1 LIGHTLY EDITED CART FILE DEED, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, and State Services for the BLind Strategic Overview Zoom Meeting August 3, 2021 10:30 a.m. - 12:03 p.m. * * * * * This file is being provided in a lightly edited format and is the work product of the CART captioner. CART is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings, nor should it be considered in any way as a certified document. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled, and the text may also contain environmental sounds that occurred during the event. * * * * * CART provided by Lisa Richardson, CRR, CBC, CCP Veritext/Paradigm Reporting & Captioning Inc. Captioning-paradigm@veritext.com CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT 2 >> Kim: Good morning, everyone. My name is Kim Babine, I am director of community partnerships for D.E.E.D.-Vocational Rehabilitation Services and I want to welcome I to our D.E.E.D.-Vocational Rehabilitation Services and State Services for the Blind strategic overview. We're really happy to have Commissioner Grove, D.E.E.D. Commissioner, Steve Grove here with us, as well as VRS director Dee Torgerson and State Services for the Blind director, Natasha Jerde here with us. So just a few notes. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT If you have questions, either right now or, you know, 5 directly after this meeting, feel free to use the link that is in the chat. It's also in the PowerPoint, as well, to be able to submit via Microsoft form, so good morning. Thank you for being here and I'll turn it over to Commissioner Grove. Oh, I didn't go over the agenda. Commissioner Grove, just one minute, I forgot to go over the agenda, so we'll start with Commissioner Grove and then Dee will go over some CareerForce updates. Natasha Jerde will go over SSB updates and then there is a few of us who will give you VRS updates, so Dee Torgerson, Chris McVey is our director of strategic initiatives, myself and Amanda Jensen-Stahl, our manager of interagency partnerships in business engagement. We'll then go into our Q and A discussion, again, where you can submit those questions via form and then have closing remarks with Dee and Natasha. So that's our plan for the day. Now I'll turn it over to Commissioner Grove. Thanks, Commissioner. >> Thank you, Kim. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Good morning, everybody. 6 It's great to be here. Thank you for coming together today for this Town Hall, we're really thrilled to engage with all of you, very happy to be here alongside Dee, Natasha, Kim and others. I'll be honest, I wish we were doing this in person. I'm kind of tired of Zoom, you may be, too, but we're doing our best with it and, you know, if we keep working hard and getting shots in arms, we'll be in a much better place very soon. So I just want to begin by thanking you all for your leadership. This collection of advocates and leaders in the disability space have made Minnesota a better place for people with disabilities than other states. There's no other way to put it. Your work at the legislature, your work in the community, your work with people with disabilities directly has made Minnesota really an exemplary state where we find student for those who mailed it most and we find ability in everyone. I want to thank you all for that leadership. It's hard fought, it's longstanding and we're just humbled as a department to be able to work with CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT advocates like you to making Minnesota's economy 7 better and we know there is a lot of work ahead. The purpose of this conversation today is to really give you an update on the future of our work in VRS and SSB in particular, but also more broadly in the CareerForce system writ large. We are, I think, at a very critical juncture for how this state provides direct services to job-seekers, and we've got to adapt. Everyone knows that the COVID-19 pandemic has given us a lot of learnings in how we can better serve people and we don't want to lose the great things we learned over the last year and a half as we move on to the next chapter in our economy. And so we are taking advantage of this inflection point to make some changes to how we deliver service that will better meet the needs of job seekers and we want to start with those job-seekers who need the most help and who deserve the most help and no better place than to start talking about the our clients that VRS and SSB divisions serve. This is an important conversation. We're thrilled that you're going to join us for your time this morning. I'll start out by giving a little bit of context here CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT and you'll get most of the details from Dee and 8 Natasha but we want to start with the numbers because we're data-driven here at D.E.E.D. and we think the numbers matter because if you don't understand the problem specifically, how will you address it? What you see here on this slide is a simple chart. It shows you that we serve almost half of the people with disabilities in our state -- almost half of the people with disability in our state are employed compared to 39% in the United States, that's a better rate, obviously than the nation, but certainly a long ways to go when you realize that 85% of Minnesotans are employed. We have been about 296,000 adults with a disability in our workforce today and of those, in the 18 to 64 category, as I said, just under half are are employed and although our employment rates are higher than national average, we have a lot of work to do. You can see that indicated in the comparisons here. We cannot redo that work alone without strong partnerships and we had seen before the pandemic hit, labor force participation rates start to climb amongst communities with disabilities, that was a really powerful trend. We know that remote work has in some way helped those CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT disabilities and in some ways has harmed them and 9 we've got to be smart about how we adapt our strategy to navigate the possibilities for remote work in the future but also transfer to hybrid and in-person models in ways that make sense for our clients. So good progress in Minnesota but a long ways to go. When you think about what we learned in the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a lot that has come on all of our collective radars for how we can better serve Minnesotans. I think, first of all, the whole world figured out that you can do more remotely than you might have imagined and certainly that applies to our work at D.E.E.D. and the services we're trying to deliver. Oftentimes, remote service delivery improves because it removes some of those physical barriers. You don't have to get out and go to a brick and mortar building to get service. That can be a lot more convenient and I'm say, many of the things that we were suddenly forced to try pace based on pandemic were things we had wanted to move our department in the direction of doing more broadly anyhow so it gave us an immediate opportunity to test some of the theories and again, many of them have worked. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT We can be a lot more efficient system than we 10 currently operate, we certainly have learned that. But we also know that in-person services still matter, especially to bridge the digital divide and oftentimes especially for those with disabilities. We have begun over the last several months to begin in-person and in-home service for several of our clients and the stories that you hear from D.E.E.D. job counselors out in the field, meeting with people with disabilities, helping, you know, blind seniors in their homes navigate new technologies to make their world a better place, helping people with disabilities navigate new work directions, they are inspiring and powerful stories and a testament to the fact that in-person service means so much. So to be clear, while we think there is a huge opportunity in digital, there's also a huge need for in-person. You just got to have the kind of department and the kind of state and system that can toggle between both with an eye towards what the customer needs and that's where we want to focus is on our customer, what customers need to be successful. Our digital transformation is going to mean we've got to deliver the right services at the right time and in CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT the right way, and we know that partnerships are key. 11 The pandemic certainly taught us that. This department in particular VRS and SSB have a multitude of partners as evidenced by this call right here and we have to be working together if we're going to make our system work even more. So we've done a lot of talk ink why about what the next phase of our service looks like and really three principles come to mind that we just want to use to guide our efforts more broadly. The first is simply equity. We have to center everything we do around equity in Minnesota's economy, and, you know, inclusive economic growth is not a tag line, it's an economic imperative. When you look at how our population is growing and ahow it's changing, and then also the responsibility of government to help those who need the it most, we have to sent the work of our agency around equity. And we have really made that a crystal clear focus of our department. We've asked every division leader to create goals related to equity that stretch us in new directions and candidly, more often than not, focus on systemic changes versus incremental changes. Incremental changes are good, to be clear, built if CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT we're not examining the whole system and how all the 12 pieces of that system work together, then are we really making the kind of lasting changes that Minnesota needs? You know, I don't think so. And so that's the kind of principle we need moving forward. The second is just taking a more proactive stance to meet people where they are. You know, you could argue that the model of our CareerForce system over the past 20 years has tended to be a lightly less than productive stance. It's not like we were sitting around doing nothing but the orientation of being in a brick-and-mortar structure and asking people to come to you, doesn't exude productivity. It wasn't like we were trying to call and get people appointments, what have you, but the whole position of having brick-and-mortar be the predominant strategy in our efforts is a pretty antiquated system. It would not be the system that you would build today if you were starting over, right? It's a very different kind of model so we need to take a much more productive fans for being in community, being in home, going to where our customers are and in CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT places where they're comfortable to deliver better 13 service. That's on us to get right, it's not on our customers to figure out oh. So that's really important, and then, you know, flexibility is the buzz word for everybody as we head into this next chapter of our economy. We have to embrace the opportunities to try new things. We have to give ourselves a license to try stuff that might fail. We're trying to create that kind of culture at D.E.E.D. where we can experiment with some things, carefully, but with the knowledge that they might not work and learn from them and keep going. And, you know, the best companies, the best organizations in the world do just that and we're trying to create a space for D.E.E.D. to do that, as well. We have just launched an invasion lab at our agency with a new director, really focusing on creating a safe place for people to experiment and that's going to be part of our culture moving forward as we try to really make divisions like this work better for customers and for our partners and athe state. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So these are kind of the core principles that we have. 14 I think as you look at some of the business needs that VRS and SSB are tackling, you know, really we need to focus a lot on sharing vital information on in-demand careers. We have to connect Minnesota businesses to the untapped talents pool we have here. We know not a lot of businesses think about disabilities as a business option and we have to be aggressive to help them get there. The labor shortage has only gotten worse in the pandemic, as we all know. A surprising place to be after the downturn that we saw but I hear from employers every day that this is far more challenging of a labor market for them in hiring than it was before the pandemic and so what time better than now to really help focus and serve up opportunities for employers and with people with disabilities. I'll just give a couple of examples here, you know, we're working with maxability which is a collaboration between businesses, VRS, SSB and partners in Spees Minnesota to host a job fair in October with over 20 employers looking to hire. Those job fairs, sometimes people hire folks right on CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT the spot in these job fairs because they're so thirsty 15 for workers and they find the right match. That's in collaboration maxability is preparing six learning modules to be available for a variety of disability topics, like inclusive work environments and working and communicating with employees. These mod documents will help get employers a little bit more warmed up to the idea who might not much looked in this direction and maybe sometimes there's discrimination and maybe sometimes it's lack of knowledge and having that sense of how to get this right and what the opportunities are, especially for companies that might not have the robust H.R. doesn't or, you know, extensive recruiting team is really a gap that we feel like D.E.E.D. can fill. And then another example, we're looking with united health care groups internShip recruiting 20 full and part-time paid internships, and pair those interns for corporate roles at United Health Group through mentorship in their work environment. So just a couple of ideas. We need more. We are going to invest in more, that's part of this conversation. We think we sit in an inflection point. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Our economy coming out of this can be more if -- or we 16 can pass up that opportunity at our own peril for the future of our state's economy. So these issues are fundamental to the kind of state that we want to build. Camps have equity in -- And fundamental to our government's responsibilities to the citizens. We're eager to walk you through some of the changes ahead on this horizon. A lot has shifted about our service model. to be honest, a lot of it came from the ideas you gave to us, the pressure you put you on us to get this right or better, aso hopefully this reflects a lot of what you've advocated for so hopefully that reflects you and our experts for Minnesota. With, that thanks again nor letting me kind of kick this offer and I'll turn to the real experts here, Dee and Natasha as we walk through more. So I'll turn it over to you, Dee, first. >> Dee: Thank you, Commissioner Grove, I appreciate that. So Dee Torgerson, I'm director with Vocational Rehabilitation Services, VRS, And I so appreciate the commissioner's words and I can tell you over the past two years that I've been director with VRS and working CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT with him and his leadership for this agency, one of 17 the things that I can, you know, attest to is just the -- his focus and the agency's focus on equity and what I really appreciate is that in all of those equity conversations, it always includes people with disabilities, which, you know, hasn't always been the case in years past. So that has provided us an incredible opportunity to move some of these things forward. And this work and these changes that the Commissioner has alluded to and that we will walk you through, they're not easy changes. They haven't been easy changes but as he said, you know, we want to embrace these opportunities and take the time and what a shame if we didn't learn anything through all of this and didn't take those opportunities to move some of these changes ahead. So with that I'm going to go ahead and get started and walk you through some changes here beginning with -- I want to share a few updates from our D.E.E.D. job service partners and I know that many of you work with these services as well as other services within the CareerForce locations. Next slide, please. So a couple of things. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT When we're looking at job services, so the CareerForce 18 locations, all of them have opened actually starting this week by appointment only. Some of them that were operated by -- where the county operators around the state, they've been open a little bit longer by appointment only so we're excited to see those services beginning to open up and the CareerForce system and job service really is about serving everyone. They want to provide equal access for employment services to everybody inside and outside of that CareerForce system. So they're also changing in how the job service provides those services with a mixture of in-person, remote and really amping up their online self-service services across the state. They're proactively focusing on people with barriers to employment, by Polk, veterans, those without access to technologies, those are the people they want to be seeing in person by appointment at this time. And also having a focus on serving people who are receiving benefit such as unemployment insurance and MFIP. Some of you may have heard about the good jobs now campaign in some of the D.E.E.D. publications and CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT within the CareerForce centers and that's a campaign 19 highlighting pathways to careers and right now the job service staff, they're proactively reaching out to those job' seekers, many who are unemployed and receiving benefits, and, Commissioner, I'm not sure in I have the data completely correct on this but I believe that they've been able to connect with about 70,000 people compared to 7,000 in the past. Did I get that right? >> Commissioner Grover: Yeah, that's right, it's incredible, yeah. >> Dee: All right, so, yeah, again, just a testament to how doing things a little bit differently and having an intentional proactive focus can reach more people. So next I want to go ahead and turn it over to my colleague, Natasha Jerde, who's the director of State Services for the Blind to provide some important updates on SSb. Go ahead, Natasha. >> Natasha: Thank you, hello, everyone. Like Dee said, I'm Natasha Jerde, director of the State Services for the Blind. I want to thank you all for joining us today and I first want to echo what the Commissioner and Dee both CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT said, inclusion on disability is a focus I have never 20 seen before and not just for SSB but the entire department. So when we're walking about workforce or economic development and recovery, disability is part of the conversation. And really just an example of that, State Services for the Blind senior services unit was actually one of the first state agencies in the entire State of Minnesota to be able to resume in-person services. And this was a huge thanks to our Commissioner's office because they recognized that individuals who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind often require being in person to get effective services. And Sarah, if you want to answer the slide for me? So for SSB and moving forward, we are going for the hybrid approach. Are philosophy has always been and will continue to be, "We go to you." We are out in the field, we are in people's homes, we are out in the community and we do have people coming into the office but most of our staff, they're on the go. With COVID, you know, you never let a crisis go to waste. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT We had a great opportunity in really trying out the 21 virtual service delivery model and it works. Doesn't work for everyone, doesn't work all the time but it has allowed some really great opportunities to connect with people. So we're moving forward with this service model where it's going to be a mixture of being in people's homes, being in the community or providing it virtually and it's all going to be based on what the customer needs, and through their informed choice. So we're not going to default to virtual, if someone needs someone to be with them in person, we are going to be doing that. We are looking at our physical footprint in the CareerForce locations. We're in about 11 locations throughout the state but since the majority of our staff are on the road, they rarely are in their offices, so by decreasing our physical footprint, we're going to be able to increase our presence out in the community. And something that I'm incredibly proud of is we have no waiting list for services and we have not since about September of 2019. And we are on track to not closing any categories any time soon, and hopefully never. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Next slide. 22 So I did want to paint the picture of our how we were able to get back into the community. So on April, 2021, our senior services unit was able to resume one person per day in-person services. Like I said, we were one of the first state agencies in the entire State of Minnesota to be able to do this. Our seniors were isolated in their homes, it's very challenging to teach someone how to use their iPhone to call their family members over the telephone, so we knew that we needed to get back to their homes to help them be as independent as possible. And then in May, our workforce development unit employment specialist, assistive technologists and our rehabilitation teacher was also able to be able to begin in-person services. Being able to teach someone how to use proper safe knife-handling technique is very, very difficult when you're on a Zoom call. So getting people back into people's homes was really beneficial for our customers, being able to learn adjustment to blindness training, being able to apply for jobs and retain their jobs. It was essential. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And then in July, it was so successful that we were 23 able to put zero caps on in-person services and all of our workforce development and senior services crew are out and about serving people. And then in August, we not only were able to welcome back our hundreds and hundreds of volunteers to the communications center, we were able to open our doors to the public by appointment only. Many may know that we do not just do Vocational Rehabilitation and independent living services. We do Braille and audio transcription, we work with the schools. We have an inter-agency agreement with the Department of Education to do Braille textbooks and we rely on our volunteers to be able to do that. So now that our volunteers are back, we're able to really ramp up our transcription services to students and youth out in the community and in schools. So what we're seeing. Well, our applications are finally starting to not only meet pre-COVID numbers but exceed. We had a little dip in July, I'm guessing the hot weather, not many people are really excited about getting involved in a number of opportunities but I'm thinking August and September we'll see another spike. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So we're starting to look a little pre-COVIDY for our 24 applications. Our successful closures were not doing well, by any means but we're actually seeing a spike. Our looking at 2020 to 2021, we actually see a 20% increase in the number of people getting jobs and I can only imagine that's going to continue trending upwards. Our virtual world basically forced everyone to look at long-term accessibility of systems. Now, this was a challenge in those first few months of COVID where people were sending out documents and setting up meetings that weren't accessible and this is across the board for every single business out there but COVID really forced people to look at accessibility and being very intentional and mindful, and we're seeing a focus on accessibility like we have never seen before and that has been a great opportunity and with the focus of accessibility, that means greater opportunities and accession for people who are blind, visually impaired and deafblind. And we've also seen that transportation barriers have both increased and decreased. They've increased because public transportation options and schedules have been significantly reduced. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT We had one employee who made it clear, I actually 25 can't come into the office before 8:30 because there is no bus that will take me to the office. But transportation barriers decreased as we see remote work becoming more standard, thus increasing opportunities for people to work this different locations, especially people who are in greater Minnesota where transportation we know is not plentiful. So looking back and now looking forward, we have established some priorities and really what our future vision is going to be. The hybrid service delivery approach is definitely in our future and it's happening now and it's going to be based on individual needs and informed choice. So how the person wants to be served by SSB is how we will serve them. Our spending challenges means opportunities for initiatives that improve services to customers, especially around our pre-employment transition services so you don't realize that having more money than you can spend is a bad problem but it actually is, and with COVID, we weren't spending a lot of money on services because everything was virtual or they were completely stopped. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So now we have funds available, we can really take 26 those funds and invest them back into the people that we're serving. And we're looking at really innovative and creative ideas to increase our successful closures, ramp up or initiatives with businesses and really looking at what can we do for pre-employment transition services and students because this is a great opportunity to help them get ready for life after school. Because of telework and remote work options for our staff, we're able to focus on long-term recruitment and retention of a diverse and skilled workforce at SSB. Every customer deserves a great counselor and we want to be able to retain the great counselors we have and build more capacity to bring additional great counselors on. And allowing teleworking and remote work is a huge recruitment and incentive to get people in. We've worked really hard on our community partner collaboration. We recognize we couldn't have made it through COVID without our community partners. When our doors were shut, their doors were open and they were still able to provide services when we CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT couldn't. 27 So we have really stepped up our collaboration. We have quarterly community partner forums with our service providers, and we are going to continue ramping that up to make sure they're involved in what we're doing, that we're aware of what they're doing and working better together. We're focusing our marketing and outreach service to reach the underserved communities. We know there are communities out there that need our services but aren't aware of how to access them or how they see our services fit in with their life. So we're going to be looking at some intentional outreach to bring SSB to them. With COVID, especially with our senior services population, we know there is a need to focus on mental health. And I don't know if I have to say much more because I think we're all in our heads recognizing absolutely, that has been a big piece that has come out of COVID and we really need to work with people and getting them the supports and resources they need. Finally our senior services unit, we have -- actually an award-winning program called the aging eyes initiative and an aging eyes initiative is a CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT partnership with community partners, vendors, 28 individuals to meet seniors and provide low-vision assessment and aids. We can't serve the tens of thousands of seniors with our 20-some amazing staff but we know there are community partners out there that can help. There are even more seniors than ever before and I think they call it the silver tsunami. The silver tsunami has hit and we need to make sure all seniors are getting their low vision needs met so we'll be ramping up our aging eyes initiative to meet more seniors and provide more independent living services to them. With that, I will turn it back over to... >> Dee: Thank you so much, Natasha. One of the things as you were talking, I was thinking about our partnerships and again our time this morning is really is all about reconnecting with our broader disability partnerships and with all of you. And I've just been so pleased about the collaboration that both SSB and VRS have over the last couple of years, and throughout our entire organization, and really state Services for the Blind has been a model for VRS and how to move forward and they have modeled that well for us and one of the things that we know is CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT that we're stronger together and it's been a really 29 good partnership so I wanted to mention that. VRS, certainly, we have also had significant changes through recent years and today we're going to talk a little bit more about how that landscape has changed for VRS, really over the past ten years and how it is going to continue to change in the coming years. We're going to talk a little bit about who VRS is serving and who we anticipate serving in the coming years as well as what services are needed to meet the needs of job-seekers and employers. And then we'll spend a little time talking about how VRS is responding to those changes. I'll be reviewing with you our new approach to service delivery and what this might mean for you and those that you serve. So to kick us off and begin our discussion, I want to introduce you to Chris McVey. She is with VRS and she is our director of strategic initiatives and she's going to share the details of our changed landscape. Hand it to you, Chris. >> Chris: Thank you so much, Dee. Well, as Dee was saying, the landscape for Vocational Rehabilitation Services has definitely changed in the CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT last ten years. 30 There is a number of reasons why that is and one of them I'll just start highlighting these is in 2013, VRS had a waiting list in place for people with disabilities that had only one or two functional limitations. That meant that only individuals that -- or people that had three or more functional limitations could be served immediately, so that waiting list was in place for eight years. It was in place until mid 2020 at which point there were over 2,000 Minnesotans with disabilities waiting for services. I am pleased to say that I have a further update in another slide about where we're at with the waiting list but that has been a significant challenge. Additionally, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act, or WIOA, has several unfunded mandates that require the Vocational Rehabilitation program to serve people with the most significant disabilities. One requirement was that D.E.E.D.-VRS and SSB develop a memorandum of understanding with the state Medicaid agency or DHS to support people on waivers, who are interested in competitive integrated employment. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Another area is pre-employment transition services, or 31 Pre-ETS, which requires that we spend 15% of our Federal funds on work-based learning opportunities for high school and transition students. An additional change to our landscape has come through our requirements under section 511 of WIOA, which requires that the VR agency develop a protocol to ensure that people earning sub-minimum wages have an opportunity to express their interest around employment, including their exhibit in working in competitive integrated employment. In 2016, when we started this process, there were just under 16,000 people in Minnesota earning less than minimum wage. And the most recent data we have, which is the end of year four, which was July 22nd of 2020, showed there were about 8,000 people in Minnesota earning less than minimum wage. We will likely see an additional drop there, a lot of it due to COVID. So next slide, please. Okay. This slide here is a graph and again it speaks to the changing landscape of vocational rehabilitation services and the disability types of folks that we CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT serve. 32 So other than serving people with blindness or vision loss, which is our sister agency, State Services for the Blind, D.E.E.D.-VRS intends and wants to serve people with a wide variety of disability-disabilities and impacts of disability. But wanting to show you some changes that have occurred in recent years. So the makeup of new participants that have various disabilities has shifted over the decade. New participant who have autism now make up 23% of our participants. That is up so 23%, it is up from 10% in program year 2011. So a pretty significant hike in those that we're serving who have a primary disability of autism. Those with an intellectual disability has also risen from 10% ten years ago and last year it was at 18%. Both the people with serious mental illness and [indiscernible] have decreased over the decade. People with mental illness is down from 42% in 2011. The same is true for learning disability. We currently serve individuals that have a primary disability of 13% and that's down from 23%, so definitely changes that are -- to the people that we CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT serve and support. 33 So next slide, please. This is focusing on the complexity of the functional limitations or challenges of the folks that we're serving now in VRS, or more of. The percentage of new participants who have four or more serious functional limitations has also risen during the same timeframe over the last decade so in program years 2016, the complexity of cases reached a high of nearly 3600 participants or 358% of the people we serve. Compared to 34% and less than-and less than 1400 people in program year 2011. And the rate of the most complex cases remained relatively stable from program year 2016 until last year, when it dropped slightly to 53%. Thanks to Kari marsh our data manager for this information. Next slide, please. In addition to serving -- to the changes that we've had in disability types and functional limitations, we're also serving more students. VRS has always served students with disabilities. We've been in every school in the State of Minnesota connecting with students with disabilities typically CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT those students that were on IEPs, some 504 plans, 34 but with the advent of WIOA, that requires much more of the V.R. program when it comes to preparing high school students and transition students for the world of work. Most of us, as had paid employment while we were still in high school. I think we can all look to those first jobs that really had an impact on even the work that we're doing today in those early experiences of getting to work on time and having somebody -- a manager that's giving you instruction and taking that instruction and following through with that with a smile on your face, is something that we -- most of us learned during high school. The congressional intent around WIOA's pre-employment transition services was really to set that expectation for students with disabilities in high school and transition, as well. We want to make sure and congress and WIOA has ensured that we know that when students ever an opportunity to try work while they're still in high school, they have a much higher likelihood of having employment success in adulthood. So at this time VRS has leveraged many staff that -- CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT within VRS that provide services. 35 We have Pre-ETS representatives, transition counselors, placement coordinators, that are going out into schools or will be again, will be collecting virtually with students but we'll be going into school again this fall. The focus is on the 5 services, which is job counseling, work-based learning, counseling on postsecondary options, workplace readiness training and instruction and self-advocacy. We need a team do this work. There are over 50,000 students in Minnesota that are -- have disabilities and we need to reach out to those students. Therefore, it's not enough for VRS to do this work alone, we need our partners and as Natasha and Dee have been speaking about, we need our community partners, rehabilitation partners, Title 1 partners, our school district partners and Minnesota business to connect students with work-based opportunities. Next slide. So as Dee has talked about and Commissioner Grove, we've transitioned into this new world and COVID has really moved us in this direction very clearly and we're still transitioning so since 2020, mid-2020, CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT D.E.E.D.-VRS has had categories one, two and three 36 open. So I can honestly say, we are so happy to have our waiting list no longer in place. And I'm not sure if a lot of our community partners and our advocacy folks that support people with disabilities are aware of this. But we do not have a waiting list. That means that we can serve people in that priority 2 and 3, meaning a person having only one functional limitation or two functional limitations. We continue to serve people with a higher number of those functional limitations, as well, but we're really pleased about having our all categories open. This means that Minnesotans with disabilities with Monday or more functional limitations, we can serve them and help them develop, initiate and achieve their career goals. We recognize that people in organizations, we need to get the word out about that so we're very open and interested in connecting with you and the people that you serve about VRSis open for business. Despite the significant unfunded mandates of WIOA, VRS is supporting students explore work and plan for their employment futures, we're ready to support people CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT earning sub-minimum wages who want to find competitive 37 integrated employment. At the same time, we know that there's Minnesotans with disabilities who don't have access or perhaps don't need intensive supports to be successful in employment and we want to support them, too, to reach their career goals in careers that are in high demand, high-paying jobs and -- family sustaining wages. That's what we're looking for for anyone we serve and support if it's their desire to do so. Thank you so much and I'm passing it back to Dee. >> Dee: Great. Thank you, Chris, for so clearly laying out the changes we've been navigate Yang through the past, really, several years. So one thing I can talk about that happened changed for us is the mission for VRS. And that mission is to empower youth and adults with disabilities to achieve their goals for competitive, interest greated employment. Now, many of you are familiar with VRS historical services that were based really in a traditional medical model of services. You know, we've had extensive facilities presence throughout Minnesota. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT We've provided offices for all of our counselors in 38 addition to other staff who really primarily met with participant in their offices. As the demographics have continued to change, we know that this traditional model really has created some access and equity barriers to services along with some possible delays in services. We've also heard from many of you who have indicated that there might be some limited engagement in those that we currently serve due to this. There can be reduced access for some of our potentially eligible participants and we also wonder about the increased potential for the people that we serve to drop out of services if they're not highly engaged or our staff are not easily accessible. 's many of you have also shared and we know, there can be multiple barriers for people with disabilities, traveling to other locations, including some of our locations, some of the CareerForce locations, as well, for meeting, some of those include, you know, lack of transportation, the costs, the time, it can also include some disability-related reasons such as safety concerns, anxiety, fear, and just overall accessibility. Some of the things that we know and some of the CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT barriers we're really working to overcome, we know 39 that service location matters. We've had reports in some locations previously who have had the traditional model of services that have told us they have a pretty high rate of no-shows for appointments when they're asking people to come into their offices, especially first appointments and people needing to travel to a specific location that may be quite a distance away. We recently with our remote services, we've been hearing from our staff directly that the -- there's been a great reduction in the amount of no-shows for appointment. of course we still occasionally have them but it really has impacted for some people the ease of accessing those services and so we want to continue that. We have traditionally had some difficulty in identifying and providing services to underserved populations, while VRS, we do have a successful model of services, many of you are familiar with our new Americans team which is based in the Twin Cities and, really, it's a group of four at the present time who do intensive outreach in the communities and building partnerships and, you know, going to serve those CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT people with language barriers, cultural barriers and 40 who are considered new Americans into Minnesota. One of the limitations of this model is that it's based -- it's metro-based. We have had some difficulties having that same type of model or doing that same level of outreach in areas across the state so we are looking at building on that. Those four people, by the way, I think between the four of them, they speak like 12 to 15 different languages so it's an incredible resource for us and we want to continue to build and adapt those services and have a model that's going to work across all of our communities across Minnesota. Service approval issues, you know, we have a lot of, you know, signatures and paperwork and things that we have to process that's required for us Federally and we often provide services to working families and parents who might have difficulties with transportation or accessing our physical locations within limited hours of operation. I mean, it can be -- I think about a single parent or sometimes we work with foster parents or parents with multiple student with disabilities and just the time limitations and we're trying to get them to sign a CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT form because they need to as the legal guardian. 41 We're really looking forward to those new virtual ways that we have, electronic signatures and we have a Workforce 1 app we'll talk about later that is going to ease that for both our staff and certainly for the people that we serve. We're hoping that this will quicken the approval time and lessen the amount of processing time on our end so ultimately we're going to be able to provide more timely and efficient services, particularly to students where we're having to have guardian involvement and guardian signatures. We know that there are safety issues. We live in Minnesota, I think about people with physical disability and perhaps those who are in a chair trying to access some of our physical locations during Minnesota's winter. Just getting to that location can be difficult and then the added barrier to safely enter or get into a building with snow and ice perhaps limiting that accessibility. And then of course we have other weather conditions, storms, excessive heat, slippery services. The need to travel to public location. Natasha earlier gave a great example of this, how, you CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT know, sometimes folks are limited to the hours that 42 the bus is -- bus can get somebody to one location or another. And all of those things we know definitely increases, really for anybody but particularly for the people that we're serving can increase the anxiety and other mental health issues. And then we know that we have some challenges around service hours and the hours that staff are available or the hours that some of those sites and locations can be open. You know, many times we're working with people who have to be -- they're working a full-time job and they need our services to get a better job, get a higher-paying job, get a family sustaining wage and we want to be able to more easily access those folks and work with them in order to help them to achieve those goals. So certainly as they're pursuing a better job, they likely need to continue working at their job and many times it's during the tweak days and this can create an additional barrier for them to access services or to travel to a physical location that might have some limited hours. So some better options might include a lunch meeting CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT at their worksite, perhaps meeting with them near 43 their community or the virtual meetings that we will continue to have available. So taking what we've learned from COVID-19 and really what we've heard from you, we're transitioning to a new model of services for VRS that is grounded in these principles that we have outlined in this slide here. Some of those principles include increased choice for our participants, person-centered services, certainly eliminating as many barriers to those services as we can. Increasing our outreach and engagement to underserved populations. Increased collaboration with agencies and partners, those of you who have been involved in the E-1 MN employment first Minnesota are well aware of that. Increasing access, flexibility for parents and families and we absolutely want to keep our categories of services open long term. Next slide, please. So this next slide is really focusing more on person sented services, that is one of our values, that is a philosophy that we have embraced within VRS and I want to take some time to review those principles that CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT we've developed around person-centered services 44 specifically for VRS. Our new model of services is based on our learning and the values that we've developed from this. We really have spent the past, like, five years learning, mentoring, modeling and transforming our entire organization looking at our policies, looking at our practices and looking at our day-to-day services so that we can be more person-centered as an agency and in all that we do. So this slide really is a brief summary of our VRS person-centered values and I just want to highlight a few -- a few of our values here. We envision a future for Minnesotans with disability where there's freedom for meaningful choice and self-determination through a planning process directed by the individual. Person-centered approaches are best practices in employment opportunities that are identified and developed beyond the choices that are available today. VRS are, our business community, our community rehab programs, educators, employers, all of you, we want to engage with one another as trusted workforce development partners that break down barriers to employment and independent living. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And we're all leaders, successful learners, we want to 45 be able to take risks with new ideas, share our knowledge, engage, think critically and adopt change. So our new VRS services model, really the focus is on equity, accessibility and person-centered services. And that's in response to many of the State and Federal policy changes, the demographic changes over times and just the trends that we've adjusted to with time. We're offering expanded service options and Natasha, again, mentioned this earlier about meeting people where they are. That really is what it's all about for us is meeting people where they are and how can we best do that and how can we best accomplish that. So we have some expanded options, we have some things we've actually been doing for quite a while. One of the things we have done and we know that this is the best way to reach students to be in those high schools and in those transition programs so as many of you know, we have counselor and we have pre-employment transition specialists who are assigned to every single school in the State of Minnesota and we're present in over 400 school districts across the state. We will continue to do that because we know that CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT that's a best way to reach those students. 46 We've always had some presence on colleges, universities and technical colleges. We will continue that and step into that a little bit more deeply. We've always been available and we've met with people coordinating in different county offices and again we will continue that. Some of the things that are newer for us are the remote and virtual services. We will continue to offer that as an option for people. Now, we know that doesn't work for everybody, it's not the best way for some folks to meet but for some people it is so we want to continue that as an option, if that's what works best for the person that we're serving. We're going to be launching a new -- it's called workforce one connect app this fall in a couple of months. SSB, I believe, has already successfully launched that. It's going to be able to provide greater remote support and connection to the people that we serve so we are excited about that. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT We've also had careerforce locations, we have had some 47 VRS stand-alone options, we've had partner offices, we want to step into meeting more in different community locations, wherever that individual feels the most comfortable. Probably the newest thing that we're working our way towards, again, state Services for the Blind has led the way for this particularly in their senior services where they really need to be in the individual's home to provide those services, we're going to be looking at that as an agency and we would like to step into that as an option so we're in the early stages of that, looking at our policies and procedures. If any of you have information to share about that or you actively do that in your agency, we're interested in learning about that and we're going to be piloting that after we work through just some of the safety practices and policies around that. So I'm looking forward to that. And VRS, like we've been mostly off site. Our staff will be doing some type of teleworking pretty much in every location, and we'll continue to have locations of course strategically located across the state but it's going to be really much more flexible office space but we do have plenty of office CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT space available also for private meetings as needed. 48 So digital services, I just want to mention, this is really D.E.E.D. more generally and wanted to highlight some things just in case you're not aware of these. D.E.E.D. will be working on replacing Minnesota works..net with a modern, accessible mobile friendly labor exchange and account management platform. D.E.E.D. is reviewing all the customer-facing content to make sure the information is accessible, updated, accurate and easy to find. Overall, we've moved into using a lot of new technologies and new digital services and will continue to explore new tools and platforms to better provide services, and then of course launching the workforce one connect autopsy, that's a way to communicate with counselors, submit documents, get electronic signatures and also get other resources and that Workforce 1 connect app, so SSB is using it, VRS is using it, job services will be using it, some county services, as well, so there will be multiple services that the people that we serve can access through that. Next slide. Thanks. Wanted to spend a little bit of time talking about CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT kind of our approach to physical space and I want to 49 give you a little bit of background information on that, too. We have right now I forget the exact number but it's over 50 careerforce locations across the state. About 17 of those are considered comprehensive careerforce locations where all the of the WOIA partners have some type of presence there. VRS, we've been embedded in those locations and have had a strong physical presence across the state really for over 25 years. We remain currently in 34 of those CareerForce locations across the state and then in addition, we have 11 stand-alone locations. So as you can imagine, sustaining those extensive physical locations across the state is costly. We've looked at our data over time and it's been very, very consistent. Actually most of our referrals come from many of you. Only about 2% of our referrals to VRS come directly from our CareerForce partners or from somebody who walks in or accesses a CareerForce location. So we are really focused on choosing a space footprint that best fits our new service delivery models. Our footprint will continue to be a combination of CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT lease space and CareerForce and other partner 50 locations, use of third-party spaces and mobile spaces. Our focus is really on shifting the cost for the physical space into direct services to people with disabilities. This physical space reduction we're seeing, this certainly is a national trend. Most of the Vocational Rehabilitation agencies across the nation are evaluating this. Many are shrinking their physical spaces because we learned a little bit from COVID-19 and being able to provide services in a different way and being more flexible with where and how our staff work, as well. You know, we need your -- we need your support and input about this. As our leases are coming up for renewal, we're engaging in conversations with our local CareerForce partners and we're making really strategic decisions on where we're located an how we can shrink our physical footprint in each location as they come up so this will be something that's gradual over time because we have, you know, leases out five or seven years in some cases. There are some locations where we have already stepped CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT into this and are already shrinking that space, as 51 well. And you know one thing I can say is that not everybody in the CareerForce system has been appreciative of this or is in alignment with our desire to divert those funds into direct services for people with disabilities and, really, at the heart of it is also being able to keep our categories of services open long term. Minnesota is an exhibiting state, with all the one-stop spaces, it's very political and you may know that and I feel like the voices of people with disabilities in that system and how they're able to access services has not really been heard and we want to make that better known so I just really, really encourage you to become involved in that conversation. Some of you attend local web meetings, your workforce innovation board. If not, contact your local members or sit in on a workforce board meeting at some point and be a part of that conversation. We have staff who represent VRS and people with disability across the state at those board meetings and try to do the best that we can but we could use some help with that with just making that voice heard CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT for people and how they best access and receive 52 services. I would encourage you also, contact legislators that you have a relationship with. You know, if this kind of new model of services is something that you see as a benefit to the people that you work for. The Governor's office has been hearing a lot from other people in those CareerForce systems who want to keep a large physical presence across the state and we would like -- we would like the other voices to be heard, those who are trying to access those services so I would encourage you to do that. I think I'm ready for the next slide. All right. So resumption of services. So where are we right now in terms of meeting with people in person. As we've talked about before, in-perp services are still really important and they certainly are important and needed for many people that we serve. We've been working proactively along with SSB and following kind of the pathway that they set because they were early adopters moving into those in-person services and we've stepped into that, as well. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT And so for us here in Minnesota, we have safety 53 protocols for staff and the individuals that are being served, pretty strict safety protocols and we will continue to follow those. We actually started about mid-June to phase in our in-person services with kind of some select specialists we have, job placement folks and those needing to do some on-site job coaching, as well. Again, as of this week, similar to our partners in job service, VRS as a whole, all of our staff are able to do some level of in-person services, they can do that at our locations or they can do that off-site and that's available by appointment only. And then of course as we've talked about, we will continue virtual or remote services if that is what's preferred by the individual. And I certainly understand -- we're still seeing a hesitancy for people wanting to meet in person or even, you know, be active in a job search that might involve them working in the community. So that is where we are at with VRS. Thanks for listening to that. I want to finalize that to give you a little more information about what we're doing in the world of business engagement. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Certainly our Minnesota employers are an essential 54 partner that VRS also serves and Amanda Jensen-Stahl, our VRS agency of interagency partnerships and business engagement and she's going to talk about some of our current partnerships with business. So I'm going to hand it over to you, Amanda. >> Amanda: Great, thank you, Dee. So we are really excited to be able to resume in-person employer visits in particular and be able to do those tours and those meetings with employers to fully understand their hiring needs and better connect our talented pool of job-seekers to those openings. As Commissioner Grove noted earlier, we are in this unprecedented time where we have this huge demand from employers statewide and so the ability to go out and meet with businesses, to really see what type of job they're looking to fill, to strategize on any potential accommodation needs and then seek out the job' seekers in our network to meet the hiring needs. And we are well-connected with our partners, with you all, and we have that ability to reach a large number of job' seekers on behalf of an employer and we coordinate with our partners on a regular basis through regional meetings, called business engagement networks, otherwise known as Bens, to share job leads, CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT to help job-seekers connects to the right job and then 55 work together so that businesses experience a seamless way to connect to qualified job-seekers with a disability. And we are also available to provide no-cost training and consultation on topics that help businesses de-miss if I disability, stigma and potential concerns and questions that they might have related to hiring with a disability. So being able to help provide additional support and resources, things like how to create a disability-inclusive work environment and then an understanding of who's covered and protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA. And how to recognize an accommodation request and how to implement and, you know, as many of you know, many accommodations are free or low cost to the employer and so we're just really excited to be able to continue to meet business needs, to be able to go out and do that and, again, working with our provider community to do that because as I'm sure many of you know, there is this huge demand right now for candidates and qualified candidates and how we can work together to meet business need. I'm now going to turn it over to Kim ba bine, our CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT director of community partnerships who is going to 56 talk more about what this new approach means for all of you. >> Kim: Thanks, Amanda. So just had to do a click there, so we have been talking about all these changes, both for, you know, SSB and VRS, and wanted to just take a minute to think about it for each of you who's here and for the most part, the folks joining today we invited individuals who we serve and their families, we invited advocates and advocacy organizations as well as community partners to join today so if that doesn't cover you those were just the main groups so we want to include everyone. But when we think about it, for individuals and families, really, as we've talked about, the whole idea here is to be more person-centered in our service delivery so that is really what is driving all the decisions that we're marking around the service delivery and our approach, our approach to physical space and in-person services and where we meet with you and so we are looking to really help individuals and their families have more choice in how and where you receive services from us. We want you to have more flexibility and access so CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT that you don't have some of those barriers that we've 57 identified that we know can make it hard to receive services, so that can be meeting in a VRS office, and so the idea with the, you know, safety, difficulties with transportation, maybe it just isn't comfortable for you or your family member to go into a VRS location and so we want to be responsive to that. The plan to be responsive to that and our staff will be, so you should see a difference in how we approach services. You should see a difference in that flexibility and that access and so we're really hoping that you see that and that you feel that. We're really looking also to the -- that increased engagement and outreach to underserved population,. So if you are an individual who doesn't feel like VRS has provided services in a way that works for you, we are working on that and so you should see a change in how those how we approach you and how we work with you. And then the most -- you know, the other thing that we need from you is just to hear how it's working. We need your feedback. We need to know if what we've identified, the needs and the barriers that we've identified are the right CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT ones. 58 Maybe we're missing some. Maybe there's opportunities for additional improvement this is a start, it's not the end, it is the beginning of looking at these services in a different way. So let us know where those opportunities might be and also, like Dee said, it will be helpful to know if things are working. So often we only kind of call customer service, we only call people up or make our voices heard when things. >> ' working but since this is a newer approach, especially for VRS, we want to hear from you when it's working so we can really press into those things and continue that. And, again, just be built up so that we know that we're moving in the right direction so that we can keep moving in that direction. Also for advocacy organizations and advocates, we -- there is -- we want you with those different service delivery options, we hope that you'll help us spread the word. Maybe there are individuals that you've worked with who, again, VRS may have missed in the past or those barriers were really significant and maybe they CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT weren't comfortable receiving services or going into a 59 location. Those were barriers in the past. We're hoping that you can share with them and people that you work with and people that you interact with that VRS has a different approach now and so maybe give us another try. Help folks understand what the new service approach might look like, especially with that person-centered, that approach to our space, the approach to meeting people where they are, that we will come to you. The other piece is that not everyone knows as Chris McVey was saying that VRS now has all of our -- we have categories one, two and three open, so anyone with one functional limitation, to employment or more can receive services. For so long, we had that three-functional limitation limit and it is hard to help people understand that VRS is an option after it hasn't been for people when that waiting list was in place. So it's going to take some time to help people understand that we are open for business and we cannot wait to serve folks who maybe were put on the waiting list before. So if you could help us with those referral sources, CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT help people understand that VRS is open for business 60 and, you know, one of those big pieces that Dee talked about was increased collaboration with our partners and our -- you know, our partners and advocacy, so as you see opportunity for that engagement, we hope you'll join us. Again, the feedback is really important from you, as well. We want to know how you see it's working. Where is it working well, where are challenges and opportunities? You have a different interaction with the individuals that we serve and we want to know from you what you're seeing and hearing. And for our community of partners, again, like Natasha said, we can't do this without you and especially through COVID, your doors were open sometimes when ours were closed and we are so grateful. We can't do this without you. So, again, you can expect with those categories open that the referrals, there is a broader group of individuals who we will be referring. With Pre-ETS and our services to students, those are continuing, those aren't going away we're working on learning-based opportunities for those individuals, so CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT those supports and opportunities. 61 Again, we want to increase collaboration with you. Natasha talked about some things that SSB is doing. VRS. We've been having our regular forums, having other opportunities for engagement. There will be more to come to please engage when it works for you and engage on behalf of the individuals we serve. And, again, the feedback, you work with -- you have a different lens with individuals that we serve so how is this approach working, where is it working well and where do you see opportunity for improvement? So we are -- we have so much good information to share with you. We'll move to the next slide, we'll move to our question and answer and actually just to the next slide, that was a section break, so you see the form -- the link to the form is there on the slide but we've been putting it in the chat so if you would click on that and even -- we only have about -- we'll probably take about five minute of questions so that Dee and Natasha can wrap up so that's obviously not a lot of time and there are good questions coming in, there is also opportunity for feedback in that normal CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT so you can see the questions on the slide that we're 62 just asking for some reaction here because want to do this in partnership. We don't want to do this in a vacuum, we're not in a bubble. So we'll take a few questions here and then we'll share out other information if we're not able to get to all the questions. So one question that has come up in a couple different ways is about underserved areas, with employment service providers and we know that that is an issue. That is -- so I'm actually going to take the first can he as director of community partnerships so we know that's an issue. That's an issue on our own. It's an issue as we move with E1 MNand our service alignment along with SSB to have a broader group of employment service providers so there's-there are plans in the works and we'll be moving towards those to engage with new potential partners for employment service providers. You're an existing partner. We're also going to be exploring ways that maybe you can provide services in a little broader range of services since we're moving away from some of our -- CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT kind of that physical location, we're thinking maybe 63 that can work for some of our providers, as well. So we will be working on that in the coming months and we'll need partnership from all of you, as well, to build up that base of service delivery and service providers across the state so that's what we're doing in VRS. There is a number -- a lot of things that we are working on and we'll be working with you to get engagement and feedback. So Natasha, do you want to talk about some things that are happening in State Services for the Blind? >> Natasha: Sure, absolutely. So we have a contract and community partner Specialist, Jennifer BIELKE and a coordinator, her name is Lisa [indiscernible] and we work collaboratively to figure out where are those underserved areas and what do we need to do to fill those gaps. So one opportunity we have is during what we call our comprehensive needs assessment and it's where, in collaboration with our council and community partners, we work together to figure out what do the people we serve need. We look at the data, figure out who are we missing and CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT what are some of the service gaps that are there. 64 Are we missing services to people who are deafblind or there are service gaps with eastern African immigrants, and then we develop an action plan from that assessment. So as I mentioned before, we have funds available that are really going to allow us to be creative and innovative in either establishing new services or expanding on what we already have. And one example is really our ongoing partnership with the Helen Keller National Center and I'm so pleased to see that Jon is on this call. We have a need for more services statewide for people who are deafblind, and HKNC took that challenge and ran with it and have really worked on expanding what's available especially in Greater Minnesota. So an actual action plan is coming as a result of our digging into our needs. >> Kim: Natasha, were you done or did it mute you? >> I think I was done, I don't know if something muted me. Did it -- yep -- cut off in a weird spot? >> I think it was good. I think it was wrapping up. Okay. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So Dee and Nash take ainformed me that their wrap-up 65 will be kick so well with' take another question here. Again, I'm going to jump in and answer it. One of the questions is -- a couple of the questions are around these ideas for the -- where D.E.E.D. can meet and access customers and sounds like some of you have some examples and ideas for where that might be. For right now, we've had really good luck keeping these open -- these Microsoft forms open and being able to take the information from there so if you could some-you can answer the form, submit the form as many times as you want, so if you have suggestions for where D.E.E.D. can meet and access individuals, please put it in that form. There may be different contact information in the future. So questions maybe -- let's start with Dion this one. The question is, its like to see VRS's plan to reach the community and let them know we're open for business, how to get services, especially if VRS is no longer in a physical location with a partner office. How is VRS and SSB advertising and communicating services to the community? If we want to start with Dee and then we can go to Natasha on that one. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT >> Dee: Yeah, that is a great question. 66 I would say this is kind of our step one of that. Like we want to make you aware of it so that you can help us to share that information. But we are absolutely looking at other ways to spread that word. You know, a lot of times it's kind of our staff going out and partners going out and it's boots on the groundwork and outreach so we'll continue to do that. Again, our Commissioner and the agency of D.E.E.D. is very supportive of looking at also social media platforms, we're going to be updating our website and having easier access. One of the things we're interested in, we're not there yet but we're interested in looking at -- other states are doing electronic referral processes on the web. We're looking at all of those things so, again, we're open to your ideas and suggestions around that and I would say we're at the early stages of moving into that. Over the years, I mean, honestly, we've been so cautious about that, I've been with VRS for eight years and there's always been this caution about we don't want to really let anybody know we're here, even though we're here. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT That is not how we want to operate. 67 We want people to know we're here and we're available for services and we're ready to provide services. So some of that had to do we just lived in a time of not having enough funds to serve all of the people, of having categories closed so we're not in that situation and hopefully with some of the changes that we're making, we continue be in that situation again. So it's just different. So we're having to kind of think differently about how we do that and think about ways to do that so it's a great question. Thank you for that. Natasha, anything else that you want to add on that? >> Natasha, DITTO, and also I think the funnest part of my job is actually sitting down one on one, as well, so I meet monthly with a lot of our advocacy organizations that really focus on blindness or deafblindness. Those one-on-one conversations are amazing and I would like to be able to expand it as much as possible to just not only have these group conversations build dig down and sit one on one with folks and often people are more comfortable in those settings to share what's working and what's not versus a large group. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT So if anyone out there is just, I really want to meet 68 you, Natasha, please do, I would love that. But this Town Hall is not the first and last. It is the first of many and many more opportunities to talk and share updates. I was going to save this for my close, we only have two minutes left, anyway, we would really like to hear what information would you like us to share in future forums? What are topics that you would love us to address or other questions you have that we didn't get to so that we can build a really great agenda that works for you the next time we meet. >> Kim: That's great, Tasha, and we'll add that to this forum. That is she if you have ideas for what would be helpful in future forums, we'll add that to the forum. Give me a couple minutes after we finish here and folks can weigh in that way. So Sarah, you can move to the next slide and, Dee, I'll turn it over to you for the ending comments. >> Dee: Thank you again for those of you who were here with us and I'll echo what Tasha said. You can read our concluding slide what we're hoping to emphasize in our meeting today and I would again say CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT this is a beginning of broadening and expanding our 69 relationships with our disability community. We have had -- we've been very proactive and intentional about that and we have lots of different staff involved in different groups. We're open to that. Invite us if you want to have more of a casual conversation. We are very, very open to that and we want to hear that. I know this isn't, like, necessarily the forum to have that level of communication but we wanted to just provide some basic updates especially with things changing and evolving so much and start here and then we look forward to what that might look like going forward. And then, Kim, I think you have our contact list next, so go ahead. >> Kim: Yep, so you are -- we've got our website there. We have our contact information for D.E.E.D., Chris, myself and Amanda. Anything related to that, Natasha mentioned a couple folks who you can talk to about that service providers, feel free to contact me. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT You might hear from the community partnerships 70 specialist and then also anyone who's here today, we're going to add you to our email list so you get contact information for future forums like this but if there's people in your organization or others that you know who didn't attend today, if you could email car La's email is there and we'll make sure you're cued in so we want to make sure that's robust and reaching a lot of people. Natasha's contact information is there, as well. Natasha, did you want to say anything else about contact information? And then you can move to wrap up. >> Natasha: No, feel free to contact me directly and I'll get you to the proper person if it's not me. Just an excuse to get to know you if you contact me directly, so... >> Kim: Great. So, then, Dee and Natasha, to the -- thank you and wrap-up. Sarah, you can move forward. >> Dee: Yeah, again, thank you, everybody, we appreciate you joining with us today and the start of this conversation. Again, we're open to questions and looking forward to CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT a lot more discussion on this. 71 One one other resource is both VRS and VRS has the statewide disability council, we rely on them to be a sounding board and to give us guidance and recommendations and direct the work that we're doing so there is a lot of information on the state rehabilitation Council website, a lot of statistics and information about VRS and the people who are on those state rehabilitation council is also another way that you can reach out and make your voice heard. So I also -- I echo what Natasha said and we look forward to continue to hopefully meet in person some day soon but getting together in more informal formats and discussion, as well. >> Natasha: Ditto. Thank you. We are three minutes past our time so I'll be respectful of that. So thank you everyone for being here and we look forward to chatting with you some more. >> Kim: Great, thanks, everyone. Have a great day. DISCLAIMER "This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format and is the work product of the CART captioner. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT Any reproduction, publication, or other use of this 72 CART file without the express written consent of the CART captioner is strictly prohibited. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility, and this lightly edited CART file may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings, nor should it be considered in any way as a certified document. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled. This text may also contain phonetic attempts at sounds and words that were spoken, and environmental sounds that occurred during the event. CART Captioning file - NOT A CERTIFIED TRANSCRIPT