Financial Asset Development
DRAFT Minutes
November 17, 2016
3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Hilton Garden Inn, Cary, NC

Members Present: Amanda Bergen, Jack Rogers (for Wayne Black), Adonis Brown, Anna Cunningham, Bryan Dooley, Dreama McCoy (for Bill Hussey), Paula Woodhouse, Jim Swain, Wing Ng

Members Absent: David White, Dave Richard, Senator Tommy Tucker

Guests: David Owen (DSP for Bryan Dooley), Caryn Cook (interpreter), Somer Sutton (interpreter)

Staff/Contractors: Philip Woodward, Yadira Vasquez, JoAnn Toomey, Pat Keul, Donna Gallagher

Introduction
Dr. Bergen welcomed the committee members, who introduced themselves. The committee received question cards about the ABLE Act and WIOA. Mr. Woodward will follow up with the panelists and report back.

The committee made a motion to accept the August 2016 minutes. Ms. Cunningham brought up the Project SEARCH shared costs comment on Page 37 of the mail-out booklet. The minutes should say:

Mr. Swain asked if the partners have agreed to the shared costs for Project SEARCH site start-up? He said no. Mrs. Cunningham said yes, they will. The Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) and other organizations will have a vested interest.

A motion was made to approve the minutes as amended. Ms. Woodhouse made the motion, and Ms. McCoy seconded it. The motion was approved.

Fiscal Update
Ms. Vasquez reviewed the fiscal reports by FFY (current and projected) as of November 2016. She requested feedback on improving the fiscal update reporting format.

Initiative Updates

Learning and Earning After High School

The committee connected to Dr. Kelly Kelley at Western Carolina University (WCU) through GoToMeeting. Dr. Kelley shared a PowerPoint presentation about the initiative and the www.rtle.org website. She noted that 12 interns were used during the grant. One of the web designers is a person on the autism spectrum. The initiative promoted the website to 665 total people at various conferences. The initiative also worked with six Local Education Agencies (LEAs), and the project exceeded the match requirements.

Ms. McCoy said the Department of Public Instruction is struggling with the URL – who owns the URL? Mr. Woodward stated that NCCDD owns it because NCCDD funded it.
Ms. McCoy stated that she was impressed with the videos on the website. Mrs. Cunningham liked the graph on Slide 6 showing where the match was exceeded and where it wasn’t exceeded and the learning lessons involved.

Expansion of Employment Opportunities for People with I/DD Initiative

The group welcomed Employment Services Coordinator Pat Keul, whom NCCDD hired through Temporary Solutions. Ms. Keul was involved in the first systems change grant that the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services (DVRS or VR) funded in 1987. She stated, “We are at one of the most exciting times since the mid-80s.” She remarked about the need to get everyone to understand how important work is. Ms. Keul then discussed the three elements of the initiative.

Element I: Establish apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships
This tool hasn’t traditionally been used to help industry hire people with I/DD.
Ms. Keul mentioned the feeding assistants apprenticeship model in Charlotte.
Ms. Keul described how the feeding assistants can advance up the career ladder and become Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) and work in other healthcare fields or stay as feeding assistants. Three individuals with I/DD will earn pre-apprenticeship certificates.

Element II: Support sustainable Project SEARCH expansion
North Carolina will have three new sites. The applications arrived on November 15th.
Ms. Cunningham is on the application review committee.

The three new site applicants are:
1. Hendersonville
Blue Ridge Community College will fund the teacher.

2. Wake County Public School System
The partner is UNC TEACCH.
Ms. Cunningham said the TEACCH model is working across the I/DD spectrum.

3. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
InReach is the partner.

Ms. Keul stated that one-third of the start-up funds (license fee) are from NCCDD.
She also noted that VR in North Carolina is providing a very favorable rate. Ms. Keul mentioned the need to find state ownership and shared a list of top communities in North Carolina that could potentially support Project SEARCH.

Element III: Coalition to partner with stakeholders to increase competitive, integrated employment for people with I/DD

Ms. Keul stated that the MCOs are not measuring job placements. There is no report-out. They need to start collecting employment data on job placements. Next year we anticipate having a list of what state dollars paid for and what case dollars paid for. Ms. Keul stated the need to talk globally. She is also working closely with North Carolina Business Leadership Network (NCBLN) and Executive Director Beth Butler.
This will provide an opportunity to reach big-name companies, smaller companies, and new companies. There is great opportunity ahead.

Upward to Financial Stability Initiative

Michael Roush from the National Disability Institute (NDI) called in. Donna Gallagher from The Collaborative joined in person and passed out a summary. The initiative reached more than 2,000 people in Year 2. More than 100 people joined the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency (NCHFA) housing webinar.

Ms. Cunningham said the train-the-trainer session was phenomenal. She stated that you can’t capture that in a snapshot. Ms. Gallagher stated that 61 people completed the train-the-trainer sessions. In four to five months, they trained more than 250 individuals who are now key stakeholders.

Ms. Gallagher shared the four training cities for March 2017: Charlotte, Boone, Fayetteville, and Raleigh. There will be a new webinar series, and NDI is working with Advisory Committee and Trainer Support Network to develop the topics. Mr. Roush asked the committee to share webinar topic ideas.

Ms. Woodhouse mentioned the need to connect high school parents now before their students with I/DD graduate and the need to share success stories of parents who have gone through this.

Ms. Gallagher and Mr. Roush discussed the Assets & Opportunity Scorecard and the need to break down data by disability groups, including I/DD.

New Topic Presentation
I/DD Low Wealth, and Poverty
The committee discussed:

1. Employment is the key marker
2. The opportunity to open ABLE accounts.
3. Work-certified Benefits Counselors, the new Individual Placement and Support (IPS) mental health employment model, and the need to promote accurate information across the state about employment vs. benefits
4. Pathways out of poverty and the continuum of transition supports for students.

Web-Based Portal to Receive Unsolicited Proposals
The committee briefly discussed the web-based portal and the staff and member responsibilities in developing new initiative ideas. Ms. Cunningham mentioned the Individual Budgeting Tool that Andrea Misenheimer provided after the Innovations Waiver panel on Day One of the Council meeting.

Wrap Up and Reminders

Dr. Bergen reminded the members about the member survey.

Ms. McCoy approved the motion to adjourn. Dr. Ng seconded it. The motion was approved, and the meeting adjourned at 5:05.