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Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services Presents Director Joe Cordova's
Report to Staff
Good morning all
Today is Monday, March 10.
It is a very nice spring-like day out there
so there is still hope that warmer weather
is ahead. First, I
would like to report on
any updates on the Workforce Investment Act
and the reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act, which is
part of the Workforce Investment Act. There really isn't
any movement in Congress at this point, but there's a lot of
activity on the local level. I know here in Oklahoma,
the Oklahoma Rehabilitation Council
and the Oklahoma Rehabilitation Association have both been very active
and consumer groups as well. All
have been very active in voicing their concerns to Congress about the
proposed reauthorization and what we hear from
our Washington
partner, the
Council of State Administrators for Rehabilitation
CSAVR is that their contacts in Congress indicate that
they are hearing our voices on the local level so that's a good thing.
On February 21,
I attended the open house at the
School for the Blind in Muskogee, and it was a very, very interesting
tour that we had of the school. We met
of course with students, parents and
teachers at the school. And
they're doing some really interesting things out there, and
at some point, we would like to have the superintendent of the School for the
Blind
possibly give a a report on some of their
activities. They're just doing some really great things.
In fact they performed, the Jazz Band at the school,
performed at the state Capitol in late February
It's a really nice band.
It was a great treat. The school's doing a lot
in terms of giving back to the community.
They've had many activities, which
help fund raise for the local community.
so we're quite proud of Superintendent Adams
and the School for the Blind. Later that
Monday, February 25, I had occasion to
visit the School for the Deaf. It was
Senior Day at the School for the Deaf. We got to meet with all the
graduating seniors at the school
and I talked to them a little bit about my experience growing up
at a state School for the Blind in New Mexico
and also competing in sports in wrestling
particularly with the School for the Deaf
in Santa Fe, New Mexico, so that also was a very,
very nice event.
Again we are proud of Superintendent KaAnn
She has done a fantastic job down there
at the Sulphur School for the Deaf.
March 4,
It was
the DRS Nineth
year annual awards ceremony
Unfortunately I was unable to attend.
As much as I wanted to, I was stranded in bad weather in
Chicago for several days so I did not get to attend that. But
I understand it went very, very well.
We're quite proud of all the DRS employees who received
awards at that time.
I wanted to mention a little bit about
one of the training programs we have here
in Oklahoma. We are quite proud of the WINGS
program. That's an acronym that stands for
Wicked Innovations for Next Generations
This is a succession
planning training program for our staff
It's a nationally recognized
and we do this in conjunction with the
technical assistance and continuing education program
in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
That program was slated
to begin in late February. Unfortunately again the bad weather
caused this first date of the
training program to be rescheduled due to bad weather.
I believe it is rescheduled for April 14.
So that's another
very good program that we have for our staff and
succession planning. Also we are
very much promoting
Disability Awareness Day,
which will occur in
April and
I have sent out some announcements to various stakeholders, to staff, to
various organizations to
encourage them to to participate in Disability
Awareness Day. If you have not signed up, I would encourage you to go to our
website
and look up in the Communications Division.
You can contact any staff person there, and they can assist you with any
information you need on
signing up for Disability Awareness Day.
I want to report again some good news
and that is the folks over there at the
benefits unit -- Jason Price
and his staff and all the counselors who participate
in Social Security reimbursements.
Jason reported that in January we had another
really good month -- well over $445,000
in
reimbursements of 28
individuals receiving Social Security benefits that reach the substantial
gainful activity level.
So that is really, really great news.
I believe year to date Jason says that
we're at about
$1.3 million, thereabouts,
year to date with placements of 84
clients
receiving Social Security benefits. We are quite proud
of that unit and all the counselors that helped place people
in competitive employment.
Lastly I would tell you that on the vocational
rehabilitation side of the house we are
fast moving forward
on our focus on quality. We have
compiled some preliminary data
on our progress in terms of
where we are on the standards and indicators,
wages and all that so
technical assistance and Continuing Education Center
will be meeting with us very shortly
to look at where we stand in terms of
the data and what it tells us. So we're going be moving forward on this project
very soon. So this is my report.
All have a great day