Customized Employment Initiative

To fund one grantee up to $350,000 per year for four years ($1,400,000 total, subject to availability of funding) to identify and eliminate gaps in Customized Employment (CE) services across New York State. The goal of the grant project is to increase and sustain employment for people with developmental disabilities (DD). The grantee will work with providers of customized employment services for people with DD to effectively develop appropriate employment opportunities for them. Complete Details can be found on our website. The Customized Employment Initiative is a systems-level effort focused on supporting implementation, improving coordination, and strengthening consistency across partners. Grantee efforts will include activities such as offering start-up technical assistance, cross-agency coordination, and peer-learning, ongoing implementation supports, and tools that help translate training into practice. The initiative will focus on strengthening the delivery of CE services, with attention to both repairing and bolstering CE at the provider and business levels. The CDD will select one (1) grantee through a competitive RFP to implement a project focused on CE, involving a two-pronged approach to be carried out simultaneously. The first prong will assess how thoroughly the principles of CE are upheld across CE service providers. The second prong will assess the culture at both provider agencies and partner businesses. Both prongs are charged with maintaining fidelity to the core principles of CE, such as those outlined by Marc Gold and Associates https://www.marcgold.com/what-is-customized-employment, and Griffin Hammis Customized Employment, to name two of several credentialing entities. The successful applicant will describe utilizing available tools, for example, through the National Customized Employment Fidelity Center https://www.ncefc.org/ and/or the development of new tools, to gain a clear understanding of challenges and opportunities for improved CE service delivery across New York State. In both prongs, the grantee will work closely with the CDD’s established CE Initiative Advisory Committee comprised of pre-selected state agency advisors responsible for the oversight of CE services, including representatives from the Governor’s Office of the Chief Disability Officer, Department of Labor, Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, Adult Career and Continuing Education Services – Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR) through the NYS Education Department, and the NYS Commission for the Blind, of the Office of Children and Family Services. The Advisory Committee will support the grantee in a variety of ways. For example, the Advisory Committee will assist the grantee to identify “fidelity-based high-performing” providers, some of whom may have capacity to become mentors to engage in training opportunities with underperformers to drive forward the mission of increasing competitive integrated employment for people with DD as outlined in New York’s Employment First literature. Key Deliverables include the establishment of a comprehensive assessment plan and individualized training program for providers of customized employment services, targeting specific gaps among groupings of providers, with managers and leaders joining front-line staff in training, from each agency. A Culture Building component will address the problems that may be driving non-compliance within providers (and by extension, affecting service to business partners). In addition, implementation of a business outreach and liaison program to expand readiness for NY businesses to hire and maintain employment of people with DD is expected to develop and be utilized as part of the field training for staff of a selected subset of agencies that will expand with results each year. Convening of an established Customized Employment Advisory Committee comprised of state agency advisors pre-selected by the CDD, including representation from the Governor’s Office of the Chief Disability Officer, The Department of Labor, Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD), Adult Career and Continuing Education Services – Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR), and the New York State Commission for the Blind, Office of Children and Family Services is expected regularly throughout the grant term. Please note, a prospective applicant can propose additional advisory committee members, but the above-listed agencies will put forward at least one advisory committee member who will serve as a required member for the duration of the grant. The above-listed representatives specialize in oversight of CE within their agencies and will assist the grantee to define challenges, help pave the way to implement strategies to resolve specific issues, provide recommendations for agencies in need of technical support, and recommend ways to strengthen CE services in New York State. The successful grantee will use the recommendations of the Advisory Committee to implement the CE technical assistance program, and will utilize their expertise for the establishment of a Community of Practice for Employment Specialists, Job Developers, Business, and others involved in CE. As part of the commitment to sustainability, the grantee will identify strategies and training methodology that proved successful in eliminating gaps in service, culminating in a winning partnership with businesses to address specific gaps, to compile into a shareable guide that will be made available at no cost to providers, the Advisory Committee members and their networks, and CDD, plus the broader network of practitioners, showcasing the work done in New York, to continue the work after the grant ends. This guide will help maintain adherence to consistently high standards for CE service provision and state agency expectations, making a shift to exceed minimum compliance standards, striving for excellence. Desired Project Outcomes: The intended outcomes of this grant opportunity include: Increased competitive integrated employment through strengthened customized employment and a resulting increase in job retention for people with DD across New York State. Increased worker satisfaction gaining and practicing skills at businesses that have taken steps to strengthen their culture to support employment for people with DD. Increased fidelity for CE service providers to ensure improved employment outcomes for job seekers with DD. Expanded pool of businesses in NY hiring and retaining people with DD on their payroll. 45-60 people will be employed (or gaining employment) throughout the duration of this grant and as a result of grant activities. The suggested structure for ascertaining success with participation can be measured from the beginning of the technical assistance program with: Those who completed CE Discovery, Those who completed a CE job development plan, People who gained a job, and People who participated in Discovery and CE job development and gained employment that matches their skills, interests, and abilities, but was not significantly carved, created, or modified. A marked increase in trainings utilizing both internal and external resources will result in a significant decrease in gaps in service provision. A provider should confirm readiness for CE training (with a new process in place to do so). Training should include identified CE candidates, access to employers for practice, and supervisory structures for reinforcement, with scenario-based learning, monthly case reviews, formal observations, and coaching tied to live cases to engage learners in a positively reinforced training that can be shared across agencies. Staff participation in training will include one to two managers and leaders per agency, involving briefings on CE objectives, metrics, and supervisory expectations. 30 or more engaged providers offering CE employment services will become “fidelity-based high-performing” providers, many of whom will pair mentor staff with underperforming provider staff. New staffing structures with accurate job descriptions highlighting skills for CE specifically will support staff retention, and performance plans will be aligned accordingly to drive a cultural shift. Newly developed supported employment processes (given that CE is a type of supported employment). Increased leveraging of other services for success and person-centered outcomes. A cohesive standardized definition of CE that all agencies can embrace, with eligibility cues, documentation, and success indicators, which could translate into a one-page shared language guide, a standardized referral and handoff form, and updated participant-facing materials to set expectations. Better inter-agency and intra-agency coordination of CE services for people with DD. Provider agency policy changes and adjustments across New York State agencies. Input gleaned from people with DD and their family members and other community members regarding improved service delivery and desired next steps for CE service improvements for people with DD. Business enterprises awarded an identical or substantially similar procurement contract within the past five years: None