Learning Disabilities and Their Impact on Welfare Clients

Introduction
The National Institute for Literacy and its Bridges to Practice project, and the Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, have joined forces with the Department of Health and Human Services to respond to the need for state agencies to develop collaborative interagency systems to move welfare (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families/TANF) clients from welfare to work by identifying those clients who may have learning disabilities and finding mechanisms to support them in the workplace.

Four states were selected to participate in a program that involves multiple agencies in a comprehensive effort to address the identification, education, training, and work needs of learning disabled adults moving from welfare to work. To be successful in providing the support needed to help these adults become employed, and to retain them in those jobs, requires an interagency approach because there are many facets to the diagnostic procedures and the development of appropriate accommodations that lead to success in the current economy. A NIFL grant program in Seattle provides leadership to train teams in each of the four states who then train personnel in TANF offices, related agencies, and potential employers.

Grantee
The grantee for this project is the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Council. This organization has a long history of working with adults with learning disabilities and placing them in training and jobs for long-term employment. The Department of Social Services in Seattle works with the Workforce Development Council (WDC) to screen adults for learning disabilities (LD) as part of the intake process. When an adult is identified as high risk for LD, there is a procedure in place for further screening to identify immediate areas where the caseworker and the employment counselor can begin to work with the client. There is also a procedure for a referral for a diagnosis. The adult client is made aware of the results of the screening and a counselor discusses the diagnostic procedures and explains the implications of LD for the job market, for training, and for any future educational endeavors by the adult. Joint meetings between the WDC staff and the social services personnel are held and client needs are identified and an individual plan is developed that will help the client meet with success. There is strong follow-up provided, and the program has been very successful in placing welfare clients in employment that pays well and offers room for growth.

In each state in the TANF project, there is a minimum of three persons trained to lead the effort in the state and to provide the training for other staff members. In addition, regional TANF office staff serve in an ex officio role. The three trainers have experience in the area of learning disabilities and TANF prior to being selected for this task. Through this grant, they will become the leaders and experts in their state.

• At the end of the grant, these leaders will have trained a minimum of 90 TANF staff members;
• The three leaders in the training will be recognized by both TANF and Workforce Development Board members as essential to the state's leadership in the field;
• Each state will be positioned to act independently as a result of the training and will provide state support for the continuation of the training;
• Each state will agree to support the trainers as they mentor other states through this process.

Initial Action Steps

1. Every regional director in the Health and Human Services system was contacted and invited to nominate a state or states to participate in this project. Any state that is under sanction by HHS or the Department of Education, or the Department of Labor was considered ineligible for this project.
2. A committee representing all three of the funding agencies chose the first four states. Consideration was given to geographic location, state willingness to participate, current activity in learning disabilities in the state, and probable ability of the states to complete the contract in a reasonable amount of time.
3. The following four states received the first round of the training: Oregon, Tennessee or Kansas, Virginia, and Rhode Island.
4. In 2002, the trainers from the original four states and the Seattle Grant personnel will train an additional eight states' training teams for TANF. The process of choosing the new states has begun and regional managers for TANF/HHS will be asked to participate in the final selection.
5. The new trainers will be expected to train intake staff and case workers in their home state; gather information that will add to our knowledge about how learning disabilities impact adults in their quest for employment and education; and work to develop statewide steering committees that will integrate services to adults with LD and define agency roles. In addition, the Seattle team will work with the grant team from the volunteer literacy grant to develop indicators of good service for social agencies and adult education programs so that a national standard can be developed.
6. An evaluation study is being conducted in conjunction with the Office of Research and Planning at the Department of Health and Human Services and the results will be made available to all TANF programs in the nation at the conclusion of the study.

Further Information:
Please contact the Seattle-King County Workforce Development Board, Grant Program Manager: bblanchard@seakingwdc.org.