DSB's Draft VR Component of the Combined State Plan 2016-2020

DSB's VR component of the Combined State Plan describes DSB's goals, priorities, partnerships, and activities that will be carried out to serve customers between July 1, 2016 and June 30, 2020. The DSB VR attachment describes how DSB will provide high quality, effective vocational rehabilitation services to our customers. The State Plan is a part of the Workforce Development Combined State Plan that is required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

WIOA OVERVIEW

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 reauthorized the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and maintained funding for the vocational rehabilitation activities through the Department of Services for the Blind. The law also consolidated job training programs under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), amended the Wagner-Peyser Act, and reauthorized adult-education programs. The emphasis within the law is for all workforce partners to deeply collaborate to streamline services and improve outcomes for a shared customer base. Within WIOA, there is an added emphasis on youth services, universal accessibility, serving communities with barriers, and effective engagement with business for all partner programs.

All workforce partners under WIOA in Washington State will collaborate on a combined state plan as an agreement with the federal partners on how the law will be implemented in the state. The combined state plan, entitled “Talent and Prosperity for All”, has a number of components: a strategic component, a shared operational component, and specific attachments for each of the individual partner agencies. The vocational rehabilitation attachment requires DSB to provide responses to specific area questions.

DSB COMPONENTS FOR REVIEW

The draft of the Department of Services for the Blind’s vocational rehabilitation program attachment to the combined plan is available for your review. PDF documents can be viewed with Adobe Reader. Comments can be sent to comments@dsb.wa.gov.

The Department of Services for the Blind has also submitted a draft response to the combined operational component of the state plan, which will later be merged with the responses of the other core partner groups. Comments can be sent to comments@dsb.wa.gov.

OTHER COMPONENTS OF THE COMBINED STATE PLAN FOR REVIEW

For your interest, there are other draft components to the state plan also available for your review and comment: