The following are excerpts from GVRA’s written responses to questions posed by the AJC. This document has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What were the criteria for shutting down certain field offices?
A: GVRA considered several criteria, including:
- Significant increase in rental rates and budget reductions,
- The distance between different VR offices (offices nearby),
- The number of clients served in each office, and
- The condition of the offices, particularly safety.
Q: How did GVRA decide which cases to close as part of a “clean up” of its client rolls?
A: GVRA relied on the following criteria to identify cases that were eligible for a positive closure:
- Client maintained successful employment for over 90 days.
Cases identified for an unsuccessful outcome included the following:
- Client reported they were no longer interested in entering the workforce,
- Agency was unable to locate the client, or
- Cases had been inactive for years.
Prior to closing the cases, GVRA’s policy and procedure require that GVRA staff attempt to reach the client at their last known contact and to send written communication to impacted clients indicating our intent to close the case.
By closing eligible or inactive cases, GVRA was better positioned to accurately assess a counselor’s caseload size. Cases closed due to unsuccessful closure reasons averaged over three years. It also should be noted that clients whose cases were closed may reapply and receive future services.
Q: GVRA has been sending back tens of millions of dollars to the federal government. What is the agency doing to effectively use federal money?
A: GVRA has focused on increasing provider rates, eliminating restrictive policies and procedures like the financial needs assessment, offering higher reimbursements for post-secondary education through the Bud McCall grant, increasing the number of credentialing programs, increasing staff salaries, and investing in its residential programming by offering high-demand career credentials (industry-recognized certifications).
Q: GVRA has routinely not spent the 15% set-aside requirement for pre-employment transition services. Federal monitors point out that the number of students with disabilities who applied for VR services and received them decreased. What’s GVRA doing to improve this?
A: The reporting period covers the impact of COVID-19 and GVRA’s inability to access and provide services to potentially eligible students. GVRA has met the 15% requirement for Program Year (PY) 2022 and is projected to meet its 15% requirement in PY 2023, which would be the first time meeting its requirements for two consecutive years.
Operationally, GVRA has invested in a centralized call center to respond to external inquiries, the launch of an online referral portal offering an easier, streamlined system for potential clients to apply for GVRA services; access to customer service and other training offered through a partnership with the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG) as part of a quarterly mandatory staff “Professional Learning Day” initiative, increased pay for counselors, the establishment of a minimum salary for GVRA employees, and quarterly pulse surveys to assess internal needs and staff morale. These investments, and others, aim to improve service delivery and retain our professional staff.
Additionally, GVRA has broadened communication to include consistent contact with school staff, launched robust outreach campaigns through social media and a redesigned, user-friendly website, distributed direct email to superintendents, counselors, and department heads, and expanded outreach in communities across the state, including back-to-school events, transition fairs and popular events with significant family participation. Additionally, GVRA recently completed an overhaul of its policies and procedures, further underscoring our commitment to ensuring access to post-secondary opportunities that lead to meaningful careers for our clients. To that end, GVRA has reduced barriers to services by removing financial needs to ensure service to a broader population of clients and students in all three priority categories. This policy change and numerous others now allow GVRA to serve any person with a disability and interest in work while reducing the additional steps and documentation associated with the service delivery.
Q: Some of the most critical findings on the documents I reviewed concerned the GVRA’s core mission: Helping individuals with disabilities find employment. What is GVRA doing to try and improve employment outcomes?
A: Identifying and promoting employment opportunities for our clients remains a priority for GVRA. Through our delivery of Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS), we have increased our provision of career and post-secondary exploration, which has exposed students, youth, and clients to more job opportunities, the potential for career advancement, and higher wage positions.
We also have focused on the following:
- Implementation of the Bud McCall Grant (combined with the removal of our previous financial needs assessment) to increase the ability to provide financial assistance to students seeking post-secondary education.
- Investment in the expansion of our Employment Services Department which has allowed greater outreach and partnering with employers across the state.
- The redesign of the residential programs at Roosevelt Warm Springs and Cave Spring Center to provide increased opportunities for clients to obtain occupational skills and training toward industry-recognized certifications that will help meet the state’s current workforce needs.
