Letter from the PaRC Chair for 2008Dear Council members and all our community stakeholders:
Looking back through this past year, I see an exhausting list of the Council's accomplishments. The work and dedication of our members is to be commended.
Council members have attended and participated in conferences and forums; attended and presented at twenty OVR State Plan Public meetings and conducted our customer satisfaction survey; collaborated with OVR on the development of the Statewide Needs Assessment survey and initiated the development of a workgroup to analyze the survey results, just to name a few.
An outcome of our participation in the State Rehabilitation Council training sessions and forums conducted by RSA is our increased knowledge and understanding of the roles and responsibilities of an SRC as described in the Rehabilitation Act. Subsequently, Council is now partnering with OVR to develop a greater portion of the State Plan. Another outcome is our membership in the National Coalition of State Rehabilitation Councils. The PaRC voted, in February of this year, to join this nationwide organization. We will continue to build upon our relationship with other State Rehab Councils and the RSA, as these relationships provide us with direction and resources. Additionally, RSA's web based SRC Training, introduced this year, will prove to be an effective new member orientation tool, as well as an established member improvement tool. This knowledge will assist us as we work towards greater effectiveness.
The Legislative Committee coordinated with Staff the legislative visits during Council's annual trip to Washington DC. The committee wrote position papers to educate legislators about the importance of public vocational rehabilitation and delivered these papers to legislators in Washington DC and in Harrisburg. At least half of the Council participated in the legislative visits in Harrisburg. This committee has initiated and will be coordinating full Council participation in State legislative visits to be conducted during, before, or after Full Council meetings this coming year.
We have succeeded in increasing our understanding of Workforce Development, and that effort will continue as members participate in their local WIB meetings. Members have attended their local Workforce Investment Board meetings and provided information about the Council as well as informing WIB members about disability issues related to employment for people with disabilities.
Because of the Council's and OVR's attention to more efficient use of funds, redundant advisory committees have been disbanded. In addition, we reviewed our operating budget and reduced the amount ear marked for the PaRC, allowing that amount to be available for OVR customer service.
In this coming year, I believe the Council will meet what ever challenges set before us as a result of the disbanding of the various advisory groups. We have already addressed the additional work requirements in developing the OVR State Plan in partnership with OVR and as we enter this new year, our work with OVR on the Statewide Needs Assessment will continue to be a priority.
I want to, again, thank members for all their hard work this past year and I look forward to meeting our new challenges together.
Carolyn D. Vidt