Disability Program Navigator DPN Presentation for the Prisoner ReEntry Initiative PRI Grants

1
Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Presentation
for thePrisoner Re-Entry Initiative (PRI) Grants

• November 27, 2006
• Randee Chafkin
• Division of Adult Services
• Employment and Training Administration

2
Setting the Stage

• Welcome
• Speakers
• - Linda Kelly, Disability Program
• Navigator (DPN), IA
• - Lisa Matrundola, Lead DPN, MA
• - David Sullivan, MA Division of Career
• Services, Rentry Program

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Setting the Stage

• Resource information is provided on basic
  disability issues (disability 101), reasonable
  accommodations, national technical assistance
  resources relative to disability, mental illness,
  substance abuse disorders, self-disclosure, and a
  glossary of terms
• Additional resources are provided from IA on
  Social Security resources and WI on tips for
  getting back into the workforce for the
  ex-offender population

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Audience Polling Questions

• Who is considered disabled?
• Persons who have learning disabilities
• Persons who are pregnant
• Persons who are deaf
• How many people in the country have disabilities?
• 10 million
• 25 million
• 54 million

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Audience Polling Questions

• What percent of prisoners have disabilities?
• 12
• 56
• 87
• What is the most common disability present in the
  prison population?
• Mental Illness
• Deaf/Hard of Hearing
• Mental Retardation

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Audience Polling Questions

• 80 of accommodations cost
• Less than 500
• 750-1,000
• Over 1,000
• How many of you are serving people with
  disabilities?
• If you are serving people with disabilities, what
  types of disabilities are involved, and which is
  most common?

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Statistics

• Statistics on the prison population with
  disabilities are difficult to substantiate and
  widely vary by source
• Most prison systems lack comprehensive and
  accessible data on the disability status of
  inmates
• However, existing data suggests a high percent of
  inmates have disabilities

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Statistics

• Mental Illness Statistics vary from 16-25
• Including related conditions, such as
• personality disorder and substance
• abuse, may bring this figure to over
• 50

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Statistics

• A September 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics
  Report found
• - More than half of all prison and jail
  inmates
• had a mental health problem, including
• 705,600 (56) inmates in State prisons,
• 70,200 (45),in Federal prisons, and
• 49,900 (64) in local jails

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Statistics

• Approximately 75 of inmates who had a mental
  health problem also had a substance abuse
  disorder
• Prisoners with mental health problems were twice
  as likely as those without to be homeless in the
  year prior to their arrest

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Statistics

• 43 of State prisoners and 54 of jail inmates
  reported symptoms that met the criteria for mania
• 23 of State prisoners and 30 of jail inmates
  reported symptoms of major depression
• 15 of State prisoners and 24 of jail inmates
  reported symptoms that met the criteria for
  psychotic disability

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Statistics

• Intellectual Disabilities (e.g., Mental
  Retardation) Up to 24
• Deaf and Hard of Hearing 30
• Learning Disabilities 12
• Physical Disabilities 12
• Sources Bureau of Justice Statistics,
• Monthly Review, NAMI, State Bar of Michigan

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Why?

• The increasing number of people with mental
  illness imprisoned is a result of two major
  policy shifts over the past decades
• Deinstitutionalization
• - Beginning in the 1950s mental
• hospitals began to close
• - Residents were discharged into the
• community

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Why?

• - Inadequate funding and coordination
• resulted in a community-based mental
• health system that was unable to
• provide adequate services
• Tougher sentencing laws of the 1980s
• and 1990s resulted in a large increase
• in the general prison population

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Why?

• The absence of affordable housing and the crisis
  in public housing adds to the problem
• Approximately 25 of the population that is
  single, adult, and homeless have serious mental
  illnesses

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Why?

• A large number of people with mental illness in
  prison (especially jail) are incarcerated because
  they displayed symptoms of untreated mental
  illness
• The high rate of mental illnesses among jail
  inmates may reflect the role of local jails
• Local jails hold prisoners who are mentally ill
  pending their movement to appropriate mental
  health facilities

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Challenges

• It is likely that many of your customers have a
  diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness and/or
  substance abuse disorder
• 4 in 10 local jail inmates and 3 in 10 State and
  Federal prisoners were found to have a mental
  illness without a history of recent treatment
• Many inmates are newly diagnosed while
  incarcerated

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Challenges

• It is important to be aware of the available
  disability-related resources and local community
  partners to assist you to serve customers with
  disabilities

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Challenges

• A recent PRI grantee report shows that to-date
  out of 2,987 people served, only 181 had
  disabilities-yet the percent of people with
  disabilities who are incarcerated ranges from
  50-64
• This low figure is probably a result of
  under-reporting due to people without visible
  disabilities not self-identifying

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Challenges

• Grantees will need to determine who has a
  disability and how to most effectively serve them
• It is important to be aware of the available
  disability-related resources and local community
  partners to assist youth to serve customers with
  disabilities

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Disability Definition

• Disability refers to any physical or mental
  condition that substantially limits an
  individuals ability to perform major life
  functions such as seeing, hearing, speaking,
  walking, breathing, learning, performing manual
  tasks, and working-Americans with Disabilities
  Act (ADA)

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Disability Definition

• The following are some categories of
  disability
• Mobility Impairments (Physical Disabilities)
• Vision Impairments
• Cognitive (Mental Retardation, Brain
  Injuries)/Learning Disabilities
• Communications Disabilities (Speech and Hearing)
• Psychiatric Disabilities

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Disability Laws

• Disability nondiscrimination laws (ADA,
  Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Section
  188 of the WIA) require that you have a legal
  responsibility to work with people with
  disabilities to make sure they have equal
  opportunity to benefit from your programs,
  services, and activities

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Customers with Disabilities

• Therefore you may have to provide
  accommodations, auxiliary aids and services, or
  make necessary modifications to allow customers
  with disabilities to benefit fully from your
  programs, services, or activities

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Disability Inquiries

• Whether it is legal to ask disability-related
  questions depends on if your agency is providing
  general services, employment-related training,
  or acting as an employment agency
• Included in your resource materials is an Info
  Brief to provide you with guidance on this issue

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Making the Business Case

• Employers have become increasingly concerned
  about knowing if an applicant has a criminal
  record.
• Employers also repeatedly cite problems with
  recruitment and retention of qualified employees
  as their number one workforce issue

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Making the Business Case

• The most effective way to market a potential
  employee to an employer is by focusing on his/her
  qualifications for the job
• Qualified applicants who are ex-offenders can and
  are meeting employers workforce needs

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Making the Business Case

• Provide employers with information on incentives
  to hire ex-offenders (tax credits, bond program),
  available resources, to negate stereotypical
  thinking
• Provide ongoing communication/follow-up with
  employers after the person is hired
• Provide ongoing support, if needed, to the
  ex-offender who is hired

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Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiative

• Demonstration project initiated in 2002
• ETA and SSA jointly funded a new position, the
  DPN or Navigator, within the One-Stop Career
  Centers
• Purpose Better inform people with disabilities
  about the work support programs now available at
  DOL-funded One-Stop Career Centers

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Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Roles

• DPNs guide One-Stop Career Center staff in
  helping people with disabilities navigate the
  services and benefits systems which impact on
  their ability to gain/retain employment
• DPNs develop partnerships to achieve integrated
  services, systemic change, and expand the
  capacity to serve customers with disabilities

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Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Roles

• DPNs develop linkages and collaborate with
  employers to facilitate employment of people with
  disabilities
• DPNs conduct outreach to organizations/agencies
  that serve people with disabilities
• DPNs serve as a resource on work
  incentives/employment support programs

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Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Roles

• DPNs facilitate access to programs and services,
  develop partnerships, act as a resource, and
  promote employment and self-sufficiency of people
  with disabilities
• DPNs facilitate integrated, seamless, and
  comprehensive services for people with
  disabilities in One-Stop Career Centers

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Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiative
Status

• Currently there are approximately 400 DPNs in 30
  states and the District of Columbia
• By January of 2007, the DPN Initiative may be
  expanded to every state and territory in the
  country

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Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiative

• The DPNs could be an extremely useful resource
  for you
• A list of State DPN leads with contact
  information has been provided today

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Speakers

• The next speakers are associated with the DPN
  initiative and will each share how they are
  successfully addressing the employment needs of
  ex-offenders with disabilities in the One-Stop
  Career Centers
• They are working in states that also have PRI
  grants
• We hope you can make some connections that will
  be helpful to you

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Iowa Disability Program Navigators (DPN) and
Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative (PRI) Grants

• Linda Kelly
• Disability Program Navigator
• State of Iowa, Des Moines, IA
• P 515-281-7050
• linda.kelly_at_iwd.iowa.gov

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Mobile Crisis Response Team

• Mobile mental health team dispatched at the
  request of law enforcement
• On-site assessments
• Provide alternatives to incarceration
• Link to appropriate care
• Reduce time police spend
• Operating for five years
• Provided services for 2,100 last year

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Career Resource Centers (CRC)

• Interest assessment
• Vocational guide and placement
• Evaluation tools
• Work as crew pre-release to develop soft skills
• Currently in four facilities
• Mitchellville
• Ft. Dodge
• Rockwell
• Newton

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DMACC Going Home Reentry Program

• Part of a national initiative
• Individuals age 18-35 just released from a prison
  setting
• Coordinated effort DMACC, the Iowa Department
  of Corrections, the 5th Judicial District, Iowa
  Workforce Development, Criminal and Juvenile
  Justice Planning Agency, Polk County
  Decategorization/DHS.
• Collaborate with area employers and educators to
  create career or educational paths,
• Wraparound services

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Institute for Social and Economic Development
(ISED)

• Financial literacy
• Classes and counseling
• Bridges of Iowa--faith-based residential
  rehabilitation program at the Fort Des Moines
  (community rehab).  Trustee services
• Iowans Saveindividual development account

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Des Moines Citizens for Community Improvement
(CCI)

• Financial education and credit repair
• Housing assistance and dispute resolution

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Social Security Administration

• Work Incentive Liaison support for local events
  and activities
• Policy references related to incarceration and
  disability

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Offender Workforce Development Specialist (OWDS)
Training

• National Institute of Corrections grant
• Career Development Theory
• Understanding and Using Facilitation Skills
• The Role of the Assessment in Career Planning and
  Job Placement
• Instruction and Group Facilitation
• Identifying and Managing Barriers
• Ethics
• Transition Interventions
• Job Seeking and Employability
• Job Retention
• Designing and Implementing Training and W
• The Role of Information and Computers in Career
  Planning
• Three Iowa DPNs cross-trained.

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Reentry Success Guide

• Forty-page comprehensive guide for job search
  with a criminal record http//www.iowaworkforce.or
  g/region11/reentrysuccess.html
• Workforce Services
• Job SearchApplication Process
• Employer Incentives and Federal Bonding
• Interviewing
• Negotiating the Job Offer
• Job Retention
• Disability
• Community Resources

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Employer Brochure and Outreach

• Hiring Individuals on Correctional Supervision
  brochure for employers
• Workforce Tip of the Month

46
Employer Incentives

• One-Page Information Sheet
• Corrections employees now offered training to
  pre-certify for WOTC

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Prison Job Fairs

• Iowa Correctional Institution for Women
  (Mitchellville)May 19, 2006
• Newton Correctional FacilityMarch 2007
• Prison Job Fair Manual

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Massachusetts Disability Program Navigators (DPN)
and Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative (PRI) Grants

• Lisa Matrundola
• DPN Project Lead
• State of Massachusetts
• P [phone]
• lmatrundola_at_detma.org

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Agencies involved in the Initiative

• Massachusetts Department of Workforce Development
• Division of Career Services
• Massachusetts Department of Correction
• Massachusetts Parole Board
• Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission
• Apprenticeship Training Programs
• Disability Program Navigator
• Office Community Corrections

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The Process

• The parolee starts with the reentry process to
  the Parole Resource Center.
• Parole Resource Center completes intake forms for
  Career Center. Assists parolee enroll in Mass
  Job Quest via the internet.
• This in turn will automatically created a record
  for the parolee in MOSES (Mass One Stop
  Employment System)

• The Career Center meets with the parolee to
  explore employment service to the One-Stop Career
  Centers.
• The parolee with the assistance of the Career
  Center Offenders Counselor and the DPN work
  together and develop a CAP.

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• Prior to the DPN working alongside the career
  counselor that provides services to the offender
  they obtained the following trainings
• Understanding the reentry process
• Understanding the Barriers of CORI and how to
  Deal with it
• One-Stop Career Center safety procedures
• Meeting the DCS Manager of the Re-entry Program

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• The Career Center counselor and the DPN works
  with the offender and may provide assistance to
  the offender by assisting them with obtaining
  additional outside services.
• The parolee may be eligible for training programs
  like still start or MRC vocational training
  programs.

• The reentry process includes developing linkages
  to the following support services
• Housing, eligibility, register on the MOSES Job
  Quest/Job bank,
• Begin the job search services prior to reentry
  into the community.

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Services Include

• Food stamp program, on the job training programs,
  Bonding, mental health services,
• SSA Counseling/ Benefits

• Healthcare- MassHealth
• Community Support Services

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Retraining Program

• The Hiring Incentive Grant which is part of the
  Workforce Training Fund provides grants to
  companies that hire workers that have been
  unemployed for a a year or less or separated from
  the previous employment permanently .
• This grant provides the employer 2000 to hire
  and retrained potential employees and up to
  30,000.

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• Retraining Programs
• Training Programs
• Division of Apprenticeship Training
• Carpentry, GED, Dental Assistance , automobile
  repair, Building maintenance and much more.

• Under the grant the employee must be paid regular
  wages in training.
• Training must be for 60 days and must take place
  within a 12 month period.

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Education to Employers

• Federal Bonding Programs Insurance programs for
  hiring the candidate
• Work Opportunity Tax Credits
• Hiring Incentive Grant
• Division of Apprenticeship training

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• Education to Employers and Services
• Qualified applicants with training
• Marketing to employers that will hire
  ex-offenders
• Specialized job fairs/recruitment

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• The DPNs may provide services with the Career
  Counselor at the correctional facility alongside
  the career counselors specializes in reentry
  programs for ex-offenders.
• The DPNs provides additional support and linkages
  to other community services that the individual
  may need to be successful at work.
• The DPNs may provide assistance to the
  ex-offenders at anytime during the job search.
• The DPNs assist the ex-offender with obtaining
  their CORI.

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Technical Assistance Resources
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Resources of Interest

• The following resources have been included as
  separate attachments.
• Prisoner Reentry Webinar Disability Resources
  Technical Assistance Resources for Working with
  Ex-Offenders who have Disabilities.
• Disability Program Navigator Project Lead Contact
  Chart Includes state-level contact information
  for project leads associated with the Disability
  Program Navigator initiative.

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Resources of Interest

• Disability Inquiries in the Workforce Development
  System This publication is for those working in
  One-Stop centers as well as youth and adult
  service providers who interact with individuals
  with disabilities. It is designed to help
  clarify what you can and cannot ask about
  someones disability.
• Criminal Records and Getting Back into the
  Workforce Six Critical Steps for Ex-offenders
  Trying to Get Back into the Workforce
• Tips for the Ex-Offender Includes tips for
  communicating with potential employers

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Resources of Interest

• Resources from Iowa DPN project
• Brochure on hiring individuals on correctional
  supervision
• Information prisoners should know about social
  security
• Social Security Policy and Resources Related to
  Incarceration and Disability

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Contact Information

• Randee Chafkin
• Division of Adult Services
• Office of Workforce Investment
• Employment and Training Administration
• [phone]
• chafkin.randee_at_dol.gov