1 LIGHTLY EDITED FILE Community Partners Forum Department of Employment and Economic Development April 5th, 2022 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. * * * * * This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. Due to the live nature of the event, some names and/or terms may be misspelled, and the text may also contain environmental 2 sounds that occurred during the event. CART Provided by Megan Stumm, RPR Paradigm Reporting & Captioning, Inc. 612.339.0545 Caption@paradigmreporting.com >> Dee: We want to make sure that we're honoring our staff's personal preferences and those that we serve, their personal preferences as well. The state of Minnesota continues to have a vaccination and testing policy for anyone who is providing in-person services, doing in-person meetings, or accessing any of our offices. And there haven't been any changes to that yet and, again, we're watching that closely for changes. We also continue to have daily health check requirements for any of our staff. Again, any of those in-person meetings or services or accessing our offices. And we continue to have that as a requirement for the participants that we serve as well. So right now the VRS staff, they are able to provide in-person services and quite frankly, most of our staff have moved into that and they're doing that to some degree. However, it remains optional right now for staff to be in-person and to be providing in-person services or to be going into in-person meetings. At some point there will be an expectation moving into that, but we haven't laid that out yet or determined what the date is. We're working really closely with our DEED partners in the progress of that. And we intend to provide 30 days' notice so there will 3 be plenty of notice for staff and for our VR partners. So we want to make sure that if they have participants that are needing those in-person services or there's a need for our staff to be in-person but perhaps if that assigned staff is not able to do that, please connect with like the local manager or ask the staff to connect with someone who is able to provide those in-person services because we definitely want to make sure that we're accommodating those requests. So right now we're really just kind of working through the details on how to evolve from the in-person services being optional due to covid into getting back to going into our in-person services being a core component of our informed choice on how customers want to receive those services. So if you have any questions about the particular participants that you're serving and about the staffing for that person or you're needing some in-person meetings or in-person services, please talk to the person assigned to that case or to the local RAM. And, Kim, I don't know, do you want to put the field staff directory, I know that you had a link in there, want to add that link, so. >> Kim: Yes. Yep. >> Dee: Thank you. So Kim will add the link for those of you who want to take a look at the updated field staff directory. And then I want to move into our VRS offices, kind of that where we're at with a multitude of offices across the state. So MMB had given a date of April 22nd for state of Minnesota offices reopening. For DEED and for VRS, April 22nd probably won't look much different than April 21st does. Many of our offices are open right now, but it varies depending on staffing. Most of the Career Force locations are open, but not all of them. And we're continuing to work through specifics on that. And we're working really closely with all of those Career Force partners in order to -- in order to phase into that reopening more fully. So VRS, we're going to continue to have a hybrid telework and in-person workplace moving forward. And we still have things that need to be determined about how that's going to work. 4 So if you can just help us to be patient and give us a little bit of grace as we're moving back into that phase of work. One of the things and you've probably heard about this but we're continuing to update and modernize all of our VRS work spaces across the state really in order to reflect just the large volume of teleworkers that we have and the increase in community based services that we're providing. So what that looks like as our leases expire, we're evaluating each individual space and adjusting those needs across the state, really with the overall goal of adapting to that hybrid work environment and allowing a more flexible work space. We want to make sure we're meeting the local needs in that area and keeping in mind that we're increasing our community, virtual, in-home services. Our overall goal really is to reduce space and to utilize the space that we have better and, of course, overall hopefully that also leads to cost savings that we can redirect into participant services. So just some updates on some specific offices and changes that you may have been hearing about recently. Our Brooklyn Park office, as many of you may know, we have -- we are no longer in that location. The Career Force is no longer located there. That office and that location will become our new Brooklyn Center location. And the Career Force location and VRS, we are actually trying to finalize a lease with Hennepin County in Brooklyn Center and will be in that county office. So we're not there yet, we're probably a month or two away from actually moving in and opening up that site. But we will have a site and it will be Brooklyn Center, not Brooklyn Park. In the south area our Red Wing office, VRS is no longer located in Red Wing. We continue to provide services in that area, but our staff are teleworking, they're working out of the Rochester team. But they continue to work out of their home and in the community in that area. If you go into the Anoka Career Force location or the Anoka VRS location, we made just a slight change there. Both of us, the Career Force and VRS we had very large spaces. So VRS, we moved into the Career Force location which literally is just down the hall. So we no longer have a separate location there, we are 5 within the Career Force location there and sharing that space. South Minneapolis, there's a lot of work happening at South Minneapolis and I will say I honestly don't know when that is going to be open. So we will keep you updated that on. We're still doing -- it's an older building, we're still doing repairs. We had flood damage, we had fire damage, we had all sorts of things happening at that location. Our staff are able to go in, we can access our VRS location on the second floor. We have access up there. There's quite a bit of damage on that first floor so they are working to repair that and hopefully that location will be open soon. We know that's a busy location and tends to get a lot of foot traffic. Our Little Falls office we actually just closed the VRS location in that office. Again, our staff will continue to serve that area and the same goes in southwestern Minnesota, our Hutchinson office is another smaller office that we are closing. Actually that one's still open I think until the end of June but then that one will be closing. Our staff will work out of the Willmar and other niche offices but continue to serve that and other nearby offices. So if you're needing to access any of those offices or access staff please just connect with the local RAM in that area. Refer to the link that Kim just put in the chat or the regional director as well because it's a bit of a just moving target when all the offices are going to be fully opening and kind of what our staffing is going to look like. So that, I think that covers most of the updates I'm going to provide. If there are questions that come in and we have time, I'm happy to answer it. Otherwise I know Kim and Chris and others can help answer those questions at the end of that. So again, just thank you for your partnership and just so happy to be with you this morning. We'll continue to keep you updated as we can as some of these changes take place. And, you know, I'm just really looking forward to incorporating this hybrid work environment and new flexibility in the ways that we can support our 6 participants best and support our staff and also support of you as community partners, so, thanks! >> Kim: This is Kim. Lovely. Thank you, Dee. Very much appreciate that. We will take questions at the end and Chris and others and I will try and answer any questions on these. If not, we'll send out more updates after. So thanks again, Dee. Next we're going to move into some changes for our contracted services. So we spend a lot of time working on our benefits planning and benefits coaching services. These will take effect July 1, 2022, with the new contract. So no changes to what's happening right now for the next couple months. These will take place for July. I will turn it over to Anne in just a minute, but I also wanted to say after we talk about benefits planning and benefits coaching we're going to be talking about some other services as well that we have made updates to. Some of it is maybe we are just tweaking the language of the service title that appears on your contract. Sometimes we're tweaking the service title as it gets authorized. So for VRS staff that's what gets authorized in Workforce One and that's what shows up for community partners on your authorizations. In other cases, we, like I said, haven't had definitions written down for some of these services, and we want to make sure that that information is accessible to all. For some of you it may seem like common sense or something that you just know because you've been doing a lot working with this for a long time, but we also want to make sure that the information is clear for especially new staff coming in, both on the VRS side and on community partners side and for new community partners coming in. And it just makes it more clear and consistent across the board. So we'll be talking about those as well. So, Anne, I will turn it over to you. 7 >> Anne: Hello, this is Anne Paulson, program specialist with the CP team. And I'm going to talk to you today about our benefits planning and our benefits coaching services. Over the last few years we really have worked on defining different services, what they mean, and we wanted to make sure for 2022 the contracting cycle that they were put on the contract correctly and people understood what they were authorizing for and what services they were providing. So the first one in general we're talking about benefits services are intended for individuals who require assistance to understand their benefits in order to work. The service in general has been around for quite a few years. But over the last I would -- last few years, we've really seen both benefits coaching and benefits planning evolve over the years. Initially it was started more the benefits planning services, and as of recently we've done and seen more and more benefit coaching services and that's why we've decided to have better definitions in place for everybody. So next slide. So benefits coaching services, this will be information by a certified benefits coach the staff will have completed the Disability Hub training for Minnesota benefits coaching training. The -- there's going to be both a benefits coaching report now and benefits coaching hourly services, which have been in our contracts for a bit. So VRS will authorize for ale completion of a benefits coaching report, and that will be on an each basis. Then we can also authorize for benefit coaching services. So the benefits coaching tends to be a little bit more of a lighter touch, so we say the benefits planning services, that's going to be the more in-depth benefits planning activities, benefits planning has been around really for quite a while, since I was even a counselor in the field, which seems like forever ago. So that is more of an intensive report, it will be done, completed by a staff that are certified community work incentive coordinator or community partner work incentive coordinator or work incentive practitioner. 8 So VRS will continue to authorize for the benefits summary and analysis report that is completed by staff that are certified in those areas. And the accompanying activities on the per-report basis. So it will stay as a per-report is what we'll authorize and invoice for. What we have done is recognize that there are definitely times when outside of that report there's going to need to be some standalone one on one hourly services to help those individuals navigate what is on that report, in particular when they're returning to work. Next slide. So deliverables, once again, benefits coaching report. That's new. Service performed, it's going to be by a benefits coach, and it's going to be staff that must hold that certification from the Disability Hub Minnesota benefits coaching training, and we'll verify that. And it's going to be an each on the contracts. Next slide. So the benefits summary and analysis report, once again, that's something that's lived on our contracts for quite a while, so it's the benefits planning report. It's going to be performed by a certified CWIC or CPWIC or WIP. The training and requirements is that staff in the community -- it's going to be certified community work incentive coordinator or the CPWIC or the W IP. The certifications are going to be obtained by the Virginia Commonwealth University or Cornell University. So it's really a more intense training and certification. And once again the -- it will be authorized as an each on the contract. Next slide. Benefits planning hourly services. So this will go hand in hand -- well, not necessarily, but when there's an individual that needed that more intensive layer of report that BS and A and they need more one on one services, we can go ahead and authorize for that on an hourly basis. And that's it. Oh. 9 >> This is Kim. Anne, that is it. Thank you very much. >> Anne: Okay. [ Laughter ] >> Kim: Well done. We will move to Janeen is going to go through some other contracted services. Janeen, it looks like you stopped sharing. Do you want me to share? >> Janeen: I'm okay to share. I apologize, I just lost control of my PowerPoint presentation for a moment, so. >> Kim: Okay, we'll let you share. >> Janeen: And will go back to sharing. >> This is Kim. Janeen, we can see it. Thank you. >> Janeen: We can, but I've once again lost control of my slides, so. I'm attempting to go back and instead it's taking me forward. So one moment, please. >> This is Kim. While Janeen does that, I think everyone can relate to even though we are two years into this pandemic why technical difficulties continue is beyond me. [ Laughter ] >> Janeen: Okay. So we should be seeing rehab technology assessment. And, again, this is something that has been on 10 contracts currently. We just have added a definition that will be published out on our external community partners website. For the rehab technology assessment, that's that report that assesses an individual's unique needs for that rehab technology use and the support that's going to allow an individual with a disability to perform a task in environments including education or training, employment, transportation, independent living, and recreation. And so some examples of areas that are going to be assessed for rehab technology might include transportation, handwriting, reading, written expression, communication, mobility, seating and positioning, vision, hearing, computer access, recreation, and self-care. We are not requiring this as a qualification but we prefer if someone has been certified under RESNA, which is the rehabilitation engineering and assistive technology society of North America as an assistive technology professional. And again, this is not a change to anything that is listed on the contracts. This is just an updated definition. Under rehab assistive technology training, it used to be called other training and it's now going to be called -- under training maintenance, it will be called rehab assistive technology training. So it's going to be specifically called out for your contracts and for when we authorize on the VRS side. And, again, that training is where someone we already know what needs they have, they need specific rehab tech, and so this is going to provide that training for the use of the rehabilitation or assistive technology for a person with a disability and their support system so that they can use the technology independently and successfully in an environment. This may include training for adaptive driving, computer software such as Dragon Natural Speaking or Read and Write. Augmentative and alternative communications such as speech generating devices and built-in accessibility features of computer operating systems. This service will require consultation with our VRS assistive technology program specialist who's currently John Bradyhoff. Because we want to assess staff ability to provide the quality rehab tech training service. 11 And your community partnerships program specialist or contract liaison is going to facilitate that consultation. This will also assist VRS and that AT programs specialist to keep a database of which staff from which community partnerships across the state offer what type of training for assistive technology. Social coaching. We are doing a change to the service title and we are also publishing a full definition. It used to be called personal adjustment training or services, we are removing that as a service title. It will now read: Training disability related skills with the specific title of social coaching. And when we're talking about social coaching we're really referring to specific time limited training and techniques that assist individuals with social communication disorders. That's commonly something like ASD but there's certainly a wide range of communication disorders. And it's to help the individual improve their understanding of social communicating and form stronger relationships with coworkers and others. They may develop skills in the following areas: Self-awareness, self-advocacy, interpersonal skills, verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Voc Rehab participants are going to have improvement goal areas that are set by the referring vocational rehabilitation staff, and that -- those goals are going to have quantifiable results specific to finding and retaining employment. The social skills coaching techniques might include instruction, behavioral rehearsal, corrective feedback, positive reinforcement, social stories, social scripting, and other proven techniques. Here we are asking for certain qualifications. A special education teaching degree, licensed social worker, psychologist, licensed marriage and family therapist, or any other combination of education plus training and certification in social coaching techniques. And again this is something that you can discuss with your community partnership program specialist at the consultation for your contract for July 2022. Small business consultation there are no changes. We simply are publishing a definition. That is a service where it provides technical assistance and other consultation services to an 12 individual as a means of achieving a small business career that's going to give them competitive integrated employment consistent with their strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed choice. Consultation for small business is a consultation on a specific topic or problem that the entrepreneur is finding and, again, this is part of a employment plan that the person has drafted with their vocational rehab counselor. So you might be consulting or providing a service around market research, transcribing the business plan, cost benefit analysis, strength/weakness/opportunity and threat analysis or SWOT. The service can assist the individual to identify necessary startup costs for their small business and consultation on how to complete those required financial documents to start up. A self-employed individual works for themselves, they may work at home or at another work site with or without supports. It includes sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs or corporations. This service in order for you to provide it on your contract does require that you consult with the VRS small business program specialist to assess a community partner's ability to provide these quality services. And, again, your contract liaison or community partnership program specialist is going to facilitate that consultation. Our small business program specialist currently is Josh Dean. Ed has retired after many years of working hard for small business. And then small business coaching definition, again, this is not a change necessarily, but we haven't always called it out on contracts specifically as small business coaching. It's always been authorized as on the job supports, time limited, with a service title of coaching for small business, time limited support. And now we're going to offer that service title for your contracts. So if you are doing small business consultation and your agency also wants to provide the coaching piece, we can now add that and identify it for VRS referring staff as being a specific area that you're willing to serve. 13 And that coaching for small business services is the job coaching that's going to facilitate successful, competitive, integrated employment for an individual as a small business owner. It occurs after the small business plan has been approved by the VR program specialist and the VR counselor or rehab rep. Coaching for the small business service might be provided to any individual needing more intensive services than those usual follow-up services that both the Voc Rehab professional and the Voc Rehab small business program specialist can provide. So it might include support, training, consultation to an individual as they implement the small business plan that was approved by VRS. It might be performed on or off their job site, and it may include completion required VRS forms such as the profit and loss statements. And, again, you will fill out a typical job coaching report and invoice for this as an hourly service. Postsecondary supports, we are publishing a definition but there's also going to be some changes made for general services. The most important change is that postsecondary education counseling is going to be completely eliminated as a service title under general services. Postsecondary education counseling is one of those services that was a carryover from the Pre-ETS service type and title. However, it's been determined that once somebody is in general services, what they're receiving should be postsecondary supports. So with we don't have a need for that carryover from Pre-ETS. Postsecondary supports are to assist a VRS participant whose currently enrolled or exploring possible postsecondary or training programs. It helps them look at those options, complete steps for enrolling, learn about financial options such as applying for FAFSA or other financing opportunities, and they're going to explore how to successfully transition to postsecondary education. Once somebody's in education you might assist the VRS participant to engage or apply for various supports and assistive technology used by students with disabilities such as connecting with the accessibility or disability services on campus, or any other accommodation or assistive tech options. Will assist VRS participant with supports to be successful in postsecondary and that could include 14 prioritizing classwork, advocating for themselves, or learning how to correspond with teachers, advisers, Voc Rehab, financial aid office, et cetera. Intake is an incredibly commonsense publishing definition most likely, but, again, we just want to make sure we have this information available on our community partner website for everyone to have a common definition as they are invoicing and billing. In that's an information and referral service as listed on a Voc Rehab authorization and it's going to be labeled as an intake fee. These are each typically. Intakes authorized for that scheduled meeting with service provider, participant, and the VRS staff available to discuss the goals and parameters of the service that's being authorized. VRS is going to complete a referral form for you, providers are expected to come prepared with their own paperwork packet to complete, so if you as an agency have any information you need to collect to enter someone into your case management system, please be prepared with that. VRS staff are present to support the participant and provide guidance and expectations for the service, and the VRS staff will create authorizations based on decisions made at intake for the provider. Sometimes those authorizations are already figured out and created, but, again, this is a space where there can be discussion about that. Just some notes. Intakes are only for hourly services, they're not applicable for our performance based agreement milestone system. And the VR program can fund an intake for extended employment to an extended employment program provider when the individual being referred did not work with that EE provider as part of their PBA. But they don't fund it if you as an extended employment provider did do the PBA. Transportation training, again, just another commonsense publishing definition. But, again, it refers to that service on your contract where you arrange and provide opportunities for exploring public transportation options, learning how to access and safely use public transportation. It may include trainings on reading bus schedules, assistance filling out those para-transit applications, 15 contacting transportation providers to arrange service, and teaching people how to access their disability accommodations, as well as that physical skill practice time on public transportation for individuals that require that. >> Sara: All right. This is Sara Sundeen and I'm going to give Janeen a quick break in speaking. >> Okay, thank you. >> Sara: I'm going to talk about a few additional changes to general services. Oops, your screen just within out, Janeen, just so you know. We have been working on changing the structure of some of our on the job work and training options where a community partner chooses to be the payroll agent. These services in the suite of on the job work and training will have now a service and a wage structure. It's going to be really similar to the model that we had in Pre-ETS work experience services and Pre-ETS work experience wages. So the services that will be impacted is internships, on the job evaluation, job tryout, and on the job training. In addition, we are going to be eliminating the job exploration counseling title under General Services. These activities of job exploration counseling will be authorized under employee development services or job seeking skills training. >> Kim: Lovely. Thank you, Sara. This is Kim Babine again. Just going to move the spotlights here. All right. So we have a few updates additionally with VRS. So thank you all for your patience. I know a lot of people are asking about when the RFP will be published for the July 2022 contracts. We had a optimistic timeline that we shared with you in February about when we would get the RFP published and when applications would be available and all that information published. 16 If you know me, you know that I set optimistic timelines, and so we are working with DEED fiscal and the state Office of State Procurement at the Department of Administration, and they are taking a very fine microscope to every word and every comma and every period in our RFP, our RFP attachments, which are the forms that you will have to fill out as part of the RFP response when you apply, our application is one of the parts of the RFP response, and we have put together the contract language that we'll use that gets published as a sample contract. So you have that as well. So we are very excited about the quality of those documents because they have received such a thorough review and are currently still receiving a thorough review. Obviously we had hoped to move for quickly through this process, but we do the best we can. So you have not missed anything. You did not miss the RFP publishing. We are hopeful. We learned just before this meeting that our latest hopeful date, we're going to miss that one. We're hoping that by in the next couple weeks that we'll be able to publish that and then from there that's really our baseline date. It will be published in the state register initially, so that's really our timeline. Those get published on Monday. So it's going to come out on a Monday. We're thinking right now it will not be next Monday. I'll say that for now. Then it gets published in the state register. We'll post it to the VRS website. It also gets published -- DEED overall has a place where RFPs go. It will also get published there, and then of course we'll send you lots of gov delivery emails letting you know that it's available and what's out there. So some of the things that we're going to be doing to make things easier on you is to publish a lot of information walking you through those documents. They shouldn't be scary but I know that they end up being that way. They shouldn't be a lot of new information and you shouldn't need to be a lawyer to understand them. But sometimes the language is the language. The state has to have specific, obviously legalese in 17 there. So what we're going to do is we're going to put together a webinar and other materials and resources that walk you through exactly what the RFP means, exactly what those attachments and forms are, exactly what the application is looking for, and exactly what the sample contract says. Excuse me. The information, just so you know, in the sample contract, it's a lot of the same information. It's organized differently. The state of Minnesota put together a different organizational structure for how those contracts get put together. But, again, we'll walk you through that so it's as easy to access as possible. We'll post that information when we post -- publish the RFP, so you'll be able to look through it right away. And then we'll have that webinar as well. Couple things to be looking out for. When we publish that RFP, there's -- our RFP is an open RFP, which means that it stays up and people can apply at any time, organizations can apply at any time. What's different when we first publish an RFP, first publish the open RFP, it has to follow a few rules. So one is there's a 2021-day period where things have to be done officially by the book for any RFP in the state of Minnesota. So it lends itself more to those time limited RFPs that maybe DEED is putting out an RFP for someone to write a report on some issue and will contract for that. It's not like that where it's just, you know, five people responding and then choosing the best one. Obviously there's 165 or more of you organizations and so it works a little differently. But in those first 25 days it kind of functions like those other RFPs. So a couple things happen. One, Anne Paulson, Janeen Oien, Sara Sundeen and Jess Outhwaite cannot answer your questions for 21 days on the RFP. Those questions have to come to Kim Babine. I will be what is referred to in state contracting as the RFP administrator. Request for proposals administrator. So you will send all your questions about what does this mean to Kim @Babine @state.mn.us. And I will take in all those questions. And I can't answer you right away. Everyone -- all organizations have to have access to 18 the same information in those 21 days. So I will take in all those questions, I will write answers to them, and they will be published at the same time. We'll post them. I think they get actually added into the RFP and of course we'll e-mail them as well. We'll also when we hold the webinar, answer any at the same time that we have received to date. So just know that those 21 days are just a little odd, a little different than how we usually do things. After those 21 days, then things relax a little bit and you're able to reach out to your partner liaison and Jess, Janeen and Sara as you normally would. The other quirky thing about those 21 days is that we can't actually process any of the RFP responses or your applications as they come in. We just -- you can still send them, please still send them, we just have to hold onto them for those 21 days before we can run them through our system. All your RFP responses, your applications will be e-mailed to me. Kim.Babine @state.mn.us. What will hap happen is you will pull up an e-mail, you will attach the application and then there will be a series of other forms that you have to fill out that you will also attach to that e-mail. If you want to help me out, in the subject line, put "RFP response" and then maybe the name of your organization. That will just highlight them in my inbox so they don't get lost, but I will be combing through my inbox, don't you worry. And I'll send responses that I've received it. So if you don't hear back from me in a couple days with that received e-mail, please let me know. So that's the 21 days. After the 21 days, things open up a little bit. You'll still send your applications and RFP responses to me, but you might hear from Anne, Jess, Janeen, and Sara a little bit more. So after we publish we're going to have a due date for your RFP response and your application. It will be about a month. You'll have about four weeks to do it, maybe a little more so we're looking so we can give you one extra weekend, couple more days to work on that. Technically you can apply at any time. You could apply in September if you wanted. 19 We're going to set that due date so that we have a cutoff for people who will get their contract by July 1. So if you want to make -- if you're already providing services and you want to make sure there's not a break in the services that you're providing, you need to submit your application by that due date. Again, it will be about four weeks, little more, after we publish the RFP. Once you publish your -- or once you send in your application, you will have a consultation with your partner liaison. So that's Anne, Jess, Janeen, and Sara, again. And they'll call you and you can call them to set up that consultation. It will be about an hour long, maybe shorter, depending on how they set it up. And in that you'll want to have the people in the consultation who can speak to your organization and the services that you provide because what will happen is you'll go through the services that you'd like to provide and hear -- kind of speak to your application about your ability to provide those services and you'll talk about rates at that point as well. So you'll want to have the application in mind. On the application and those forms, there will be some official forms that need official signatures. So that is maybe your CEO or president. Some organizations require board chair signatures, so just keep that in mind in terms of your ability to get a signature from that person. And then we'll need their signature after we process the applications on the contract itself. So we want to be keeping an eye on vacations or other times that those president or CEOs or people who sign the contracts will be out of the office. Okay. We got your consultation, we've got your application, and then we'll move through the signature phase as well. So that's what you can expect from the process. We know we're a little behind where we wanted to be in terms of publishing the RFP, so just to give you an idea, a heads-up before you get the RFP, some things that you could be doing now before that gets published and pulling together, if you are a -- credited CRP, we're going to need your current C AR F documentation, the document that you have for that, we're going to check to make sure that your accreditation is up to 20 date from C AR F. If you're a limited use vendor and not C AR F accredited you'll need two letters of professional reference. It's just the same as you've done before for your LUV application. Everything will need an organizational chart. There's certain insurance that you need to have and so you'll need insurance declaration letter. So get the name of your agent and their contact information ready to go. Those Department of Human Rights forms is now one form that we need, and so be ready to make sure that that is ready to go and up to date. And then for the content of the services you'll be providing, as part of the application we'll be asking you what services do you want to provide, here's our list, and if you want to provide them, what's your ability to do so? What staff do you have who can provide those services in a quality manner? What are your qualifications to do that? Provide those services. If there are services there where there's a specific requirement such as social coaching when with those certain degrees, then it will need resume or certification from those staff. So you can start to pull that information together as well. That's the process about that. So now I'll move onto the state of Minnesota covid vaccination and testing policy. I know that in February we rolled out from information about that policy and that we would be doing some surveys to check on the compliance with that policy . we were going to send surveys in March and April. What happened was a lot of things were changing in the world with covid and we knew that we would be doing this application process for new contracts here this spring. So we what we decided to do was not make life more difficult for you. So we're not checking right now on that compliance. It will be part of your RFP response in and your application to say that you do have a policy that conforms with the state of Minnesota covid testing and vaccination policy and that you're following it. So be prepared with that. 21 And then some partners have been asking about requirements for mask usage. DEED and VRS do not have a mask mandate in place and we suggest that community partners follow CDC guidance regarding masking. Beyond that, we do ask you can that you inquire about an individual's comfort level with masking or not masking when you're serving them in-person. They might have a situation where they really need to have that assurance that there will be masking. So just be mindful of that. And then of course be mindful of the requirements for any building that you might be meeting individuals in. And then last piece is just a reminder about community partner conversations. So we had our first community partner conversation in March and it went really well. I loved it. And our next one is tomorrow. It's the first Wednesday of every month recurring from 8:30:00 a.m. to 9:30:00 a.m. So just a reminder if you hadn't heard before, the purpose is for community partners to have access to the community partnerships program specialists in an office hours, casual-type situation. The community partnerships program specialists lead the meeting and discuss a conversation topic each month. And then open it up to any question and answers that people might have. The -- any community partners staff are welcome to attend. We'll send the information about what the conversation topic is ahead of the meeting so that if it's on billing and invoicing, you may want to send your fiscal staff or the people who do that. If it's more about services, maybe you send some of your employment specialists or other direct service staff. At this time for our VRS staff, these meetings are not intended for VRS staff and we are building other ways for VRS staff to connect with the community partnerships team and for VRS staff to connect with our partners. So we're creating lots of opportunities and this one is specifically for partners. Meeting registration, there is a unique Zoom link for each month. Those are posted on our community partners website and 22 they're also sent -- we'll send them once a month as well. Looks like Sara just put it in for tomorrow's link. Meeting accommodations. So for these community partner forums, we set up accommodations ahead of time for ASL and closed captioning. We're not sure who's going to be attending the community partner conversations, so we're going to ask -- we're not going to set them up ahead of time, you know, throughout the year. Let us know if you need accommodations so we make sure that everything is set. So you can contact Sara Sundeen to request those accommodations. The meeting summary will be posted and we're going to record just the conversation topic part where the community partnership specialists are presenting some new information to you. That will be recorded and posted and shared, and any shared meeting materials after the CP conversation each month. We'll post them to the website, we'll send them out via GovDelivery as well. So that's an opportunity if you're not able to make it as community partner staff. And then also VRS staff, that's your chance to see what's being talked about at those. But the goal is for what's talked about at the community partner conversations to filter, to maybe we need to talk to staff about this or maybe this is a topic that needs to go to the forums that happen every other month, or maybe we find out something at the forum where maybe we need to get into a little bit more detail with community partners. We can do that to the conversations. So we're excited to add this into the mix and have different ways to connect and to share information. So please join us tomorrow and register if you haven't already. So now we'll move into questions and answers. I think we can stop sharing screen. I'm just going to pull up the questions here. The first one we are going to go to -- just want to make sure -- okay. ASL interpreters, are you still pinned or highlighted? There you are. Okay, perfect. So the first one, I'm going to go to Becky Sunder. 23 There is a question about clarification on the South Minneapolis opening. So, Becky, I will spotlight you and -- oh, actually, Becky, I need to make you a cohost actually so that you can speak. My apologies. I can't find Becky. There she is. All right. Becky, you are now a cohost and I will add spotlight. There you are. All right. >> Becky: Thanks. thanks. Thanks, Kim. Yep. I can speak now. I just wanted to give a clarification about the Minneapolis South Career Force location. Yes, there has been some damage, additional damage to that building, however, it will not affect the reopening date. It is in parts of the building where they've had some water damage. Unfortunately, and so we are working on it now. We're contracting out to get that completed and fixed. However, we will, like the rest of the locations around the state -- let the rest of the locations around the state be opened on the date indicated by Commissioner Grove and fully operational. So just a clarification on that. >> Kim: Lovely. Thank you, Becky. All right. Our next question is about benefits coaching and benefits planning services. So the funding structure to date has been a milestone structure. We've created a PBA structure for that. And while we didn't announce what any statewide rates will be, we are moving away from that milestone structure it. Hasn't worked as well as we wanted it to. We tried it and we think that going to in each basis 24 when we're paying for a report and an hourly service when we're paying for other things is going to be the most streamlined version, streamlined way to do things. So we will be moving away from the milestone structure and we'll be able to provide more information about that. We're just nailing down a few details about that with our subject matter experts in that area and then we'll be able to roll that out. I will say, and there's a couple other questions about services and I'll speak to what I can, but what we will be doing either as part of the westbound that are or part of a part 2 webinar is going through all of our services, especially those changing in a lot of detail so that all staff and all community partner staff have access to that detail. So more -- people hate it when I say "more to come" so I won't say that. Just let you know that there is a lot of information we have yet to share with you. Still nailing some stuff down. One question is from a VR counselor that says I'm constantly running into individuals that need assistance in signing up for benefits and understanding what types of benefits to apply for. Can any of these services be used or help with understanding and applying for benefits? And the answer is yes, and we will work to clarify that. I think we've already got some of it in some of the activities that we have listed that, again, or getting that final touch, final clarification, so I think we'll be able to answer that question with that additional information. This is a good question about social coaching. Will there be trainings available for staff to receive additional training certification for social coaching techniques, similar to customized employment? Because of a staff shortage -- excuse me -- because of a staff shortage, there's a shortage of teachers, social workers, family therapists, and others on community partner staff. So that's a really good point and something that I would love to hear more about. So if people can use the MS form to share if they're also having problems accessing social coaching services or being put on waitlists, we'd like to know what the 25 extent of that issue is and then we can figure out how best to address it. Okay. Then let's see. In reference to internship changes, will you be increasing the reimbursement rate? Please! The answer is yes. We weren't ready to announce a rate today but if you can think about we did announce the difference -- we will be separating internship services from internship wages, so no longer will you need to pay the internship wages out of that $18 an hour. So we're still developing the payment structure for that exactly, and we'll announce that at the time we publish the RFP or shortly thereafter. We're still making some final pieces on that, but, yes, we understand the $18 an hour has not covered costs of providing those internship services and we want to make sure that we're able to cover costs reasonably. So be thinking of that for those of you who do provide internship services and maybe community partners who might be interested in providing internship services if the rate would cover the costs so that's something to be thinking about and then as Sara mentioned with those on the job work and training options whether or not you're willing to be a payroll agent as well. If we separate those wages from the services so that it's those wages plus 50% what it's likely to be, and if you're willing to take on that payroll agent place. Role, excuse me. There -- understandably a question about why are there so many changes to service types and titles? And I understand your frustration. I think we're almost done changing service types and titles. What has happened over the years is that our service titles and titles have not matched what we have on contracts and they haven't necessarily matched and provided the detail we needed for reporting and also for being able to track spending in the way that we need to for contracted services. So I know it is frustrating for VRS staff especially to understand those changes and in service types and titles. Know that it is actually in a lot of cases to make it easier for you. 26 So sometimes to authorize for a service it hasn't matched the service, the service title hasn't matched what you're actually authorizing for so you've needed to have like cheat sheets or been trained to authorize in a certain way. I'm hoping the goal is so that it's more user friendly, more common sense about what you should be providing. So while it's a change right now, the idea is for it to be more simple and especially for new VRS staff coming on that they don't -- wouldn't need as much training. You don't have to hold as much in your head is the hope. So let us know if something isn't working, but that's why we're doing it. Question about job exploration and job seeking skills being combined. And so we'll offer some more clarification about that when we roll out the webinar and the services training. So I understand that that's not making sense to that person and so we will revisit and make sure it's clear. Will the RFP describe the changes to job tryouts, internships, et cetera? Yes, so we are actually looking at all of our on the job work and training options, especially it started with that internship piece and also because we included work experience in general services on contracts when we added Pre-ETS. So that if someone had a work experience in their Pre-ETS and say they graduated or they turn -- they had a birthday and so they were no longer eligible for Pre-ETS and if they were eligible for VR we didn't want their work experience to cut off, so we add it did to general services for that bridge between the two. And we found that there is a need for work experiences for a broader category of people. So we are digging into those two especially. For internships there's not going to be a change to what we use internships for, we're changing that payment structure and providing a little more detail on it. Work experience is where you'll see the most information since it's basically a new service even though it's been on contracts a little bit for general services. And then those other on the job work and training options like job tryout, and I'm going to forget the other ones so I'm not going to say them, those are 27 basically staying the same except for changing that services and wages structure. We are still working on especially those work experience and internship pieces, and we will provide as much information as we can when we roll out the RFP and do those webinars. We might not have everything nailed down and so we'll have conversations with you about if it is something that you should add to your contract because we expect to have those details before July 1. So. Again, still working on it. We'll get more information to you. With postsecondary supports being removed from general services, how can we provide supports to a person who wants to go to college and is out of Pre-ETS? So, again, that will be authorized under the postsecondary supports piece, so we'll provide more information on that in our webinar. So it's that same activity, it's just going to be authorized under that service. And I guess that brings up another point about the changing service types and titles. Pre-ETS was a whole new ball game for us in 2019, and happened in the middle of our contracts. So we tried some things and have needed to adjust over time as we've learned how those go. And so, yeah, there has been a lot of changes with those and here's another example of we had a whole separate service when really it's the same activity. So we're trying to correct that and streamline. And we needed -- that needed to be something that we tried and we learned that it didn't work. So we want to minimize that trial and error as much as possible but there's going to be some situations where we just can't anticipate that. Okay. Is the RFP the language for the PT contract? Great question! No. So when you see the RFP it says dear anyone, here's a thing that VRS needs. We need providers for these services. Hoar's the scope of work, this is why they need it, this is the kind of organization or business that can apply to provide these services. So it really is a broad document that says here's VRS, 28 here's why we use contractors or vendors, community partners to provide services, and this is what it takes to be a community partner. It does not have the contract language in it. Some of the information is similar to then what shows up in the contract, but it's different. So you'll see that and that's just a document to read, it's not something that you sign. It's just that overall document. Then you'll see the RFP response attachments, that's what you need to submit. Those are forms that that's like your Department of Human Rights form, there's a couple other specific things that you'll see. Again, that's not contract language. Then you'll have your application that's part of the RFP response and then you'll see the sample contract. So that's what every -- that's what your contract will look like unless there's some reason why you're, you know, why yours would be a little different here and there. That's what your contract will look like and so you have that right away. So two different types of information there. Is it the C AR F award letter that you want? Anne Paulson, are you on? Are you available to answer that question? >> Anne: Yep. We will need the summary report. For a number of our CRPs that are already -- we're already working with, we have their stuff on file. So if you can get us the letter. If it's easier for you to send the C AR F survey report that's fine as well. >> Kim: Lovely. And if you have questions about that, you can reach out to Anne, Jess, Janeen, or Sara. And maybe the Anne, Jess, Janeen, and Sara, can you put all of your emails in the chat? It's also in the PowerPoint that we've shared as well. Oh, actually, it might not be. I think I took out that slide, so if you'd include that, that will be great. 29 All right. So I think there's a question about will the testing still be required, and we think that's related to covid. So, yes, the state of Minnesota covid and testing policy, that policy 1446, is still in effect and is still required. In fact, it is something that is part of the sample contract, it's part of the contract language. So unless the state of Minnesota makes a decision to rescind that policy before we start putting your contracts through, that -- it's required at this point. And we know, I can hear your wheels turning that so much is changing in the world with covid right now and, you know, different things are happening with testing and vaccines, so we know there's a lot of questions that there but we don't have really it's an MMB, Minnesota Management & Budget decision, and we don't have control over that. So we can share with DEED fiscal who can share with MMB what the issues are so you're always welcome to share your questions or concerns with us but we don't have control over whether or not that continues to be required. >> Sara: Kim, you muted yourself. >> Kim: I muted myself? This is Kim. I muted myself, of course I did. I'm not seeing any more questions right now. We do have a few minutes left so feel free to jump in and send those messages through MS Forms and we'll kind of just take a beat here to make sure everyone has the opportunity. I will acknowledge that the -- we didn't send the PowerPoint ahead of the meeting. That is something that we are aware of, that it's really important, some people need it for accessibility, some people need it for just the way their brain works, some people like to have it printed and in front of them. So my apologies for not getting it to you earlier. We are working on doing better with that. So hopefully by next time. All right. Just giving it -- this is Kim. I'm just giving it one minute for folks to send any. Oh, it looks like a few are coming in. 30 So the way it works behind the scenes is the team is looking at the form and then they put it in a spreadsheet for me so I know what they are, so they're coming over. Let's give it just a sec here. Okay. Another question about that benefits coaching milestone structure that we've been using with the IL centers. So the -- what's changing is the payment structure, not what's being asked for. So with benefits coaching, we will -- the payment structure and what we've been asking from the IL centers has been for a benefits report. So we'll be able to provide more information about some of the activities that go along with that, but that's that benefits report that is put together. They meet with the individual, understand their benefits, I'm not going to remember all the components so I won't say wrong things, but there's information that goes into putting that report together. And that's the deliverable and that's what you've been getting before with that PBA milestone structure, you'll still be getting that. What's different is that we'll also -- we'll be paying for that each and then there will be a separate authorization for follow-up services that go along with that. So if they need more or their job changes or they need some different information put together or they want to explore a different benefit. You could add on the hourly services with that. So that's for the benefits coaching level service. Again, that's a -- it's a lighter touch service, maybe not quite as in-depth as the benefits planning services, so that's more in-depth, more complex situations where you need someone who has a higher certification. So that's the CWIC, C-W-I-C, or CPWIC, C-P-W-I-C, and we put the acronyms in the chat above so we can go back to those, but I'll get those -- as well. So that's that higher level of service and, again, there's two services at that level. There's what's called a benefits summary and analysis. Again, that's a report but it's more in-depth for more complex situations. And then there's the hourly services from that CWIC, W-C-I-C or that CPWIC, where they can provide additional information or more time spent with the individual if needed. 31 I can see that there's some questions around that so we'll be sure to provide a lot more information. Again we provided a high level today because we're finalizing a few of those details and we'll get those to you shortly. Okay. Next question is regarding the internship update coming. Is there anything new that will allow VRS to pay a vendor to help a client find an internship as site development was not allowed? So, likely. Yes, I don't want to change anything or make any promises before we have it finalized, but, yes, the idea is that for internships, we want to be able to reimburse the provider for the time that's spent finding that internship. So don't have anything finalized yet, but, yes, that is the intent of some of what we're looking at. Could you reiterate what you said about not using the milestone structure? So again that's for that benefits coaching. We had, when we moved from RSA, the rehabilitation services administration, our federal funder said we cannot do grants to anyone anymore and so that's when the VR/IL collaboration grants to the Centers for Independent Living had to switch to PT contracts. And we thought the milestone structure would lend itself well to benefits coaching. We have found that it does not. So it was something that we tried to best serve individuals and to make things as easy as possible on our staff and community partner staff. It has created more problems than solutions, so we are switching to that each structure for those reports, whether it's benefits coaching or the higher level benefits summary and analysis report or hourly services. Either at the lighter touch benefits coaching level or that more in-depth, higher certification CWIC level or CPWIC level for benefits planning hourly services. Again, we'll go into more detail and I'm seeing the questions. All right. It looks like that's it. Thank you so much to everyone for joining us today. Community partners, we hope that you will -- we'll see you tomorrow at the CP conversations. The registration information again is posted in our -- 32 on our website. You can go to that. If you have any questions, of course just contact any one of us and we can make sure you get that registration link. If not, we'll see you for the webinar for the RFP, and if not then, for our June forum. So have a great day, everyone. And thank you so much. [ recording stopped ] >> Kim: Thank you, interpreters and captionist. Thanks, Dee. DISCLAIMER This text is being provided in a lightly edited draft format and is the work product of the CART captioner. Any reproduction, publication, or other use of this CART file without the express written consent of the 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 33 also contain phonetic attempts at sounds and words that were spoken, and environmental sounds that occurred during the event.