KentuckyWorks Youth and Family Engagement Community Conversation Report

KentuckyWorks Family Engagement Curriculum and Trainers

Nearly 30 trainers attended our Family Engagement Train the Trainer event on July 17 to receive a curriculum on how to increase expectations about employment for youth with intellectual disabilities and their families. This training was just the first in a series of family engagement employment topics and will continue through the next three years.

The trainers includes representatives of employment programs at parent advocacy groups, employment professionals, Special-Ed Coop representatives, KY-SPIN Regional Coordinators, and more. We are also keeping the trainers connected through email updates and a Facebook group, so please let us know if you're a trainer and want to be added. We also need trainers to keep us posted about when they are giving presentations available to the public.

Also, if you're interested in having one of these trainers come speak to your organization or school, please contact us at stephanie.meredith@uky.edu, and we can connect you to trainers in your area. 

Perspectives on Youth and Family Engagement

By Amanda Kelley Corbin

Sean Roy (right), who is the Youth Employment Solutions (YES!) Center’s state liaison to Kentucky and a training associate with TransCen (adapted from “Transition Center”), a national nonprofit organization that specializes in school-to-work transition for students with disabilities, was a guest speaker at a recent KentuckyWorks community conversation and parent engagement training session. Before the events, he provided his perspectives on youth and family engagement around employment for students with disabilities.

Kentucky Works Newsletter

Sign up for the KentuckyWorks newsletter to receive news about any employment fairs and events, community conversations, presentations, post-secondary opportunities, or other employment initiatives for people with disabilities through the Commonwealth. If you have any information you'd like to be included in the next newsletter, please submit to Jason Jones by September 20 at jp.jones@uky.edu.

KentuckyWorks Post-Secondary Community Conversation Update

One action item we have taken since our post-secondary community conversation is to feature post-secondary resources front and center on the KentuckyWorks website. Check out our home page and the post-secondary resources featured in that section!

The Department for Medicaid Services Rescinds Proposed Changes to the Collection of Patient Liability for Long-Term Care Waiver Recipients

by Kevin McManis

Between May and June 2018, the Kentucky Department for Medicaid Services sent letters to approximately 20,000 Kentucky long-term care waiver recipients detailing the amount of ‘patient liability’ they were expected to pay each month to maintain their Medicaid eligibility. After a Medicaid Oversight and Advisory Committee meeting and testimony from advocates in July, Medicaid officials announced they were not going to change patient liability and would provide further guidance after review.

KentuckyWorks featured at Regional Parent Summit on Autism

HDI and HDI CATS have lauThe Kentucky Autism Training Center and the Kentucky Office of Autism collaborated to offer the Regional Parent Summit at Greenbo Lake State Resort Park in Greenup, Kentucky. Parents of individuals with autism, self-advocates, and professionals gathered on June 28 and 29th to learn, network, and develop relationships.

The Summit began with Resource Roundtables, an activity that allows all participants to rotate through a series of tables that each host a different resource. Dr. Larry Taylor, Executive Director of the Kentucky Autism Training Center, provided an overview of Kentucky Works to each of the Summit’s participants.  Participants were excited to learn about the partnership amongst the University of Kentucky’s Human Development Institute and multiple agencies in pursuit and award of an employment grant designed to improve outcomes for students with most significant disabilities in transitioning from school to career.

Upcoming Events

• Bottom Dollar Viewing: 
  Wednesday September 5 from 5-6pm CDT at Market House Theatre hosted by Commonwealth Council on Developmental Disabilities
  132 Market House Sq, Paducah, Kentucky 42001
  Senator Danny Carroll and the DD Network will be hosting a preview of the movie "Bottom Dollars," an hour-long documentary that exposes segregated workplaces and the low wages sometimes paid to people with disabilities. Through personal stories and expert interviews, the film presents a vision for better alternatives that promote community inclusion, equal opportunity and fair wages. Please join us at this FREE event!
   
• HDI Seminar Series on Supported Decision-Making and Guardianship:
  September 28, 2018 from 1:00 - 3:00 PM EST
  This seminar provides an introduction to supported decision-making (SDM) and guardianship. Register here.
   
• ADA Series: 
  Thursday, September 27 from 10-11am online and at HDI CATS – 2358 Nicholasville Rd. Suite 180, Lexington KY
  The next training will be led by Jason Jones and will cover Disability & Law Enforcement: Interaction and Emergency Response. Register here or get more information by emailing hdiatcenter@l.uky.edu.
   
• Kentucky APSE Conference:
  October 17-19 in Lexington, KY

KentuckyWorks Infographics

Check out all the infographics available at KentuckyWorks.org for you to learn more about employment issues and share with others.

• Working and SSI Infographic
• Postsecondary Financial Assistance Infographic
• What is a Comprehensive Training Program? Infographic 
• 6 Myths About Workers Infographic
• Tax Incentives Infographic
• Hiring People with Disabilities Infographic
• Employer Infographic
• Comparison of Employment Data Infographic