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One-Stop career centers and job seekers with disabilities: insights from Kansas

Journal of Rehabilitation, Oct-Dec, 2005 by Jean P. Hall, Kathy Parker

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   I told this gentleman, 'I've been having trouble getting a
   job and I've been off four years because of health
   problems. They're going to ask why I've been gone for
   so long' and he kind of shook his head like he
   understood but there was no further mention of anything.
   He was just kind of quiet. He didn't listen. I was putting
   people from SRS [Social and Rehabilitation Services,
   the state welfare agency] for references. I don't know if
   this is the right thing to do because I think it tips the
   employer off that I've had problems. I told him this and
   he just shook his head again. Then he went back to his
   desk.

Many individuals with disabilities struggle with the issues of gaps in work history and lack of professional references. One-Stop staff can easily give advice about how to address these gaps in a brief period of time and with some simple changes to the mystery customer's resume this potential problem could have been resolved. Instead she felt that the staff member wasn't listening to her. If One-Stop staff members do not feel they have the knowledge or resources to help a person on this level, they need to make referrals to other agencies that can.

Surprisingly, none of the mystery customers was referred to VR even though none of them reported to us having mentioned to One-Stop staff that they had already worked with VR. We found in working directly with One-Stop staff members that they were fairly uninformed about VR services even though VR is a mandated partner in the One-Stop system. Again, this lack of a consistent referral system to VR indicates a lack of awareness by staff of appropriate service options for customers with disabilities.

Discussion

In 1998 when the Workforce Investment Act was signed into law it was hoped that the integration of the nation's workforce preparation and employment system would improve the quality of the workforce, sustain economic growth and productivity, and reduce dependency on welfare (Storen & Dixon, 1999). The resultant program would provide universal access and partnerships between the workforce system and disability organizations such as VR. All workers would have access to the core services and workers with disabilities would be eligible for intensive services and training available though the One-Stop centers (Funaro & Dixon, 2002).

The focus group findings indicated that the ideal One-Stop would be welcoming and the personnel would be accessible. Further, the One-Stop staff would have a high level of comfort working with people with disabilities and show interest in them as individuals. Many of the focus group participants indicated they would like to receive more one-on-one counseling support than is available through the resource center model of service delivery. In fact, much of what they wanted was intensive and not simply core services. The issues identified in focus groups about experiences at One-Stops were corroborated by the mystery customer reports. A chart comparing the mystery customer experiences with the focus group themes appears in Table 3.

Health Care Industry

One-Stop career centers and job seekers with disabilities: insights from Kansas

Journal of Rehabilitation, Oct-Dec, 2005 by Jean P. Hall, Kathy Parker

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