FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK...

PRA is excited to announce to its members the launch of our new website located at parehab.org. Please make sure to visit the website, as this will be the hub of information about ways to join our network, find opportunities to learn, obtain recent updates on legislation and policy updates, and connect to PRA's efforts to inspire tomorrow's leaders.

This Summer 2010 edition of the PRA newsletter is our first electronic one. The newsletters are generated and housed on the PRA website, so you can access them at any time in the future. If you are receiving a hard copy, please contact Roger Barton at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to provide him with your email address, since we'd like to be 100% green!

The primary purpose of this newsletter is to honor the PRA Awardees. During the PDI, they received their recognition and awards. Congratulations to each and every one of them for being leaders in the field of vocational rehabilitation.

This year's Professional Development Institute was attended by almost 120 participants. The PDI was a great success, receiving a 91% excellent overall rating. The theme of this year's PDI, Leveraging Change: New Days, New Ways provided participants with an opportunity to learn, capitalize upon, and influence the changes that are occurring at the federal and state level. We opened the event with an inspiring keynote presentation, Vocational Rehabilitation as the Great Socio-Economic Equalizer by The Author...The Speaker...The Inspiration, Mark E. Smith. We are also very fortunate to have the Honorable Senator David G. Argall, 29th District of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to talk with us about effectively communicating with our legislators. Bonnie Hawley, the National Rehabilitation Association President, will share the national perspective about the changing environment and priorities and how to capture opportunities for Pennsylvanians with disabilities. Throughout the PDI, many very informative and exciting topics are being discussed including the important topic of ethics in our profession, generational diversity, the shifting world of job opportunities, and getting linked in through social media. For the second year in a row, the PRA Board was pleased to feature Rehabilitation Student Posters!

The PRA board is very interested in creating opportunity for leadership of students and possibly sponsoring a Pennsylvania Student Chapter of PRA. We invite all students who may be interested in learning more to get in touch with Dr. Rebecca Spirito Dalgin at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

The next PRA board meeting is scheduled for Friday, August 27th in the Harrisburg area. Please get in touch with me if you'd like to attend! Stay tuned for additional information about regional training opportunities. Our first series will focus on the ADA Amendments Act. Visit our website for additional information.

Please feel free to contact me at any time at 717-368-6548 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). I'm here to serve our community!

Joan Kester

PRA President
SAVE THE DATES!
SAVE THE DATES!

2011 PRA PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
MARCH 31, 2011

Exciting New Location...

Central Pennsylvania College

College Hill & Valley Roads

Summerdale, PA 17093

http://www.centralpenn.edu

If you'd like to volunteer to participate

on a great planning team for the 2011 PDI,

please contact Stephanie Pranses at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!

The University of Scranton has announced the date for the 9th Annual Northeastern U.S. Conference on disABILITY, October 6, 2010, at the DeNaples Center on the Scranton campus. The theme is, "Celebrate the Evolution: The ADA at 20 Years." Several nationally recognized speakers, including the new RSA Commissioner, Lynnae Ruttledge, will keynote the conference and breakout sessions will address topics of contemporary significance related to the ADA theme. CEUs will be available. For additional information go to http://matrix.scranton.edu/academics/pcps/leahy/conference.shtml.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE by Dr. Ralph Pacinelli and Trish Lapotsky

It is spring in Pennsylvania and with it comes the opportunity for new and fresh beginnings and perhaps even action on the reauthorization of The Rehabilitation Act. It is always good to have hope, as Mary Switzer always preached that hope is the anchor of life.

Since our last report in January there has been no action on the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) which includes in Title IV the Rehabilitation Act. Talks continue between NRA and other stakeholders with Capitol Hill staff on proposals believed to be pertinent when reauthorization begins. Areas under discussion change from week to week but mainly center on Transition (School to Work), consolidation of programs with Title I of The Act such as Supported Employment, Projects with Industry, Migrants and Seasonal Farm Workers and at least one surprise this winter and that was moving In-Service Training funds from Title III (discretionary dollars) to the Title I formula grant program. This move could see the end of the earmark and dedicated funding stream for In-Service Training. NRA does not support these changes. If implemented they could weaken the historically effective fabric, infrastructure and funding patterns of these productive programs, projects and activities.

With basic healthcare reform completed and signed into law (Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act), our national rehabilitation leaders have begun to study the impact this landmark legislation has on people with disabilities in terms of Coverage, Benefits, Access to Quality Care and Long-term Services and Supports. We will follow and report on these matters in future newsletters.

Another successful NRA Government Affairs Summit was held in Washington, DC on March 14-16, 2010. On March 9 the NRA Board approved the 15 issue papers that were presented to all participants in preparation for their visits with House Members and Senators during the full day of March 16. The 2010 issues are:

* Keep the RSA in the U.S. Department of Education
* Common Performance Measures (WIA)
* Maintain 18 months Legislative Language Currently in Title VI of the Rehab. Act (Supported Employment)
* Governor's Waiver Authority
* Qualified Rehab. Professional
* Infrastructure Funding for the One Stop Centers
* Placing the State VR Directors on the State and Local Workforce Investment Boards
* Transition
* Downgrading of the Office of the Commissioner of RSA
* Maintaining Mandatory Funding for Title I
* VR and Business-Partners in Employment
* The Community Choice Act
* Specialized Services for Blind Individuals
* American Indian VR Services Program
* Maintain Separate funding for Supported Employment, Projects with Industry and Migrant and Seasonal Farmworkers.

Full statements are available at http://www.nationalrehab.org

With great anticipation, human services planners, administrators and service providers awaited the numbers and the bad news expected from the Governor's Executive Budget for 2010-2011. The economic downturn, continued high unemployment, shrinking revenue collections and the overall troublesome economy would surely contribute to the elimination of programs and harmful cuts for many programs. The fate of the Commonwealth's Vocational Rehabilitation program was spared drastic cuts as sustained by partner programs. Some programs were recommended for cuts in the millions, while VR is slated for reductions in a few programs in the thousands of dollars. For example, there were no cuts in the VR Formula Program, all of the funds needed to earn the full federal allotment were provided. The Supported Employment program was proposed for a $5,000 reduction. The CIL program was recommended for a $22,000 cut and the Assistive Technology program will be reduced by $8,000. While no cuts should be tolerated, these amounts suggest that VR and Independent Living have earned the Administration's support by being cost-effective, revenue producing, employment-oriented, transparent, and accountable. And, these programs have strong constituent support. In times like these, every governmentally funded program is asked to make a contribution to the betterment of the Commonwealth. That is the situation facing Vocational Rehabilitation, it is being asked to make a CONTRIBUTION by the small budget cuts recommended in the Governor's budget and not a SACRIFICE as so many other partner programs will make if the 2010-2011 budget marks prevail. It is important to note that PA/OVR received some $20,000,000 from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus) program over a two year period where no matching funds were required. These funds are used by PA/OVR for infrastructure projects and the provision of direct services to individuals with disabilities.

There is breaking news from Washington as this column is written and it concerns the principal leadership at the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR), the organization of all State VR directors (General and Blind agencies) in the U.S. Carl Suter, who has headed the organization for almost nine years announced his retirement for December 31, 2010. This makes it imperative that VR gets Reauthorization done before December. His departure will be a great loss. He is only the second Executive Director in the 36 year history of CSAVR. CSAVR grew from the Administrative Practices and Supervisory Division of NRA and became a separate organization in 1974 under the leadership of Joseph H. Owens.
Never forget that informed, targeted and timely advocacy is imperative to maintain the integrity of the Public VR program. If we don't do it, who will?

2010 PRA AWARD RECIPIENTS

Charles L. Eby Counselor Award for Placement: LaKeysha McLaurin, M.A., CRC
This award was established to honor a counselor who has demonstrated the ability to match potential with job performance and has a consistent record in placement of persons with disabilities.

LaKeysha is the Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing in the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) Reading district office. LaKeysha came to the Reading office in 2007 and had previously worked in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a Job Placement Specialist for deaf and hard of hearing clients in a Projects with Industry program for approximately 2 years.

LaKeysha has a Bachelor's Degree in Sign Language Studies from Madonna University and a Master's in Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling from Michigan State University. When she worked as an assistant to the counselors for the deaf at Michigan VR, she became inspired by the influence of VR services upon the lives of persons with disabilities and became actively involved in the National Rehabilitation Association (NRA) and the National Association for Multicultural Rehabilitation Concerns (NAMRC) as a student representative from 2005-2007.

LaKeysha's caseload consists of deaf and hard of hearing customers in Berks and Schuylkill counties, and she has developed numerous partnerships in the community with employers and Berks and Lancaster Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services agencies to help her customers obtain the services they need to obtain and maintain employment. LaKeysha's supervisor, Yvelisse Gonzalez, was impressed that LaKeysha was able to place 55 of her customers into employment in 2009. LaKeysha's administrator, Janell Shaffer-Yoder, feels that LaKeysha was able to help so many of her customers obtain employment because of her community partnerships combined with her outstanding organizational skills. Both Yvelisse and Janell feel that LaKeysha does an outstanding job of placing her customers in to employment and is very deserving of the Charles L. Eby Counselor Award for Placement.

Charles L. Eby Award for Administration: Rose Higby
This award was established to honor an individual who has shown unusual initiative and creativeness in the development and administration of a program of demonstrated value for persons with disabilities. Sustained PRA membership is a requirement.

Rose Higby is the District Administrator for the Philadelphia OVR office. Rose started her career with OVR as a counselor approximately 30 years ago and was promoted into various positions until she became District Administrator in March, 2001. According to Barbara Shadell, Assistant District Administrator, Rose has always been an outstanding employee and believed that the customers OVR serves should come first at all times. One of the central themes of her leadership within her office is that she encourages her staff to treat each customer the way we would want our family members treated.

Rose is also well-respected by community partners, since she has the ability to bring people together who have diverse views on an issue and help lead them to a group consensus to achieve the goals that they mutually agreed upon. For example, Rose's interest in assisting customers with mental health issues led her to work together with the Mental Health Association of Philadelphia to begin a Certified Peer Specialist training program. It has become a model used by other offices throughout the state.

Rose has also worked tirelessly to develop other innovative programs to help people with disabilities. Rose helped to develop a Project SEARCH program with a hospital in the Philadelphia area to enable students with severe physical disabilities to develop skills in various employment areas of the hospital that will help them gain employment after high school graduation.

During the past few years, Rose has faced the challenge of a number of counselor vacancies in the Philadelphia office, but she continued to have a positive attitude and encouraged staff to help cover vacant caseloads to continue to provide needed services to customers. As a result, the Philadelphia office was still able to meet their goals for competitive employment outcomes for their customers. Rose was also able to recruit twenty-two new counselors to work in her office during the past year alone.

Barbara Shadell feels that Rose "exhibits those qualities that separate an ordinary person from a great person. She not only has served this agency with integrity, dedication and spirit, she has been relentless in encouraging her staff to improve their skills, continue educating themselves in all aspects of rehabilitation and perform at their highest level." Barbara also feels that Rose "has been my role model, the wind beneath my wings, my mentor and most importantly, my friend." Other management and supervisory staff in the Philadelphia office are also in support of Rose receiving this award. In their opinion, Charles L. Eby would be pleased to know that Rose was nominated to receive this award in his honor.

Ralph N. Pacinelli Leadership Award: Janet Fiore
This award is presented to a PRA member who has exercised extraordinary national and/or state leadership to rehabilitation professionals in order to strengthen, broaden, and hone their professional development. These enlightened characteristics should serve to substantially impact the public/private vocational rehabilitation program, assist PRA in achieving its mission, and make a positive contribution to the lives of individuals with disabilities.

Janet is the President and CEO of The Sierra Group, a distinguished private rehabilitation company. Janet plays a role on the national scene with her advocacy for the development of employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. According to Ray Feroz, Janet "has traveled the country and interfaced with business executives, elected officials and professionals to create a better world for all American citizens. She is a master at making connections that result in individual success, and more importantly, for social progress in this great nation. Janet talks the talk AND walks the walk. She is an inspiration to everyone she meets, and Janet's leadership reflects highly upon herself, The Sierra Group, and the Pennsylvania and National Rehabilitation Associations (PRA/NRA)."

Janet is also the Past President (2002) of PRA and hosted the annual conference of NRA when it was in Philadelphia in the year of her presidency. Under her leadership PRA was also awarded the "Chapter of the Year" distinction by NRA. Janet has also continued her active involvement in PRA and NRA by helping to arrange for world-class conference speakers, making presentations, engaging in advocacy and providing education to the rehabilitation leadership. Janet is also currently running for the office of president of NRA's National Association for Rehabilitation Leadership division, and Ray knows that this division will certainly benefit from her active and energetic vision.
PRA Salutes our Student Award Winners...

2010 PRA STUDENT AWARD RECIPIENTS
PRA Undergraduate Student Award for Leadership & Advocacy: Alexa Hodge
The purpose of this PRA Award is to honor an undergraduate student who has made a substantial contribution to the field of rehabilitation in the area of leadership and advocacy.

Alexa Hodge is an undergraduate student in the field of Rehabilitation and Human Services at Penn State University. She was nominated by her professor, Dr. Liza Conyers. Dr. Conyers felt that Alexa displayed a passion for improving the quality of life of those in need along with reducing disability stigma in the community. Alexa created a disability awareness video and interviewed students from different parts of the university to expose and counter disability stereotypes. She has also given back to the community through numerous volunteer activities.

Her leadership potential has been evident by the number of hours that she has devoted to her leadership role on the Rehabilitation and Human Services Student Organization executive committee, where she has helped to motivate and inspire fellow students to get involved with community service in a fun and engaging way.

Since Alexa has been enrolled at Penn State, she has also maintained a 3.73 grade point average and received academic honors, such as the Dean's list, National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Golden Key International Society.

PRA Undergraduate Student Award for Leadership: Lyle Clark
The purpose of this PRA Award is to honor an undergraduate student who has made a substantial contribution to the field of rehabilitation in the area of leadership.

Lyle Clark is an undergraduate student in the Rehabilitative Sciences program with a concentration in substance abuse treatment at Clarion University. Lyle was nominated by his professor, Dr. Ray Feroz. Dr. Feroz felt that Lyle has demonstrated outstanding leadership in the Rehabilitation Sciences Club at Clarion University, since he has taken charge of planning fundraisers, chairing meetings, initiating and orienting new members and officers, and organizing the club's annual trip to PRA's Professional Development Institute.

Lyle has also been a member of the Student Council for Exceptional Children since the fall of 2007 and volunteered with Special Olympics since the spring of 2008.

Despite his busy schedule, Lyle has continued to be an excellent student, with a 3.808 QPA. He has also been on the Dean's list for four consecutive semesters and is listed in Who's Who Among College Students (Fall 2009).

PRA Graduate Student Award for Leadership & Advocacy: Jason Gines
The purpose of this PRA Award is to honor a graduate student who has made a substantial contribution to the field of rehabilitation in the area of leadership and advocacy.

Jason Gines is a graduate student in the Rehabilitation Counseling program at Penn State University. Jason was nominated for this award by his professor, Dr. Keith Wilson. Dr. Wilson felt that Jason showed remarkable leadership as the student representative on the Rehabilitation Departmental Diversity Committee where he advocated for equal opportunities for all people. Dr. Wilson wrote, "In the history of our department, we have never had such a student to bring diversity issues from a student's perspective to lie down at the feet of our faculty. Not only was the faculty impressed with the manner of his presentations during the semester, but the skills he displayed when addressing very sensitive areas like power and privilege. There were comments made for several days about how impressed the faculty was with Jason's leadership skills."

Dr. Wilson also felt that Jason was a tremendous advocate for people with disabilities. When a rehabilitation professor asked students to assist a classmate who had a disability, Jason volunteered to help him with a class project and then continued to assist him throughout the semester as needed. The professor was impressed with Jason's initiative and compassion.

Dr. Wilson also reports that Jason is an academically gifted student who is an officer of the education honor society and has co-authored two refereed publications. Dr. Liza Conyers concurs that Jason is a truly exceptional student. Dr. Conyers reported that while Jason was working on his internship at Rockview Prison, he sought additional learning opportunities through his interactions with an adjunct faculty member, who had been a psychologist at this prison facility. Jason's recent presentation on this topic was so impressive that Dr. Jim Herbert indicated that he was confident that Jason will make a major contribution to improving the vocational opportunities for individuals with criminal histories on a national level.

PRA Newsletter Disclaimer

The Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Association, an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for people with disabilities, publishes the newsletter as a free membership service. Through the newsletter, PRA makes reasonable effort to provide quality information to its readers, but does not assume legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the material disclosed. The information is provided "as is" and not intended as legal or professional advice. Therefore, the original source or a competent professional should be consulted regarding specific circumstances. Unless otherwise noted, the expressed views and opinions of the writers do not necessarily represent those of PRA and reference to a product or service does not necessarily imply endorsement by PRA.

If you would like to contribute an event or article to the newsletter, please contact:

Sue Soderberg, Newsletter Editor
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)