The colorado department of labor and employment, office of independent living services under the division of vocational rehabilitation is excited to propose the interagency cooperative action…

The colorado department of labor and employment, office of independent living services under the division of vocational rehabilitation is excited to propose the interagency cooperative action network (ican) project. Ican focuses on serving adults with disabilities from minority and underserved communities, ages 18-64 years old from across colorado. This random assignment research project is testing the impact of a team of three staff, a soar non-attorney representative, comprehensive benefits counseling with a cpwic, and an employment specialist (ES), assisting potentially eligible individuals in acquiring social security administration (SSA) disability benefits while concurrently working seeking employment. Ican will test this intervention through an experimental design (random assignment, 2 groups, stratified by race ethnicity) to examine the impact of using teams of three dedicated to serving potentially eligible adults with disabilities. This project aims to address two of ssas interventional cooperative agreement program priorities: 1. Promoting self-sufficiency by helping people enter, stay in, or return to the labor force, including youth and, 2. Assisting claimants in underserved communities apply appeal for social security disability insurance (DI) and supplemental security income (SSI) benefits. This project is designed as a causal study and will likely result in significant improvement upon existing systems. The ican proposal has the following goals: goal 1: increase self-sufficiency by helping people with disabilities enter, stay in, or return to the labor force goal 1A: train staff to become soar certified and work toward becoming non-attorney representatives 1B: obtain cpwic training for staff so they can provide comprehensive benefits counseling to persons with disabilities applying for ssdi SSI and going to work and goal 1C: train employment specialists staff in customized employment and individual placement and supports strategies. Goal 2: assist claimants in underserved communities apply for DI SSI and goal 3: ensure high-quality of life for persons with disabilities including those in underserved communities. The ican intervention promotes a paradigm shift for individuals applying for SSA disability benefits. This proposal is a five-year project requesting 2,999,060.43 including 248,602.68 for year 1 planning. The state will provide 177,069.13 in match. The ican paradigm shift aims to dispel the myth that one must choose between work or DI SSI (DI SSI or work) to a model that promotes applying for DI SSI and working seeking employment at the same time. This paradigm shift is essential to helping adults achieve self-sufficiency. A key element of the intervention is that the ican teams will receive training and technical assistance from the national disability institute on achieving a better life experience (able) accounts the center for independence on becoming a non-attorney representative and fulfilling the cpwic role and, easterseals colorado to implement soar strategies. Ican will support individuals in using tools to increase assets and resources reducing people experiencing poverty. Educating these adults and families that DI SSI does not need to be the end objective and that the SSA rules allow a person to work and still qualify for those programs will encourage adults to stay in and join the workforce. We are excited about the opportunity to change the paradigm and assist individuals in acquiring ssas foundational benefits, increasing income and building assets and resources to improve self-sufficiency.