Growing a Business During COVID: Success Story

The following story was submitted by  Lennie Gladstone on behalf of her son, Scott. 

My son, Scott Gladstone is a young man with Autism who is supported by SEEC in Silver Spring. Since the COVID Crisis, he like everyone else has seen his life change. Scott however, is not particularly concerned about not going out. He really likes being home....I have said often that he has been practicing social distancing his whole life!

Scott, who has excellent computer skills, often had trouble working in a close office environment. The staff at SEEC worked with him to figure out where he could apply those skills in a different setting. 

He started with friends and family and a few years ago, and since have marketed his business more widely. With the stay home order currently in place in Maryland, he has been sought after. People, who have put off the task of organizing old family photos, finally have had the time to get into their basements and pull out the old albums of photos that they wanted digitized. 

He now has a waiting list of folks with photos and documents, just waiting for his availability!

This crisis has been good for his bank account!

 

Protecting Safety Equipment  for the Health Care Field during COVID-19

Help Highlight Essential Workers with Disabilities 

We know that during this time of social distancing and stay-at-home orders, many people with disabilities who are employed may be at home. However, many people with disabilities are deemed as essential employees and are continuing to report to work. DDA, along with our Employment First partners, would like the opportunity to highlight those employees, along with their support staff, by sharing stories in this newsletter.  

If you have stories to share, please email [email protected] 

An Eye Toward Reopening: A National Conversation

DDA staff, as well as stakeholders across Maryland have been engaging in discussions and work groups, both locally and nationally, focused on the reopening of Employment and Day Services amidst COVID-19. 

National groups such as the National Association of State Developmental Disabilities Directors (NASDDDS), the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN) and the  National Leadership Consortium Network Community have facilitated discussions about health and safety, important considerations and looking to future service delivery options. 

In early June, the DDA shared a memo with stakeholders outlining considerations for reopening. Included in the memo were the principles listed below that NASDDDS suggests that providers consider as they develop individualized plans for reopening their Meaningful Day services: 

● Strategies and considerations need to be planful and done with the priority of safely re-engaging people; 

● Assurance that individual choice, preference, needs and understanding of personal risk should be balanced with motivations of providers and/or families; 

● Strategies may need to account for limited service capacity and workforce gaps; 

● Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance is an underpinning of all approaches and considerations; 

● Each state (and even locality) may require a different approach based on state and local government orders; and 

● Considerations must have an eye to community-based options, self-direction and use of technology

Each regional DDA office is also facilitating local reopening work group conversations, to ensure any specific regional and local needs are being met.  Work group members are able to share concerns and resources and discuss not only current considerations, but keep an eye on the future of service delivery. This ensures that lessons learned from the COVID-19 response can be translated into future flexibilities and service models. 

To read the reopening considerations memo in its entirety click here. 

How is COVID-19 Impacting Employment First Efforts: Survey

The Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) is collecting data about the ways in which the COVID-19 crisis has and is affecting disability employment services, supports and outcomes. This data will be critical to suggest priorities to lawmakers as we begin to plan our recovery efforts.

 

 

Whether or not you are an APSE member, APSE wants to hear from you !

 

 

P lease take a few minutes to complete this short survey (10 minutes) about the impact of the COVID-19 on your organization.  All information you share will be kept confidential, and no identifying information will be shared when we disseminate the results of this survey.

To complete the survey, click on this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7PQZSX2

NTACT Virtual Capacity Building Institute 

The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition hosted their annual Capacity Building Virtual Institute (CBVI): May through June 2020. The Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA) had the opportunity to participate, along with with other Maryland State Agency Transition Collaborative (SATC-MD) members. SATC-MD's joint vision is that:

All students in Maryland will exit school informed and connected to community, career and/or college. 

The goal of the CBVI is to provide interdisciplinary state teams with meaningful transition-focused content, and intentional extended peer learning opportunities. It also strives to help teams develop a comprehensive and strategic action plan for the 2020-2021 school year. This year's CBVI four focus areas and deeper-dive "State-2-State" sharing sessions included the following: 

• Improving Employment Outcomes: Coordinating Services and Engaging Partners
• Transition Supports and Services for Students with Complex Support Needs
• Coordinating Services across Career and Technical Education (CTE),  Vocational Rehabilitation, and Special Education
• Post-secondary Education

On June 25th, Kathleen Walker, Acting Statewide Career and Employment Services Coordinator, DDA, Jade Gingrich, Director of Employment Policy, Maryland Department of Disability (MDOD) and Christy Stuart, Chief for Secondary Transition, Division of Early Intervention and Special Education, Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE), participated in the "State-2-State sharing session by speaking about providing cross-agency, collaborative service delivery that includes: education, vocational rehabilitation, health, intellectual/developmental disabilities, mental/behavioral health, etc.

Facilitators presented strategies for developing a shared vision of outcomes for all youth with disabilities that includes specific target populations like youth with complex support needs and how to do identify common goals. Some of the items for framing the collective efforts include:

• Organize meetings to discuss needs, create shared vision and determine next steps/action plan
• How will your team adopt a Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) mission that all team members will support and promote?
• What strategies can be used for developing a community approved & adopted CIE Action Plan? 
• How will you ensure partners are invested in the implementation of the CIE action plan and addressing barriers?

SATC-MD also discussed how through the intensive technical assistance provided by NTACT, together they have been able to develop a flow of services and student resource map. A Student Tracker pilot has been developed as well, to ensure closing the gap of supports and services through post secondary transition and to collect data.

SATC-MD success has been due in-part to the level of engagement from multiple stakeholders on the local and regional level as well as support from each agency's administration leadership. SATC-MD has a common vision statement that drives the work from each partner and regularly meets to work on their action plans while participating in cross training. To learn more about CBVI and view the recorded content sessions please click here.

Webinar on Thursday, July 9 at 1:00 - 2:00 pm ET.

Join the Administration for Community Living (ACL) and other national stakeholders for a webinar highlighting programs, best practices, and tips for creating communities of learning and engagement via technology. 

Presenters will address marketing/outreach, barriers to virtual participation, strategies for holding interactive and inclusive conversations, and more.   This webinar will be recorded and posted on  ACL's COVID-19 webpage .

Click here to register for the webinar.

The DDA Educational Series Webinar Recordings