Evaluation of the Ticket to Work Program, Implementation ...

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88resolve administrative issues such as staff turnover and the need for a system to collect paystubs and submit invoices to the Program Manager.D. EN SERVICESMost EN representatives we interviewed blend TTW into their usual operations,providing Ticket holders with the same or similar services provided to their non-Ticketclients. The same was true for ENs interviewed for the two earlier reports. Most of the 20ENs that were serving, or had served, beneficiaries under TTW offered resume assistance,skills assessment, interview training, job search assistance or job placement, vocationaltraining, counseling, and follow-up or job retention services, all of which they provided toclients before TTW.Some ENs, however, modified their services to accommodate TTW clients. Forexample, one EN, whose typical clients had little work experience and limited skills, foundthat some TTW clients were better educated and more qualified. Staff had to change theirjob search tactics to seek high-level, white-collar jobs for clients with experience as, forexample, a surgeon, a nurse, and a graphic designer. A second EN typically worked withpeople with cognitive and physical disabilities, but most of its Ticket clients hadpsychological disorders. For some of these clients, EN staff needed to focus less ontraditional job placement and more on job retention. A third EN found that, compared withits usual clients, certain Ticket holders—those with depression, for example—can be moredifficult to motivate. EN staff ensure that these individuals have a support network andbegan the practice of having them call in once a week, to “pump them up.” These follow-upservices were a greater challenge than anticipated because of the size of this group of clients.Another noteworthy service trend, which did not emerge from the earlier ENinterviews, is that some ENs are not accepting Tickets themselves but are referringbeneficiaries to the SVRA (which would take the Tickets), then waiting for the SVRA torefer them back for services under a fee-for-service arrangement. ENs have taken thisapproach mainly for financial reasons: they refer clients with expensive service needs theycannot afford to cover on their own. Getting such clients (back) from the SVRA or, inother words, sharing their Tickets with the SVRA, is effectively the only way they can serveindividuals with major service needs. These ENs essentially forfeited the chance to collectmilestone or outcome payments in exchange for the opportunity to receive funds guaranteedto cover service costs.It is also noteworthy that several of the ENs are taking an almost hands-off, lowintensityapproach to Ticket clients, providing relatively little in the way of direct services.These ENs have provided a bit of initial assistance—for example, such as resumedevelopment or a list of job openings—but then expect clients to conduct a job searchindependently. The rationale for this approach is twofold. First, staff feel that this is thebest way for clients to demonstrate both their initiative and their ability to succeed in theworkplace. An EN representative explained, for example, that staff would not accompanyclients to job interviews because “employers don’t want to hire someone with a helper.”Second, these ENs are trying to keep operational costs down. “We’re providing a bare-V: EN Participation in Ticket to Work
minimum service,” said one provider. “That’s all we can afford to provide because we getzero cash up front.”A few ENs described notably different or interesting service approaches that had notbeen described in previous interviews.• A taxi company operating as an EN accepts Tickets from individuals who wantto work as independent-contractor cab drivers.• Another employer registered as an EN contracts with major corporations toassess, train, hire, and place information technology professionals who havephysical disabilities. The EN trains individuals on software applications during aone-year trial contract period with a corporation, after which the corporationdecides whether to hire them directly. (This EN had not yet taken any Ticketsbut is willing to do so for TTW participants who meet the company’s regulareligibility criteria.)• An EN that operates a job development and job coaching business is planningto start a janitorial business that would be staffed with Ticket holders. As theemployer, the provider will have the pay stubs necessary for receiving paymentsfrom SSA.89E. EN SUGGESTIONS FOR PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTSThe EN officials we interviewed for this report overwhelmingly proposed changes tothe payment systems. This should not be surprising, given the extent to which financialissues have been raised consistently by ENs in response to questions about their level ofparticipation. Their ideas, many of them very similar to the suggestions offered by ENsinterviewed for past evaluation reports, include the following:• Provide larger front-end milestone payments—for example, for job placement,job retention for 30 days, and retention for 60 days—so that ENs can morereadily recoup costs as they are incurred. One EN representative suggested thatthe total for the first three milestone payments should be about $5,000.Another suggested a large lump-sum payment about 60 to 90 days afterplacement and “bonus” payments later on for successful retention.• Provide funds so that ENs can purchase vocational training services forbeneficiaries, similar to services available through the One-Stop system.• Shorten the payment schedule from five years to two or three, but maintain thecurrent maximum payment level.• Pay ENs for services provided on a fee-for-service basis.• Provide payments for part-time work or partial reduction in cash benefits.V: EN Participation in Ticket to Work
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A CKNOWLEDGMENTSThe Ticket To Work
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viiiChapterVI(CONTINUED)PageF. SUMM
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xChapterPageAPPENDIX A: TICKET TO W
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xiiTableVIII.3IX.1IX.2IX.3IX.4IX.5I
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xivFigureIII.5III.6III.7III.8III.9P
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xviIX.3EARNINGS OF BENEFICIARIES WI
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xviiiMIENBSNPRMOAGPABSSPSUSGASSASSI
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xxIn Phase 3, which began in Novemb
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xxiigroups of beneficiaries that Co
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xxivimprove TTW, therefore, is to f
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2of disability beneficiaries, and i
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4country. Phase 2 began in November
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Page Is Intentionally Left Blank to
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8Only a few beneficiary characteris
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10Figure II.2.Participation Rate, b
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12Figure II.4.First Assignments at
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14before Ticket, it is perhaps surp
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16was selected for Phase 3. This ma
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18All of the statistics in this sec
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Table II.2. Beneficiary Groups with
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22In all Phase 1 and Phase 2 states
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24Figure II.8. Ticket Participation
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26Adjustments for all other charact
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28In general, provider and payment
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30next report, we will conduct more
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32Figure III.2.Living Arrangements
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34• Less likely to have reported
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36Figure III.7.Prevalence of Diffic
Page 62 and 63: 38are more likely than all benefici
Page 64 and 65: 40Table III.1.Income and Program Pa
Page 66 and 67: 42coverage through their own employ
Page 68 and 69: 44sizable percentage of TTW partici
Page 70 and 71: 46Overall, 9 percent of working-age
Page 72 and 73: 48leave the rolls in the next year,
Page 74 and 75: 50next year and in the next five ye
Page 76 and 77: 52in their characteristics, levels
Page 78 and 79: 54percentage points to 3.7 percent.
Page 80 and 81: 56Figure IV.2. Phase 1 Ticket Recip
Page 82 and 83: 58situation described in the preced
Page 84 and 85: 60the end of the follow-up period w
Page 86 and 87: 62Figure IV.6. Average Monthly Bene
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Page 90 and 91: 66ENs were reluctant to expand serv
Page 92 and 93: 68As of July 2004, there were about
Page 94 and 95: 70But most EN representatives saw T
Page 96 and 97: 72Figure V.2. Number of EN Terminat
Page 98 and 99: 74received a total of just about $2
Page 100 and 101: 76Relatively few ENs have received
Page 102 and 103: 78According to their representative
Page 104 and 105: 80Five EN officials recognized that
Page 106 and 107: 82This was particularly true for so
Page 108 and 109: 84• Another EN representative fou
Page 110 and 111: 86• A third EN received 50 calls
Page 114 and 115: 90• Raise payments for SSI benefi
Page 116 and 117: 92Finally, the real and perceived w
Page 118 and 119: 94efforts to obtain Ticket assignme
Page 120 and 121: 96SSA payments to SVRAs under the T
Page 122 and 123: 98Figure VI.3. Total SSA Payments t
Page 124 and 125: 100assigning their Tickets to ENs (
Page 126 and 127: 102Table VI.1. SVRA Ticket Assignme
Page 128 and 129: 104case, the counselor selects the
Page 130 and 131: 106• Most of the agreements requi
Page 132 and 133: 108needs of SSA beneficiaries and,
Page 134 and 135: 110to the SVRA under the traditiona
Page 136 and 137: 112Tickets each month from November
Page 138 and 139: 114about submitting virtually ident
Page 140 and 141: 116To make EN recruiting efforts mo
Page 142 and 143: 118E. EN ENROLLMENTThe Program Mana
Page 144 and 145: 120beneficiaries who have achieved
Page 146 and 147: 122quarterly basis if they have rec
Page 148 and 149: 124SSA’s approval of systems spec
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Page 152 and 153: 128have accepted. But even at that
Page 154 and 155: 130For beneficiaries who express an
Page 156 and 157: 132rehabilitation counselors (Burea
Page 158 and 159: 134generated a payment to an EN gen
Page 160 and 161: 136the milestone-outcome payment ge
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138system is used so infrequently t
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140One option is for ENs to try to
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142approximations. Our planned anal
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144Figure IX.1. Ticket-Eligible Ben
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146Table IX.2.TTW Participation Rat
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148Figure IX.3. Earnings of Benefic
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150Compared with other beneficiarie
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152Like all other beneficiaries who
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This kind of mixed success in the e
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C. SVRA PARTICIPATION REMAINS STRON
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serving beneficiaries who are simil
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observe changes in their employment
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Mashaw, Jerry L., and Virginia P. R
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A-2Table A.1 (continued)Time Period
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Table B.1. DefinitionsB-2Variable D
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Table B.1 (continued)B-4Variable De
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Table B.1 (continued)Variable Defin
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B-8Table B.3. Participation Rate by
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B-10C. PARTICIPATION RATES BY BENEF
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Table B.6. Participation Rates by C
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Table B.6 (continued)Group Definiti
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Table B.6 (continued)B-16Group Defi
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C-2survey. Whenever possible, the i
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C-4given the large number of benefi
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C-6• Young SSI recipients who are
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C-8beneficiary may have had with EN
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C-10Table C.2. Overview of the Nati
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C-12Sample completes (n=1,178) and
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C.14Table C.3 (continued)AllIntervi
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C.16Table C.5. Final Weighted and U
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C.18Table C.7. Sociodemographic Cha
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C.20Table C.9. Health Status (Figur
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C.22Table C.11. Program Participati
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C.24Table C.14. Awareness of TTW (F
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C.26Table C.16. Employment Expectat
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D-2Table D.1. Selected Characterist
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D-4information from two pretest int
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