Bridges to Youth Self-Sufficiency California Statewide Advisory Committee 1/14/04

I. Welcome & Introductions Give a brief description of your youth related roles/activities

II. Review the Agenda

III. Overview of Project

5 Public Overview California's Bridges to Youth Self-Sufficiency is an exciting new program sponsored by the Social Security Administration, the California Department of Rehabilitation, and seven California school districts. This program is dedicated to informing and motivating families and young people with disabilities about work and current work incentives, to assisting them with the transitions to work, and to helping them maximize their economic independence and achieve greater self-sufficiency.

6 Background Grant opportunity Planning workgroup convened Modeled after SPI RFPs released

7 Award SSA awarded grant 9/30/03 5 year research and demonstration project

8 National Project Goals  Improve employment and educational outcomes of transition aged youth (14-25) who are recipients of public benefits or “at risk” of becoming recipients.  Ensure ‘customer’ satisfaction and informed choice in pursuit of individual employment goals.  Collaborate and build interagency partnerships with youth transition systems in order to integrate services and blend resources.  Compile data to evaluate the effectiveness of the project strategies.

9 Bridges Project Objectives 1.Increase the self-sufficiency of transition aged youth with disabilities by decreasing their dependence on public benefits; and, 2.Conduct a state-level research and evaluation study on this population to inform policy decisions.

10 Bridges Project Outcomes This project will track five categories of outcomes to gauge the success of interventions: 1. Employment Outcomes (e.g., work history, part or full-time employment) 2. Educational Outcomes (e.g., high school and postsecondary completion) 3. Level of Independence (e.g.,reduced benefits due to earnings) 4. Service Participation (e.g., participation in all services to determine effectiveness 5. Quality of Life Indicators (e.g., individual and family satisfaction)

11 Project Sites Capistrano/Saddleback Valley Unified School District Consortium Irvine/Newport-Mesa Unified School District Consortium Riverside County Office of Education Vallejo City Unified School District Whittier Union High School District

12 Mission Statement Educating youth and their families to use services and supports as a bridge to greater self-sufficiency.

13 ‘Core’ Services Workability I Comprehensive pre-employment preparation, paid and unpaid employment placement, and follow up. Transition Partnership Program (TPP) Community based instruction, vocational and basic skills assessment, tutoring, vocational and work-site training, specific job skills training, pre-employment preparation, work-site evaluation, work experience, career/job development, job placement, job coaching, job retention and follow up services.

14 Outreach and Recruitment Outreach and Recruitment of Students in Special Education and/or with Section 504 Contacts with special educators, school nurses and counselors, foster youth providers, youth in the juvenile justice system, teen mothers and others. Each site’s goal will be to serve a minimum of 50 participants at any one time, consisting of a range of participant ages. Early Intervention Contact students with disabilities receiving SSA benefits in middle school (age 14).

15 ‘Enhanced’ Services Coordination and Integration of Services – Case Management The student’s transition services will be supported by an interagency team that will include the student, family, project Service Coordinator and representatives of appropriate adult agencies. Benefits Planning The sites’ Benefits Coordinator positions will provide benefits and financial planning to each enrolled participant.

16 ‘Enhanced’ Services Benefits Planning and Education Youth Incentives Local and State Advisory Bodies

17 ‘Enhanced’ Services Healthcare Services Youth and their parents will be counseled by the project’s Benefits Coordinator and school health care professionals on the availability and access of Medicaid and Healthy Start services. Ongoing Employment Support and Follow Along Services The Service Coordinator and State Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (as appropriate) will coordinate ongoing employment support and counseling.

18 State Evaluation Evaluation contractor will be looking at: –unique site strategies –differences between students who receive special education services only, core services, and core plus enhanced services –employer participation –interagency collaboration Using an adapted Workability I database, as well as existing Department of Education, TPP, Employment Development Department, and Social Security databases

19 A “Snapshot” The Critical Skills Group, Ltd North Irving Wheaton, IL (630) WorkAbility1 v 5.0 & “Bridges 0304”

20 National Evaluation Social Security Administration has contracted with Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation to develop an evaluation design MDRC is considering a random assignment design to look at the impacts of the SSA initiative across all participating states and project sites National evaluation contract will be developed some time in 2004 Contractor will develop a national report of findings and implications for policy makers

IV. Purpose of the Committee

22 Primary Responsibility The purpose of the committee is to provide guidance and technical support to the Bridges project through information sharing, partner collaboration and constituency linkages, and facilitating necessary state level systems change to assist youth with disabilities attain greater self-sufficiency and independence.

V. Committee Structure

24 Ideas for Committee Structure Discussion

VI. Site Reports

26 Capistrano/Saddleback Valley Unified School District Consortium Project Coordinators Bobby Menn Gerry Strickland

27 Irvine/Newport-Mesa Unified School District Consortium Project Coordinators Gail Hunt Linda O’Neal

28 Riverside County Office of Education Project Coordinator Lynn Smith

29 Vallejo City Unified School District Project Coordinator Joyce Montgomery

30 Whittier Union High School District Project Coordinator Richard Rosenberg

VII. Next Steps