Resource of the Week

This week's RESOURCE focuses on the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) for employers. These links will get you started and the DPN will soon put together a one-page resource guide with information on other business tax incentives. Please let us know if there's specific information on this topic you'd like to be included.

Overview
There are three federal tax incentives available to help employers cover the cost of accommodations for employees with disabilities and to make their places of business accessible for employees and/or customers with disabilities. Read about them here. (http://www.dor.ca.gov/workplace/recruit.htm)

Work Opportunity Tax Credit
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) provides a tax credit of up to $9,000 for employers who hire individuals who belong to one or more of the nine target groups specified in the law. The Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007 extended the WOTC Program through August 31, 2011.

Employer brochures, forms and publications
http://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/WOTC_Forms_and_Publications.htm

Persons qualified under WOTC
http://www.edd.ca.gov/Jobs_and_Training/WOTC_Target_Groups.htm

Resource of the Week

Announcing the new RESOURCE OF THE WEEK service for One Stops. Each week we will highlight a new tool including resources on hot topics, policies, tools from other DPNs statewide, and special issues in SF disability services. Featured resources will be posted on this blog, so bookmark http://disabilityprogramnavigator.blogspot.com and check back weekly!

Social Security 2009 Red Book
http://www.ssa.gov/redbook/index.html

The Red Book serves as a general reference source about the employment-related provisions of Social Security Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income Programs for educators, advocates, rehabilitation professionals, and counselors who serve people with disabilities.

Available in English and Spanish.
Download as a PDF.

We have print copies available if you
email disabilityprogramnavigator@gmail.com

Developmentally Disabled and Out of Work | The California Report

Developmentally Disabled and Out of Work | The California Report on KQED

Posted using ShareThis

Quarterly Training Series Launches

We're happy to confirm that our quarterly trainings will begin with a workshop on "WIA Section 188, Non-discrimination and Equal Opportunity Requirements."

We can assure this legal issues workshop won't bore you with legalese. It will equip you with important skills and give staff a chance to think through practical examples. Trainer Kim Lucero of the Employment Training Network (Capacity Building Unit) is dynamic and experienced in working with One Stops around the state.

Staff will have two chances to participate: June 30 or July 1, 2009
The training will run 10am-3pm each day.
RSVP to Amy or Patrick.

Read the training description here.

More about the new DPN

Greetings One Stops! I am writing to officially introduce myself as the new Disability Program Navigator. For those of you I have not met in person, I wanted to take a moment to say hello, and to introduce myself a little more fully.

I am a librarian and information specialist with 12 years experience working in public service and social justice nonprofits. Most recently I served as the lead researcher for Disability Access Services at Oakland Public Library, and as a reference librarian in Contra Costa County. Prior to that I was Associate Director of the Center for Media Justice for seven years.

I am excited to be joining the SF One Stop team and am happy to help you find and organize the resources you need. If you have a question, email me or instant message me using G-Chat at: disabilityprogramnavigator [ at ] gmail

-- From Amy S.

San Francisco's new DPN

I am excited to announce San Francisco's new DPN Librarian Consultant: Amy Sonnie. Amy's first day with CVE is Monday May 18, 2009. We will be scheduling meetings with all One Stop staff to introduce her.
Please call Patrick Regan and 415-544-0424 if you have any questions.

One Stop Site Visits

We want to thank all of the San Francisco One Stop managers for being so friendly and helpful when we visited sites this last week. We're almost done with all of our facility site visits, and we'll be submitting recommendations for universal accessibility soon. If you have any other concerns, resources, or adaptive equipment that you would like to include at your site, please contact pregan@cve.org

LEGACY Training (part 2)

Patrick and Lauren attended the L101 LEGACY Training on April 7th in sunny Southern California. Thanks to the hospitality of Sue Quigley, who invited us to attend, and Les Roberson, who graciously hosted the training at the South Los Angeles WorkSource center, we were able to participate in Lisa Jordon's interactive and interesting training session. One of the highlights of the session was working with team members to help a hypothetical person with disability in their job search. We learned about the barriers to employment for persons with disabilities as well as proper disability etiquette. All of this knowledge was reinforced in a fun Jeopardy-like lightning round!

LEGACY training

We will be attending the LEGACY training in Los Angeles on April 7th. The complete training is composed of a set of online and in-person modules. We'll be looking at implementing this training in San Francisco for all of the One Stops to improve their ability to help people with disabilities find employment. Sue Quigley, Workforce Development Analyst for the City of Los Angeles, Community Development Department, has spoken of the wonderful impact this training has had on One Stop staff and their ability to serve all clients at their centers, both people with disabilities and people without.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 2009 update

Effective as of January 1 of 2009, the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been amended to include some important changes. At a recent webinar, The ADA Amendments: What They Mean for the One-Stop System and Job Corps, I learned about the scope of this amendment and the fact that these changes were instated to broaden the interpretation of the 1990 ADA. Essentially, more people will be protected under this revised act.

According to the webinar, "Amendments will make it much easier for an individual to:

• meet the definition of disability
• be protected from discrimination
• be entitled to reasonable accommodations"
  

If you would like to see the complete list of changes that make up the current ADA (1990 ADA with 2009 amendments in bold), go to:
http://www.ada.gov/pubs/adastatute08mark.htm