JUDITH HOLT: Now, you've got the general overview of each of these three CILs. And what did you learn? You learned they did not start out with multimillion dollar budgets. Those grew and they grew primarily because of being very proactive, very thoughtful and very strategic with their fee-for-service. So now we're going to drill down just the next step. And that is into what their youth programs look like. And they're going to give you a lot of information about their youth programs, which I think will be helpful. Each presentation will be 25 minutes. At the end of that presentation, we'll have five minutes for questions because I know you can't hold your questions any longer than that. Okay? So five minutes for questions and then the next presentation. So I think we're starting with Dave who is still building that watch. DAVE HANCOX: I am still building that watch, that is right. The watch will be done on Thursday. I want to start out this next session, you know we're going to talk more specifically about some of our transition programs at our various centers. But I wanted to start out with just, I know that we're all driven by our passions in centers for independent living and we're all very, very committed to the community that we serve. But several years ago, this is kind of what frames the transition services for me. Several years ago, I was talking with my good friend Sue Swenson. Some of you may know Sue. She has worked in a variety of different capacities within the disability field. I was talking with Sue several years ago when her son Charlie was still in grade school. Charlie was a young man, very bright, very engaging young man. But he was a young man with disabilities. He had cerebral palsy and some communication challenges, but very bright, very engaging, and I remember Sue telling me one time, Charlie's biggest challenge is not his disability. Charlie's biggest challenge is his loneliness and I just think through our transition services whether they be educationally-based or academic-based or whether they be social skills-based, whether they be teaching young people advocacy skills, whatever they might be, if we can take the edge off of some of that loneliness and create some sense of community for young people with disabilities, then our transition services are successful. And that's what we really strive for at MCIL is to not only imbue some of those new skills and competencies and opportunities for young people with disabilities, but also to take away that edge of loneliness. I want to talk about MCIL's transition program. We all have transition programs of some sort or another I'm sure within our programs. Just to talk for a minute about how we view transition services within the Metro Center for Independent Living. And the individual plan for seeking independence, so we think about transition is about these five building blocks. And how we approach it at MCIL. So it's about a postsecondary educational opportunity, it's about community participation. It is about recreation and leisure. It is about home living and it is about employment. And it's one of the reasons why we have the outreach that we do with the individual school districts that we work with as well as IL VR. Because in order for an individual, and I think Peter mentioned this in his presentation, that employment is such an important part of that economic opportunity, it is such an important part of a holistic life experience. For an individual with disabilities to be really successful and leading a self-directed life, certainly they need to have very good, strong independent living skills. Right? But also another important part that is employment, and having that post secondary opportunity, whether it's education or job skill training or whatever it might be. And the same with home living and community access, community participation. So essentially as we know the purpose of a youth transition is to ensure that young adults will gain the skills, knowledge and relationships that they may need to establish their long range goals for independence after high school. Minnesota serves students generally aged 14 to 22 in transition and transition plus programs. We're driven to assist young adults with disabilities to make a successful transition from high school to post secondary education employment and independent community living. So a lot of people who I think, and I think it's worth pausing here just to mention, that when we talk about transition, we're not just talking about transitioning into a postsecondary educational opportunity, although that's a big part of it. We want to make sure we talk about employment and independent living in the community and having choice. So it's not just about that educational experience, although that certainly is big part of it. It's about putting the pieces in place that a young adult may need to accomplish their dreams and life-long happiness. Again, it's taking the edge off of that sense of loneliness and sense isolation. Remember what grandma said, we're all in this alone together. The funding can be difficult. Absolutely. As Darrell mentioned earlier this morning in her introductory remarks, we now know that transition is our fifth core service. But we started back around 1990, the Minnesota CILs in the state of Minnesota, the centers for independent living received a separate allocation from our state legislature specifically targeting transition services for youth with disabilities. It wasn't a huge amount, it was $250,000. So even in 1990 dollars that's not a lot of money. And it was divided between eight centers. So it was around $33,000. You could barely employ one full time person for transition services, but it was a start. It was a start. In 1993, the education committee in the Senate cut that funding. That was the first year, incidentally, that I became a lobbyist for the state association and my first task that they gave me was get that $250,000 back for transition services. So my first meeting as a legislative lobbyist for the state association was to meet with the chair of the finance, the education finance division in the Senate to get that money back. And we did. He gave it back to us with the proviso that in the following year, because it was a midyear. It was an off budget year that he gave us the 250,000 back. He said the proviso is next year it has got to be rolled into your core service money which means it becomes the responsibility of VR. So that became our battle for the next session. But in 1993 we were able to, even though the funding was cut by the Department of Education, we were able to get it put back in the budget temporarily for one year with the promise that it would be rolled into our VR. So even today as part of our, you notice in our last presentation I identified our state core service dollars $345,901, embedded in that is our share of those transition dollars. So we, since 1993 in the state of Minnesota we have had core service dollars provided by our state that are dedicated to transition services for youth with disabilities. Again, as I'm recapping what I just said, so beginning in fiscal year, we got it put back in January of '95, or January of '94 which set us up for state fiscal year 95-96 which begins in June of '94. So since that time we've had $250,000 included in our core service allocation specifically for transition services. Now, this deserves a little bit of a sidebar because I think it teaches a second or, not teaches, that's probably not the right word, but it suggests a second or parallel relationship here that I think is very, very important because I think we're probably all on various stages of this. One of the relationships that we really enjoy in the state of Minnesota is our very close working relationship with members of our legislature. The chair of the jobs and economic development committee, the funding division in the House of Representatives where our dollars flow through has told me consistently over the last several years that the centers for independent living are one of his top two priorities. And that's an enviable place to be in that priority list; but that didn't come about overnight. That came about as a result of long term relationship-building. So for those of you, and I share that, because oops did I just turn me off? See, I shut myself down. Look at that. For those of you who are in the room who are just in the early stages of your transition programs or thinking about ways of expanding or creating different levels of support or revenues for your transition program, if you don't have those strong meaningful relationships with your legislative partners, please consider forming them or pursuing those because it's been really, really valuable, not only for our transition services, but for our other core service dollars as well in the state of Minnesota. Just incredibly valuable. So beginning in 1994 the CILs received that separate appropriation. Currently the eight centers received about $2.6 million collectively. That 250,000 is embedded in there. We still have those allocated dollars. These dollars are now blended with our federal allocation with no distinct separation of the dollars, but with an understanding that the youth transition will be a funded program. So it's been in the state of Minnesota since the mid 1990's it's been understood that the centers will be providing separate transition services for youth with disabilities. Even with that small allocation, it provides some limited staff resources. We currently employ two individuals that are dedicated specifically to youth transition services. Additionally, we have other staff that are intermittently respond to transition requests. So our individual advocates our DLL, the Disability Linkage Line, our other programs because we run a very interdisciplinary approach to our service delivery, so other staff intermittently respond to those transition requests as well. We get a lot of requests, for example, from school districts on ADA-related questions and information like that. So it's a very interdisciplinary approach. The way we operationalize our transition program at MCIL is through site selection or relationship building. So we've worked with a variety of specific school districts for school programs to be specific within the metropolitan area where we actually embed our transition staff on fixed days of the week every week. So, for example, Nick might be in the Hopkins School District every Monday from 9 to 2 or 9 to 3 every single Monday. And the value of that that we think, anyway, that works for us is it gives the students an expectation. They know that Nick will always be there every Monday. The teaching staff know that he will always be there every Monday. It's something they can count on and build a relationship on that. It also encourages the school staff, the teachers and the others in the school district to utilize Nick's time to do little mini presentations in their classrooms, to address self-advocacy issues, et cetera. They can count on him being there. You know, we might have Aaron embedded in the Robbinsdale School District the third Thursday of every month, but it's a very, very consistent schedule. And it's proven to be very accessible for us. We also utilize specific web-based tools to build the transition program, communication boards, message boards, things like that. We have online conversations and communications that take place on an ongoing basis on our website. So there is a variety of different ways that we operationalize that, but the chief way is that we get our transition staff out of MCIL, out of our offices and embedded in the school district so they are out in the community where the students are. Now, in addition to that, we have the facilities within our home office, we have a classroom facility there where we can do in-services and classes like that, we also have a teaching kitchen. One of our most popular transition programs is our cooking classes. And we have a fully accessible, this kitchen should be in my house it's such a nice kitchen. I love it. But we do, on Mondays, Mondays is our regular cooking class. So every Monday I get to become the toad eater. I'm the food taster. So at some point in time during the day on Monday I'm down in the kitchen tasting all the wonderful things they are preparing. We have a student class that comes in every Monday for simple cooking skills. And the interesting thing is, it may not sound like much, but I don't know how often you get to interact with your students, but the interesting thing is they are coming of age where they are in their transition years and they are going to be leaving home, but mom and dad are often really, really reluctant to let them anywhere near the stove. So they're not learning these simple cooking skills at home. We let them do that. And the other nice thing is that this kitchen that we have, this fully accessible kitchen that we have is not only a classroom where we do these cooking classes, but also a demonstration site. So that students and others, family members, other folks, anybody who is doing a home remodel, whatever, can come in and look at this and see it as a demonstration site for the types of adaptations they might want to make in their own homes as well. So it's kind of a dual purpose. Some of the workshops that are presented in the schools or in the classrooms at MCIL we do a lot of interpersonal development and self-esteem work with young people. A lot of what we do is really around the concept of empowerment and I know that gets to be kind of an overused word, but a lot of these students, you know, haven't been raised in the environment I was raised in. My father was, when he was raising my brothers and sisters and I, his motto was: if I want your opinion I'll give it to you. Right? But as we all know that sense of empowerment is kind of lurking inside us, and it usually gets triggered whenever we have a significant life experience or we witness something that creates a genuine expression within us or there is an introduction of a child with a disability into our family or we ourselves become more acquainted with our own disability or acquire a disability. But there is something that happens internally that trips that trigger that says, you know, what I don't need anybody's permission to speak up about this to say what I need to say about this, but for young people with disabilities who have oftentimes been conditioned throughout their lives, some of you know this, have been conditioned throughout their lives to wait. We'll get to you. You know, don't get in a rush. We'll get to you. We'll tell you what your opinion should be. Or here is the service that you're going to get, just accept it. Right? Well, we try to work with young people to find that voice. I'm sure many of you have heard the slogan within the disability community: Nothing about us without us. Well, that's what we try to embed in the students through our interpersonal development and self-esteem classes. We try to teach effective self-advocacy skills so individuals can find their own voice and speak for themselves. How many times have I gone into a restaurant with young people or a young friend with a disability and the waitress will say to me what does he want? What would he like? I don't know, ask him. You know. So that self-advocacy, speak up for oneself, and teaching students not just the ability to find that voice, but giving them the skills and the competency so they can recognize when a discrimination is taking place. So that they can recognize when they are facing a potential exploitation. So that's a lot about what self-advocacy is about. Being an effective IEP team member. Not just sitting there during the IEP meeting and being ignored or taken for granted or being talked to, but they become and be seen as an active and contributing member of that IEP process. It's so very, very important. And of course other skills as well, I talked about the cooking classes and things like that. The IL skills as I mentioned, the cooking classes, meal planning, healthy relationships, the Colorado curriculum Living Well with a Disability. We use that a lot in our youth transition program. It has been very, very successful for us. A big one, money management skills. It fascinates me, a little sidebar here, it fascinates me because we sit down to work with young people, you know budgeting and money management skills and how to balance their checkbook and etc. And again there is that avoidance of exploitation opportunity there. And I think to myself: you're a senior in high school, what in the world have some of the school districts not been doing. I don't mean to offend anybody who is here today from the school districts, but, you know, like the old farmer said, teach my kid what he needs to know. Teach him what he needs to know. And other skills as well. So again, that participation in the student IEP meetings and other IEP assistance. The web-based discussion boards, the transition with technology, instructing students on the value of technology in their transition experience. We have a computer lab in our center so people can come in and have classes or just generally use the technology that's there and available to them. Our general information referral and assistance program is available to youth with disabilities as well. So I will open myself for five minutes of questions now. Yes, sir? AUDIENCE MEMBER: Although I certainly agree with you that youth transition should include a community participant, component home living, recreation and leisures, social skills, basically independent living skills. I'm wondering does the Workforce Innovations and Opportunity Act agree with that? When I read the language, no regs have come out yet, but the language is very specific about will the youth have to be youth with IEP's, but that's irrelevant. It's about employment and postsecondary education and unlike workability, they don't throw in a catch all quality of adult life or anything like that. So I'm getting pressure from my boss to stay, and trying to develop a youth program to stay away from the ILS, especially the recreation and leisure. A lot of our youth participants we have already recruited, you know, they want to go kayaking and we want to take them kayaking but getting pressure to keep it to post, basically not necessarily college, but post secondary education and jobs. Do you have any advice for being able to argue how this more holistic approach is going to help you get into college or get a job? DAVE HANCOX: That's a great question and I appreciate you asking that. One of the ways we've addressed that particular issue in Minnesota and I'll invite my colleague to chime in as you see fit. One of the ways we've done that when we developed the individual work plan in our collaboration with VR, so if we're working with a shared consumer, with an individual work plan we build those kind of things into the individual work plan. Because those kinds of independent living skills are essential and crucial to being able to not only research, obtain, but also retain employment or that successful post secondary setting, whatever it might be. So we build it not only into our IL plan, but also into the employment plan as well. ABBIE WELLS-HERZOG: I think it's really important that when we work with the IL staff, what we're doing is it's almost like, I was talking to somebody earlier about it, like a hierarchy. If you don't get folks straight in all the areas of their life, they're not going to be able to maintain sustainable employment. So we're really working on, it's a ladder effect and so doing all those other skill-building is just as important as helping them gain employment. DAVE HANCOX: And Thomas I would also suggest as you look at your state's application of those federal regs, that most states build in that kind of flexibility because they recognize it has to be that kind of a holistic approach. Yes, back here? AUDIENCE MEMBER: I'm Rahnee Patrick with Access Living in Chicago. Yeah, Midwest. So I was curious about the overlap with the parent training information centers, and how that collaboration works and sometimes you can get territorial and stuff. DAVE HANCOX: What? In a disability field? AUDIENCE MEMBER: I know. It's shocking, but I'm curious about, because you know we could be serving the same consumer, each agency serving the same person, and then related to kind of the same question from the previous person was, you know, how do you demonstrate change of the individual so that you can show funders besides the government what your outcomes are. And then I'm interested about your diversity, race ethnicity as well as gender diversity, I noticed even if some of the data that was listed there, there wasn't any mention about trans folks or in terms of your talking about healthy relationships, the depth of sexuality and things like that. DAVE HANCOX: Your first question was working with the parent, and we happen to live in the same community as PACER, which is a nationally known parent access center. And we work collaboratively with them on a very, very regular basis and certainly there are going to be times when some of our consumer base might overlap a little bit. They really, and I don't want to speak for PACER, but my perception, but I've worked with them for years collaboratively. They tend to address I think a lot more parents perspective and the classroom. So they're not really doing, they're very involved in the educational component of the IEP and the transition years, but the social components and other community living, independent living skills, they don't do that piece. Your second question was about AUDIENCE MEMBER: Outcomes. DAVE HANCOX: Outcomes. That's a really good question as well. Right now what we're engaged in at Metro Center for Independent Living is that paradigm shift. So we're starting to get staff more geared to looking at outcomes rather than outputs. Because for so many years like a lot of centers across the country, we were really driven by outputs, what's the number of people you're serving until suddenly somebody on the federal level said so you serve 36,000 people last year. So what. Big deal. What difference did that make in their lives? Good point. So now we're trying to shift that so that we're showing more outcomes and not just outputs. We're in that transition phase of that now. So we are addressing that, yes. Your third point was about transgender and other minority population. First of all, in Minnesota, we're a little challenged with some minority populations because we don't have as big a minority community as some other states might. You know, our minority population in the state of Minnesota is about 8 percent. So it's not real large, but we do address I would say probably, I would have to go back and look at our 704 report, but I would say that probably our total, the total individuals we served last year, maybe close to 10 percent were minority identified. As far as specifically the GLBT community that you mentioned, we have several staff members who are GLBT, myself included, so we have a lot of built in natural outreach to that community and we have a lot of ability to address those unique needs of GLBT youth that might also have a disability. So we're able to identify that pretty up front and pretty directly. Thank you for asking that though, I appreciate it. Yes? I've got to make sure she sees your hand. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi, my name is Brian Mosley from Augusta Georgia. My question is in reference to the approach to fee-for-service; how do you get into the school system with a fee-for-service approach without scaring off the school system? DAVE HANCOX: You know what, and that's a fantastic question and that is the focus of our presentations this afternoon. So hold on to that and we'll come back to that and get that answer for you this afternoon. I don't want to preempt mine or anybody else's presentations from this afternoon. So here we go. You're so patient. AUDIENCE MEMBER: So I was wondering when going to the schools a lot, we have some good connections with some of the school districts, but I was hearing you say that you had maybe somebody go in there every Monday. DAVE HANCOX: We embed, yes. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Does that person also speak to classes that may or may not be students with identified disabilities? So that you can do disability awareness or other things as well so that the whole school can use you as a resource instead of just DAVE HANCOX: That's an excellent question and one of the things we tried to capitalize on by having our staff members embedded in those school districts is not only to meet the needs of those young people or the teaching staff that might have disability-related specific issues, but also to be a presence for the nondisabled population in that school district for, I don't want to say role play. That's not the word I'm looking for, but for imaging. So that they're available to the entire school population, not just the students with disabilities. AUDIENCE MEMBER: and this may be something that's addressed in the afternoon session, but how do you make that known to the school district so that they're not just placing you in those classrooms that obviously have -- DAVE HANCOX: We'll address that this afternoon. That's great question. So save it. One more question. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Last question. DAVE HANCOX: for me any way. You have a chance to ask these folks as well. AUDIENCE MEMBER: Thank you, great presentation. I'm Becky Fay from Manassas, Virginia Independent Living Center. This is a technical question, when you have your number of the 33,000 folks that you've helped through your IL program, do you separate them out in regards to casual consumers and intake consumers, how do you get 33,000 folks to complete the forms or do you just put them all under one? DAVE HANCOX: Well, of the data that I showed from our 2003 704 report, 2013, I don't know why I keep taking ten years off. I guess I'm trying to make myself younger. I don't know. From the 2013 704 report, the 37,000 individuals, 33,000 of those are I & R's, but again, we, and we are able to serve that many people through our I & R program because of Disability Linkage Line, because of the call center. So 866 statewide calling number. So that's one of the reasons why our numbers in that area are so impressive and it's a legitimate service. We're not just giving somebody a phone number and sending them on their way. It's a very in-depth service for them, so the numbers outside that all either have an ILP or a waiver that they sign and we have the demographics that we collect on all of them and actually the disability linkage line collects their data on a separate database. So we have that data available as well and we know, we collect satisfaction surveys and things like that from the disability linkage line as well. So we have that backup data available to us as well. Does that answer your question? Sort of kind of. JUDITH HOLT: This is a lunch question. That is a very good question, but a little on the tricky side. Thank you, Dave.