Governor's Committee for People with Disabilities
Vocational Rehabilitation: Helping Students with Disabilities Prepare for the Future Webinar

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

	>>  Recording in progress.	
	>>  All right, well, thank you, everyone, for joining us.  It is now 3:45 and welcome to the webinar, vocational rehabilitation helping students with disabilities prepare for the future.  This session is going to be going over the Texas Workforce Solutions Vocational Rehabilitation or VR Services and this is going to include an overview of preemployment services or pre‑ETS, how to connect with a VR counsellor, what is needed to apply for services and much more.  If that's why you are here, you're in the right place.  This session is intended for high school students 14 to 22 and their parents.  If you plan to attend college or looking to explore careers, gain hands‑on working experience, this webinar is also for you so you are in the right place.  Now housekeeping before we get into the presentation, please be sure to drop your questions in the Q&A box and we will address those questions at the end of the presentation.  Additionally, these materials and presentation, we are recording it and that recording will be posted after the fact on the Governor's Committee website and on their YouTube channel and a link to that will be sent out to all of those that have registered once it's available so this will be available to y'all after the fact.  So that said, my name is Alyssa Kee.  I am a transition specialist for Texas Workforce Solutions Vocational Rehabilitation Services and my presenter as well, Kevin Markel is here.  
	>>  Hi, good afternoon, everybody.  My name is Kevin Markel and I'm a colleague alongside Alyssa and we're both from the statewide team for transition and preemployment transition services with TWC‑VR.  So thank you for joining us this afternoon.  
	>>  Perfect.  Thank you, Kevin.  I am going to go ahead and get into the presentation and answer any questions that you might have.  So the first question, what is vocational rehabilitation or VR?  No, it's not virtual reality.  This program is designed to help people with disabilities obtain and maintain employment that is consistent with their strengths, interests, interests, abilities and aptitudes, in a nutshell, that is what vocational rehabilitation is.  In terms of some parameters, it is an eligibility‑based program that is tailored to the individual.  We provide services but they're not intended to be incomes services so that doesn't mean that we plan.  That said, there's not a time limit to the services, but they're not intended to be provided long term so this is not an instance that's a lifelong case but if an individual requires services and a few years later requires additional services, it's not limited in terms of time.  You're not capped in terms of the support that you're able to receive from the agency.  The services are arranged and provided by what's called a vocational rehabilitation counsellor or VRC.  It can be accessed throughout the individual's lifetime.  Like uh said, if an individual came to us as a student in high school and as a adult can again receive services through VR.  When we're talking about legislation, one is very relevant to transition services is the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA.  This was passed in 2014 and is designed to help career seekers secure the employment, education, training and support services necessary to succeed in the labor market while also matching employers with the skilled workers they need.  It also emphasizes transition and youth services and also identified pre‑employment transition services or pre‑ETS, which is intended to provide exposure to the concepts and experiences related to building skills for work and independent living so that's the idea of preemployment transition services or pre‑ETS to prepare an individual for the workforce.  Some other relevant information has to do with IDEA, FAPE, and 504, oh my.  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA, is a federal law that makes sure that all students with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education, also sometimes referred to as FAPE.  The purpose of IDEA is to prepare students with disabilities for independent living.  Additionally, there is a U.S. Department of Education Section 504 of the rehabilitation act of 1973 that's enforced by the Department of Education and it was amended as a Civil Rights statute and it prohibited discrimination against individuals with disabilities.  We see that at the elementary and secondary school level.  This helps determine whether a child is a qualified disabled student and once they have been identified as 504 or special education, that related aids or services are provided and a decision is made regarding the type of services the student needs so that's a background of what's out there as it relates to students with disabilities.  Now we're going to kind of dive into what special education is and next we'll look at what 504 is.  So under IDEA, special education requires that a student's disability must affect that child's educational performance and their ability to learn.  Once that student is diagnosed, whether a doctor or school evaluation, an individualized education plan or IEP is developed and that maps out the student's schedule, their goals, relevant accommodations, any additional testing that's needed, their present levels, education.  This is done via the admission review and dismissal meeting or ARD meeting that occurs on an annual basis.  It is limited to secondary school age or younger so you wouldn't see this at the college level.  In addition to accommodations, special education can also modify content.  One of the major differences you might see, curriculum is modified, tests and quizzes are modified which could be something like instead of having four questions on an exam, two of them are removed for a 50/50 choice.  Alternatively, we have the 504 plan so according to the U.S. Department of Education, there are three requirements for 504 which include having a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life activity, having a record of such an impairment and being regarded as having such an impairment there's a 504 plan that is reviewed annually.  This is for any age of student so you see this as well at the college level.  It provides access and accommodations and in this case, while we don't see the modification of content, you might see things like preferential seating, extra time on tests, note taking, so accommodation services.  When there is currently a memorandum of understanding between the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Workforce Commission to collaborate in the delivery of VR transition services as related to the 2014 legislation of WIOA and that's for students transitioning from secondary school and onto competitive employment.  When we talk about transition planning, we want to identify that it is a purposely driven model to result in clear and concise post‑secondary goals and it contains a detailed road map that should be established by the start of high school.  Early career exploration, so that's one false it of career exploration services.  You can start with volunteering, a paid work experience, the earlier you start exploring your career options and aspirations the better.  It's going to set a student up for more successful transition from that educate area to employment and, again, that first job, it's not about loving what you're doing, although that's great, but it's about learning how the real world works when we think about our first job and what that looks like, it might not have been your dream job but it's a way for you to learn skills that can be transferred to other employment in the future.  No one comes out of college with that career job necessarily, but, again, every job and every internship or any volunteer experience is an opportunity to learn more about what your interests are and to move towards that career job.  That opens up more opportunities and it's going to lead you to the one you really want because it's really important to not only try out jobs and find out what you do like but it's good to know what you don't like.  Sometimes it's having a job and saying you know, this is interesting but what's that guy over there doing?  Or what's that job or that type of technology?  I'm more interested in that.  So it can open up doors that you otherwise wouldn't have had access to.  
	>>  Alyssa may I ask a question, please?  What is your preference about questions from the audience?  Would you prefer to have ‑‑ there is a question now about home schooling and how this would apply or would you rather a certain block of time for your questions?  I apologize, I missed that.  
	>>  Of course.  So, yes, go ahead, as questions are dropped in the Q&A box, we have a section at the end of the presentation to answer those questions, but I appreciate you asking, yes, so any questions, go ahead and drop them in that box and we will address that at the end of the presentation.  
	All right.  This last slide here has to do with VR transition services.  So as we're looking at transition and how it applies to VR, vocational rehabilitation, the goal is to provide students support in moving from high school to successful work and independent living.  This is done through partnerships with schools and we provide these services to students while they're in high school so by the time they're ready to exit or graduate, they have a better idea of their career aspirations.  They can still participate in vocational rehabilitation as necessary to them to continue that support and to finesse any of those goals.  The transition services are a subset of vocational rehabilitation and it's offered to individuals aged 14 through 22 and in most cases, the services provided to transition students fall into five pre‑ETS categories.  With that in mind, I'm going to hand the presentation over to Kevin Markel.  
	>>  Great.  Thank you, Alyssa.  And, again, everyone, good afternoon.  So, as Alyssa alluded to, our transition services here at VR really focus on what we call preemployment transition services, specifically these fall into five different areas, which we listed here on this particular slide.  So we have work‑based learning opportunities.  We have counseling on post‑secondary opportunities options.  We have workplace readiness.  We have training on self‑advocacy, and we have job exploration counseling or career exploration counseling.  So these are the five areas where we really try to hone in on every student that we work with.  So, let's take work‑based learning opportunities first.  So sometimes when we hear that term, we might think of a summer job or another type of part‑time job or after school job, something like that.  And indeed that is true, but work‑based learning opportunities really has a wide range and can include things like job shadowing and informational interviewing, work site tours, even internships and other types of unpaid and paid work experiences.  So we listed this at the top and these are in no particular order.  All five are vitally important, but I think we would all agree that nothing can take the place of a real world type of work experience for a student with a disability, let alone students without disabilities.  I think it's applicable really to all young people.  Just to have that experience or two or three experiences in high school really can go a long way in helping that student in terms of learning expectations, identifying things they like and don't like and also hoping to set them on the right trajectory for a future career.  In addition to that, we also focus on counseling around post‑secondary opportunities and options.  There is a wide array of post‑secondary options available to students.  It's not just traditional college, two or four year, but voc school, other certificate programs, some programs specific to a certain disability, etc., so our aim here is to help students with that process identifying the right post‑secondary training that they would like to pursue and we might be able to help with the financial aid process or the enrollment process, also connecting them with the students with the disabilities office on college campuses or other similar types of resources.  So, again, very important to make that connection for successful transition from high school to post‑secondary education and training.  Workplace readiness types of training really has to do with those soft skills, those interpersonal skills, social skills that are so vital, the independent living skills we all need to be successful on a job.  I think we may be familiar with the expression that it's the hard skills that will get you the job, but it's those soft skills that will help you keep the job.  That's really this area of focus, how can we better provide adequate training to students with disabilities so that they can be ready for the workplace in terms of how they interact with people and how they follow instructions, in terms of hygiene issues, money management.  It runs the gamut, so, again, very, very important area of focus.  Next we have training on self‑advocacy or self‑advocacy instruction, which can also include mentoring.  I think we would all agree that it's important for students to develop a sense of self‑advocacy, express their interests, be able to talk about their disability, be able to express just like any other student what their motivations are, where their interest lies, what they would like to do after high school.  A big area of focus.  Lastly is job exploration or career exploration counseling, which can involve a number of things and Alyssa kind of already hit on this some but we can do interest inventories, labor market types of research, we can look at career pathways to identify what a student may be interested in.  These are the five areas where our program really dwells with every student that we serve.  Next slide.  
	Okay.  So when you approach VR or apply for VR services, you will be interacting with what we call a VR counsellor, a vocational rehabilitation counsellor.  We basically have two different types of counsellors.  We have what's called a transition vocational rehabilitation counsellor, so the T is for transition.  Those counsellors primarily spend most of their time or a lot of their time on school campuses working directly with students.  By and large their case loads are comprised of mostly students with disabilities.  Second, we also have general vocational rehabilitation counsellors who may have a general type of case load where they may serve primarily adults but they also may be the liaison counsellor for a high school or two high schools in a particular area.  As you all know, Texas is a big place and I think we've got roughly 1200 or so ISDs and shared business arrangements around the state and within that, even many thousands more of high schools.  We do have a large number of counsellors and so unfortunately we don't have the ability to place a TVRC at every high school, so we have the option of our general counsellors also serving as the liaison at high schools so on this last square here, if you're unfamiliar with who might be the appropriate counsellor at your local school, if you would like to find that out, the best way to do that is to contact the regional program specialist with TWC and we'll have a list of those program specialists a little bit later on in the presentation.  Next slide.  
	Okay.  So Alyssa and I also wanted to take a bit about eligibility criteria.  The counsellor has many important roles and responsibilities, but perhaps one of the biggest roles and responsibilities they have is to make eligibility determinations for applicants.  So when an individual applies, whether it's an adult or student, they go through this eligibility process.  It's basically four steps.  In that first step, the counsellor is going to make sure and verify the disability, whether it's physical or mental.  Even emotional and sensory types of disabilities are included in here, too.  Verify the disability first.  Secondly we see if that disability constitutes an impediment or barrier to employment.  So that's really the second question that's asked.  Third question is are VR services going to be required for that individual who is applying to be able to prepare for or secure or obtain or retain, advance in their chosen employment goal that's going to be in a way that's consistent, where there's strengths and interests and concerns, priorities, informed choice, etc.  So up front, the counsellor tries to gather as much information as they can about a person who applies for services, including some of their strengths and some of their interests so that they can ensure that the VR services that we have available are going to be required in order for that individual eventually to have an employment outcome.  
	And then lastly, the counsellor will look at the benefit.  In other words, is this individual going to be capable of reaching an employment outcome in terms of a competitive integrated setting.  What we mean by competitive integrated setting is it's a workplace, work site, job, or career that has competitive wages, nothing less than minimum wage, and also that it's integrated, a place, job site, where both persons without disabilities and persons with disabilities may work together.  So that's what we mean by competitive and integrated.  Some counsellors may say I can answer yes to two and three but the fourth part, I'm not sure if this person will be able to benefit from services or capable based on the disability, so in that instance, the counsellor can go through extra steps, get some extra assessments and extra evaluations to see if we can determine if that person is going to be able to benefit from VR.  So, again, there are a number of different steps for applicants to go through in order to obtain VR services.  As Alyssa mentioned early in the presentation, vocational rehabilitation is an eligibility‑based process, so.  Next slide.  
	Okay.  Now, here's a section that doesn't necessarily apply to the eligibility process.  So, earlier in the presentation, Alyssa mentioned WIOA, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which is the legislation that governs VR currently and so in that legislation, they provided an avenue or an option for us to be able to get services to students with disabilities without them having to apply for services and go through the eligibility process that we just outlined.  We call this particular status potentially eligible.  This potentially eligible category is available for students with disabilities between the ages of 14 and 22 who do have a verified disability and who are in a recognized education program.  What we mean by a recognized education program is this could be secondary education in public school, could be private school, could be home schooling.  I think there was a question on home schooling that has come up in the box and so this does include home school situations.  It includes post secondary options, GED classes, even juvenile justice classes, as long as the student has a disability and is in a recognized education program and is within this age range, we can provide those important services.  This potentially eligibility is not intended to circumvent the regular ER process in any way and is only intended to provide those five pre‑ETS areas that we talked about earlier.  So the services from our agency are limited to those five areas of pre‑ETS when it comes to those who would like to pursue the potentially eligible types of services.  So that's important to keep in mind, but this is a good avenue for many students to get connected with us.  Next slide.  
	Okay.  We have a couple of options for VR services and this is what's so nice.  I think about our services for transition.  If Alyssa and I had a gold star or a blue star or something, I think we would probably place it on this slide because a lot of what we've talked about has kind of culminated into our discussion here, that when students who would like to connect with TWC‑VR really have two avenues in which to pursue that relationship.  They can simply approach us and pursue those potentially eligible services that we have listed here first.  It's just a simple matter of meeting with a counsellor providing some basic information to that counsellor.  In fact, we have just a one page form, so it's really simple.  There may be a consent or release form to sign as well.  The services here are limited to those five pre‑ETS areas.  As you can see, there's not a whole lot of hoops to jump through.  There's not a whole lot of steps that you have to go through.  The intention to have this possibility or this avenue was intentional by Congress because they wanted to alleviate what many students and parents had to go through to get students connected to VR so we have this possibility.  Secondly, students certainly have the right to apply for the full array of VR services through our standard VR process where they would meet with a counsellor, complete an application.  The counsellor would go through that eligibility determination like we talked about.  After that, they do some additional assessments and evaluations and come up with a plan of services and that plan of services is individualized and it can include pre‑ETS, absolutely, but it can also include many other things, like supported employment or assistance with post‑secondary training.  There is an advantage, of course, to applying for VR services because the scope is a full array of services.  However, for many students, they may just be interested in one of our pre‑ETS areas and then all they would have to do is simply request that and become potentially eligible with us and they may just be interested in a summer job or just interested in a workshop or seminar that we conduct.  In many ways, that's a good way to start.  If a student starts as potentially eligible, at any time they have the right to apply for VR services and get the full array, so, again, starting as a potentially eligible student with a disability with us is sometimes a very good option.  And, again, these two options are available for every student with a disability here in the state, regardless of if you receive special ed, if you're on a 504 plan, if you're home schooled, in a private school situation, as long as you're within that age range 14 to 22 and as long as you have a documented disability, as long as you're in an education program, we can work with you.  Next slide.  
	Really Alyssa and I, our goal today is for those parents and students that are on the call, in the meeting today, we really want to help you in starting your VR journey with us.  There's a number of different ways in which we can do that.  You can start with this slide where we have a link where you can enter your zip code and find out where the local VR office is in your neck of the woods, so this is one way to connect with us.  There's also a phone number here and also an office locater e‑mail where you can shoot an e‑mail to that box and find out exactly what office is closest to you.  Again, this is just one avenue and just as a reminder, this presentation will be available after the fact on the governor's committee's website and through the YouTube channel so you will be able to access it, download it and access those embedded links if you would like so no need to try to copy down numbers or e‑mail addresses.  You will have this.  Next slide.  
	There are also other ways to connect with us.  A great way is through our front page on our website for VR, so we have a dedicated VR page to the public, and you will see the link here, but on the right hand side of the slide, you'll see a screen shot of what that looks like and Alyssa has done a nice job putting in a couple of arrows here that are very important.  You can see in the top right hand corner there's a link to start my VR.  You can just click on that.  If you would just like to provide some basic information to us, this will get sent to our system, routed to the right office, to the right counsellor and that counsellor can reach out to you directly to gather any information needed but this slows down the process of you having to wait for a returned call or e‑mail or something like that.  You can go to this start my VR link, enter the information and it starts working its way through our system and then someone from our staff will reach out to you.  Also down below, too, for any inquiries related to VR, we have this phone number that's important, too.  You could call this number, speak with one of the representatives.  You can give them the information and they will relay that to the appropriate office and they can get in touch with you.  There's also additional information about services for youth and students which you can certainly avail yourself of as well.  This is another great way that you can connect with us in a really easy way.  Next slide.  
	Earlier I mentioned the regional transition program specialists and these are the folks that can help you identify, hey, what counsellor serves my particular school?  Each region maintains a list of the school in each region and the counsellor that covers that school.  If you're in west Texas or the panhandle, you will see here that your contact is Andrew Castillo.  Andrew is a terrific guy.  All of these folks are good folks to work with and connect with.  If you're in the north Texas area or in the DFW metroplex and you want to know about, hey, what counsellor services a particular school, you can reach out to Rosla Hocker.  She's the program specialist for region two, which is north Texas and the DFW area.  If you're in central Texas, what we call region three, Austin, Temple, Waco, Liz Rodriguez serves as the program specialist.  Region four, east Texas, that's Kirstin Johnson.  In the Houston area, that's Kristen Davis as the contact there.  In south Texas, San Antonio, Corpus, Victoria, the valley, all that area.  We have a brand new regional transition specialist there, Rebecca Quintero.  Very nice person to work there as well.  Next slide.  
	You can also connect with us if you have any difficulty or any issues from the previous two slides, please don't hesitate to reach out to Alyssa or myself and you will see our contact information is here as well as our phone and e‑mail addresses.  Also, at the bottom of this slide is an important e‑mail address.  It's kind of a catchall and this is managed by our team so either Alyssa or I or another one of our team members manage this mailbox at all times and we pride ourselves on a quick turn around, so if there's any questions related to our program or what we shared today or maybe about a vendor in a certain area or anything at all, this is kind of a catchall box that's good to jot down.  It's vr.pre‑ets@twc.texas.gov.  Again, kind of a catchall type of mailbox for our team and if we can't address your question, we can get you to the person who best can.  Next slide.  
	Okay.  This is where we're going to take a pause.  We have a couple more slides, general information, but we're going to take a pause here and address questions that have come up.  
	>>  All right, I'm going to read down those questions.  The first question we had is if you're home schooled?  And I know Kevin had answered that question so if you're home schooled, if you're 14 to 22 and you have a verifiable disability.  Hopefully that answers that question.  Feel free to add any additional in here.  There's another question about how can we get a copy of the slides and, again, this is going to be offered after the fact, after we complete this.  We'll make sure it's edited and put together nicely for y'all and that's going to be posted on the governor's committee's website and on the YouTube, there's going to be a link on the YouTube through there and all registrants will be notified when that is available.  The next question, will a web link for getting started on the standard VR services be included in the chat today so we can apply as soon as this presentation is over?  Definitely, Angela.  I think we should be able to make that happen.  When I stop sharing my screen or if someone else wants to drop that for me, I would appreciate it but we can get that general website link in there for you so you can click and get started today, definitely.  Next question, what are current opportunities available to students like apprenticeships, career fairs, etc.?  I will answer a little bit and then hand it over to Kevin.  We do have ‑‑ and there's a lot of opportunities and some of them are available statewide, some of them are geography based.  It depends on your area but there are a lot of programs out there.  We're wrapping up a lot of our summer programs right now things like our summer earn and learn program which is a five week internship, paid internship program that's offered in the summer.  We do also offer services during the year such as paid work experience where an individual can be placed at an site and gain some experience and Kevin, any other programs you want to highlight that you think would be helpful?  
	>>  Yeah, I think what you mentioned just a second ago is very important, like Alyssa said, we do have some statewide initiatives like summer earn and learn, which is what Alyssa just described and we have explore STEM camps for kids interested in the STEM fields.  We partner with a number of universities and colleges to offer those across the state.  In addition to some of these statewide types of initiatives and projects that we have, on the local level, they have a lot of unique programs that's what we call or we term group skills trainings.  In other words, it could vary in terms of what it is.  It could be a camp, it could be a field trip, it could be an opportunity for some training and then some real world work experience.  They just run the gamut.  It could be spending a week on a college campus and learning about college readiness.  These workshops or seminars kind of vary from region to region, from office to office across the state, so I think our best advice would be to connect with your local counsellor or counsellors in your area through one of the methods that we mentioned earlier and just kind of ask them what's available here locally?  A lot of times what our counsellors find that they really need to plan for and offer really addresses a specific need in a certain area, and it may not be relevant for another part of the state but for their area, it could be very germane, very relevant so they want to offer training for that and the best way would be to check at the local level.  
	>>  Perfect.  Thank you so much, Kevin.  There's another question on here is there a list of employers that actively hire individuals living with disabilities?  Is that one that you want to take or I can take, either one.  
	>>  Well, that's a good question.  We have a number of partners and Alyssa and I are specifically in the transition world and pre‑employment transition services.  Now, we have other specialists within our agencies.  We have business relation coordinators and we also have employment assistance specialists and their primary roles and functions are to work with employers.  They do maintain better lists and types of employers that are open.  They do that outreach.  Some work with local workforce boards.  TWC also has workforce boards across the state that they also work in collaboration with and so in terms of lists, it's something that really a little bit and I don't necessarily have quick access to, but we do have other specialists that we can reach out to to ask for advice or a possibility of certain employers that have been contacted in the past, so.  Alyssa, I don't know if you want to add anything about summer earn and learn on that.  
	>>  Definitely.  With the summer earn and learn program, which is a program that I currently oversee, we do have a lot of employers that participate, some at the state level, some local mom and pop shops but like Kevin said, it's going to depend on the area and sometimes there's an employer who would like to partner with a person with a disability and would like more information.  That's where reaching out to a counsellor and having us help you in that journey and explore that with you, we're here to help you with that process and that's what the agency is about, partnering with you to identify what employers are out there or how we can support you in those employment goals.  
	>>  This is Ron Lucey.  I would like to announce that we issue awards to employers who go above and beyond in hiring people with disabilities and we post that and next month we will be announcing new employers so that's another place to check.  
	>>  Thank you so much, Ron.  That's an excellent addition.  Okay.  Next question we got, if I submitted an application for VR services today, how long does the process take?  That's an excellent question.  Typically you will expect to hear from a staff member within no more than ten days.  If we can get to you sooner, that's our goal but that's kind of the time line of making sure that that contact is made and that we get an appointment set up.  If you go through that start my VR service, it's funneled from that state level down to the local level to get you linked up with that counsellor.  If you haven't heard anything in about a week, definitely reach back out to us or again, we have all our contact information now so if you have not heard anything, we can always reach out and take a look at what's going on.  Kevin, anything you want to add to that?  
	>>  Yeah, the only thing I would add is that I think the question was phrased as if I apply for VR services through this avenue, how long is the process?  When you go through start my VR or contact or inquiries number and want to apply for services, it's just really basic information, so it amounts to like referral type of information.  And then once that counsellor contacts you.  They will set up a time to take the application with you.  Sometimes those are done virtually or you can come in the office or the counsellor can meet with you.  We have a number of ways of doing that.  This first step is more or less like a referral step and once the counsellor reaches out to you and you express that interest in applying for services, they will set up a time to take that application. 
	>>  Thank you, Kevin.  I interpreted that a little bit differently so whatever answer you're looking for, I hope that was able to satisfy your question but, yes, it's in terms of when you will be contacted and once you are contacted, what does that process look like?  There's at question here about do you have to request the STEM camp and how do we find out about the camp or services for a child?  
	>>  We recognize that STEM careers are valuable careers for students to consider so that's why we place a considerable amount of emphasis on them.  If a student is not interested in STEM, that doesn't preclude them from other workshops but in terms of knowing what types of camps or workshops or seminars may be available, the best place to start is at your local level to see what they have available.  
	>>  Perfect.  Thank you, Kevin.  Yes.  Any services that you're interested in, reach out to a VR staff member and they can let you know what's available in your area and what services we can get you linked up with.  I did see in the chat that we did have the link to that start my VR so that first step has been dropped in the chat for anyone who is interested in signing up today and getting that process started.  I'm trying to go through.  I think we have all the questions.  Feel free to drop anything in and if you would like, we have the contact information and the slides so that will be made available to you or if you want to take a picture of it, you can, but let me just go back to that slide so you have it.  There's Kevin's information, my information and our general mailbox.  
	>>  This is Norman with the governor's committee, there's a question about life skills training.  
	>>  I apologize if I ran over that.  In terms of life skills training, it's going to just depend.  A lot of the training that we focus on would be employment or preemployment.  I know life skills training refers to learning different life skills, different skills as it relates to daily living.  If it has components of employment, that's something that we can look at.  If you want to clarify a specific type, if it's things, general life skills like learning to cook or to access things like that, a lot of times we have to make sure we're tying it back to preparing for employment or employment in general.  
	>>  Just to offer a little bit of additional information, life skills kind of falls under that category of workplace readiness that we talked about earlier under those five pre‑ETS areas.  It's those independent living, daily living types of skills.  Within our agency for individuals who are blind or visually impaired, if that is part of the disabilities, we have in house VR teach that individuals can work one on one with individuals on these independent living skills.  We have a host of contracted pre‑ETS transition services vendors and many of them in their contracts do have workplace readiness training included in their contract so we have would have to look at their curriculum and many do offer training so it's identifying the right provider to address that need.  But, yeah, we looked at it as an important consideration and important need.  It's like what I mentioned earlier, it's those soft skills that will make a career last.  Those soft skills are inclusive of those daily living schools.  
	>>  All right, we're going to the last school slides because we're getting towards the end of our time so I'm going to hand it back over to Kevin.  
	>>  Yeah, when we provide an external presentation, we're required to provide some information at the end.  We're required to provide general information to contact TWC, our central office, which is at 101 East 15Th Street in Austin and, again, you will see this phone number for any inquiry that you have related to VR.  You can even start with this phone number which is nice and that's 512‑936‑6400.  This is just for your information.  This is our central office type of contact information.  Next slide.  Lastly, we are also required to let you know how we're funded by the federal government.  VR is largely a federal program, so we're overseeing through the Department of Education under the rehab services administration within the department of ed.  Within this first bullet here, you can see for this fiscal year that's going to wrap up, we anticipate spending about $243 million in funds on VR services.  That only comprises roughly 79% of the funding.  We also get about 21% of our funding from state general revenue.