Phone:

Marcell Wellington, Workforce Development Board, King County

Michelle Bishop, WS Columbia Basin, LNI
Mike Corcoran, ALTSA - CSCEP

Ruben Flores, SBCTC

Troy Grahke, SBCTC

Louisa Erickson, DSHS - ESA

Kim Conner, Independent Living Council

Dawn Karber

In Person:

Mark Adreon,DSB

Andrew Clemons, DVR

William Westmorland, Southwest WA WDC

Katie Merkovich, DVR

Doreen Cornwell, Project Coordination - STARS

Michael Murphy, Pioneer Human Services

Jim O’Brien, DVR

Marie Slusser, WA State Rehabilitation Council

RebeccaReule, Workforce Board

Dave Pavelchek, Workforce Board

Chris Alejano, State Workforce Board

Michael Richardson, NW ADA

Britta Echle, DSHS – Aging and Long-Term Support

Michael MacKillop, DSB

Yong Lim, Asian Counseling and Referral Services

Elizabeth Iuakea, State Library

Eric Wolf, Workforce Board

Teesha Kirschbaum, WA State Rehabilitation Council

Welcome and Introductions

Ms. Teesha Kirschbaum gave welcome and introductions with a brief overview of the service providers who would be speaking at the meeting, as well as, the agenda timeline.

Mr. Mark Adreon introduced the guest speakers and requested that the worksheet get filled out before folks leave at the end of the meeting.

Serving Focus Communities: Individuals with Disabilities

Service Provider perspective

(James O’Brien – DVR)

Department of VocationalRehabilitation (DVR) is a Title IV program under WIOA. The program is for individuals with disabilities who are experiencing barriers to employment. The services provided are individualized, comprehensive, and provided by experts. Providers have a high level of education. They do a comprehensive assessment for each person where they determine what a good fit is for that person given the barriers and their disability. They want people to understand their skills and their strengths. The DVRhas hours at the Lynnwood Worksource and Redmond Worksource where they can meet clients.

(Michael MacKillop - DSB)

The Department of Services for the Blind is also a Title IV vocational rehabilitation program. They provide an individualized and comprehensive approach. To be eligible for the program, an individual must have functional limitation for visions. They also work with some other disabilities in addition to the blind or low vision. Only about 2 percent of the population in Washington is blind. There are a higher percentage of blind individuals in the older population. Currently, they are at square one for working with the One-Stop centers. The DSBwants to provide workshops for employers to become disability friendly through the One-Stop centers. The DSB would like the BASC to assist in finding ways to integrate into the system and specifically the One-Stop centers. The Department of Labor pushed for hiring individuals with disabilities and they have a 7 percent expectation with their contractors to hire individuals with disabilities.

Individual’s perspective

(Katie Merkovich)

Ms. Katie Merkovich spoke about her barriers with getting employed. She was a teenager when she went to Worksource for the first time. Theyweren’t very helpful for talking to someone with disabilities about jobs. The reception area was also not designed for individuals with physical disabilities, such as trouble walking or standing for long periods. They pushed her for DVR immediately and didn’t seem interested in helping her. She ended up leaving Worksource and worked for her father’s employer to get some job experience before moving on to college. She did eventually connect with DVR to help her decide what career would best suit her. She now works with DVR and has a Master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling.

(Doreen Cornwell)

Ms. Doreen Cornwell talks about her early troubles in the workforce and wishes she had talked about reasonable accommodation earlier so she wouldn’t have had to struggle as much. She went blind slowly and when she is wearing her glasses people sometimes think she can see better than she actually can. She had a hard time using the system because the information was not clear. She had to be very persistent. Even the accessible computers were hard to use. Handouts are harder for her because they are all printed in small print. It is hard to find people who understand and have been there. She has a really hard time asking for help. A welcoming environment with easily accessible accommodation would be better for individuals with disabilities so they do not have to ask for them separately.

Northwest ADA Center

Mr. Michael Richardson from the Northwest ADA Center spoke about reasonable accommodation. They have fact sheets on accessibly requirements. They can provide materials and trainings,as well aseducation employers and helping them be more at ease with working with individuals with disabilities. They work with everything from your parking lot to your restroom.

Easy Ideas:

-Try to communicate with guests

-Provide good customer service

-Designate readers for reading forms for blind individuals

-36 inches of space between chairs and tables

-Propping doors open.

-Service counters need to be accessible for wheel chairs. If not, there needs to be a greeter to come out and get on the same level.

Focus 14 sub-population data presentation (Dave Pavelchek)

Mr. Dave Pavelcheck from the Workforce Board presented on data relating to the Focus 14 barrier populations. The PowerPoint is available on Workforce Board website.

Creation of Communications Workgroup (5 min)

Updates

  1. Funding proposals
  2. Updates from other TAP implementation committees
  3. Next meeting, March 13th – 1-3 at the State Labor Council