Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG)

What are the steps of the hiring process? According to a training presentation from the Alaska MIG program, the four step process includes recruitment, interviewing, selection and retention. The slides cover ways to overcoming perceived barriers and the hiring process. The presentation also included an exercise and quiz.

How do you define reasonable accommodation? The process is about accommodating a qualified person with a disability; it is about problem resolution and is a key nondiscrimination requirement. Alaska MIG grantees put together a presentation to explain that not every employee with a disability is going to need an accommodation but, others are excluded because of unnecessary barriers in the workplace. Two articles are included that generate interest in the training plus a two-page FAQ fact sheet.

The South Dakota MIG grantees have developed this short overview of Employer Resource Networks (ERNs). The presentation is shown to prospective ERN groups and answers questions about how an ERN can address labor issues in the community and create partnerships.

The Virginia MIG grantees have developed this resource guide for transition practitioners. The manual explains Benefits Counseling and how it serves as a valuable resource for students, parents/guardians, and families to get help in optimizing needed benefits and begin planning toward a future that includes employment, earnings, self-sufficiency, and SSA benefits, if needed.

The West Virginia Medicaid Infrastructure (MIG) is transitioning to Comprehensive Employment Strategies (CES) Grant. The CES grant has 3 major goals: Maximizing employment for people with disabilities, Increasing the state’s labor force through the inclusion of people with disabilities, Protecting and enhancing workers’ healthcare, other benefits and needed supports. Review the presentation and overview of their strategic plan including a comprehensive workforce infrastructure.

The purpose of this manual is to provide an overview of information and referral sources available to the Employment Liaison, individuals with disabilities, and student services staff at post-secondary schools. Resources in the manual reference both National resources and those specific to job seekers in Wisconsin.

The Rhode Island MIG project produced an issue brief, which outlined the State’s utilization of 1619(a) and 1619(b) waivers, their effect on disabled workers, the barriers these waivers present, and recommendations for eliminating barriers and other best practices.

The Pennsylvania MIG project developed the Work Incentive Planning Assistance (WIPA) Program in order to promote employment among those receiving SSI/SSDI benefits. WIPA produced the following newsletter entitled “Employment Resource Guide for Persons with Disabilities”, which sought to succinctly list services available to individuals with disabilities who wish to work. Some of these resources include Family Savings Accounts and information about the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program.

Review the efforts to adopt and improve services and supports to people with disabilities, in conjunction with The Ticket to Work & Work Incentives Improvement Act. This report captures progress in the provision of personal assistance services; the provision of Medicaid type health insurance referred to as a Medicaid Buy-in, and; earnings data for workers with disabling conditions. By 2005, 31 states had Medicaid Buy-In programs compared to eight prior to passage of the Ticket legislation.

Findings from written survey of Employment Experiences and Focus Groups. The questionnaire sought to obtain information from individuals with disabilities about things that have helped them to get a job, barriers to employment, importance of medical benefits when making employment decisions, and how comfortable people feel disclosing their disability to an employer.