>> Good afternoon, everyone. And thank you for joining today's webinar on Ticket to Work: Choosing a Service Provider That's Right for You. My name is Brittany Thome, and I will be the moderator for today's webinar. Before we get started, though, I would like to go through a few tips and tricks so you can listen and learn from today's webinar most effectively. You can manage your audio using the audio option at the top of the screen. It looks like I microphone or a telephone icon. All attendees are muted, and we encourage you to attend by choosing "listen only" from the audio menu. This enables you to have the sound broadcast through your computer. So just take a moment at this time to be sure that your speakers are turned on or your headphones are plugged in. If you do not have sound capabilities on your computer or you prefer to listen to today's webinar by phone, you can dial the toll-free number: 800-832-0736. And the access code is 8458462. I want to take a moment to just go through a few notes on webinar accessibility. Real-time captioning is being provided during this webinar. And the captions can be found in the Captioning pod, which appears below the slides. You can also access captioning online if you prefer. That link is http://www.captionedtext.com/client/event.aspx?CustomerID=846&EventID=3532031. For questions and answers, please use the Q&A pods to submit any questions you have during the webinar, and we will direct the questions accordingly during the Q&A portion. If you are listening by phone and not logged into the webinar, you may also ask questions by e-mailing them directly to webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. And please note that this webinar is being recorded and the archive will be available within two weeks on the Choose Work website. And that website is http://bit.ly/WISEarchives. If you should experience any technical difficulties during the webinar today, please use the Q&A box to send a message, or you may e-mail webinars@choosework.ssa.gov. And with that, I would like to, once again, welcome you all. Again, my name is Brittany Thome. I will be moderating today's webinar. And I am thrilled to be joined by three wonderful presenters who have such great knowledge on this very important topic about how to build a great network of support for your employment team. I'm very happy to have them here with us today. I'd like to start by introducing Mary Lynn ReVoir from the American Dream Employment Network, also known as ADEN. Mary Lynn is the co-founder and co-director of the American Dream Employment Network, a division of National Disability Institute. And Mary Lynn has more than 35 years of experience developing and operating programs to enhance the lives of individuals with disabilities. Prior to leading ADEN, Mary Lynn joined the NDI Disability Employment Initiative Technical Assistance Team as the ticket coordinator for the Public Workforce System. She tapped into her prior experience working eight years in the Iowa workforce system under the Disability Program Navigator Initiative, developing and coordinating an employment network on behalf of seven state agencies. Her career also includes serving as executive director of a private disability services provider in Iowa. And she developed innovative service programs for children and adults with disabilities for 16 years. We are also very excited and pleased to introduce Tina Skeel from Indiana Works. She is the program manager at Aspire Indiana, and has devoted the last 28 years promoting employment opportunities for persons with barriers to employment. She is a nationally-recognized trainer and consultant in the field of supportive employment and benefits counseling. Tina brings with her direct line service, research and program evaluation experience. She has worked to establish and enhance employment programs for individuals with barriers to employment, including individuals with disabilities, criminal histories, and long-term homelessness. And I'd like to also introduce our third presenter, Sandy Widener. She is an area supervisor for Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation in Indiana with 28 years of experience working with individuals with disabilities. She began her career within the mental health field working exclusively with individuals in a group home setting in Illinois. And then after moving to Indiana, worked as a service coordinator and case manager in a day service setting. She has also worked with individuals and supported independent living and has provided employment services in support for low-income individuals receiving assistance with TANF and food stamps, VR, and WIOA youth program. After a decade of working within the private sector, Sandy began working for Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation as one of the area managers and has been with VR now for the past 10 years. So we have a great lineup of speakers today. And we have a great topic to be discussing. As I said, choosing your employment team and setting forth on a task is really critical to setting forth on a path to success. So our topics are going to include discussing the Social Security disability benefits and the Ticket to Work program, exploring your work goals, and then looking to meet your employment team. And we'll hear from the American Dream Employment Network, and also learn more about some of the long-term employment support you may want to choose. Then we're going to look at choosing a service provider that's right for you. And then we'll talk about some next steps on the path to success and share some additional resources. So that's a lot to go through, so I don't want to waste any more time before we jump right in to hear a little bit more starting with Social Security disability benefits. And I'd like to turn it over to Mary Lynn at this time.

>> Well, thank you, Brittany, and good afternoon, everyone. And thanks for joining this webinar today. The [inaudible] administration has two programs they administer related to individuals who experience disabilities that interfere with their ability to engage in substantial work. It's important to learn what benefit type you receive. Excuse me, folks. Thank you. Social Security Disability Insurance is the first program that we want to mention. And some people refer to this program as SSDI. The monthly cash benefit varies for each eligible beneficiary. And perhaps the assistants there can forward the slide. Thank you. The second program is called Supplemental Security Income, and commonly referred to as SSI. There is a federal benefit rate established by Social Security every calendar year. For most individuals, in 2018, that monthly cash benefit amount is $750 per month. Can you receive both types of benefits? Yes. Some of you may receive both types of benefits. The trial is the Ticket to Work Program. One of the many work incentives offered by Social Security Administration includes a variety of different types of incentives to help an individual return back to the workforce. One of them is called the Ticket to Work Program. Starting your journey into the workforce is your individual decision. Only you can decide if work is the right choice at this time. Making this important decision is based on numerous factors. You should spend time to consider why choose work and why now. Work can bring many benefits to an individual. The obvious is working can increase your income and lead to opportunities you may not otherwise have available. Having access to more income can lead to more financial security. Many people report working makes them feel happier by contributing to society. Working also provides a chance for you to learn new skills and meet new people. The Ticket to Work Program is free. And it's you who decides if you want to participate. It's a voluntary participation available to individuals who receive a cash benefit of Social Security Disability Insurance, or SSI, and is 18 through 64 years of age. The intent of the Ticket to Work Program is for eligible beneficiaries to receive career development from qualified service providers if you have plans to start working or return to the workforce. Planning your journey towards employment can be very exciting and scary at the same time. So gathering information and resources is the key to taking the next step. If you are considering entering the workforce, use the Ticket to Work Program and the Social Security Work Incentives to ease your journey and make this important step a smooth event. Where to get help in learning more? You can call the Ticket to Work Help Line at 866-968-7842. Or for those of you who use a TTY, you can dial 866-833-2967. If you have access to the internet, you can visit the website, which is choosework.ssa.gov. I'm now going to turn it over to Tina.

>> Hello, there. This is Tina Skeel. I'm so glad to be back with you all. I want to check in real quickly with Brittany and make sure that there aren't any questions right upfront before we jump right into exploring our work goals. Brittany, do we have any, any questions at this point?

>> Not yet, but we'll take a quick break after we hear from you. And if you do have any questions to the audience, just be sure to put them into the chat box.

>> Excellent. All right, well, thank you all again for joining today. I looked back at my notes. It's been a year since I've been with you all. So, again, thank you for having me be a part of this very special event. We're going to start out talking a little bit about exploring your work goals. Now, why is setting work goals so important? Well, work goals help you focus on the path to your career. Now, I'm a runner, and I have to admit, I'm not a very good runner. But I do try to get out there. And I think a work goal is just like how I set my goals for running. First of all, one of the number one reasons why I make a goal when I go out to run a race is, first of all, it's really helpful in measuring the progress. If you've ever run a race before, you know you have that finish line, but if you set up small goals that can help you actually gauge your progress, it makes that journey a little bit easier. So, for instance, for me, one of the first goals I always set in a race is just to make it to that first half mile. Now, that seems a little silly. But not all work goals start right out with the goal of I'm going to get a job from 9:00 to 5:00. You might start out with something a little simpler. And that might be just, for instance, being on the line today. That's a great example of a good work goal. You've gotten started. And sometimes those goals, especially the first ones, seem to be the hardest. So you have made probably the hardest step today by joining in on this call. So we hope that the rest of your journey will go smoothly. The second reason why setting a work goal is so important is because it holds you accountable and really keeps you focused. You know, I mentioned that half mile. And being able to push yourself to get over that hump and go to the next stage is really, really important. So keeping that accountable, making sure that you're making progress. The other thing that happens is by setting a work goal, you're also helping stay motivated in keeping you on track. So for me, I know if I don't get up and run at least three days a week, I am not going to be able to run that race in the spring. So, again, when we relate it back to our work goals, setting up small goals, incremental goals that we can see progress, that help keep us accountable, is really, really important. The last thing is increasing your chance of success. Well, everybody I have ever known that has gone out and gotten a job, they started out with some pretty basic work goals to keep them focused. So, again, you may not start out with this big giant goal, but you may want to start out with some smaller steps, and you have a really great opportunity today to meet some people that can help you move forward. So what are your work goals? Okay, so we're going to look at really thinking about what is your work goal. In the next three slides, we're going to talk a little bit about some questions that you might want to ask yourself to help keep you focused and really focus on your work goals. So think about these questions. What type of work do I like to do? And you don't have to be completely passionate about your job. But man, there's nothing worse than going to a job that you dread. You know, I think there's a quote that says if you love your job, you'll never work a day in your life. So think about what you like to do. Think about what your interests are. What are my interests? What do I like to do? Do I like to work outside? Do I like to work in an office setting? Do I like to be on the computer all day? Those are really big questions. So kind of linking back into that interest. What kind of job do I want right now? Now, there's something called the ABCs of jobs. And I totally believe in this, that you start off with a job. And then the B stands for a better job. And C stands for a career. So you might not--when you're talking about career goals, you might want to start out starting with an A job, then going to that B and going to the C. So just remember that the ABCs of jobs. Because the last question here, what kind of job do I want in five years from now, you know, if you start in this job, it doesn't mean that's your job forever. Think about where you want to head. And there are tons and tons of tools out there that can help you look at what your interests are, what kind of job openings are out there, and really help engage you. Now, there's online tools, and we're going to talk about some very special people that can help. In just a minute, if you'll hold on just a bit, we're going to meet several people that can help you. Now, finding the job goal itself, actually narrowing down a job goal is really hard work. It takes time. And don't expect that you're just going to sit down and come up with a goal. You really need to take some time and some thought. I would really encourage you to create a team or find those people that can help you really engage and really kind of hone in your job goal. So take some time to think about these questions. What are the long-term career goals? What are my long-term career goals? Where do I want to end up? Where do I want to work? Do I want to work at home? Like today, I'm working from home. Do I want to work in an office? Do I want to work outside, maybe at a parts department? So really paying attention to that job environment is also important. Do I want to be self-employed or do I want to work for someone else? You know, self-employment is on the rise, and even small business is very hot right now. So there are some, a couple other questions we want to take a look at. Once you know the kind of job you want, ask yourself, what do you need to be successful? So you kind of honed into what your job goal is, but now you need to go back and look at what are the things that are going to make me successful? For instance, information about a specific job option. So there are lots of tools that you can utilize on the web that can help you kind of hone down on what kind of jobs are out there, what types of industries are out there. So really looking at information about specific job options. And paying attention to what some of those job options or requirements are of the job. Do you need any kind of special training or education? For instance, if you want to be a CNA, or certified nursing assistant, you have to have some very specific training to do that or certifications. So you may need to get some additional training. If you haven't been in the workforce in a while, you may need to sharpen your skills. For instance, just the difference in Microsoft Word over the last three to five years, it's really changed a lot. There are also lots of web-based services such as Google Docs that are very popular right now. So knowing what kind of training and education you need. And we'd really encourage you to get out there and get brushed up on some of those skills. Another question is, do you need a resume or job interviewing skills? Now, not all jobs require resumes, but you need to have a comprehensive list of your previous employment, your supervisors, the duties that you performed and the salaries. So, you know, make sure that you have all of that information in alignment before you actually go out and start looking for work. Understanding of how work affects benefits. We have some very special people on the line. You've already heard from Mary just a little bit earlier. And we're going to talk about folks that can help you understand how work affects your benefits. We want to make sure that you make an educated and well-thought-out plan to help you become self-sufficient. The last thing is around reasonable accommodations and assistive technology. For example, I use a screen reader. I have a learning disability, and I didn't get my first screen reader until about five or ten years ago. And man, has that changed my life. But not all, not all types of accommodations require money. Actually, there's data out there that shows that accommodations typically cost under $100. That's kind of a little bit to think about before you go out and actually start the job process. So I'm going to stop right here again and ask Brittany if we have any questions at this point, or if we are ready to meet our employment team.

>> Thank you, Tina. And thank you, Mary Lynn, as well. That was really interesting information, and we are getting some good questions coming in. I'm also hearing from a lot of people who seem to really know what they want to do. And I just want to say to those individuals that are on the line, that's a great start, and I think really will help drive people who, you know, who are working to think a little bit more deeply about their work goals. So Tina, maybe I'll turn this first question over to you. We had a question come in of can you provide me with some resources for organizations that can help me establish a work goal? And I know you kind of teased us that we're going to be hearing more about that, but maybe that will start us off in that conversation.

>> Absolutely. Well, one of the first things that we're going to talk about is the employment teams. So as we move on, I'm going to give you a little teaser right here. One of the best websites that you can go to to find these folks that we're getting ready to talk about is the Choose Work website. And that website, again, is http://choosework.ssa.gov/. So it's http://choosework.ssa.gov. And there are lots and lots of resources on there. So if you can hold on for just a couple of minutes, we're going to jump right into this employment team, and we're going to talk about four very important folks. So Brittany, should we?

>> Thank you, Tina. And would these resources also help someone who is interested in self-employment?

>> Absolutely. And we're going to talk a little bit about employment networks. We're going to talk a little bit about state resources. We're going to talk about vocational rehabilitation. All of these services can help you if you are interested in self-employment.

>> Great. Well, thank you. And before we move on, I do want to ask maybe a couple more questions. But we have been getting some questions coming in around Ticket to Work. And the first one is, and I'll direct this to Mary Lynn, is how important is it that I know what type of benefit I'm receiving? And how can I find out?

>> Well, Brittany, that's an excellent question, because it's very important to know what benefit type you're receiving. Knowing that correct benefit type, it will help you better understand your benefits and the related available work incentives. It will also help anyone who is providing you with benefits planning and work incentive guidance. This is a critical step to be able to inform others of the benefit type you're on. So those who are supporting you can gather and provide you with accurate and precise information.

>> Great. Thanks, Mary Lynn. I do have one more question about the Ticket to Work Program. And that is, what happens if I can no longer participate in the Ticket to Work Program due to my health? Is there a way that I can still--if later on would choose to go back to work, how I can do that?

>> Well, this is one of the beauties of the Ticket to Work Program. As I mentioned earlier, you can participate in the Ticket to Work Program as your own decision. It's voluntary. And it allows you to have a professional to help support you with your employment goals. So you're not required to participate. But if you choose to, and for some reason your health condition worsens and you're no longer able to participate due to your health, you have the option to leave the Ticket to Work Program. What we typically say in the field is you would have your ticket assigned and then you would choose to unassign it because of your health. And your benefits are not affected by whether you're in the Ticket to Work Program or not. Your benefits are impacted by earned wages. So there's certainly a way to adjust as your situation or your health changes.

>> Great. Thank you, Mary Lynn. I'm going to ask one more question. And I think maybe I'll direct this to Tina since you talked a little bit about some of the resources that you can receive from an employment team, including, you had mentioned resume or interview skills, how do you explain gaps in a resume?

>> That is a really great question. And it's something that a lot of people deal with on an everyday basis. One way, there are some resources online if you go in and look at resume writing and just type in, when you do a Google search, you can type in gaps in employment or how to explain it. But I'm also going to recommend that you work with the employment team that you set up to help explain or to help clarify those gaps in employment. But one piece of advice that I always tell people is be upfront and honest about what's going on in your life. You don't need to tell them the whole life story about what's going on. But be very clear. And don't discount unpaid work. A lot of times, people have family members who they're taking care of. That's working. They may have other things going on. They may be volunteering somewhere. Those are also work. While they're not paid work, it still does play into your work experience. So I hope that helps you.

>> Yes, that was a great, great question and great answer. So we talked a lot about building your employment team. So I would like to bring it back and really look deeper into how do you meet your employment team? Let's meet who those people might be. Mary Lynn?

>> Well, as we mentioned, you'll want to give some thought about your work goals and learn as much as you can about Ticket to Work. Today, we provide you with a brief introduction. And you may be wondering, well, who are these service providers that can support you? And there are a variety of ticket service providers. And we're going to mention who those are. The first one we're going to talk about is the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance projects. They do have a shorter name. We call them WIPA. And they are hosted in each of the states. Then there are Employment Networks. We have another acronym for them. We call them an EN. And Employment Networks are scattered throughout the country, and they're typically providers that have and are required to have experience in providing employment services to individuals with disabilities. The third type of a provider is called a Workforce Employment Network. And that reflects an entity that represents the Public Workforce System. In some communities, it's called an American Job Center, Career Center, and as we said earlier, a Workforce Center. So that's a third option. The fourth type of a service provider, the State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies. For short, we sometimes refer to them as a VR agency. And they are located in each of the states. In some states, there are two agencies, one specifically for individuals who have a visual impairment, and then a different agency who's representing and supporting those individuals with other types of disabilities. But that's not necessarily true in every state. It's just in some states, they have both types of VR offices. The last service provider type is called Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security organizations. And there's a nickname for that. It's called PABSS. And they are also located in the states. So let's talk a little bit more detail about each of these different service providers that we, or that I just mentioned. We're going to talk next about the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance. These projects provide free Benefits Counseling to Social Security disability beneficiaries. And when we mention Social Security disability, you know, beneficiaries, we're meaning individuals either on SSI or Social Security disability. And they offer a range of services to help you understand your options. Your benefits can be very complicated. And everybody is an individual. So what you might hear a neighbor say about their benefits could very likely be very different than what your situation is. So these WIPA projects are staffed by professionals called a Community Work Incentive Coordinator. And these certified trained professionals provide in-depth counseling about working, earning more money, and how working may affect your benefits. So how can working with a WIPA project help you? Well, there are many ways a WIPA project can help you. They, again, with their certified personnel, they've got training to learn the in-depth and the nuances of each of the benefit types, and they're going to help you understand the variety of different subjects, including the potential benefits of employment. They're going to analyze your personal situation of how work and earnings may affect your benefits, your SSI, your Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, and if you receive other Federal and State benefits. They're also going to help you understand the work incentives that Social Security has to offer and how those incentives can apply to you. Again, it's very, very individualized. And they will help you understand the services that are provided, either by the State VR agency or an Employment Network, and how they might best fit into what your employment needs are. There are many, many people who receive benefits and are considering going back to work. And they want help to learn about their benefits and these work incentives. And because of that large volume, the WIPA projects do have an order of criteria of who are they going to provide services to. So you can work with a state WIPA project if you are one of the following, if you are working, if you have a job offer pending, if you are actively interviewing for a job. And what do they call actively interviewing for a job? Well, they mean you have an interview in the past 30 days, or you have an interview scheduled in the next two weeks. And then there is a focus on youth. So if someone is age 14 up to 25, you don't have to necessarily be actively pursuing work or be having that job interview or the job offer. So those are the selected categories in which the WIPA project serves individuals.

>> Okay, so I think, Mary, it's back to me to talk a little about Employment Networks. This is Tina Skeel again. So as Mary Lynn already explained, a lot of times, the acronym for Employment Network is EN, so if you hear me say that abbreviation, you know what it is. So we've talked a little bit about the WIPA team. It can be of vital importance to your planning to go back to work. So let's talk a little bit about the Employment Network. An Employment Network is an organization, or an agency, that provides free, so there's no cost to you, employment services to people eligible for the Ticket to Work Program. What a great benefit there. The service helps you prepare for, find and maintain employment, and may include lots of different services. Now, the one thing I want to point out is that you will find that each one of these Employment Networks, or ENs, are a little bit different. So no two are alike. So you're going to need to do some homework to find out what is the right EN for you, and really look at how it fits into what you want. There are employment networks that specialize in self-employment. I know we had a question about that earlier. There are Employment Networks that specialize in working with people in specific industries. So, again, finding the Employment Networks that really fits you and what your needs are. Again, they can provide that career planning. So we talked a little bit earlier about goal setting and interest testing. So those Employment Networks can help you with that career planning. And again, it's a free service. Secondly, they can provide you with assistance for job search, or even job placement. Again, some Employment Networks have their foot in the door, so-to-speak, in certain industries. So they can really be that connector to you and the employer. They can also, once you get a job, that doesn't mean that services are over. An Employment Network provides ongoing supports. But once you get a job, you can always connect with them and have conversations about what's going on with work, or if you have specific questions on how to deal with maybe a situation with a co-worker. You have that Employment Network there as a means to assist you. Now, there are Employment Networks that have benefits counseling. And I want to kind of differentiate benefits counseling and what the CWIC or WIPA project does. So as Mary Lynn already stated, those WIPA projects are required to go through a very rigorous training and ongoing training. So they have to keep their skills up continually. So checking in, how the benefits counseling is done, are they certified. In some states, like in Indiana, they have this great project called the Ben Liaison Project. And what they do are actually help out WIPA projects with some of that initial start-up, will help provide initial benefits counseling to individuals. And then they pass off those cases to the WIPA projects once the person goes to work. And some of those very complex situations that sometimes come up, that's really what our, what the project does, is really help those folks who are working, getting ready to go to work. So again, just make sure that you are clear on that benefits counseling that's being provided through the EN. There are lots of great services out there. So just know that there is lots of help around benefits counseling. The last piece, which is assistive technology and accommodations, I already mentioned earlier that sometimes accommodations are less than $100, and a lot of times they're free. For example, having a stool at a cashier's stand can help if somebody has back problems. That's an example of an almost free accommodation. So that Employment Network could help you with that. So lots of neat services that are out there and available through Employment Networks. Now, who specifically serves, is served by an EN? Okay, so when you're looking online, and I already mentioned the website earlier, and we'll go back to that in just a minute, but know that each Employment Network is a little bit different on what their specialties are. Some ENs only provide services in their local community. So they might cover just the city or maybe a certain geographical area in your state. Other ENs may work on a regional or across one or more states so that that would be a very large EN. And then there are ENs that cover the whole entire country. So we're talking about a massive Employment Network out there. Now, obviously somebody who covers the whole United States, they may not come and meet with you in person. So one of the other questions that you want to ask your Employment Network that you're looking at is do you meet in person, do you meet by phone, do you meet virtually, you know, with video conferencing or e-mail or websites? So knowing how your Employment Network typically provides services and compare it to what you want. So would you prefer to meet with somebody in person or on the phone, or are you okay with just meeting someone virtually? So again, trying to figure that out and kind of gauging on what is best for you. But now I'm going to hand it back to Mary Lynn to talk about ADEN. Mary Lynn, are you on the line?

>> I am, and thank you. I'm always excited to talk about the American Dream Employment Network, which we, for short, refer to as ADEN. And so today, I'm going to give you some information about who we are. ADEN was approved as an Employment Network by the Social Security Administration Ticket to Work Program in 2015. So even though we're kind of a newcomer, as the length of time of being an approved service provider, many of us have been part of the ticket program for many, many years. ADEN is described as a National Administrative Employment Network. Well, what does that mean? Well, the services are provided by a network of qualified agencies across the country, all of them who have been trained and supported by an experienced team of professionals. ADEN is a division of National Disability Institute, the only national non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to design pathways to economic stability and mobility for people with disabilities. Employment is one of those pathways to your economic stability. And ADEN provides that support. The core services provided or offered by ADEN to meet your individual employment or career goals include the following; career counseling, which means we're helping you identify what type of work you are interested in. Maybe your natural talents are in that area. Maybe it's a past work history that you've performed. Perhaps it's some education that you have obtained or are interested in. And it also might just be what's available in the job market in your community. We certainly want to support individuals to move into jobs that have some job stability in their future, and these are called high-demand jobs. The second core service is called job search supports. And that's looking at your current skills. Is there any training that might be needed or upgrade of skills? Do you need to brush up on some skills? And we help develop professional resumes. We do some work with you for preparing for an interview. Not only interview tips, but some mock interviews. And they also have a variety of strategies to search for jobs. The job search today is very different than what it has been in the past. And with technology, it's changing quickly every day. The third support that we provide is called long-testimony support on the job. So once you get a job, we don't go away. We continue to provide you with supports to make sure that you're feeling, you know, secure on the job, trying to address if there's any concerns or barriers. Perhaps there's other occurrences happening in your personal life with your health or some family needs or whatever, we can connect you with community resources. There's two more unique services that the American Dream Employment Network offers, and that includes individual counseling on your benefits and work incentive advisement. This is from certified personnel, and these benefits counselors are different than those at the WIPA projects. They have a little different training, and the specifics of the supports they give are a little bit different. And then the other unique service that the American Dream Employment Network has to offer is financial wellness. And these are services to address a wide range of unique situations that are related to your financial stability. It might include financial education, helping you manage your finances, creating a savings plan, repairing credit problems, you know, all of those kind of money-related issues that creep up in most people's life. Let's talk about who are the key stakeholders with the American Dream Employment Network. Well, we have three key stakeholders. The first one is, which we refer to as a participant. We have chosen to refer to a ticket holder who assigns their ticket with us as a participant because we want you to be participatory in this process to get a job, and then to maintain a job and eventually move towards more self-sufficiency. So these are the job seekers, such as those of you listening today who receive the Social Security disability benefits and use the ticket program, because you have a Ticket to Work, and you have chosen to assign your ticket to the American Dream Employment Network. We call you a participant. The members is the term we give to the service providers across the country who are going to help you find and retain employment. And then the third prominent stakeholder are our partners who are employers. These employers have an interest in hiring and retaining qualified ticket holders, and are looking to really diversify their workforce. In this slide, we have a visual map, and I am going to explain that the current network that's made up of the American Dream Employment Network are 58 different agencies or members representing 24 states in the District of Columbia. We recognize that our world is using technology more and more every day as a means to provide a variety of services. So to those of you who find that option appealing of having a virtual distant service, we do offer virtual employment services to job seekers across the United States. But for the locations in which our members reside, we do provide personal services, you know, in-person, sitting down at a table and discussing your plans. We value partners to provide the best possible experience to you. It really, you know, it takes a village, right? We hear that a lot. And then in this case, we take a team. And sometimes it's an integrated resource team, a fancy term that says we need to maybe pull in a variety of professionals to support you on your path to employment. So we recognize that we want to work with State Vocational Rehabilitation Offices. And if you choose to receive services from your State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency, that's fantastic, because we believe that, you know, that's your choice. And we want to support your choice. And as an EN, ADEN partners with many state VR offices to provide ongoing employment supports after you have received vocational rehabilitation services. We have a list of states with formal agreements in this, what we call Partnership Plus agreement. That's a term Social Security has coined when a Vocational Rehabilitation and an Employment Network have a formal written agreement to provide this continuum support where you can use your Ticket to Work. The states where we have a Partnership Plus agreement are Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts and Wisconsin. And just last week, we added to that list Virginia and Maryland. We have other states who are discussing with us the possibility of offering that Partnership Plus in their states. ADEN supports over 600 ticket holders. And we have a map on this particular slide that shows the distribution of these beneficiaries of assigned tickets, which we call participants. And this map really shows that they're all over the country. And, you know, we are proud of the fact that we can provide support to individuals who may not have an Employment Network, you know, down the street or in their town, or if they're in the rural area, we do provide an option if indeed it's interesting and appealing to you to have that virtual service. We also partner with over 900 employers across the country who are hoping to employ qualified individuals with disabilities to join their workforce. 90% of these employers have federal contracts. And why is it worth mentioning that? Well, there is some legislation. It's called Section 503 of the Rehab Act. And these federal contractors are required under that act to demonstrate how are they recruiting to the disability community in hopes to employ some individuals with disabilities, and therefore, increase the employment rate for persons with disabilities. So how do you contact us? Well, if you want to learn more about the American Dream Employment Network, you have a number of ways you can get a hold of us. You can e-mail us at info@americandreamen.org. And let me spell that out. It's info@americandreamen.org. Or you can call us at our toll-free number. 844-687-2336. And the third option, if you want to visit our website, maybe read about some success stories, be directed to resources, or join in some of our free available webinar training, the website and address is www.americandreamen.org. In other words, it's www.americandreamen.org. Brittany, do we have any--do I pause here for some questions?

>> Sure, we are getting a lot of questions about all of the different ticket program service providers from WIPA and ENs, and also a lot of questions on ADEN. The first one I will ask, Tina, if I could direct this one to you, you mentioned this before, but could you remind us if there is a way to find EN, which provides services to a person in a certain area?

>> Absolutely. And we're going to get into this a little bit deeper towards the end of the presentation. So I'm not going to take up a whole lot of time. But I am going to reference you, again, back to the Choose Work website. There is a special tool in there, a tool finder, that will help you. Again, the address is https://choosework.ssa.gov/. And I promise, if you can hold on just a few minutes more, we are going to jump right into that question.

>> All right, thanks, Tina. We're also getting a lot of questions about WIPA and CWICs and CPWICs and benefits planners. And I know that there's a lot of terms that we throw around. So Mary Lynn, can you just remind me about what the differences are between a WIPA, a CWIC, a CPWIC, and a benefits planner?

>> I sure will. And we realize in this industry, it can get confusing using these different acronyms. So let's take a stab at that. A CPWIC is a Community Partner Work Incentives Counselor. So a CPWIC is someone who's undergone specialized training and certification. It's the same as a CWIC, which is a Community Work Incentive Counselor. But these CPWICs, the one with the P, that extra letter in there, the partner, they do not work for a WIPA project. Now, a CPWIC may work as a vendor for VR, or they may provide, be a private contractor providing these services, or they may work for an Employment Network. CPWICs, like CWICs, are required to maintain their benefits proficiency by taking classes every year and continuing their education and passing assessments, et cetera. Now, the term benefit planner, that's an informal term that we use to describe either a CWIC or a CPWIC. So if you want to just make it easier and say benefits planner, we'll know what that means.

>> All right, thanks, Mary Lynn. I'm sure that was a really helpful clarification for a lot of people on the line. Tina, if I could turn this one back over to you, we had a great question come in from the audience today. And that is, can we access Employment Network services directly, or do we have to go through the Ticket to Work Program?

>> That's a great question. So if you are interested in not--and I want to make sure I'm correct in understanding this. So I'm going to rely on my eyes on the other end to ensure that this is correct. You're asking if you have to use the Ticket to Work Program to get help with assistance in finding a job or looking for a job. You can go directly to that State Vocational Rehabilitation System. You can go directly to an Employment Network. You can go directly to a Community Rehabilitation Provider in your state. You can even go into the work one. And we're going to talk a little bit about workforce [inaudible] here in just a minute. But you don't necessarily have to use the Ticket to Work Program. It's an option, and a free option to you. So hopefully that addresses your question.

>> Yes, I think that was very helpful. And maybe I'll give this next question to Tina and Mary Lynn. And either of you may want to answer this. Mary Lynn, you talked about benefits counselors. Do all ENs have a benefits counselor on staff? And what are the requirements for those referrals?

>> Okay, I'll take a stab at that. It is not required for an Employment Network, or an EN, to have benefits counselors on staff. So as you are searching for a provider, you could ask them, do you have certified benefits counselors on staff? So some ENs do, some may not. And they are going to be different than your state WIPA project. Now, remember, you know, a few minutes ago, we talked about WIPA, and there are certain requirements to access the WIPA services because of this large volume of beneficiaries in our country. So quickly, let's just review, if you--top priority is for those of you who are working. Next, it's one who has a job offer pending, followed by are you actively interviewing for jobs. And remember, that's meant you had an interview in the past 30 days, or you have a scheduled interview in the next two weeks. And then there is a priority also, in addition to that list, for those age 14 to 25 who are not necessarily actively pursuing work. Now, for, if you're going to go to an Employment Network who has certified benefits counselors on staff, you know, they would be able to assist you with that--your work incentives and your benefits planning, you know, shortly after you get your ticket assigned. And in some cases, even maybe before you assign your ticket. Because that's all part of that intake gathering of information about who you are and what it is that you hope to achieve through employment.

>> Great. Thanks, Mary Lynn. Tina, did you have anything to add, or should we take another couple questions?

>> I think we can take another couple questions.

>> Sure. And just so everyone knows, I did put it back up on the screen, the slide that talks about WIPA, and some of the requirements for working and having a WIPA referral. So I'll leave that up there for another minute or so if you have questions or wanted to refer back to that slide. But I did want to ask one more question of Mary Lynn going back to ADEN, is how is ADEN different from other ENs? You talked about how a lot of ENs are local or individual, so how is ADEN different?

>> Well, I think the first way that ADEN is different is our primary focus aligns with our mission. And that mission is to improve your financial status through employment. And this is how we offer those services that are in addition to the required Ticket to Work services. So you may recall, those two additional services were the work incentive advisement by certified personnel, and connecting you to, again, credentialed professionals that assist you with your financial questions, concerns, or to help you gain that financial stability. We are also a National Administrative Employment Network, so Brittany, you're correct, it's common for an Employment Network to be a local provider, but we're a national provider. And as an Administrative EN, what that term means is that we have a number of professionals representing these agencies, 58 agencies in 24 states.

>> Great. Thank you. I wanted to kind of piggyback onto the comment that the EN may have an actual benefits counselor. And there's also ENs that actually have in their agency a WIPA. But one thing that you need to know is when you go to a WIPA project, that they are going to give you all the names of the Employment Networks in your area, just because they might be housed at the same facility. We have a responsibility from the WIPA side to ensure that people have access and are aware of all of their options for their employment team. So I just wanted to kind of piggyback on that. Because it is a little confusing to figure out how everybody all works together.

>> Great. Thank you, Tina, and thank you, Mary Lynn. So we've now looked at WIPAs as an example, and an example of an Employment Network. So what I'd like to do is continue looking at some of the other ticket program service providers who you might be able to work with. Sandy and Tina, could you share some information about some of the other service providers that can help someone achieve their work goals?

>> Absolutely, because there's a couple of real exciting ones. The one that some of you may be familiar with, and we've talked a little bit about Workforce ENs, or Workforce Development Agencies, now, I'm a little old school, so you're going to have to apologize, I'm going to apologize right now, back in the day, they used to call it the Unemployment Office. A horrible name for it. And now it's the Employment Office. And within those Employment Offices, they may be in county areas. They actually are part of the actual workforce development within your state.

[ Inaudible ]

So at any rate, they're there to help you access things like training. They have tons and tons of training. They have computer skills. I mentioned earlier the Workforce EN here in our state has lots of information on how to brush up on things like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, how to write your resume. So there's a ton of different trainings out there. They also have special programs. Many of those Workforce ENs have specialized programs and trainings for veterans and young adults here in Indiana. It's called the JAG Program. And that's connected with the school system. So as we mentioned earlier, Mary Lynn talked about the priority. Those students ages 14 to 24 were really targeting those. So being able to braid all these different resources together is vital to helping people be successful in their work. So, again, a Workforce EN is an EN that is also part of that state public workforce. The Workforce EN, again, provides all these different services. Typically, you need to just walk in the door. Now, the classes a lot of times will be on a scheduled event. I would encourage you to get on your Workforce EN's website. And a lot of times, they have a calendar posted that says when those trainings are available, and they're always free. So, again, a really great resource to work with. So with that said, I'm going to introduce Sandy who's going to talk about the State Vocational Rehabilitation System, or State VR. Sandy, are you on the line?

>> I am, Tina. Thanks for that introduction. Hi, guys. I was here about a year ago, so I'm excited to come back and talk with you guys, again, about Vocational Rehabilitation. Vocational Rehabilitation is a Federal State Program, and it helps people who have physical or mental disabilities either get or keep a job. VR is committed to helping people with disabilities find careers. So when people say, well, what is VR, that's what we do, we help people find careers, figure out the steps that need to be taken to get you where you need to go for your ultimate employment goals. When we talk about Vocational Rehabilitation, it is a program that is based on eligibility. We furnish a lot of different services for people. So first and foremost, like I said, it is an eligibility designed program. Some of the services that Vocational Rehabilitation might be able to offer you as someone who would fit into that category for eligibility for VR services, if you plan to become employed, a few of them are listed here. We have intensive training, or education, we have rehabilitation services, career counseling, job placement, benefits counseling, all of those things that you have just heard through the Employment Networks. Some of the other things that VR, it's not listed here, but some of the other things that we would do is a medical and a psychological assessment if needed to determine eligibility. Maybe an individual has been receiving Social Security for many, many years, and you're interested in going back to work, but you're not sure exactly what you can do, you're not sure what your functional limitations are now because you haven't worked in quite some time. Vocational Rehabilitation should be able to work with you to determine, you know, if your doctor has any restrictions, or maybe there's an assessment that needs to take place to see if you can work part-time, if you can work full-time, if you can handle a job where it requires standing or you might need to have some accommodations. They can work with you to determine if job site accommodations are necessary. Tina had mentioned that a lot of times, the accommodations are very low-cost. One of the good things about working with Vocational Rehabilitation is that's an accommodation that's required for you to be able to go to work. Sometimes those accommodations can get very expensive. And Vocational Rehabilitation can assist with some of those, sometimes I want to say high dollar accommodations. For example, if you need a van modified and you meet certain criteria, we might be able to help with that very expensive accommodation. We can help possibly with some expensive technological solutions to some--to be able to overcome whatever barrier it is that you might need, things like that. It's very individualized, so it's hard for me to sit here and give you an entire menu to select from, because that's really not how VR works. We really look at what your limitations are, what your strengths are, what you already bring to the table, the skills that you have, what you still need to obtain. There's technology that is going to help you get there. And we put them kind of all together in a plan for you. We can do some vocational evaluations and some vocational planning services. So it may be that we're working with a student coming out of high school and they don't really know what they want to do, and they had a few opportunities when they were in high school, bullet they want to explore things further before they just jump into a career choice without really fully exploring it. That's what the counselors can do with the individuals. We also assist with job placement. If somebody really needs assistance actually on the job learning their job, that's usually called job coaching. We can assist with that. So what Vocational Rehabilitation does is get all of those services together, and then in Indiana, what we would do if a person needs more assistance than just working with their counselor, we have specific service providers that we can send a referral to and you can work with them on that one-on-one basis. So you might not actually be working with your VR counselor to fill out job applications and go to look for those jobs and maybe go on your job site and do some of those evaluations. We may send the referral out to the people that can assist you individually on that one-on-one capacity to help you do that. Let's see, did I miss anything? I think that's it. We'll go to the next slide. So let me go back for just a minute. I do want to touch on something for just a minute. Even though, because you're receiving Social Security, SSI, or SSDI, some states are functioning under what's called order of selection. Now, that doesn't mean that it doesn't make you eligible. What that does is it places individuals who meet certain priority categories on a wait list. So I say that because you may be eligible for Vocational Rehabilitation services, but you may not immediately get service. In some states, they've been in order of selection for quite a long time, and I can honestly say up until when I spoke you guys last year, Indiana was not under order of selection. So if you were eligible for services, you could immediately start receiving them. As of August 1st of this year, Indiana did go into order of selection. And so order of selection basically means that if there's not enough money for the state to serve everybody coming in for those services, in all three priority categories, and I won't go into great detail on those, that some of them will have to go on a wait list, depending on the severity of your disability. So for some of you, it's going to be really important that you're honest with your Vocational Rehabilitation counselor. You need to tell them about your struggles. You need to tell them your functional limitations so they get a really good idea of the things that you're struggling with and the challenges that you have faced, maybe in past employment, maybe you've tried it in the past and lots of things happened, but, you know, maybe you don't want to go into great detail at that very first meeting with your counselor. It's really important that you let them know everything that's going on so you can be put in the correct category to receive services. All right, now let me go forward. So Partnership Plus, Partnership Plus basically is an agreement where state agencies work with partner employment networks to provide a transition of services for those who need that ongoing level of support. So when they talked about Employment Networks, and Mary Lynn discussed Employment Networks, they can immediately help you start looking for work and doing some of the same things that I've already mentioned that VR would do with you. But if you start working with VR, then your case is, at that point, assigned with Vocational Rehabilitation. And so you would work with VR, you would receive employment placement, you would work with VR until you're considered stable. And that just means that you're working at the highest level that you're able to work at. And then 90 days after that time period, Vocational Rehabilitation would close your case. And we want to make sure that the federal government has made sure that there are options available so you're not just left out there with no assistance. So at that point in time, once you're done with Vocational Rehabilitation, and right before you're getting ready to close your case successfully with the rehab, you can select an Employment Network at that time. So instead of only going with an Employment Network the entire time to help you with your employment needs, you can actually start with Vocational Rehabilitation and receive those services through VR. And then once you're getting ready to be finished up with VR, then you can move onto the Partnership Plus. So in that case, the Employment Network would offer those continued support services to help you maintain employment, increase your earnings over time, things like that. Partnership Plus, it says after VR case closure, it could include, and I've already mentioned some of them, job coaching, they might be able to help with some transportation costs, benefits counseling again. Tina had already mentioned when you're working with Vocational Rehabilitation, we do have, here in Indiana, it's called the Ben Project. So right off the bat, if you want to know how working would affect your benefits so you know what kind of job to look for, that would probably have already been done through Vocational Rehabilitation. If, during this Partnership Plus model, if you're working with the Employment Network, and let's say a new position is opened to you, or an advancement with your employment, and it's been a long time since you've had benefits counseling, if you're working with an Employment Network, you can go back to them and say, I have been offered this job, or I'm interested in applying for this job, but it pays $3 more than what I'm making, how is that going to affect my benefits? And so on and so forth. And they can kind of let you know about that. They can assist with wage reporting, different kinds of job accommodation requests. Because face it, not everything happens, you know, within the first 90 days on the job. Things will arise, you know, six months into the job, a year into the job. It could even be a year, year and a half, two years after Vocational Rehabilitation closed your case, and everything had been fine, and all of a sudden maybe something that has to do with your disability has become worse, and accommodations are suddenly needed, if you're working with an Employment Network, then they can hopefully step in and help you with that to provide you those ongoing support services, whereas VR wouldn't be able to do that because your case would have been closed by that time. All right, the Partnership Plus fact sheet is here. It says learn more about Partnership Plus online. And we've gone over this a couple times. The website is choosework.ssa.gov/library, L-I-B-R-A-R-Y, /partnership, P-A-R-T-N-E-R-S-H-I-P, -plus, P-L-U-S. So choosework.ssa.gov. Sorry. That's a forward slash. Library/partnership-plus. Okay?

>> All right, thank you so much, Sandy. So we have one final, one final ticket program service to talk about. Mary Lynn, I'm going to turn it over to you so you can go through that pretty quickly, and then we're going to make sure we have some time for sharing resources and asking another question or two.

>> Okay, so we're going to talk about Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security, referred to as PABSS. These are state-based agencies consisting of legal advisors providing legal supports, advocacy, and they're there to assist beneficiaries to resolve if there's any employment-related concerns with an employer, Social Security, an Employment Network, VR, WIPA projects, and others. The services could also include kind of digging in a little bit deeper, you know, navigating organizations and services to support your rights, protect your rights. If you're requesting reasonable accommodations in your workplace or school, they're there to, you know, maybe provide you some representation or advice addressing other disability-based legal issues that are, again, related to employment. So we're going to wrap up by choosing the service provider that's right for you. After all this information, how do you decide who's right? Well, returning to work is a very important decision. And for the many, many people that I've talked to throughout the years, it's often a life-changing event. So you need to feel confident about your decision. It would be good for you to, you know, make sure you understand your benefits and what affect working will have on your benefits. So talking to those certified benefits planers. And just like any other big decision in life that we make, it's recommended that you shop around. It might be helpful to talk to several Employment Networks and talk to your State Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. Explain to them, what are your employment goals? And see which agency seems to be the best benefit for you. You may want to prepare some questions so when you talk to these agencies you can ask them questions. You know, do they offer guidance for participating in a Ticket to Work Program, or do you serve others who have the same disability I have? What type of jobs have you found for individuals with disabilities? Do you provide services in-person or virtually? And what happens after I assign my ticket? What do we do then? If I assign my ticket to you, what am I going to do next? And that will give you kind of a view of what's ahead and help you make that decision. After you talk with those providers, or as you're talking to them, you might want to pretend it's like you're interviewing them about their services. You know, what is it that you actually provide? And see. Do you have resume writing? Do you do mock interviews? Do you have certified benefits planners on staff? You know, you can conduct an interview of that entity. And this, again, helps you decide which provider is going to be able to maybe best assist you with your goals. There's some additional questions. Do you want to assign your ticket to an EN or the State VR? We talked about those different options today. Do you think that entity feels friendly to you and willing to work with you? Are they motivated? Do they provide all the services that you need? And how do they compare to other providers? Maybe you'd want to find out if you know anybody who's used that service provider and what did they think? So the path to success really begins today. And being that you joined this webinar, you're probably considering, or have had some thoughts about getting back into the workforce. So if you're ready and you have, you know, thought about this, there's two terrific resources at your fingertips to help you find the right service provider. One is the Choose Work website. And in that website, there is a Find Help directory. So that, to find the Find Help directory, you're going to go to that Choose Work website. So it's choosework, C-H-O-O-S-E, W-O-R-K, .ssa.gov/findhelp. It stands for Find Help. So choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp. Within that directory, you can search by your zip code. And you'll find out what services are in your area. You can have [inaudible] within 10 miles or within 30 miles or 50 miles of your zip code. What type of services do they offer? What language do they have available? And what kind of provider are they? Are they a WIPA? Are they an EN? Are they Vocational Rehabilitation? Your other option is you can call the Ticket to Work Helpline for a list of services. And, again, you can explain to them, you know, where you're from, and, you know, they'll provide you with information when you call that Ticket to Work Helpline. So let's quickly summarize here. Once you've chosen that provider, you start the whole ball in motion. You're going to get your ticket assigned. You're going to be talking to that benefits counselor, working with that service provider that you chose to create a plan to achieve your goals, and to set a timeline. Don't forget that once you start working, you need to report your wages to the Local Social Security Field Office every month. And then last of all, take time to celebrate as you achieve each of these milestones leading to your success. Brittany is going to share some final resources with you now.

>> Great. Thank you, Mary Lynn. And we've had such a great amount of information shared that we are quickly coming to an end for today's webinar. So I just wanted to very quickly share a couple other resources. We have a great worksheet for you if you are ready to explore work and want to find an EN or a VR agency. And this worksheet can answer questions you have and explain you through the problems of what to expect. You can download that worksheet at choosework.ssa.gov/assets/docs-materials/TTW-choosing-en_2015_508.pdf. You can also find an EN or assign your ticket. So once you have a list of service providers, you can use the worksheets here to help you call, e-mail or visit an EN or VR to find out which one is right for you. And that kind of goes back to what Mary Lynn was saying, that you may want to talk to a lot of different people as you are exploring finding the EN that's right for you. And this worksheet will give you a list of questions you can ask. And that can be downloaded at choosework.ssa.gov/library/finding-en-assigning-your-ticket-worksheet. And if you want to learn more about our monthly WISE webinars and subscribe, you can do that at bit.lv/wisesubscribe. You can also learn more about the ticket program, employment providers, and the Choose Work blog by signing up to receive weekly updates, and those will go directly into your inbox, and you can do that by subscribing at bit.lv/subscribecw. As always, we always encourage you to call the Ticket to Work Helpline. We aren't going to have time for any more questions today. But if you had a question that didn't get answered, call the Ticket to Work Helpline and ask them. You can reach them at 1-866-968-7842, or via TTY at 866-833-2967. You can also visit choosework.ssa.gov. There are tons of resources up there for you. We'd also encourage you to like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/choosework. Or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/chooseworkssa. You could also watch videos about Ticket to Work at YouTube at www.youtube.com/choosework. Or you can follow us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/ticket-to-work. We have a great number of ways that you can get in touch with us. We are excited to announce that our next webinar is going to be on ABLE accounts. And that will be taking place on Wednesday, March 21st. It's a week earlier than we usually do in the month. So mark your calendars. And that will be from 3:00 to 4:30 PM Eastern Time. And again, you can register by calling the Choose Work Helpline or visiting the Choose Work website at choosework.ssa.gov/wise, or call 866-968-7842, or for TTY, 866-833-2967. We're just giving you those numbers and that website again. Tell us what you think! We would love for you to let us know what you thought of today's webinar by taking our webinar survey. It will pop up right after the webinar. So hang tight by your computer. Or if you can't take it right now, please visit us at choosework.ssa.gov/surveys/wise. Thank you to Mary Lynn, to Sandy, and to Tina for being our wonderful presenters today. What a wealth of information on how to put your employment dream team together. Thank you all for joining us today. And we hope you can join us next month. Thanks again.