SHARING YTP CLIENT PROGRESS NOTES WITH VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION COUNSELORS ON A REGULAR BASIS

As a best practice, YTP Transition Specialists should share YTP client progress notes electronically with their Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor (VRC) partners on a systematic and scheduled basis. Every 2 months would be a good schedule to consider.

The electronic (e.g. email, progress notes in document form attached to an email, etc.) sharing of progress notes allows the VRC to copy and paste those notes into their ORCA system (OVRS's data management system). It also fosters communication, teamwork, collaboration, "next step" thinking in terms of plan development, readiness for employment, and other benchmarks along the path of rehabilitation that VRCs are required to report on.

MARCH 31, 2008 YTP PERFORMANCE BENCHMARK UPDATE

March 31, 2008 was the first official YTP performance benchmark checkpoint. The benchmarks for this point in the biennium are:

1. 75% of a YTP sites' contracted number are OVRS applicants

2. 50% of a YTP sites' contracted number have a signed Individual Plan for Employment (IPE)

3. Engagement is at 70% of groups of YTP leavers who exit, are 6 months out from exit, or are 12 months out from exit.

While most YTP sites, on average, are doing well with getting students into the OVRS system as applicants, production of IPEs continues to be a challenge as can be seen by the most recent State Summary Report (or download your own Site Summary Report which will compare your site with performance in the State).

YTP Teams are still learning how to write "entry level" IPEs that are slightly more generic in terms of vocational goals and contain substantial OVRS services such as: Completion of High School, Vocational Exploration, Vocational Assessment, etc. Entry Level or "Bottom of the Job Family" Vocational Goals could be: All Other Retail Services, All Other Material Handlers, All Other Health Care Occupations, etc. for a YTP client who may know the general area they are interested in, but not the specific job.

You can download your own State or Site Summary Report by going to the "Enter Performance Data", "Read Performance Data" in user menus, or "How Do I?">>"Enter Performance Data", and once you have logged in with your username and password, you:

1. Click on Forms

2. Choose Reports

3. Choose State or Site Reports

4. Click on "Generate PDF" button for State or Site Summary Report uploads

YTP LAUNCHES BRAND NEW WEBSITE

YTP, in collaboration with aHa! Consulting, have developed a new look for the YTP Website giving the site a new public face.

If you are a Transition Specialist, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, or OVRS Branch Manager and want to go to your familiar log-in page to enter the secure YTP site, simply go to your menu and click either "Enter Performance Data" or "Read Your Site's Performance Data" menu items and you will go to that familiar log-in page and be able to enter the secure site.

Want to learn how to effectively navigate the new YTP Website?

To view a 4-5 minute video tutorial of navigating the new website, click on the following link to get a "ScreenCast" focused on site navigation (once you have launched and arrived at the ScreenCast site, click on the WHITE TRIANGLE to play the ScreenCast): http://www.screencast.com/users/PeteFitz/folders/Jing/media/85a07efc-4f8...

The new site renders (i.e. works and looks good) well on Internet Explorer 7, FireFox 2.x, and Safari 3.x. If you have older web browser software such as Internet Explorer 6 or older versions of FireFox or Safari, you will want to upgrade your browser software.

If you would like to have a hard copy tutorial document to hold in your hand and read while you learn to move around in the new site click on this link and a *.html document will upload: http://ytp.ahaconsulting.com/navigatingthenewsite.htm

If you have ANY questions about navigating the site, contact your U of O Technical Assistance Provider, or use any of the "Submit a Question", "Contact YTP", or "Post a Comment or Question" features located throughout the site.


METROPOLITAN FAMILY SERVICES "WAYS TO WORK" PROGRAM AVAILABLE TO WORKING PARENTS WHO ARE RESIDENTS OF MULTNOMAH, WASHINGTON, AND CLACKAMAS COUNTIES


There is an alternative for responsible, working parents to receive low-interest auto loans.


Ways to Work is a national program of Alliance for Children and Families that allows qualified working parents who are unable to get funds elsewhere, to receive loans up to $4,000 to purchase, repair or refinance a car.


The first program of its kind in Oregon, Ways to Work is operated locally by Metropolitan Family Service.


Loan Eligibility:


To be eligible for loan consideration, a potential borrower must:


* Be employed three months continuously
* Be an involved parent
* Have exhausted other loan sources
* Have a household income less than 80% of the Portland median income (80% for a family of 4 is $54,300)
* Reside in Multnomah, Clackamas, or Washington County


Borrowers agree to repay the loan at an 8% interest rate within two years. The money is then made available to other applicants.


For more information regarding loans contact our Ways to Work Coordinator at (503) 232-0007, ext. 303. Or visit the "Ways To Work" website at: http://www.metfamily.org/waystowork.htm


Don't reside in the Tri-County area and want to find out more? Contact your Family Services agency in your community by looking in the blue pages of the phone book, or contact Metropolitan Family Services at the number above to ask if there is a "Ways to Work" option in your community. You may also be able to find out more about this program by going to the National "Ways to Work" website at: http://www.waystowork.org/index.html


DHS IN ILLINOIS REPLICATES KEY FEATURES OF OREGON'S YTP WITH THEIR TRANSITION SPECIALIST PROGRAM


From the Illinois DHS website (visit: http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=32767)


"The Transition Specialist (TS) program provides for a rehabilitation specialist team consisting of a specialist/s, specialist aide (as needed), and a secretary. Customers served by this team are those in Secondary Transitional Experience Program (STEP), those who have completed the program or any of the school's customers with disabilities who may need rehabilitation services prior to or upon leaving the school setting. The services are provided according to Department of Human Services/Department of Rehabilitation Services (DHS/DRS) policies and procedures. The functions and duties of the specialist/s, specialist aide, and secretary are primarily those prescribed for the DHS/DRS general rehabilitation counselor and secretary. All casework procedures for serving customers and the expenditure of DHS/DRS' monies are under the direct supervision of DHS/DRS. TSs serve as the liaison between DHS/DRS and the schools and as the facilitator for the customer's transition from school to work."


YTP TESTIMONALS


"A young man in Tillamook County was essentially illiterate. But he lived and breathed auto body. That's all he wanted to do - auto body. It wasn't our job to discourage that - it was our job to accommodate that."


Clayton Rees coordinates the Youth Transition Program, or YTP, for the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS). He says it's all about turning a young person's passion -- like auto body -- into a blueprint for success.


"We helped this young man learn occupational reading skills," remembers Rees, "skills that were germane to his job -- like reading a repair manual. He didn't have to understand how a noun and verb are arranged properly. He only had to know how the pieces of a car fit together. We developed a program for him in an auto body shop -- and he learned auto body repair, a job he still holds after more than seven years."


Federally financed, YTP is a service of DHS, the University of Oregon and the Oregon Department of Education. School districts wishing to participate submit proposals to DHS and commit matching dollars to help pay for a transition specialist in the school.


The goal is to help students with disabilities transition from school to paid, competitive employment, post-secondary education and/or independent living.


The first step? Help students identify vocational goals. "Some schools have a student store, for example, or a coffee cart where students can sample the business world," Rees says. "Students also visit community colleges and vocational schools, and learn basic skills like filling out an application and writing a resume."


Although the transition specialist helps coordinate the program, Rees says, the students drive the process -- their interests, skills and preferences are incorporated directly into their individual plans.


Individual plans help identify services students will need to carry out their employment plans, such as transportation, work clothing, on-the-job training or interpretive services.


Rees says part of YTP's success hinges on parent involvement: "I recall a person who had cerebral palsy and he was not regarded as someone with competitive skills. In fact, some who worked with him believed the best he could hope for would be to shred papers in a sheltered workshop.


"But his mother insisted that he receive educational and work opportunities. As a result, he completed high school and received employment assistance through the YTP in his school. Today he's working for $10 an hour at a bookstore running books through a scanner."


After a student graduates, the YTP team provides follow-up support for up to two years. "We want to see these kids engaged -- working at least 30 hours a week, taking additional credit hours or in some kind of training," Rees says.
A national study of high school students with disabilities says 47 percent drop out without graduating but, among Oregon YTP students, 90 percent leave high school with a diploma.


Nationally, only 46 percent of youth with disabilities are employed two years after leaving school, compared with 71 percent of Oregon's YTP participants.


"These are very impressive figures," says Lu Ann Anderson, former Oregon Department of Education Transition Specialist. "This program is a good thing for kids -- and a good thing for Oregon's economy."


"YTP allows kids to understand they have options," says Rees. "They know that there are jobs out there they can do. And, bottom line, if they're employed as a youth, they're more likely to stay employed through their adult years.
"We're making a difference in a young person's life -- and that's wonderful."




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