>> Good afternoon everybody. This is Ray Cebula from Cornell University's Yang-Tan Institute and I want to welcome you to today's Work Incentives seminar event. We are going to be talking today about free support services for young adults in transition. There is a lot of emphasis and there always has been a lot of emphasis put on youth in transition because what we're trying to here is take a youth with disability and get them into the workforce as a step before we may decide we have to make them a disabled adult. You know that there are transition plans out there for almost everything particularly in school systems and it really ircks me personally when I see a transition plan that says "make this SSI child an SSI adult" because we can do that really easily. The hard part is to make that SSI child a worker with a disability and it may be hard but it's better and we're here to show you how it's better and talk to you about the supports that we can provide. So, that's enough of my preaching about this cause I am really, really passionate about this subject. It's just a great, great topic. Today's webinar we do have a toll free number. You have been connected automatically to the speakers in your computer so that you can hear us, if for some reason there is weather or you lose your Internet connection you can dial in and it's a toll free number 1-855-749-4750. You'll be asked for a access code and that access code is 643-319-013 and you can listen in on the phone and follow us without listening to your computer or if you've printed out the PowerPoint today you can listen to us by following along with the PowerPoint. You do have a copy of that PowerPoint. The one that we're using now in accessible pdf and text were sent to you with the URL link that you received when your confirmation and access letter was sent to you. So, you do have it if you kept that and you still have it cause you just used it to sign in. 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You will necessarily miss a few slides, but once again we are recording this for next time. Today's agenda, you know who I am already but we're going to talk about Ticket to Work Program and work incentives for young adults and we have Shanna Dolgren [assumed spelling] and Raina Golbertson [assumed spelling] from Nebraska talking with us today and they'll talk us through your employment team, they'll talk to us about employment networks, they're going to talk to us about some specific work incentives and how to go about building a team to help guide a young adult through this transition process. I will then pick up at the very end and give you some additional tips and resources for young adults with disabilities and if we have time at the end we'll have a question and answer session. What we're planning to do is break between each presenter and ask questions at that time so that they'll be more relevant and more timely. So, we're going to talk first about the Ticket to Work Program and we've got a video to share with you "Get to Know Ben" and he'll take us through all of the work incentives that are available, how this whole system works and then we'll explain that to you a little slower than Ben will. So, Mike if you can queue up Ben's video? Thank you very much. [ Pause ] >> Fulfillment, community involvement these are some of the benefits that work provides. By working, you can earn more income, meet new people and learn new skills. What is the Ticket to Work Program? How can it help you? Ticket to Work is a free and voluntary program from social security that provides you employment support services to help you go to work while still providing access to Medicaid and/or Medicare. It can help you go to work which can give you a greater sense of purpose and help you get give back to your community. With time, you will be able to replace your cash benefits with your earnings from work putting you in the road to financial independence with a piece of mind that your benefits will be available to you if you need them due to your disability. Meet Ben. Ben qualified for the Ticket to Work Program because he is age 18 through 64 and received social security disability insurance, if Ben received supplemental security income, he would also qualify for the program. Ben wanted to work but needed to understand how work would impact his benefits especially his healthcare. Ben did some research and found out that over 316,000 people with disabilities have participated in the program. After doing more research, he decided that Ticket to Work was just the ticket he needed to be successful in going to work. When Ben contacted the Ticket Helpline, they talked to him about support from social security he could use to go to work. He found that with Social security Ticket to Work and work incentives, he might be able to work while keeping is Medicaid or Medicare with a piece of mind that if he needed to stop working due to his disability there would be a fast-track back to restarting his benefits. With the Ticket Program, Ben had a choice of service providers. Employment network and State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. He was able to select one of these service providers to work with him one-on-one to help him reach his work goals. Both could offer him specialized services and he could choose which was right for him. ER agencies work with individuals who need more significant services. The services that Ben could receive include benefits in career counseling, education, training, and job search support. ENs are private or public organizations that may help with career counseling and assistance with job placement and more. Different ENs offer different types of services so Ben could pick an EN that was just right for him. Ben also had the option to receive services from his state ER agency and then when those services end, he could work with an EN to receive additional services that would help him find a job or keep an existing job. Ben took some time to think about his options and decided to assign his ticket to an EN. Ben's commitment to participate in the Ticket to Work Program forged a partnership between him and his service provider. They both agreed to work together and jointly developed a plan that was just for him. His plan defined his work goals and described the specialized services that EN would provide or [inaudible] to help him meet his goals. Ben's road to employment through the Ticket Program is a two-way street. In return for assistance in getting a job, Ben pledged to social security that he would take specific steps determined by the plan he developed with the EN with a timeframe set by social security to work at a specified earnings level or complete certain education or training requirements. Taking the agreed upon steps with employment with timeframe set by social security, is called making timely progress. By taking these steps, Ben was able to fully take advantage of the support and perfections the Ticket to Work Program provided. You can be like Ben. The Ticket to Work Program is here to help you become and stay employed, meeting people, and gain fulfillment and financial independence. We know it's a big step but there is so much help for you all along the way. The Ticket Program offers many tools and resources to help you learn about starting you journey to financial independence. Are you ready to work? Call the Ticket to Work Helpline at 1-866-968-7842. For TTY call 1-866-833-2967 to talk to one of our knowledgeable representatives or visit www.socialsecurity. gov/work to learn more. Good luck on your journey to financial independence. We are ready to help you on your way. [ Music ] [ Pause ] >> Okay. Thank you Mike. I was going to turn you over to Shanna right now; however, I lied to you. I have a favor to ask of all of you. We have some short poll questions so we can know whether or not we're reaching the right people, how you found us, and they're real quick so if we can do those if you'll indulge me I will ask the first one. How did you learn about today's Wise event? Did you learn it about through email, Facebook, Twitter, websites, family or friends, a WIPA Agency, the work incentive planning as assistance projects or someplace else and if you do choose others, write us a quick note so we'll know where you did find us. I'll give you a few seconds to respond to that. [ Pause ] I do have a magic percentage, so as soon we hit that percentage of participation. I will stop. [ Pause ] Alright, we have 20 seconds get your selections in real quick. [ Pause ] Five seconds. Okay. Thank you. Um, let's do this one. What do you hope to learn from today's webinar? Something about the Ticket to Work? Work incentives for SSI? Work incentives for SSDI? Employment networks and vocational rehabilitation? Legal protection advocacy or were you hoping to learn about something else, and again, if you pick something else let us know because we have built webinars around some of your suggestions in the past. [ Pause ] And we're just waiting on a few more people. [ Pause ] Alright. We're going to close that down. Wait 20 seconds. [ Pause ] Okay, and our third polling question we want to know who is listening? What's your gender, male or female? [ Pause ] These last three are real quick. And we'll wait 20 seconds get your selections in. [ Pause ] Five seconds. Okay, what is your age 18 or younger; 19 to 25; 26 to 40; 41 to 55; 56 to 65; or 66 and older? And we have no way to attach you to a number, so feel free to answer. Alright, that was quick. We want to get 15 seconds then we'll get on with our last question and get you the information you need. [ Pause ] Alright, our last question might sound a little strange but in order for us to find out how many people are actually listening we know that some of you are sharing a screen and right now we want to know how many people besides yourself are watching your screen with you? Oh, and I'm looking we have a couple of parties out there guys. There are some viewing parties. Alright, 20 seconds that really helps us get a get a good idea of who's listening and how many people are actually out there, so we really know how many computer connections we have. [ Pause ] Alright. And now I'm going to turn you over to Shanna Dolgren who is from Nebraska and I'll let her introduce herself and take you through some of the basics. Take it away Shanna. Shanna you may need to unmute yourself. >> There we go. Hi. >> There we go yeah. Hi. >> Thank you Ray. This is Shanna Dolgren with the Nebraska Ticket to Work Program at Eastern Field, Nebraska and I'm just going to talk to you a little bit briefly about the Social Security Disability Benefit Programs before we move on to the work incentives and some other resources available to you. So, thank you all for listening today and first we just want to mention Social Security Disability Insurance which was mentioned in the video you just watched. Social Security Disability Insurance or SSDI is a benefit for individuals with a disability who have a significant enough work record to qualify for a benefit out of the trust fund, so these are individuals who have worked before and now have a disability that entitles them to a benefit. There is also another disability benefit program through, that's administered by the Social Security Administration and that is the Supplemental Security Income Program or SSI. These are individuals who often are younger or maybe don't have a significant enough work record or work history to qualify for a benefit out the trust fund. These individuals have low-income or resources as well. So, you can, a person can qualify for one or the other or some people may qualify for both. They may qualify for a small benefit off a work record either their own a parent's and then also qualify for an SSI benefit to supplement that. Okay, next slide. Thank you. So, when you're thinking about work or considering work even if you're not working right now, one important thing to do is kind of think about what you want to do and maybe what your journey might look like towards employment and so it's very important to get some information and know what resources are available to you when you're thinking about that and making some of those decisions. The Ticket to Work Program and other work incentives may be some things, maybe supports available to you that can kind of help make your journey a smooth one and available for you to provide those supports and services. One thing that is always good to mention is that only you can really decide if work is right for you. You may, people have different experiences whether people have told them maybe they can't work for one reason or another or maybe you have a friend of family member that has had, that has a disability that may have had some experiences with their benefits and things but really each person's situation is different and only you can decide if work is right for you. Next slide. I've mentioned in the video there are many different reasons a person might want to work. It might be just because you want to earn more income. I might be because you want to gain some independence. You might want to meet new people, learn some new skills or you may have other reasons that you want to work. Maybe you just haven't had a chance to try that before and you know of job that you might want to try. The Ticket to Work Program really supports career development for people with disabilities, so you might know what your dream job is right now or you might not know what your dream job is. Maybe you just want to start someplace, you just want to get some experience either way, the Ticket to Work Program and the service providers that can serve you as an employment network can really help you along that path and kind of help you decide what might be the right starting place for you. It's for individuals with disabilities that are age 18 to 64. It's free and it's voluntary. So, this is not a program that you have to participate in but it is a support that that's available to you if you choose to use it and I think the next slide kind of starts with the work incentives that are available and specifically some work incentives that are available for youth. So, I'm going to go ahead and turn it over to Raina Golbertson now to talk about that. >> Morning. I work for the WIPA Program which stands for Work Incentives Planning and Assistance and each state has a WIPA program and Easter Seals just happens to have the one that's in Nebraska and we serve the entire state. So, the reason that we want to talk about some specific work incentives are there are some very special rules that allow individuals to do many different things. These rule were created so that individuals who have experienced a disability and who have been determined disabled by the Social Security Administration aren't afraid to try to go and try to work, try to go to school or back to work and these, excuse me; there's a variety of work incentives and they apply to both cash benefits and there's work incentives specifically that apply to maintaining Medicare and Medicaid. I like to refer to work incentives as sort of a safety net and this is so individuals can receive training, improve skills that they may already have, for example someone may have good computer skills but things have changed and so this provides individuals a way to obtained some updated information, pursue education and we're going to talk specifically about a couple work incentives that help individuals pursue education that will lead to a long-term employment goal and these work incentives they also allow individuals to, you know, as far as trying something and see what assistance might, they might need sometimes an individual might try something and find out it's not right for them so this allows people an opportunity to do that and still have that safety net of the benefits or healthcare as a backup if something doesn't work out right and they may try to base on that experience learn more about what maybe a better fit for them. Starting a new career and just in general gaining confidence and gradually increasing employability and skills and being able to eventually, you know, market yourself for a employment position. The work incentives there's some that apply to just the SSDI Program, there's some that apply to only the SSI Program and then there's also some such as the Ticket to Work Program which applies to both types of benefits. So, the three specific benefits that we're going to talk about today are particularly important for transition age youth and individuals who work with transition age youth to be aware of. The first we're going to talk about is the student earned income exclusion and then we will also talk about a plan which you self-support and that the work incentive that can help in a variety of ways and then we will talk a little bit about section 301. So, with the student earned income exclusion this is for individuals that receive SSI. There's specific guidelines for who can qualify for this work incentive. You have to be under age of 21 and you also have to be regularly attending school and what this work incentive allows individuals to do is work while they're in school either part-time of fulltime and earn up to certain amounts of money without it affecting their SSI cash payment at all. And an individual can work up to $1780.00 and earn that much, receive that much income in one month and not have it affect their SSI payment. And so this is an extremely wonderful work incentive for individuals to take advantage of if they are able to just because it allows them to have more income in their pocket to save for future goals to kind of try some different kinds of work, a lot of times individuals in school it's a great opportunity to try different areas just to find out, you know, what is their interests. What are they good at and so this work incentive allows kids and young adults to kind of be able to explore that without having their; jeopardizing their benefits. It's not an unlimited amount that you can earn without it affecting your SSI. There is a monthly limit of the 1780 and then once and individual reaches $7180.00 for the year, they can no longer use that exclusion and the year will run from January to December and it's applied before any of your other SSI exclusions such as impairment related work expenses or the earned income exclusion. So, one of the requirements is that you must be regularly attending school, so one of the things social security had to do was define what does regularly attending school mean and so they've setup some rule. For an individual that's attending a college or university that individual must be working, or excuse me, attending class about 8 hours a week and if they are still in high school, then that needs to be 12 hours a week and there's also other programs that could qualify other than, you know, traditional education so if someone's in a specific training program for a career that may also allow them to use the exclusion and there are some special rules too for individuals that home-schooled either because that's the family decision or because the disability needs the person's situation and their disability requires that they be home taught, so there's some special rules about that too that would need to followed. So, that's all I was going to say about the student earned income exclusion and so we will move on to the plan to achieve self-support which known as a PASS Plan. This is one of the most exciting work incentives to, for me to talk about. I love PASS Plans and I have worked with a lot of individuals on working through this process and when I say process it is definitely a process even the application process itself can take a while and requires a lot of upfront time and information gathering and planning even just to get started. So, what the PASS Plan does is that for individuals that have SSI or become eligible for SSI, it allows that person to set aside income so that they can still receive the full SSI payment while other income that they have coming in would be set aside in a specific account that is just for PASS expenses and the neat thing about this is that even if someone receives and SSDI payment, let's say they have an SSDI payment of $1000.00 and that's too much for them to be able to receive an SSI payment what the PASS Plan allows that individual to do is to take that $1000.00 and put it in a special account then at that point if your PASS Plan is approved then social security is not allowed to count that $1000.00 in that account and then the individual is responsible for making sure that that particular money set aside is spent only on expenses that have been approved by social security. So, there's a lot of different ways that PASS can be used, primarily individuals use PASS to pay for education and there's a lot of people that also use PASS to pay for self-employment. A lot of people want to have their own businesses because it allows them a little more flexibility and working around their disability and then there are certain types of situations where, you know, basically a person has a goal that's with wage employment but they don't necessarily need education, they may already have the education and they're, but they need certain items in order to make that goal work, so one example would be obtaining a vehicle. Now as far as vehicle goes, there a lot of special rules that you need to work with as far as having social security approve a vehicle through a PASS Plan but it is something that can be done. They will want to look at whether you have other alternative forms of transportation. A lot of PASS expenses for example related to school and college PASS can pay tuition and fees, books, expenses associated with school such as having access to a computer, so I've had individuals purchase computer with PASS funds and also even have their Internet provider service paid through the PASS because a lot of classes right now are online and require either research or having to participate in classroom discussions online, so there's a lot of times where Internet expense can also be approved and as far as. >> Raina. >> Yeah. >> Can I interrupt you for a second? We have a question. >> Okay. >> About an example for a successful PASS Plan and you seem to be talking about one that you were involved with, could you give us some more detail about that? >> Sure. Is there, I guess more specifically kind of information? >> Well, they're just looking, well they're just looking for an example of the successful plan and it sounds like a person that you were working with when you needed the computer for school and I thought that would be a good segue into that question. >> Yeah, I can share an example of an individual that I'm working with recently. She has a goal and I will just say here right now too that in order to have your PASS approved the goal must be that you would eventually no longer need your cash benefits after your plan is completed. So, I just wanted to throw that out there but I have an individual who wants to obtain a specific certification that would allow her to go into a career in the medical field and so there's a lot of steps for her, so we, I had her look into you know what salary does that type of profession have, you know, when they're working fulltime or so she did some research on that and then had her look into the cost of the school program and since it's a certification program it was just actually just a few months-worth, so that was a lot less complicated than if someone's, you know, their plan is to get a four year degree. So, she had to gather up all the information and then when you submit the PASS application you request on the application what expenses you want to have approved. So, you basically would, there's a place on the PASS application where you list what items you would like to have approved and in this case she was able to get the price of a used vehicle approved and also car insurance for the duration of the PASS, a computer was approved for her, Internet expense and then tuition and books and then another thing that we've had added in in her case and in other cases are professional clothing for when it's time to do the interview process and then I also had, had one that was going to be a teacher and so we asked for some expenses to be approved for professional clothing for the classroom training that was she was going to be student teaching and the other nice thing too is that if there is something that comes up later and in the PASS and you can file an amendment to get that additional expense approved. There are a lot of expenses out there that are not approved or that you have to maybe get a doctor's note to have approved and so you have to very much relate it to the goal and then this individual's case we were also able to get approved after her training she was going to be required to take some certification exams, so we looked into the prices of those exams also included those in the original PASS application. So, we also as far as the duration of the PASS allowed some time for the PASS to continue even after she's done with her program to kind of get setup in her employment to find that position and, you know, make sure it's working out for her and to help her get on her feet while she's beginning, just beginning to earn income. So, I don't know does that help a little bit? >> Yep, that does help a great deal. Can you tell us a little about how long a plan can be? We have a question on duration. How long can a plan last? >> A plan can last anywhere from, you know, as little as 3 or 4 months up to 5 years or even potentially more. You can have, I think generally the average PASS Plan is probably about 3 years and I know in our area for self-employment PASSes you have 3 years; they want to know that by the end of the third year that you're brining in enough money that you won't need the Supplemental Security Income anymore. But, yeah sometimes people just need an item or two that's going help them and then I have another one that's 5 years and that's due to a modified vehicle purchase that was quite expensive and it needed a 5 year loan, so we were able to get a PASS approved for length of time. And obviously if someone's going to do a 4 year degree, you know, that might be a 5 year PASS and then another thing too that's important to know is that once your PASS is approved social security is going to keep you accountable with those funds that you have set aside, so if you're having a PASS Plan for school they are going to want to look at your grades every semester, they're going to want to see you bank statements and receipts for purchases, so if someone wants to work with the PASS Plan then that individual needs to be very organized and have their paperwork setup so that it's going to easy to turn that into social security to be reviewed and there are times where PASSes are either put on hold or further time and the PASS is denied, you know, based on an individual's situation. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Yeah. And then just a little bit about Section 301. This work incentive is particularly important for individuals that are going through the age 18 redetermination process. During that process, social security has looked at that individual from a, from different criteria as far as meeting the disability definition. So, what social security considers for a 17-year-old is going to be different than a 19-year-old and those criteria change, so once they do that determination to see if this individual is disabled as an adult, one of the things that they are going to look at or ask about is whether that person is involved in any vocational rehabilitation services, so this could be with VOC rehab agency, it can be with an employment network, it could be part of an employment training program associated with the school system, it could be part of their education and so once they gather that information knowing that will help social security know if this person may be individual, a good individual for this work incentive it may be that that person does meet the child definition but does not meet the adult definition of disability, but if that person is working with a VOC rehab service in any of those areas then that can be, that individual would be a good candidate for this work incentive. You're basically admitting to social security, yes, I you know, I agree with you that I'm not disabled as an adult but hey I need to finish this program because this is what's going to allow me to be self-sufficient and without it, you know, I maybe will meet the adult definition of disability now in the future and so it's sort of like an initial upfront investment in that person to help transition age youth specifically work towards something that they have already started and one of the things that that individual needs to show is that they are, you know, actually making progress and that there is a likelihood that the individual will be self-sufficient in the future if this person continues to get these services now at this time. And I think that's about it. There's a lot more information online and in the Red Book which can also be found online. So, I guess I will pass it back onto Shanna. >> Ah, not so quick Raina we have some questions for you. >> Oh, okay. Okay. >> Okay. Somebody wants to know if a PASS set aside account is excluded from resources as well? >>That is a great question. Yes. What is in that specific PASS account are, you know, an individual might need to save up $6000.00 for a vehicle, SSI rules say you can only have 2000 so if that money is in a PASS that is approved and it's accounted for and it's in that specific account that the person is using for their PASS then there is no resource limit. The other thing would be, you know, maybe if someone had two vehicles for two different purposes, one of those would normally be counted as a resource but if it's excluded under the PASS specifically then it's not counted. >> Okay, and does that money need to be set aside in a special account? >> Yeah, and it's not necessarily like a special account that the banks have or that social security has it is just a basic checking or savings account at any bank, it just has to be separate from your personal funds. >> Okay. >> And a lot of times it's really confusing for people. >> Yeah. Yeah. And are beneficiaries required to contribute to a PASS every month? >> Most of the time there will, that will be happening and I didn't really mention this but this is an important note is that if someone has just SSI that will not work for them because they need to have something else put into the PASS because they're already getting the full benefit rate and so there's nothing leftover to put in the PASS and so that individual if they're receiving SSDI that will need to go into the PASS every single month and that's another reason why it's important to keep good accounting records and then if they are earning income while they're on the PASS then they need to put the accountable portion of their earnings into the PASS account also. >> Okay. Alright, let's now we can turn it over to Shanna. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay, I'll talk a little bit about your employment team then which can consist based on who you choose to work with of one or more organizations or agencies that provide different types of services and support. So, if you look at slide 32, there's kind of some different types of agencies if you will listed there, employment networks we're going to talk about in a little bit more detail in just a minute so I'm going to leave that one for now and mention the state vocational rehabilitation agencies which you have heard a little bit about earlier in the presentation and each state does have a state VR agency. Each of those states and those agencies may have come similarities and/or differences then other state agencies or other states vocational rehabilitation agencies, so it's important to check with the one that's available in your state to see what services they might be able to offer or how they can help you but some of the things that are typically available through those state VR agencies as mentioned earlier are different types of training, maybe some certification programs, education, rehabilitation, career counseling, job placement assistance and sometimes even benefits counseling. So, again just check with what is available in your area to see how they might be able to help you. There are also the work incentive planning and assistance projects which I believe Raina mentioned earlier or the WIPA Project and these are agencies that contract with the Social Security Administration to provide that work incentives and benefits counseling service and they can also offer some assistance with other state and federal programs even local assistance that might be available and then lastly is the, but not least of course, is the protection advocacy for beneficiaries of social security or the PABSS and these are agencies that also contract with the Social Security Administration to provide different types of advocacy, some conflict resolution maybe even some legal advocacy if necessary. It seems like often with overpayments and those kind of things are often working on things like that and people can seek assistance through those types of agencies and for the WIPA Projects and/or the PABSS Projects you can find those available at the social security website, so you can even find those locations online but to talk a little bit more specifically about employment networks, these are agencies again or organizations that also contract directly with the Social Security Administration to provide different types of services and support that are available or that individuals might need. So, you may be able to get some vocational rehabilitation services, some employment services, benefits counseling services sometimes and what exactly is available through each one of those agencies is going to depend on the agency and that specific employment network, so it's very important to check with the employment networks that are available in your area to see what services and support they might be able to offer you. If we could go to the next slide. So, I mentioned earlier these are some of the general supports and services that are available through these agencies, it might be career planning, it might be some help with job placement, it might be some retention services or even network incentives and benefits counseling service. Sometimes these employment networks offer these services directly through that agency or sometimes they may partner with other agencies to provide these services for somebody participating in their Ticket to Work Program and they may offer a whole marriott of other services and support that are only available through that particular employment network and maybe not others in the area. So, one of the things that they might be able to offer you for instance is help with resumes or even mock interviewing those kind of things which maybe if you haven't had a lot of experience looking for a job or with a job application process, resumes are required for almost every position now or a lot of positions anyway that are available, so as part of the application process it's a good idea to have a prepared, professional resume even if you're looking for a job maybe that you wouldn't think would need a resume to come with it but having one prepared can be very beneficial. Having a list of your references and things like that can be very beneficial in the application process. Many companies have you apply online now and so having that information available and in front of you just to be able to enter that without having to think about it can make the application process simpler for you. Can we go to the next slide please Ray? Thank you. So, you'll notice of this slide that as we're talking about resumes and mock interviewing or some different tips with interviewing you can find some resources online at the disability.gov website, the link is right there in the presentation for you and you would also again want to ask your employment network or any potential employment network that you're working with what services they might offer you. If you're anxious or uncomfortable about the interview process or the application process maybe that employment network can help provide some suggestions or some guidance. Maybe they can even help you do some mock interviewing so that you can get a little bit more comfortable with that process. Okay. There are some additional tools as well that are available to help you in selecting the right employment network. So, as you're looking at this slide here it might be helpful to determine what kind of help you would need or what kind of services might be helpful for you. Maybe you're not even sure what kind of services would be helpful for you but you know that you need some help, so it could be beneficial to talk with different types of employment networks and ask them some questions and if you need some guidance on what kind of questions you might want to ask them. You can look at the first link there at the documents that's available there on the choosework's website that talks about choosing the right employment network for you. It talks about a little bit about if you're even ready to explore working, what employment networks are, what might be the right employment network for you and then as I mentioned it even gives you some guidance or some suggestions on what questions you might want to ask and employment network to help you make the right choice for you. At the second link that appears on this page, there is a worksheet that you can actually fill out for each of the employment networks you contact. If you choose to do so, it's not something that you have to do but it can be very helpful in remembering maybe which employment networks you've talked to, what kind of services they provide, what kind of help they might be able to offer you. If they have a location in your area, you know, all those kind of things. How they might work with you if they're able to provide some one-on-one service or maybe if they provide most of their information and assistance over the phone or online, those kind of things can make a big difference for individuals in choosing who they might want to work with as an employment network. And then lastly I'll just mention that there is also a find help tool on the choose work website and if you don't even know what service providers are available in your area and often times people don't. You can search for the right service provider by using this tool, this online tool that allows you to search by zip code, by the services that that facility or agency offers, by the disability types; maybe certain employment networks only serve certain types of disability populations. Others like Easter Seals, Nebraska we serve all disability populations or individuals with all different types of disabilities. It might, you can search by languages spoken or even the type of provider whether it's an employment network, a workforce employment network, a state VR agency, a WIPA Project, or a PABSS so you can search in all of those different ways to give you a list of providers that you can contact and ask those different questions or get some guidance on how they can help you. So, there's lots of tools that are available to you and hopefully you'll find some of these tools helpful in determining one if work is right for you and two which service providers might be the best support for you. And with that, unless there's any questions I'll turn it over to Ray to move onto the next segment. >> Okay. I'm just running through my questions and somebody wants to know can remind us of the age limit for the Ticket to Work Program? What are the age ranges? >> Certainly, the age range for the Ticket to Work Program is 18 to 64. >> Okay, and another. >> These are individuals that are adult age, over 18 up to 64. >> Okay, and is it possible to go to state VR and use an EN? >> It is possible, often times what happens is because a state VR agency is often also an employment network and may serve individuals as an employment network, so while individuals have an active case with the state VR agency maybe VR helps them get through school or maybe they just help them find a job. State VR agencies are intended to provide short-term if you will employment support so once that individual has been employed for a certain number of days then a state VR agency would close their case. After that happens and individual who may want some more long-term support could choose to assign their ticket then to an employment network that offers services in their area and then that employment network could continue to work with that individual basically throughout their transition through the Ticket to Work Program. Does that answer the question? >> That does and somebody wants to know how much does this cost. It seems like an expensive proposition. >> Well, for the beneficiary themselves other than time and those kind of things there really isn't a financial cost. The participating in the Ticket to Work Program and even going to a state VR agency and [inaudible] the services there's not cost for the services and support that you receive. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> You're welcome. >> What I want to do right now is go back on these two slides and read these links to you, so choosing the right employment network for you if you want to check that document out it's at www.chooseworkttw. net/library/choosing- the-rightthe- employment-network- for-you and finding an EN and assigning your ticket worksheet that's at www.chooseworkttw. net/library/finding- EN- assigning-your- ticket-worksheet and the last thing was the finder tool, to find services in your area that's at www.choosework. net/findhelp, okay and that's going to bring us to another video. Now, our friend Megan who has been a great inspiration to all of us and has participated in several webinars with us was diagnosed with clinical depression in 2008 and was forced to stop working. In 2010, she'll tell you that she just got sick and tired of sitting around the house and feeling bad so she contacted an employment network in the state of Maryland and began her journey to work. In 2011, she was successfully working and used her trial work period and began entering her extended period of eligibility or her EPE. During that period of time because of the amount of money that she was making her benefits had stopped. In 2013, she was still in that extended period of eligibility because it's 3 years, it's 36 consecutive months and what happened was her entire unit at her place of work was eliminated, so she basically got laid off. Because she was still in her EPE, Megan was able to contact social security and without filing a new application have her benefits turned back on. Yes, so she got her benefits back without a new application. She took a chance to go to work, was laid off and was able to get her benefits back. In 2014, she started her own small business which you'll see in the video. So, Mike if you could queue up Megan's video for us. Thank you very much. [ Pause ] [ Music ] >> The last time we chatted I was working for well that was for a bio tech company and I was a document control specialist and then in 2013 of February, I actually got laid off so I called Transcend to let them know that I was no longer working and what I needed to do to go back on to my disability and so they set up my Ticket to Work and everything just kind of flowed seamlessly. I filled out some paperwork and let them know and I was receiving benefits that month. I had been teaching [inaudible] part-time in the evenings after work and I let a whole bunch of people know that I was laid off and that I was ready to work during the day and I just started taking more classes and as I did more classes and was teaching more, I really fell in love with it even more and decided to actually make my business. I would definitely recommend the Ticket to Work Program to others. I would say don't be afraid to do it. You have really nothing to lose because they only stop it when you're making too much and you know, who doesn't want to make a lot? So, I say don't let your fear hold you back and I'm the perfect example of someone who's done it and who got laid off and nothing bad happened. Choosing work has made a big difference in my life by making me feel useful and being able to contribute to other people but also choosing to work has let me [dictation cuts out here]. [ Music ] [ Pause ] >> Okay, thanks Mike. We have another question and Shanna I'm going to ask this one to you. Somebody wants to know once you assign your ticket to an EN how long is it before your ticket runs out? >> Good question. It depends on your situation and whether or not it's the first time you're participating in the Ticket to Work Program or maybe you are participating in the Ticket to Work Program or maybe you were participating in the Ticket to Work Program with a different employment network prior and then coming back it is intended to in a sense be a 5 year plan to work your way or a 5 year support to help you work your way off of social security cash benefits but often times individuals can participate in the Ticket to Work Program much longer than 5 years or sometimes people choose not to participate for that long, so it's really intended for them to be kind of a 5 year plan but like I said often times even with our participants in the Nebraska Ticket to Work Program there's numerous examples of individuals who have been participating in the program longer than 5 years. >> Okay. And Raina I've got one for you too, they're coming in fast and furious. >> Okay. >> Once your cash benefits stops do you lose your Medicare immediately? >> No, and Medicare is associated with the Title 2 cash benefits so if someone just has SSI they're not going to receive Medicare but there's a work incentive provision known as the Extended Period of Medicare Coverage and this allows individuals to begin working maybe they use their trial work period and go right to above SGA earnings and no longer receiving the cash benefits they can keep that Medicare for 93 months, at least 93 months after the trial work period is over. >> Okay. Thank you very much. It is important to note that if you are receiving Extended Medicare Coverage if you're not receiving a cash benefit that you will be billed for those premiums, so will have to pay for it just like you're paying for it now and I do believe that's all the questions for the moment but I would expect more to come, so I'm going to take over and start giving some people some additional tips for resources for young adults with disability and some additional information. Young people, it's really important to see what's going on. I mean those of us who are older and have worked we may have an easier time to get back into the workforce but a young person doesn't have that luxury, so find a mentor. Look to somebody for advice and guidance and make connections and that mentor can help you do that whether it's somebody in a particular job that you want to get into or a particular field that you may want to get into and that mentor gives you the opportunity to learn from someone who knows about that field, so it's a great thing to do and I know that some of the newer projects they're called Promise Projects are actually doing that, they're setting people up with mentors, finding people who can give youth in transitions some work experience in the field that they think they're interested in in order to see if they really are. If you're not involved in one of those programs you can look at the American Association of People with Disabilities Disability Mentoring Day it's a program that has already connected over 16,000 students and job seekers with disabilities to thousands of employers each year. So, all you need to do is Google American Association of People with Disabilities or AAPD and if you specifically want to get the DMD, the Disability Mentoring Day you can Google that as well or find it on the AAPD link; a great source of finding a mentor if you're not connected with somebody already who can help provide you with that service. Now that Disability Mentoring Day is held the third Wednesday in October, so it isn't until fall which is actually a great time for you, transition age youth because that's when they're starting school again and promotes career development through Hands On Job Programs, Job Shadowing, and Ongoing Mentoring. Job Shadowing is a great thing because this transition age youth can actually follow somebody around the workplace all day, you know, if somebody where to shadow me they would be sitting here helping me do my job, watching me do this webinar to see if they really want to get into this type of job and you can do with several different types of jobs not just one. This experience has helped thousands of participants develop lasting relationships that can result in internships or actual jobs and here's that website for you, www.aapd.com. Now, the Workforce Recruitment Program, to be eligible for this candidates must be current fulltime undergraduate or graduate students with a disability or have graduated within 1 year of the release of the database each December, so you have some window after graduation but this is going to be available to help you make those connections as well and it could be getting into an internship potentially a paid internship but ideally making a connection for a job and to participate in this program you can visit www.wrp.gov this is a government program. A new resource, Finding Your Path to Employment with the Ticket to Work. There's a set of videos that can help everybody, all jobseekers but especially those who are deaf or are hard of hearing and want to learn about the Ticket to Work Program and the resources available to find and help keep a job. The one thing we haven't spent a lot of time on is the fact that Ticket to Work not only can help you find a job but can provide you through those employment networks with services that are necessary to keep a job which is just as important. You can take a look at these videos without any obligation, it's a great safe way to learn at www.chooseworkttw. net/library/finding- your-path-to- employment-asl-video. And sharing success stories is a great way to help people learn, to help give people ideas about what they may want to do and we do have a lot of them out there. Megan has been wonderful about sharing her experience and several other people have shared their experience and they may be writing, they may have a video out there but if you want to share your success story with the Ticket Program and you are ages 18 through 30 we're particularly interested in talking about you. Do you currently or did you in the past participate in that Ticket to Work Program? We're looking for young adults who are willing to share their successes of transitioning from school to work and adulthood using that Ticket to Work Program. Your stories can help make somebody else's transition a whole lot easier, so if you want to submit your story you can go to stories@choosework. net and just type it out in your email, send it to stories@choosework. net the more details you give us, the more likely we're going to contact you and see if you want to make a video to share your success with other people and we're going to want to ask you to join us for our next webinar it is going to be July 22nd, 2015 same time 3 O'clock to 4:30 Eastern Daylight Saving Time and we're going to talking about more jobs for people with disabilities. What new regulations can mean for you. We're going to be particularly talking about section 503 on some new rules that require federal contractors to increase the percentage of people with disabilities on their workforces and it's a great goal. To register for that webinar you can register at www.choosework. net/wise or give a call to 866-968-7842 or for TTY users 866-833-2967. Now, I know we haven't gotten to all of your questions and you may get through one of two more before the day is out but if you have specific questions about your personal situation the best way to get a quick answer to that is to call the Ticket to Work Helpline at 866-968-7842 or for TTY users 866-833-2967. You can also visit the Social Security website at www.socialsecurity. gov/work now that is a government website but I got to tell you it is very user friendly and has a lot of information, a lot of information that you're going to need and it's very easy to search. If you want to get more information, you can like us on Facebook www.facebook. com/choosework and there are posts made to that website every minute. Follow us on Twitter www.twitter. com/chooseworkssa and we'll be tweeting important information to you as we get it or you use YouTube and watch some of our Ticket to Work videos at www.youtube. com/choosework. Now, we're going to ask, I've got one more question here and I think I'm going to ask Shanna what this is. Can any of these programs help me get my GED and get into college? >> It's possible. The service provider themselves or the employment networks may not be able to provide those services to you directly but an employment network or maybe even a WIPA Project or somebody that is assisting you with either that work incentive and benefits counseling piece and referral to other resources or an employment network or a state VR agency may know of services that are available or places that are available in your area to help you get through a GED program and maybe move on to work beyond that. >> Okay, and how would that work with; that certainly does and how would that work with any other kind of training opportunity? Let's say I wanted to become a truck driver a big rig driver. >> Okay. Actually, we have had someone participate in our Ticket to Work Program that did become a truck driver so I guess that's a good question. It's very similar. So, if you are someone who's interested in receiving some type of certification or maybe a CDL or maybe a specific degree or anything like that any of the agents, the types of agencies that we've mentioned either are a Workforce developmental center or a Workforce EN, a state vocational rehabilitation agency or even an employment network would be a good resource to have some of those initial discussions about what are your interests, what are your skills, what kind of education do you already have and then kind of help you find either provide the services directly or help you find the resources that are available in your area to help you get that education and then as Raina mentioned, there are some different work incentives that may, you know, even be able to help you pay for that kind of education. A state vocational rehabilitation agency may be able to provide some funding for that or you may be able to use a plan to achieve self-support to help use your own money or your own income or resources to be able to fund something like that. >> Okay. Thank you. Let me see what else we have up here. We've been trying to answer some of them and they're floating around everywhere. Okay. Here's one Shanna for you. This is a very important one too. If I don't like my EN can I find a new one and how do I switch my ticket? >> Very good question and absolutely you can change employment network if you are unsatisfied with the one you initially choose. To unassign your ticket typically you could either contact the employment network themselves or you could also contact [inaudible] to have your, and ask that your ticket be unassigned and Ray do you have a, you could probably call that Ticket to Work Helpline which is the 8. >> Yeah, absolutely you could. >> Nine68-7842 number. >> That's correct. It's right on the screen right now. You can call that number. >> Right. >> Alright, roll back again. Oh. I'm not sure who I'm going to ask this to but I'm thinking I'm going to ask it to Raina. What is and IDA? Somebody must have mentioned IDA along the way. >> Oh, okay, IDA stands for Individual Development Account and those are bank accounts that allow you to save money for a specific goal. It's meant to be a program an asset building program, so for example if someone wants to save up for a house or school or a business, if someone has an approved PASS account, or I'm sorry approved IDA account and some people can use PASS IDA at the same time, but that money by federal law is going to be exempt as a resource, so the SSI program that money in that Individual Development Account cannot be counted, SNAP benefits, Medicaid, Housing so it's a way for individuals to save money without being penalized by being over a resource limit. >> Okay. I'm going to ask you this one too Raina, will I be sent to Ticket to Work from social security? >> Well, it's possible that if you call social security and tell them you want to work they would probably refer you right to the Ticket to Work Helpline. It depends on I suppose the different offices and how they, what kind of relationship that office has with the employment networks in that state and I suppose even who talk to and how familiar that person is with work incentives in general. >> Yeah, right now everybody who's between the age of 18 and 64 has a ticket. There's not paper ticket that exists right now. It used to be way in the past they were actually mailed to you and social security will begin mailing them again this September but you should assume that if you're between the age of 18 and 64 and are receiving a cash benefit based on disability that you do have a ticket. The question is how do you want to use that? And I think that's going to do it. Oh, one more question for Raina. Are IDAs also limited to people between the ages of 18 and 64? >> You know, I am not for sure on that question it may vary state by state. >> I think it actually varies IDA to IDA but there is not, yeah, not necessarily that's about that's about the best information we can give you and a great way to find IDAs to begin with anyway is to simply Google your state name and IDA and all of them will come up and you can start clicking on each website and finding out how they work, who's eligible and for what purposes you can open an IDA and it's really a lot of research and shopping around. That's what it's going to take. Alright, well I want to thank everybody who's with us today. Thanks to Jamie for forwarding those questions. Thanks to Mike for making everything webinar work and thanks to Raina and Shanna for some great information. Please join us on our next webinar that is July 22nd and we're going to talking about section 503. So, with that I'm going to thank our presenters and wish everybody a great afternoon. Take care folks.