Syllabus for Audio Conference

Developing "Communities of Excellence"

Date: December 18, 2008

Facilitators:

• Michael Callahan, Marc Gold & Associates, is a native Mississippian who has consulted throughout the US, Canada and Europe in the area of employment and transition for the past twenty-five years.

• Norciva Shumpert, Marc Gold & Associates, has been working as a consultant in various states with organizations, families, and State entities regarding customized employment, transition, self-employment, community life opportunities, system reorganization, and self directed services.

• Joe Skiba, Organization and Systems Change Consulting, has 29 years of experience in the public vocational rehabilitation system, including counseling, management and a variety of administrative positions. As state director of the Michigan Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program from 1995-1998, his work focused on developing a customer-driven delivery system, building private-public partnerships and re-engineering the VR delivery system.

• Jill Houghton, Deputy Director - TACE Center: Region IV, brings over 18 years of diverse work experience at the federal, state and local levels to advance the employment and economic self sufficiency of all people with disabilities.

Description:

In response to a review of all current state plans for vocational rehabilitation and comprehensive statewide needs assessments, the TACE Center: Region IV (Southeast TACE) announces the availability of customized training and technical assistance that, over a two year period, will lead to the development of a “Community of Excellence” in each state. Learn more about the details of this customized training and technical assistance, which has the objective that state Vocational Rehabilitation and Blind Services agencies in each state will work together to identity and build a “Community of Excellence” designed to:

1. increase understanding and replication of effective employment and rehabilitation practices which result in improved employment outcomes,
2. build local capacity to improve and expand customized employment services and supports,
3. serve as a catalyst to systems change and improvement at a state and local level,
4. develop, document, and disseminate new and improved theory, policy, practice and knowledge that revolutionize the state of the science in rehabilitation and employment service delivery in the Southeast and nationwide.

The Southeast TACE recognizes that states are facing increasing pressures of limited public resources to respond to a growing demand for service. Providing customized training and technical assistance that leads to the development of “Communities of Excellence” will lead to improved employment outcomes for persons with the most significant disabilities.

Due to the size of the region, the Southeast TACE will phase in the customized training and technical assistance across the eight states over the course of two years. 

In Year One, the Southeast TACE will work with Alabama, Florida, Georgia and Mississippi to identify a community to become a “Community of Excellence,” focusing on evidence-based, customized employment strategies that recognize the importance of collaboration across public systems and working in concert with the employer community. In Year Two, the Southeast TACE will work with Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Topics

• What is a “Community of Excellence;"
• The purpose of the customized training and technical assistance;
• Who a state should target to be involved in building a “Community of Excellence;”
• What resources will be available from the Southeast TACEr;
• What the state commitment involves;
• The critical elements, process, and timeline for building a “Community of Excellence;”
• How each state’s “Community of Excellence” will be documented and disseminated region-wide to accelerate knowledge translation and best practice replication.

Target Audiences

• Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Agency Directors
• Services for the Blind Agency Directors
• Field Services Senior Management

For More Information