Support for Service Providers > Addressing the Employment Needs of Homeless Vets-Principles and Practices
Addressing the Employment Needs of Homeless Vets-Principles and Practices
January 19, 2006
Speakers:
Gary Shaheen
Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. &
Chronic Homeless Employment Technical Assistance (CHETA) Center
2 E-Comm Sq./324 Broadway
Albany, NY 12207
518-465-9146, ext. 243
“Work as a Priority”
Basic Assumptions
- Employment is crucial to ending the cycle of homelessness
- The Workforce Investment System plays an important role in helping put homeless people on the path to self-sufficiency.
Understanding Homelessness: “RJ”
- I am a Vietnam Vet and have been homeless for five years
- I have bi-polar disorder and am working on my drug addiction problems
- I don’t know where I’m going to sleep tonight
- Shelters are bad places where they rob you and beat you up. The staff
looks the other way.
- I’m an inventor. I know how to stop planes from falling out of the sky .
- The city does not spend enough money on us. If the Mayor can
spend millions building a new city hall he should be able to give us money to
help us get jobs.
The “Readiness to Work Challenge”-How can we help RJ to get a Job?
- Need to redefine what we mean by “job ready”
- Redefine what we mean by “work”
- Meet him “where he’s at with flexible services”
- Recognize skills and strengths he gained through survival
- Celebrate every success –view setbacks as learning opportunities on a “slow
entry ramp”
- Help him prepare for accepting the hope and possibility of working
- Use evidenced based employment practices to help him get, keep and
advance in a job
“If you have been homeless, you…”© Mimi Kravitz 1997
- You have survival ability
- You can tolerate pain
- You can deal with the unknown
- You have interpersonal skills
US DOL Strategies in Combating Homelessness:
- Mainstream Workforce Assistance
- Targeted Prevention and Intervention
- Collaborative Initiatives to get homeless people self-sufficient through work
- Policy Direction and Workforce Strategies
Benefits to links with One Stops
- Access to a wide range of employment and training resources.
- Extends services that you cannot provide, even beyond the term of your
grant.
- It has a network of partners providing supportive services.
- It has strong linkages with business and industry
- It has access to adaptive technology
One-Stop Partners www.doleta.gov
- Title I of WIA (Adult, Youth, Dislocated Worker)
- Native American Programs
- Migrant/Seasonal Farm Worker
- Veterans Workforce Programs
- Employment Service
- Title V, Older Americans
- Unemployment Insurance
- Vocational Rehabilitation
- Welfare-To-Work
- HUD Employment & Training
- Community Service Block Grant
- Adult Education and Literacy
- Post Secondary Vocational Education
- VETS Title 38
- NAFTA Adjustment Assistance
Highlights: Who Does What?
One Stop Services
Core services:
- Available to any job seeker
- Self-service job search, resume development
- Use of One Stop facilities, job fairs, employer presentations, etc
Intensive services:
- For those not successful in Core services
- Vocational counseling, remedial education and skills and support
development, guided job search, enrollment into WIA funded training
programs, etc
Training services:
- Enrollment in classes, specialized trades training, etc
“Follow the $$-What is Available?
Adult Employment and Training
- through One Stops for Core, Intensive, Training-15% set-aside for special
initiatives
Dislocated Worker
- skills training for those laid off
Wagner-Peyser
- abor exchange programs for employers/workers as part of One Stop.
10% set-aside can be for people with special needs
Food Stamps Employment and Training (FSET)
- states can operate employment services for people receiving food stamps
VR
- mandated One Stop partner serving people with disabilities
State Supported Employment
- supplementary grants to VR for public/private collaborations
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
- HUD program decided locally that could include employment
Can RJ “Get there from here?”
RJ likely to appear at your One-Stop and are they prepared to serve him?
RJ likely to benefit from VR services?
Do we know enough about RJ’s needs, skills, dreams to :
- Respond to his interest in work with flexible options
- Helps him better use One Stop resources
- Address his complex issues
- Augment our resources-$$ + expert staff
- Help us meet our outcome criteria
- Result in his employability, retention, advancement
Do we know enough about the workforce system to advocate for resources to meet RJ’s needs?
Principle #1: Workforce Investment System is localized in your community-you should be at that table.
- States and localities have broad discretion to design and operate systems;
establish priorities and performance expectations
- The Workforce Board and the Continuum of Care should be linked if we are
to address homelessness through jobs
- All the mandated partners should be present in the One-Stop as well as non- required partners serving those with special needs
- You should weigh-in on the workforce plan in your community
ensure your customers are considered
- Collaboration is the key
- Utilize the services of your Disability Program Navigator (DPN)
Principle #2: Services to prepare and support people in employment
- Respond to people’s needs and desires about work from the point of
outreach
- Understand the job market
- Engage and utilize partners from the workforce system, employers
and private sources to build collaborations, resources
Recognize that job and career growth, like recovery is not always linear and that the One Stop may not be the “first stop”.
Use promising and evidence based practices
- “Standing offer of work”
- “Customized employment”
- “Supported employment”
- Self-employment
- Social enterprises
Blend and braid resources
- WIA $$$
- HVRP $$
- Private foundations
- HUD $$
- Other sources-FSET, etc.
Example #1: CTWorks-Bridgeport, CT
- Operated by Career Resources, Inc.,
- Partnerships with LWIB, Bridgeport Continuum of Care, the CT Division of
Rehabilitation Services, the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction
Services and the Veterans Employment Service.
- 50+ corporate donors, the United Way, US Department of Education
grant ,DOL Work Incentive Grant and Disability Program Navigator funding
CT Works!- Why?
- Meets people who are homeless with services ‘where they are at’
- Developed a “Career Coach” mobile One Stop with the technology on board
to connect people who are homeless to core services
- Important partner is HVRP to connect Vets to core, intensive, training
services
- Visionary Leadership!
- Public/private funding mix
Example #2: SEARCH-Houston, TX
- Active member of the local Continuum of Care
- Permanent and transitional housing, daily lunch for 250, a food pantry, mobile
outreach, day care, medical assistance and psychological evaluations, and a
one-stop career center for the homeless
- Received JTPA and WIA Adult funding for employment services for
homeless
SEARCH Works! Why?
- Realized it could not ‘go it alone’
- Offers on-site occupational skills training (computers, etc) for growth jobs
- Understands it needs to braid/blend funding to provide support services and
intensive counseling
Example #3: CEP IV-Portland, OR
- One of 5 USDOL/HUD demonstration projects providing homes and jobs
for chronically homeless
- Operated by Central City Concern that is an HVRP provider
- Builds upon CCC’s homeless-focused One Stop and partnerships to
serve 89 tenants
- Uses an work first/housing first model
- Enrolls/engages participants in WIA services through its One Stop and
specialized services through the homeless services program
CEP IV Works! Why?
- Vision and leadership on partnerships for employment
- Uses a new ‘Career Mapping’ model to enhance/or an alternative to Core
Services
- Member of local Continuum of Care, helped develop city’s 10 year plan
- Braids and blends funding, FQHC, WIA, DOL, HUD, HVRP, Medicaid
Challenges………………..
- Addressing WIA performance measures
- Leveraging resources
- Leadership and vision
- Trust and access
- “Paradigm paralysis”
Questions for the future:
Providing Services
- What are your challenges in providing effective, quality outcomes for Vets
who are homeless?
- What strategies are you using to achieve those outcomes?
- What resources do you have and use to achieve those outcomes?
- What resources do you need to achieve those outcomes?
Questions for the future:
Building Systems
- Who are your local partners?
- How will you add stakeholders to increase employment of Vets who
are homeless?
- What does each stakeholder bring to the table that helps meet those
outcomes?
- What challenges do you anticipate in developing partnerships
and collaborations?
- What training, technical assistance and support do you need to develop and
sustain these partnerships/collaborations?
Keys to Success
- Belief
- Motivation
- Skills
- Resources
- Support
- Resilience
- Creativity
© Advocates for Human Potential 2003
Employment Services and Supports for Chronically Homeless Individuals and Families
Mainstream workforce development system includes those programs and resources organized under the five titles of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 which is pending re-authorization. WIA, enacted in August 1998, repealed the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) on July 1, 2000, and replaced it with Title I of WIA, Workforce Investment Systems. The purpose of WIA is to provide workforce investment activities that increase the employment, retention, and earnings of participants. WIA programs are intended to increase occupational skills attainment by participants, and, as a result, improve the quality of the workforce, reduce welfare dependency, and enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the Nation. The legislation placed a new emphasis on universal access to services, sequenced service delivery, inter-agency coordination, consumer choice, service provider accountability, and local planning.
Programs in the “mainstream system” include: WIA Adult; WIA Dislocated Worker; WIA Youth; Employment Service (Wagner-Peyser); Trade Adjustment Assistance Programs; Veterans’ Employment and Training Programs; Unemployment Insurance; Job Corps; Welfare-to-Work Grant-Funded Programs; Senior Community Service Employment Program; Employment and Training for Migrant and Seasonal Farm Workers; Employment and Training for Native Americans; Department of Education Vocational Rehabilitation Program; Adult Education and Literacy; Vocational Education (Perkins Act); Department of Health and Human Services Community Services Block Grant; Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-administered Employment and Training.
One-Stop centers use varied strategies in providing the appropriate services to meet the needs of their customers:
- Core Services are available and include, in part, labor market information, initial assessment of skill levels, and job search and placement assistance.
- Intensive Services are available to eligible unemployed individuals who have completed at least one core service, but have not been able to obtain employment, or employed individuals needing additional services to obtain or keep employment that will lead to personal self-sufficiency.
- Training Services are available to eligible individuals who have met the requirements for intensive services and have not been able to obtain or keep employment. Individual Training Accounts are established to finance training based upon the individual's choice of selected training programs.
There are also a variety of funding streams that LWIBs access and use to provide employment services and supports to meet the needs of customers. These may include: US DA’s Food Stamp Employment and Training Program; HUD’s Community Development Block Grant or McKinney-Vento programs; as well as discretionary grant funding such as DOL’s Work Incentive or Customized Employment grants. Other funding does not require the LWIB to be the applicant such as the Special Projects and Demonstration grants from the Department of Education or is targeted and does not include LWIB coordination requirements, such as SAMHSA’s PATH or Homeless Treatment grants.
Adult Employment and Training
The total Adult Employment and Training Activities appropriation for 2005 was $896,618,144. Designed to serve a broad array of adult job seekers, the WIA Adult Worker Program is accessed through the One-Stop system and includes activities in the three tiers—core, intensive and training services- described above.
States receive federal funding through formula grants. They then hold 15% of the funds in reserve for statewide activities and distribute the rest to the LWIBs. WIA services are offered either directly by One-Stop mandatory partners or by local providers who gain and maintain eligibility for WIA funding by submitting program performance information to LWIBs. Clients choose among providers and then purchase the services using a voucher, called an Individual Training Account (ITA). Training contracts (as opposed to ITAs) between government agencies and providers are only allowed: 1) for on-the-job and customized training, 2) when there are too few providers for a competitive process, and 3) to serve special populations who face multiple barriers to employment.
Dislocated Worker Program
The dislocated worker program provides skills training and job placement services to workers who have been laid off. According to recently released program year 2002 figures (for June 30, 2002 to June 30, 2003), 71,871 individuals received training services (e.g., skills training and retraining, on-the-job training, job readiness training, adult education and literacy) under the dislocated worker program, and 68,181 received core and intensive services (i.e., assessment, job search, informational services, assessments, some training).
The FY 2005 budget reduces the dislocated worker formula grants to states by 7% from FY 2004 levels. The average dislocated worker program expenditure per worker has declined more than $100 per unemployed worker between FY 2001 ($274/worker) and the FY 2005 budget proposal ($167/worker).
Wagner-Peyser Employment Services
The Employment Service program involves a Federal-state partnership between the U.S. Department of Labor and the State Workforce Agencies. Under the Wagner- Peyser Act, funds are allotted to each state to administer a labor exchange program responding to the needs of the state’s employers and workers through a system of local employment services offices that are part of the One-Stop
service delivery system established by the state.
Under section 7 of the Wagner-Peyser Act, ten percent of the total sums allotted to each state shall be reserved for use by the Governor to provide performance incentives for ES offices; services for groups with special needs; and for the extra costs of exemplary models for delivering job services.
Food Stamp Employment and Training Program (FSET)
The Food Stamp program is regulated by the Food Stamp Act of 1977 and includes provisions for states to operate employment and training services to Food Stamp recipients. The Food Stamp Program requires all adult recipients to register for work unless they are elderly, disabled, caring for a child under age six, or otherwise not expected to work. States have broad discretion to require work registrants to look for jobs, to participate in employment and training activities, or to work off their benefits. Other food stamp recipients, including those who are exempt, can be eligible for FSET services - if the state permits such use.
The Federal-State Vocational Rehabilitation Program (VR)
The U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) provides funding to states which operate a vocational rehabilitation program serving people with disabilities who can benefit from vocational services and achieve a vocational outcome. Most states follow an order of selection, meaning that they use their resources to first serve individuals with the most severe. The federal – state funding ratio is approximately an 80% - 20% match in most states.
Supported Employment State Grants
The State Supported Employment Services Program authorizes formula grants (supplementary to grants for vocational rehabilitation services under Title I) to assist states in developing and implementing collaborative programs with appropriate public agencies and private nonprofit organizations to provide supported employment services for individuals with the most severe disabilities who require these services to enter or retain competitive employment. RSA has a GPRA target for this service that measures the “percentage of individuals with a supported employment goal achieving competitive employment: The percentage of individuals with a supported employment goal who achieve a competitive employment outcome (including supported employment outcomes in which the individual receives the minimum wage or better) will continue to increase.”
Community Development Block Grant
Community Development activities include many different programs that provide assistance to a wide variety of grantees. Begun in 1974, the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) is one of the oldest programs in HUD. The CDBG program provides annual grants on a formula basis to many different types of grantees through several programs like: Entitlement Communities; State Administered CDBG; Section 108 Loan Guarantee program; Disaster Recovery Assistance, Colonias and others (see http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/index.cfm).
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