February 6, 2008
Harrisburg, PA
Ms. Carolyn Vidt called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. and read the mission statement. Ms. Vidt asked members present, and all guests to introduce themselves. Ms. Vidt stated that staff will be taking pictures today of members to be included in the annual report. New to this meeting there will be a change in the way chairs and stakeholders will give their reports. Chairs will submit their report to the office in time to be sent out with the pre-meeting packets. Members should review the reports ahead of time and be prepared to ask any questions at the meeting. Chairs will no longer have to give a detailed report at the meeting, just the highlights or any additions that were not in the pre-meeting packets. Ms. Vidt encouraged members to visit the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) website. The RSA will be providing trainings on state plan development. Ms. Vidt reported that Ms. Sandi Vito has been named as the acting secretary of Labor and Industry since the resignation of Secretary Stephen Schmerin.
There were no additions or changes to the agenda.
Ms. Leslie Kelly reported that the Council will again partner with OVR at their public hearings and pass out the customer satisfaction surveys. Any one needing Braille or large print should contact the office. A sign up sheet will be passed around today that lists the dates and places for the hearings. Members are encouraged to sign up to attend the hearing in their area. A link to the PaRC customer satisfaction survey will be put on the Statewide Independent Living Council's website and possibly other stakeholder websites. The use of laptops for members to use at the hearings was mentioned and will be further investigated by the Council.
No report given
Mr. Donald Zeigler reported that the state plan attachment will be approved today in the consent agenda.
Ms. Passle Helminski stated 9 members will be attending the National Rehabilitation Association (NRA) conference in March and will also be traveling to Washington to see the Pennsylvania legislators, handing out our position paper. The position paper will also be approved in the consent agenda.
Ms. Vidt reported that on the last Executive Committee call, the state plan attachment and the legislative position papers were approved. On February 4th, there was a conference call with OVR. The purpose of the meeting was to develop the 4.11 (c) (1) state goals and priorities with the council. Also discussed was the required statewide needs assessment which is to be completed in 2008. Mr. Ronald Rullman, from the Hiram G. Andrews Center (HGAC), gave a report on the program they developed for traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress.
Mr. Micki Greenstein read the expenses for October, November and December. The Council's year to date balance is $89,240.60 as of the end of December.
Ms. Linda Williams reported the office has received three requests for appointment forms in the mail. Ms. Melissa Simmons will be replacing Matthew Seeley as the SILC representative. Ms. Linda Lore will be replacing Margaret Buckley as the IDEA representative. Paper work has gone out to Ms. Lore and Ms. Simmons requesting a resume, along with their appointment forms to be sent to the office. Their names will then be forwarded to OVR and the Governor's office.
Ms. Kate Seelman stated the last conference call was on January 28th. Ms. Crystal Adams, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated they are doing accessibility reviews of the CareerLinks for their 2 year compliance letter. The EEOC is collecting statistics on the number of people with disabilities served and will send that to the PaRC office when completed.
Ms. Vidt gave a brief summary of the National Coalition of State Rehabilitation Councils (NCSRC) and asked the Council members to endorse the resolution to be a participant in the NCSRC. This is a national organization of state rehabilitation councils which will give state council's a national perspective.
Ms. Helminski made a motion to join the NCSRC. Mr. Adamus seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Ms. Helminski motioned to approve the consent agenda. Mr. Adamus seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Mr. William Gannon, OVR Executive Director, stated that Ms. Sandi Vito, the acting secretary of Labor and Industry, has had her first staff meeting. Ms. Vito informed the deputies that she wants to sit down with bureau directors in each of the individual offices and hear their thoughts with regard to what's going on within their offices and the issues for the department. Mr. Gannon stated he is scheduling time with her to bring her up to date on key issues as it relates to OVR.
On the national reauthorization level, there is nothing to report since this is an election year and everyone is geared to the elections. Statewide, the budget is flat again, flat in terms of the resources available to labor and industry. The Governor did include an additional $5 million to OVR that would stop the backsliding that has been eroding the next year's funding. Mr. Gannon stated that now is the time to schedule time with your legislators and ask for support for the various programs. The Commonwealth Workforce Development System went live in November. There are still a few problems to be worked out.
In terms of vacancies, OVR is having difficulty filling some vacancies in the Philadelphia, Norristown and Reading areas. Mr. Gannon stated that he made a commitment to readdress the college policy and home and van modifications, guaranteeing stakeholder involvement. The HGAC is in the process of working with a corporate entity that deals with leasing for the Department of Defense. This entity will prepare the final lease that will provide for the use of the high tech medical facilities at HGAC for head injuries and post traumatic stress for veterans. Mr. Gannon reported that the state plan hearing sites have been set up. He is concerned with the fact that past consumers don't attend these hearings. The federal position is based on what they hear from states and they pay attention to what they hear from consumers as per their comments at those meetings. If nobody attends those meetings and there are no consumer reports on the annual state plan hearings that go to Washington, the federal government will question whether there's a need for vocational rehabilitation.
Mr. Gannon introduced Mr. David Brooks, Bureau Director, Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation Services. Mr. Brooks stated he is having weekly meetings or conference calls with the 15 district administrators. He recently sent out a template to gather information from the district administrators to report monthly on their activities of dealing with the community. He is specifically asking for any presentations made to the community, public meetings, information about community outreach and presentations to schools, employers and associations.
Ms. Pam Shaw reported that as of today, all CareerLink locations with the exception of one, are considered to have met the minimum standards for accessibility. Staff from the EEOC will visit CareerLinks and do reevaluations. As we are going through the recertification process, we anticipate some updates to the documents that staff uses for the purposes of chartering. We look forward to input from the Council through their CareerLink Accessibility Committee.
Ms. Shaw updated the Council on the navigator initiative. This is an agreement between the state Department of Labor, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration. The program puts individuals in the field whose focus is on increasing access to all aspects of the workforce investment system by increasing participation by people with disabilities in the services that are offered. All the navigators have been trained and the phase they are in now has to do with integrating the initiative into the CareerLinks.
Ms. Shaw explained the Abilities Fund. This works with people with disabilities who choose entrepreneurship as a way to promote self sufficiency. The idea is to provide the CareerLink staff with the resources so that when people who want to go into business for themselves come to a CareerLink, they will be provided with the assistance necessary for them to accomplish their goals.
No report given.
Simmons stated that the SILC has been advocating for the passage of the Restoration Act and would like to partner with the Council to support the bill. SILC will also be meeting with legislators to support and advocate for OVR funding. The SILC continues to work with the transportation alliance to keep an eye on disability transportation issues. The Independent Living Council conference will be the first week of April 2009.
No report given.
Mr. Ken Tuckey thanked Ms. Shaw for the work she does on behalf of the Council. Mr. Tuckey stated that at the last workforce investment board meeting, committees were restructured. Mr. Tuckey also stated he is confident in Ms. Vito's abilities serving as the acting secretary of Labor and Industry.
Members discussed ways to make the Council perform more effectively, especially getting more attendance at the OVR public hearings. If more consumer involvement does not happen soon, OVR may lose more funding. Members agreed that the state plan is too big of a document for people to read and understand. It was suggested that maybe a short document with highlights should be drafted that would be consumer friendly.
Different methods of contacting consumers about the hearings were discussed including mass mailings by OVR counselors, telephone surveys, different stakeholder newsletters, radio, newspapers and television announcements. Several members stated they had good turnouts when food was provided. The time of day that the hearings are held could also be a problem for people that work and can not take off work to attend. Some meetings could be moved to a later time slot to accommodate those who work. Transportation for consumers in rural areas is also an issue. It was suggested that the Council contact other states to see what they are doing to get consumers involved in their state plan public hearings.
Ms. Marji Beyer, OVR, stated the Council has done its best to get consumers active, especially the Consumer Advisory Committees. It was stated that people seem like they don't want to be involved, it's very frustrating. Erie has a disability movement with a mayor's round table that also involves OVR and other stakeholders. Meetings in Erie are always well attended. Other areas should look at best practices of what is working in Erie. Members also discussed the importance of making friends in their local legislator's offices, not just with the legislator, but with the aides too.
Ms. Vidt stated she would like the Council to take a look at the work of the committees and see which ones we can join together to come up with a new set of goals. Too many committees have only 3 or 4 people on them and can not make quorum on the calls. Perhaps it may help if committees are more concentrated and not spread out over so many conference calls.
Ms. Lisa Case made a motion that the Executive Committee evaluate the committees and make a recommendation as to which committees can be joined together. Mr. Micki Greenstein seconded the motion. All were in favor.
Members discussed the importance of conference calls and getting the work of the Council done. If a person cannot be on the call, they can call the office or email their thoughts to the staff to relay back to the committee. Ms. Case stated she thought more work time at the Council meeting would be a good idea. People will get to know each other better and do some of the committee work in person. Mr. Michael Adamus stated there should be a poll of the members, asking what topics they would like to discuss in the afternoon session of a meeting to help make a more effective council.
The next Full Council meeting will be on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at the Hilton Towers in Harrisburg, PA.
The meeting adjourned at 3:20 p.m.
Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Council
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