Minnesota Employment Training & Technical Assistance Center (MNTAT)

Developing Vocational Themes that Guide Job Development

The 3 Vocational Themes: Exploring Where the Career Makes Sense

Presented by Cary Griffin and Bob Niemiec

Join us for this free Webinar on August 9

Space is limited.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/113196839

Customized Employment (CE) is a process that builds upon the foundation of Supported Employment. CE involves a functional, real-time assessment of an individual’s skills and talents, based on the assumption that everyone is “work ready;" the development of best-match scenarios between work environment, supports, their interests, and work tasks; and, in the case of wage employment, a negotiation between the potential employee (and often a representative) and the employer. CE is a non-comparative approach to employment; therefore in most cases typical application and interview processes are afterthoughts, indulged only to meet any existing hiring protocols. Crucial to the CE process are vocational team members that understand the proper steps of Discovering Personal Genius (DPG) (assessment), interest-based negotiation, job analysis, systematic instruction, job carving, and job creation. CE represents an economic development approach to employment that eschews the vestiges of historic charity models (e.g. “Hire the Handicapped”), and labor market studies, while recognizing that wages are the residue of profits created through an individual’s contribution to a company.

Title: The 3 Vocational Themes: Exploring Where the Career Makes Sense

Date: Thursday, August 9, 2012

Time: 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM CDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server
Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

 

MNTAT Quarter 2 2012 Training & TA Participant Evaluation Data

Community Action Team Pages Now on MNTAT Website

Each of the three current MNTAT Community Action Teams (CATs) now has a dedicated page on the MNTAT website (www.mntat.org). You can learn what is going on with each of the CATs by going to the MNTAT website and clicking on the MNTAT Community Action Teams (CATs) link. The rest is easy. Check back often as the teams post new information about their progress.

CATs Are Up and Running

Three Community Action Teams (CATs) are up and running. They are: The Anoka County CAT, the West Metro CAT, and the Ramsey County CAT. The Anoka CAT was the first to form. They officially began in January 2010. Since they became a CAT, the team has received training and consultation on customized approaches to employment including Discovery, Systematic Instruction and Customized Job Development Strategies. The team has held monthly meetings and selected the job seekers with whom they will focus their attention. Tammara Geary of Griffin-Hammis Associates, LLC has been acting as the primary consultant for this team. She has provided training and is working with the discovery teams to create customized employment situations for the job seekers supported by this team. Currently, the team is focused on Discovery and setting up informational interest-based interviews with local businesses.

The West Metro CAT is a collaboration of two organizations, Cooperating Community Programs (CCP) and Rise, Inc. Together this team is focusing on 6 job seekers. The people who are the focus of this team represent an array of complexities and life situations. The common thread is that many professionals have labeled these individuals as difficult to employ or unemployable. Another facet of the West Metro CAT is the involvement of residential services as a key partner in leading discovery and job development for one of the job seekers. The CAT has completed their initial training and is in the first stages of discovery with the job seekers. They are preparing for a consultation meeting with Cary Griffin to review progress and gain advice about next steps, etc.

The third team is the Ramsey County CAT. The lead agency for this CAT is Ramsey County Human Services. The focus of the Ramsey County CAT is young adults who are transitioning from school to the adult world. The plan is to select 5 individuals who will be the focus of the customized approach. Another element of the plan has been to select 3 provider organizations to receive intensive training and support to work with the job seekers. In addition to the 3 providers, one family is part of the team. This family is using their Consumer Director Options to hire someone to guide their daughter in the customized employment process. They are using their personal budget provided by the county to accomplish this. The Ramsey CAT has just completed their initial training and held its organizational meeting. They will be working with Bob Niemiec and Cary Griffin as lead consultants for this CAT.

Plans are underway to establish at least one more CAT, preferably outside of the Twin Cities metro area. Bob Niemiec, MNTAT Director, has had meetings and interest interviews with groups in at least 4 locations in Greater MN. We are looking forward to at least one of these groups taking the plunge and becoming a CAT. 

Guidance on Initiating Discovery

During and following the First Annual Disability Employment Conference there were numerous questions concerning Discovering Personal Genius, the assessment process used in Customized Employment. MNTAT is in the process of scheduling additional training on this topic and rolling out the process in the CATs as well. For now, we'll be posting resources such as these:

1. Download Discoveryteamcycle

2. Download Discoveryfacilitatorsguide

Questions, please e-mail us:

Cary Griffin: cgriffin@griffinhammis.com

Bob Niemiec: bniemiec@griffinhammis.com

MN Disability and Employment Conference a Success

The first annual Minnesota Disability and Employment Conference was held on December 1-2 at the Earle Brown Heritage Center in Brooklyn Center, MN. The event was co-sponsored by MNTAT and the Minnesota Employment Policy Initiative (MEPI). Over 300 participants representing a broad spectrum of people with disabilities and related organizations attended the event. Unlike most conferences, the MN Disability and Employment Conference was a blend of presentation and community discussions. On Day One, Cary Griffin and Molly Sullivan of MNTAT and Griffin-Hammis Associates presented short informational pieces about approaches to facilitating an individualized, customized approach to advance the employment of people with disabilities in the community work force. The participants had the opportunity to discuss their reactions to the presentations and identify ways these practices could be put into use. 

Doug Crandell, of the Cobb and Douglas Counties (GA) Community Services Boards,  opened Day Two with a keynote address about how to use these innovative practices to make a difference in the employment rate of people with disabilities. The overriding theme of the conference was "What will it take to double the employment rate of Minnesotans with disabilities by 2015." Following Doug's presentation, the conference participants worked with a team of 30 facilitators to begin identifying ideas and suggestions to influence employment policy in Minnesota.

The preliminary reviews of the conference evaluations have been overwhelmingly positive. Summaries of the proceedings will be posted on the MNTAT website (www.mntat.org) as well as on the MEPI website (www.mn-epi.org) in January. Planning is already underway for the 2nd Annual MN Disability and Employment Conference to be held in the fall of 2010.

MNTAT Website to Be Launched August 10th

The Minnesota Employment Training and Technical Assistance Center (MNTAT) will launch its new website on August 10th, 2009. The launch will be concurrent with an inuagural web cast that will be presented to a selected group of state agency training and technical assistance personnel and other partners. The website will host a statewide training calendar, a listing of employment related resources and links, news and announcements, and information regarding the first annual Minnesota Disability and Employment Conference that is being scheduled for December 1-2, 2009. The website represents our first tangible product and will serve as the central point for information and contact with MNTAT. The web address is: www.mntat.org.

Welcome to the MNTAT Blog!

The Minnesota Employment Training Services & Technical Assistance Support Center, or MNTAT for short, was recently funded by the MN Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) at the Dept. of Human Services Disability Division, Pathways to Employment.

Briefly, the MNTAT will: Design and broker state of the art, person-centered employment training and technical assistance using proven, inventive, and evidence-based methods that meld the needs of employment seekers (supply-side), the business community (demand-side), service providers, policy makers, families ,educators, workforce development professionals and other Minnesota stakeholders.

Accomplishing these tasks requires a multi-year approach, developing a series of classroom and on-line courses, establishing at least 5 customized employment development and demonstration sites, developing best-practice examples, and proposing policy that supports the full employment of Minnesotans with disabilities. The Center will take a economic development approach to employment, utilizing both wage and self-employment strategies, and will create the labor market rather than reacting to it.

For now, this blog is simply providing an introduction to the Training and Technical Assistance Center. We will be adding our website soon, which will include training schedules, materials and resources related to employment, updates on the Development Sites, and links to related organizations, opportunities, and sites. Down the road, this blog will host discussions of various employment strategies and related topics.

Please feel free to offer suggestions by clicking on "Comments" below.

Also, please check the right-hand column, at the bottom, for articles and resource materials relevant to employment and Minnesota. Comments on these are welcome too!

Thanks so much! We look forward to meeting you during the soon-to-be-scheduled Town Hall Meetings!