Employment and Community Services Promising Practices newsletter

Promising Practices ECS - Web opportunities lead to greater transparency, efficiency - 2012 - PDF
The OPTIONS Family of Services in California website became a dynamic tool in the organization's day-to-day operations.

Promising Practices ECS - Integrating CARF with Baldrige leads to performance excellence - 2011 - PDF
Nearly a decade ago, United Cerebral Palsy Land of Lincoln recognized that it was essential to shift its management philosophy from nonprofit strategies to business strategies if it were to sustain organizational growth.

Promising Practices ECS - Customized program outcomes management system meets the needs of persons served - 2011 - PDF
The BC Centre for Ability's Early Intervention Therapy Program developed its own program outcomes management system -- or POMS for short -- to guide and evaluate the centre's practice.

Promising Practices ECS - Indiana service provider charts a smarter course - 2011 - PDF
When you want the job done right, do it yourself. Globe Star, LLC took this popular saying to heart in the service provider's quest to find the right software to fit its business needs.

Promising Practices ECS - Rethinking Services in an Era of Reform and Redesign - 2010 - PDF
It is CARF's pleasure to introduce the following four brief but thoughtful and inspiring articles written by provider organizations in Minnesota. All are designed to give a peek into new programs or new ways of doing business, and, above all, to position services in partnership with funders in an era of reform and redesign.

Promising Practices ECS - Having a financial crisis - Vocation Plus
Having a Financial Crisis? The Answer May Be As Simple As Snacks to You. Seven years ago, the developmental disability (DD) community in California was facing yet another fiscal crisis. The Vocation Plus team brainstormed, and out of its love of cooking and its heart for service, the Snacks to You program was born.

Promising Practices ECS - Getting older doesnt mean getting slow - OPARC
Promising Practices features organizations that have developed innovative practices. Getting older doesn’t mean getting slow. As consumers get older they seek new services to meet their needs and OPARC develops new programs. OPARC provides a wide range of services to more than 600 people with intellectual and physical disabilities. It provides educational programs, speech services, total care and health services, and integrated work programs.

Promising Practices ECS - They had the will - They had the way - They had a technology plan - Clearbrook
They had the will, they had the way. They had a technology plan. Clearbrook rolls out a technology plan with impressive results in integrating and updating their old ways of doing business. With an eye on efficiency, Clearbrook decided to take a long-range, comprehensive look at integrating its technology system.

Promising Practices ECS - Surge in aging disability population unlocks the door to innovative housing - 2012 - PDF
The current generation of aging caregivers never imagined that their children with a developmental disability would outlive them -- but many are, thanks to advances in medical technology. Organizations like the Marc Center of Mesa are opening their doors to serve this aging population.

Promising Practices ECS - ProAct provides Life Opportunities
ProAct, Inc., of Eagan, Minnesota uses the expertise of family members, guardians, and professionals of persons served in a unique way to create a new and innovative program. The program, called Life Opportunities, teaches life skills to better equip young adults with disabilities for productive lives.

Promising Practices ECS - NY Goodwill provides consolidated services
Goodwill Provides Consolidated Services. Bringing agencies together created painless referral process.  In 2004, the vocational services staff of Goodwill Industries of Western New York realized that clients who were receiving employment instruction onsite often had to interrupt their training to participate in other services.

Promising Practices ECS - Amazing Every One - Stark MRDD
Amazing. Every. One. The Stark County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (Stark MRDD), located in Canton, Ohio, takes the challenge of changing attitudes very seriously. Stark MRDD learned that you get more bang for your buck if you invest in event marketing instead of general marketing. Consequently, Stark MRDD and The Workshops have created partnerships with area media and businesses that have greatly benefited individuals with developmental disabilities.

Promising Practices ECS - Mount Kilimanjaro climb tests endurance of persons with disabilities - Prince George Association for Community Living
Mount Kilimanjaro climb tests endurance of persons with disabilities. Cerebral palsy fails to deter climber’s determination. The journey to Mount Kilimanjaro, in northeast Tanzania near the Kenya border, was sponsored by the British Columbia Association for Community Living to raise awareness about the capabilities of persons with disabilities. Prince George Association for Community Living (AiMHi)

Promising Practices ECS - Sometimes life does come with a manual - North Shore Disability Resource Centre
Sometimes life does come with a manual. Life skills manual breaks learning down into manageable and attainable goals. In response to life skills staff members’ requests, North Shore Disability Resource Centre produced a Life Skills Training Manual.

Promising Practices ECS - Consumers can guide human resource decisions better than anyone else - Supported Community Living
Consumers can guide human resource decisions better than anybody else.  An Ohio-based supported living organization creates harmonious housing situations using consumer input. Supported Community Living developed a system that gives consumers a say in the initial selection of staff, as well as a say in who will serve as substitute staff.

Promising Practices ECS - A new haven to open at University of Arizona - Chapel Haven
A new haven to open at University of Arizona.  Organization to bring 35 years of experience to program serving persons with autism spectrum disorders and mild developmental disabilities. Chapel Haven’s traditional program, founded in 1972 in New Haven, Connecticut, uses a teaching model for its residential life skills, employment services, recreation, and education programs. Because of its national reputation for services to individuals with disabilities, the University of Arizona in Tucson was a logical starting point for its new program, Chapel Haven West.

Promising Practices ECS - California makes a STAR program - Community Mental Health of California
California makes a STAR program. Collaborative effort between the county and job resources turn a community concern into a community solution. The County of Marin court system and Community Mental Health of California decided change was done best through collaborative efforts and formed the Support and Treatment After Release (STAR) program.

Promising Practices ECS - To be or not to be was never a question - Maryhaven Day Habilitation Program
To Be or Not to Be was Never a Question. Maryhaven Day Habilitation Program opens a performing arts program that allows consumers to fulfill their acting aspirations.The idea of a performing arts program started small at Maryhaven Day Habilitation Program, with a small group of staff members and consumers writing short skits that they performed in various elementary and middle schools on Long Island.

Promising Practices ECS - Warrior Bridge: Services for injured veterans and their families increase employment success - 2012 - PDF
After serving their country overseas, thousands of servicemen and women reenter civilian life each year with significant mental health issues and physical injuries, which affect their ability to obtain and maintain competitive employment.

Promising Practices ECS - HOPE Packs benefit recipients and assemblers alike - 2011 - PDF
Elim Christian Services teamed with other organizations to create kits filled with school supplies, food, seeds, or other relief materials.

Promising Practices ECS - Finding a silver lining in dark economic clouds - 2011 - PDF
The country's economic downturn required finding new ways to maintain a high level of employment services in a climate of declining funding.

Promising Practices ECS - State agency discovers many benefits to in-house employment services - 2011 - PDF
Although a CARF-accredited Tennessee agency chose to provide employment services in house, many private organizations are contracted with governmental bodies to provide employment services because of the providers' proven success.

Promising Practices ECS - Clients crystallize move from segregation to integration - 2011 - PDF
California agency disbands its sheltered workshop in favor of community employment. President/CEO of Valley Light Industries says, "I sensed building excitement as our agency staff embraced the prospect of following a visionary path toward challenging the status quo."

Promising Practices ECS - Collaboration is key for employment outcomes - 2011 - PDF
Life Skills in St. Louis, Missouri, joins with other organizations to resolve job market barriers for people with developmental disabilities.

Promising Practices ECS - Blue Shoe Arts answers the call for imagination - 2010 - PDF

Gallery and studio encourage adults to communicate creatively. In 2003, Fairfield County Board of Developmental Disabilities staff members envisioned ways to offer creative employment opportunities for adults with disabilities. Blue Shoe Arts was launched the following year.

Promising Practices ECS - Comprehensive Benefits Planning - 2010
Persons living with significant disabilities often consider their benefits vital to their well-being and that of their family. Dynamic and visionary professional service providers recognize the need for individualized and long-term benefits, as well as financial planning, to help prevent premature loss of benefits and create a successful foundation of income and health benefits.

Promising Practices ECS - Working Words address language barrier - Horace Mann Educational Associates
“Working Words” address language barrier. For many foreign-born staff members, learning workplace language and enhancing communication skills are a vital part of providing quality individual services. Eight years ago, administrators at Horace Mann Educational Associates (HMEA) recognized that it was imperative to plan strategically for the dramatically shifting demographics that the agency was encountering.

Promising Practices ESC - It takes a village to provide employment support - Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services
It takes a village to provide employment support. Ohio organization coordinates with its local One-Stop Career Center to provide additional supports for persons with severe mental illness. Using services from the Hamilton County One-Stop Career Center, Southwest Ohio Career Resource Center, would leverage the vocational services available to persons served by Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services and potentially provide better vocational outcomes.

Promising Practices ESC - Mentoring takes giant step - Peckham
Mentoring Takes Giant Step for Mankind. Online program connects busy professionals to students for career development advice and more. Peckham’s E-Mentoring program is a modification of traditional mentoring, utilizing computer technology to connect adult role models to at-risk youth.

Promising Practices ECS - Have transportation plan - will travel - SCARC
Have transportation plan, will travel. A rural community employment program develops a system to transport employees.  To better provide for transportation requirements of individuals with developmental disabilities in Sussex County, SCARC, Inc., designed a flexible transportation system.

Promising Practices ECS - Breaking into state employment offices and being invited to stay - Job Connections
Breaking into State Employment Offices and Being Invited to Stay. Creative problem solving appears to be the spring board to success and community partnerships for Job Connections. Job Connection’s approach has always been to emphasize what its customers can do for the employer’s company.

Promising Practices ECS - Microenterprise in a Rural Community - Thumb Industries
Thumb Industries had discontinued its handmade Christmas cards. But with card-making supplies still in stock, pairing the artistic interest of a consumer with existing resources seemed a natural direction to take. This kicked off Thumb Industries’ first microenterprise.