Vocational Rehabilitation Office Locations
REACHUP PROGRAM
Outcomes
During the past state fiscal year the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation served 941 TANF recipients. The VR/TANF Pilot Program provided services for 498 TANF recipients and 443 individuals were served in the general VR program. Prior to the implementation of this Pilot Program, 4.4% of the VR population at any given time were TANF recipients. One year into the Pilot Program, 13.3 % of VR participants are TANF recipients.
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The incidence of disability, as a result of disability screening at PATH has resulted in a growing waiting list for services, something that Vermont Vocational Rehabilitation has never before experienced. Currently 292 welfare recipients are either determined eligible and waiting to receive services or waiting to be assessed for eligibility for Vocational Rehabilitation.·
A total of 106 people were closed from VR as rehabilitated. VR defines “rehabilitated” as stable in employment for at least 90 days. Thirty-nine of these closures were from the Pilot Program and 67 were from the VR general caseload. In addition, 180 other TANF recipients are employed but still receiving services through VR to assist them to become stable on the job. The majority of these employed individuals were welfare recipients for several years.·
The VR/TANF Pilot Program has referred 31 of the 39 closures to the Job Keepers Program and the other 8 have declined the assistance.·
A total of 188 TANF recipients have been granted SSI or SSDI benefits in the past year. They are now permanently removed from the TANF rolls. The VR/TANF Pilot Program has secured SSI for 62 people during the year. No SSDI applications have been filed due to the lack of work history for this population. The VR general caseloads have 126 TANF recipients who received SSI or SSDI sometime during the time they were receiving services from VR. Some of these 126 people may have enrolled and received services prior to the July 1, 2001 start-date. Many of these individuals are now returning to Vocational Rehabilitation to pursue employment in an effort to improve the economic quality of life for their family.·Although only 16 people have been transferred to the general caseload from the VR/TANF Pilot Program, many more were sent to the general caseload before
opening their case in the VR/TANF Pilot Program. They would therefore appear as new cases in the general caseload. This was done to avoid needless duplication of intake and case record documentation.