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Disability
and Employment - Vocational Rehabilitation: Where Partners Create
Careers - Strategies provided on the following topic:
Strategy: Leveraging
Regional Resources and Strategies to Intensify Employer Outreach and
maximize Competitive Employment Opportunities for Persons with
Disabilities
Presenters: Craig Colvin, University of
Tennessee - Rehabilitation Continuing Educational Program,, Region IV;
Sally Siewert, Program for Rehabilitation Leadership
Contact : A114 Claxton Complex,
Knoxville, TN 37996
Phone: (865) 974 6673
Fax: (865) 974 8674
ccolvin@utk.edu
Facilitator: Joe Farrell
This concurrent session will focus on
newly developed resources and strategies designed to maximize employment
opportunities for persons with disabilities. The employment Partners
Team (EPT) will demonstrate resources/strategies, address implications
and discuss implementation. The EPT, composed of representatives from
each of the Region IV State VR Agencies, the two RRCEPs and RSA, was
instrumental in the design, development and application of the outcomes
of this project. The Region IV study, “Employers Perceived Needs and
Attitudes,” provided recommendations which lead to the creation of these
tools and resources. The twelve state agencies obtained a technical
assistance grant to create five tools/resources for VR staff that would
improve the ability within Region IV to forge effective employer
relationships. The outcomes of the TA grant include:
Region IV Strategic Employer
Partnership Business Plan: charted specific goals and strategies to
maximize employment opportunities for persons with disabilities by
expanding penetration into the existing, as well as untapped, employer
marketplace.
Practical Guide to Establishing
Effective Employer Partnership: a manual composed of IRI employer
information, marketing concepts, relationship selling, & regional study
implications.
Modular Training Material:
designed to support the Practical Guide, includes trainer’s manual with
lesson plans, PowerPoint Presentations, handouts, exercises, and a
training video.
Marketing Videos: four videos
designed around segmented employer markets that speak to why it’s “good
business” to “do business” with VR, as told by employers in partnership
with VR.
Web site: includes video
interviews with employers, showcases, Region IV employer database
training and marketing materials, forum boards, resources and staff
directory.
Effectiveness: These resources and
strategies provide opportunities for all staff within the twelve state
agencies to foster additional employer partnerships, resulting in
stronger employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. The
utilization of these resources and strategies directly affects the VR
delivery system in Region IV. VR’s increased understanding of the
employer “customer,” coupled with the utilization designed approach,
enhances the ability to better meet employer needs. A heightened
understanding of state and local employment practices is further
strengthened and is expanded to a regional perspective. Many employers
cross state lines. VR in the southeast now has a mechanism for
leveraging their resources to tap new markets across those lines.
Innovation: Twelve state agencies,
collaborating on a regional approach to expand the employer marketplace,
is innovative. The regional resources and strategies facilitate, as
never before experienced, region-wide communication, training, marketing
and data sharing dedicated to employer development. Leveraging resources
is not only innovative, but practical in today’s business world.
Replicability: 12 state
agencies are already utilizing these tools/resources in their employment
initiatives in a state-customized approach. The cost effectiveness of
this approach is staggering. Instead of 12 state agencies creating
individual resources, duplicating effort and dollars twelve fold, a
unified effort produced resources that can be easily modified.
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