4. establish an area CE Leadership Team to include the 'official' entities

(agency, school, parents); VR, DD; whatever other agencies/entities/at large

community members make sense. This group would be charged with helping each

other, sharing experiences and learning, eventual mentoring of new staff,

working together to try to use each 'system' collaboratively toward the same

goals, etc.

Eligible applicants may be any of the below or combination of below:

1. A for profit or not-for-profit organization offering services to persons with

a developmental disability and willing to offer employment services; a small

group of 1 to 4 persons willing to offer employment services to persons with a

disability including family members or community members; a small group of 1 to

4 families partnered with an agency or school system / special education

district to provide CE services; or 1 to 4 individuals with a disability and

their families willing to coordinate a " personal budget " 1 to purchase the

customized employment process; several families in the same geographic region; a

community service provider; two or more agencies in the same geographic region;

or a combination of any of these

2. be committed to creating a foundation for regional sustainability;

1 *personal budgets: a set amount of government funds for an individual to

purchase employment outcomes; discovery, plan, portfolio, and job development

(job support must be available from another source). Funds are retained with the

RICES sponsor and paid to the service provider upon approval of job seeker,

family, and TA provider. Providers must be recruited by the individual and their

family and may be an agency, school, a professional employment specialist or a

person willing to learn. All parties would be required to attend training.

Customized Employment is a growing option for many individuals with significant

disabilities and GHA, MG & A, and HDA are leaders, both nationally and

internationally, in assisting

organizations to build capacity for improving employment outcomes and increasing

financial independence for all job seekers. Starting with the Discovery process

for each unique job seeker, Customized Employment offers the greatest potential

for the widest array of individualized employment opportunities including

wage-employment, self-employment, and/or resource ownership. By applying for

this project, your agency / entity has an opportunity to leverage generic

community resources, utilize multiple funding sources, develop cooperative

relationships, and facilitate inventive service delivery through the

demonstration and stabilization of both wage and self-employment. A project

abstract is attached that gives a project overview.

If your agency / entity is selected as a RICES site, you will have access to:

? 6 two-day on-site visits for training, technical assistance, and mentoring.

Each visit will consist of a mix of classroom training followed by

individualized consultation with the job seekers and their person-centered teams

as well as with other local intermediaries. The training is also designed to

attract local intermediaries by providing a forum for them to attend and

showcase their work.

? Training with the curriculum tailored to the site.

The training content will be based on local needs of the Community

Rehabilitation Providers (CRP) of Employment Services to individuals with

developmental disabilities, families, consumers with developmental disabilities,

and intermediaries, but will use a foundation of CE essentials including:

Introduction to CE and Discovery; Systematic Instruction and Job Analysis; Job

Development, Carving, Creation and Resource Ownership; SSA Work Incentives;

Business Feasibility and Plans, Support Strategies; etc.

? Support and mentoring of staff/teams through a minimum of 4 - 8 customized

outcomes, as agreed upon by project staff

During the agreement period, we will support your staff and team through the CE

process starting with Discovery and exploration, and beyond to informational

interviewing and job analysis, job carving/creation, negotiation strategies,

small business development, etc. as needed to reach a CE outcome for each.

? Community Resource Mapping

Additionally, we will support your agency / entity/team to document potential

community resources; develop user-friendly resource guides; establish ongoing,

collaborative relationships with key local intermediaries; and to identify and

utilize all possible funding streams available. Your team will need to determine

the most useful mode of sharing this community resource information for your

area, i.e., resource guide; CD/DVD; website, etc.

? A fund (distribution made at the discretion of the project collaborators), to

be used across the length of the project in support of employment outcomes

This fund is used to " quick launch " Customized Employment (CE) for job seekers

participating in the project, provide flexible money that may be used to fund

the feasibility testing of a business idea, demonstrate consumer buy-in to VR

when starting a business, utilize a Resource Ownership strategy, leverage other

resources, etc. These funds may also be used flexibly to develop personal

budgets (approx $3,000 for each participant).

If selected, your entity will commit to and be responsible for:

? Assigning staff to RICES Project who will be afforded time for planning,

training and implementation of CE from the beginning to completion of the

project

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: participating in

all training and technical assistance site days; communicating with technical

advisors on routine basis; communicating questions and problems to technical

advisors as they arise; participate in community resource mapping process and

development of community resource guide

? Hosting the training events - the first of which will be during the week of

March 8th, 2010

Responsibilities include advertising the training throughout your local region,

identifying and inviting local intermediaries, and securing meeting facilities

in locations convenient to all attendees. In addition, local sites will copy any

materials needed for each session and provide morning coffee/light breakfast and

afternoon break refreshments; and coordinate arrangements for lunch to be

brought in if needed.

? Ensuring jobseekers and all team members participate in trainings and meetings

Job seekers with developmental disabilities, their families and individuals

interested in customized employment will be invited to attend the training or an

evening training that will provide an overview of customized training.

? Identifying four to eight individuals (depending upon the entities working

together on this project) with developmental disabilities who want customized

employment and who will participate in the project;

? Working through the CE process to a customized outcome for each participant (a

minimum of 20 hours per participant for Discovery and Placement Planning should

be planned for); and

? Following through on tasks and plans for each individual, integrating

community intermediaries into planning team, between consultant visits

? Determining a regularly scheduled method for collaborating with other Phase II

RICES sites to provide each other 'CE momentum'

? Performing Community Resource Mapping and determining most useful format for

Community Resource Guide

? With the assistance of the RICES Project collaborators, determine a plan for

sustaining Customized Employment at the conclusion of the project

Attached is an application with a series of questions that should be answered

briefly. Your answers will guide both site selection and the initial design of

our on-site training and technical consultation. It is not necessary for you to

discuss these questions in depth with everyone in

your agency / entity or community, but we are seeking a general understanding of

who your team feels should be your community partners, and what types of

training and support the team, consumers, and others will need. At the very

least, your local team should include local representatives of the Tribal VR

agency / entity (if applicable), Vocational Rehabilitation, Work Force

Development/One-Stop, Small Business Development Center, at least one consumer

of services interested in wage or self employment, the Project Liaison and other

staff interested or assigned employment duties. The local team should plan to

meet with our staff at least once during every on-site visit.

Information:

www.state.il.us/agency/ICDD/investmentinitiatives.htm

Initial Phase I sites:

Streator Unlimited

Clay County Rehabilitation Services

Jefferson County Comprehensive Services

ton Transitional Facility

Selection Preferences:

Southern Illinois location

Regional interest from multiple partners

Questions about completing/submitting applications should be directed to all of

the following:

Barb Otto: botto@... and Mike Callahan: micallahan@...

Norciva Shumpert: norciva@... and Abby : abbylindmancooper@...

Application Deadline: February 15, 2010

Completed Applications Submitted to: Marsie Frawley

Health & Disability Advocates

205 W. Monroe Street, Suite 300

Chicago, IL. 60606

(312) 223-9518 (fax)

(312) 265-9069 (direct)

mfrawley@...

________________________________________________________________________________\

___________RICES is an investment of the Illinois Council on Developmental

Disabilities

RURAL ILLINOIS CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT (RICES)

PHASE TWO PROJECT SITE APPLICATION

MARCH 1, 2010 - JULY 30, 2011

RICES CAPACITY SITE PROFILE AGENCY / ENTITY:

ADDRESS:

PROJECT LIAISON:

PHONE:

EMAIL:

MENTORSHIP SITE TEAM MEMBERS

(INCLUDE ALL STAFF MEMBERS COMMITTING TO CONSISTENT PARTICIPATION

IN PROJECT TRAINING AND TA SESSIONS)

Name

Position/Title

Phone

E-mail

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

RICES Phase II

Hi Vicki. Marsie Frawley had mentioned that she had spoken with some microboard

groups about participating in the customized employment project. They are

currently accepting applications for the second phase. Attached is the

application. Please feel free to share on the listserve and with others.

Applications are due 2/15/10.

Thanks,

on

Investment Coordinator

Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities

830 S. Spring Street

Springfield, IL 62704

P (217) 782-9696

F (217) 524-5339

Subscribe to ICDD's e-newsletter at:

http://www.state.il.us/agency/icdd/enews.htm

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

[Guest guest]

FYI

Rural Illinois Customized Employment Sustainability Project (RICES)

Notice of Opportunity to Apply to Participate as a Mentorship Site Program

Phase II: March 1, 2010 - July 30, 2011

This announcement and application is being sent statewide to encourage your

application to participate in the Rural Illinois Customized Employment

Sustainability Project (RICES), an investment of the Illinois Council on

Developmental Disabilities. RICES is a collaborative project operated by

-Hammis Associates, LLC (GHA), Health & Disability Advocates (HDA), and

Marc Gold & Associates (MG & A). The application makes local communities eligible

for selection as a Customized Employment Mentorship Site, which provides your

organization with training, technical assistance, and mentoring tailored to your

community, job seekers, and needs. Eligible applicants must:

1. be located in rural communities, which we have defined as " any community of

50,000 population or less, at least 50 miles by Interstate from a Metropolitan

area; " and

2. commit to learning and applying new approaches to customizing employment for

people with developmental disabilities.

3. willing to coordinate with community partners to develop collaborations for

coordination of systems and blending of current funding streams to support

customized employment

4. establish an area CE Leadership Team to include the 'official' entities

(agency, school, parents); VR, DD; whatever other agencies/entities/at large

community members make sense. This group would be charged with helping each

other, sharing experiences and learning, eventual mentoring of new staff,

working together to try to use each 'system' collaboratively toward the same

goals, etc.

Eligible applicants may be any of the below or combination of below:

1. A for profit or not-for-profit organization offering services to persons with

a developmental disability and willing to offer employment services; a small

group of 1 to 4 persons willing to offer employment services to persons with a

disability including family members or community members; a small group of 1 to

4 families partnered with an agency or school system / special education

district to provide CE services; or 1 to 4 individuals with a disability and

their families willing to coordinate a " personal budget " 1 to purchase the

customized employment process; several families in the same geographic region; a

community service provider; two or more agencies in the same geographic region;

or a combination of any of these

2. be committed to creating a foundation for regional sustainability;

1 *personal budgets: a set amount of government funds for an individual to

purchase employment outcomes; discovery, plan, portfolio, and job development

(job support must be available from another source). Funds are retained with the

RICES sponsor and paid to the service provider upon approval of job seeker,

family, and TA provider. Providers must be recruited by the individual and their

family and may be an agency, school, a professional employment specialist or a

person willing to learn. All parties would be required to attend training.

Customized Employment is a growing option for many individuals with significant

disabilities and GHA, MG & A, and HDA are leaders, both nationally and

internationally, in assisting

organizations to build capacity for improving employment outcomes and increasing

financial independence for all job seekers. Starting with the Discovery process

for each unique job seeker, Customized Employment offers the greatest potential

for the widest array of individualized employment opportunities including

wage-employment, self-employment, and/or resource ownership. By applying for

this project, your agency / entity has an opportunity to leverage generic

community resources, utilize multiple funding sources, develop cooperative

relationships, and facilitate inventive service delivery through the

demonstration and stabilization of both wage and self-employment. A project

abstract is attached that gives a project overview.

If your agency / entity is selected as a RICES site, you will have access to:

? 6 two-day on-site visits for training, technical assistance, and mentoring.

Each visit will consist of a mix of classroom training followed by

individualized consultation with the job seekers and their person-centered teams

as well as with other local intermediaries. The training is also designed to

attract local intermediaries by providing a forum for them to attend and

showcase their work.

? Training with the curriculum tailored to the site.

The training content will be based on local needs of the Community

Rehabilitation Providers (CRP) of Employment Services to individuals with

developmental disabilities, families, consumers with developmental disabilities,

and intermediaries, but will use a foundation of CE essentials including:

Introduction to CE and Discovery; Systematic Instruction and Job Analysis; Job

Development, Carving, Creation and Resource Ownership; SSA Work Incentives;

Business Feasibility and Plans, Support Strategies; etc.

? Support and mentoring of staff/teams through a minimum of 4 - 8 customized

outcomes, as agreed upon by project staff

During the agreement period, we will support your staff and team through the CE

process starting with Discovery and exploration, and beyond to informational

interviewing and job analysis, job carving/creation, negotiation strategies,

small business development, etc. as needed to reach a CE outcome for each.

? Community Resource Mapping

Additionally, we will support your agency / entity/team to document potential

community resources; develop user-friendly resource guides; establish ongoing,

collaborative relationships with key local intermediaries; and to identify and

utilize all possible funding streams available. Your team will need to determine

the most useful mode of sharing this community resource information for your

area, i.e., resource guide; CD/DVD; website, etc.

? A fund (distribution made at the discretion of the project collaborators), to

be used across the length of the project in support of employment outcomes

This fund is used to " quick launch " Customized Employment (CE) for job seekers

participating in the project, provide flexible money that may be used to fund

the feasibility testing of a business idea, demonstrate consumer buy-in to VR

when starting a business, utilize a Resource Ownership strategy, leverage other

resources, etc. These funds may also be used flexibly to develop personal

budgets (approx $3,000 for each participant).

If selected, your entity will commit to and be responsible for:

? Assigning staff to RICES Project who will be afforded time for planning,

training and implementation of CE from the beginning to completion of the

project

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: participating in

all training and technical assistance site days; communicating with technical

advisors on routine basis; communicating questions and problems to technical

advisors as they arise; participate in community resource mapping process and

development of community resource guide

? Hosting the training events - the first of which will be during the week of

March 8th, 2010

Responsibilities include advertising the training throughout your local region,

identifying and inviting local intermediaries, and securing meeting facilities

in locations convenient to all attendees. In addition, local sites will copy any

materials needed for each session and provide morning coffee/light breakfast and

afternoon break refreshments; and coordinate arrangements for lunch to be

brought in if needed.

? Ensuring jobseekers and all team members participate in trainings and meetings

Job seekers with developmental disabilities, their families and individuals

interested in customized employment will be invited to attend the training or an

evening training that will provide an overview of customized training.

? Identifying four to eight individuals (depending upon the entities working

together on this project) with developmental disabilities who want customized

employment and who will participate in the project;

? Working through the CE process to a customized outcome for each participant (a

minimum of 20 hours per participant for Discovery and Placement Planning should

be planned for); and

? Following through on tasks and plans for each individual, integrating

community intermediaries into planning team, between consultant visits

? Determining a regularly scheduled method for collaborating with other Phase II

RICES sites to provide each other 'CE momentum'

? Performing Community Resource Mapping and determining most useful format for

Community Resource Guide

? With the assistance of the RICES Project collaborators, determine a plan for

sustaining Customized Employment at the conclusion of the project

Attached is an application with a series of questions that should be answered

briefly. Your answers will guide both site selection and the initial design of

our on-site training and technical consultation. It is not necessary for you to

discuss these questions in depth with everyone in

your agency / entity or community, but we are seeking a general understanding of

who your team feels should be your community partners, and what types of

training and support the team, consumers, and others will need. At the very

least, your local team should include local representatives of the Tribal VR

agency / entity (if applicable), Vocational Rehabilitation, Work Force

Development/One-Stop, Small Business Development Center, at least one consumer

of services interested in wage or self employment, the Project Liaison and other

staff interested or assigned employment duties. The local team should plan to

meet with our staff at least once during every on-site visit.

Information:

www.state.il.us/agency/ICDD/investmentinitiatives.htm

Initial Phase I sites:

Streator Unlimited

Clay County Rehabilitation Services

Jefferson County Comprehensive Services

ton Transitional Facility

Selection Preferences:

Southern Illinois location

Regional interest from multiple partners

Questions about completing/submitting applications should be directed to all of

the following:

Barb Otto: botto@... and Mike Callahan: micallahan@...

Norciva Shumpert: norciva@... and Abby : abbylindmancooper@...

Application Deadline: February 15, 2010

Completed Applications Submitted to: Marsie Frawley

Health & Disability Advocates

205 W. Monroe Street, Suite 300

Chicago, IL. 60606

(312) 223-9518 (fax)

(312) 265-9069 (direct)

mfrawley@...

________________________________________________________________________________\

___________RICES is an investment of the Illinois Council on Developmental

Disabilities

RURAL ILLINOIS CUSTOMIZED EMPLOYMENT SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT (RICES)

PHASE TWO PROJECT SITE APPLICATION

MARCH 1, 2010 - JULY 30, 2011

RICES CAPACITY SITE PROFILE AGENCY / ENTITY:

ADDRESS:

PROJECT LIAISON:

PHONE:

EMAIL:

MENTORSHIP SITE TEAM MEMBERS

(INCLUDE ALL STAFF MEMBERS COMMITTING TO CONSISTENT PARTICIPATION

IN PROJECT TRAINING AND TA SESSIONS)

Name

Position/Title

Phone

E-mail

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Ellen

Ellen Garber Bronfeld

egskb@...

RICES Phase II

Hi Vicki. Marsie Frawley had mentioned that she had spoken with some microboard

groups about participating in the customized employment project. They are

currently accepting applications for the second phase. Attached is the

application. Please feel free to share on the listserve and with others.

Applications are due 2/15/10.

Thanks,

on

Investment Coordinator

Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities

830 S. Spring Street

Springfield, IL 62704

P (217) 782-9696

F (217) 524-5339

Subscribe to ICDD's e-newsletter at:

http://www.state.il.us/agency/icdd/enews.htm

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.