Transcript - slide 6

A big piece of what we felt was important was focusing on benefits management. As people begin to earn more income, it's important that we protect their benefits. At least if they are going to lose their benefits, we plan [for that]. We sent staff and consumers to Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach Training [to] become certified. That's become very valuable as people begin earning more money. We established a Benefits Management Department within our organization. We've got two people who are responsible for tracking people's Medicaid and income. [They] look for work incentive possibilities that could help them [retain] their benefits. We complete benefit analysis on everyone who is working. So, we can analyze whether or not some of the incentive programs would work when they get to a point where they're making too much money so that their benefits are not in jeopardy.

We have been successful at getting people approved for PASS Plans. People have purchased vehicles, supplies for their own businesses, and have been successful at paying those back. That is a very key piece in helping people to be successful, both in self-employment and regular community employment. The other thing [that] we focused on is micro-enterprise development. We realized, because of everyone's unique situations, that not everyone will be successful in a community job. So, we began with a grant from MRS to help us help people develop their own micro-enterprises. We also received training and technical assistance from Dave Hammis and Cary Griffin from the Montana Rural Institute. We have incorporated micro-enterprises into our options for people who want to start earning some money. Part of that was to begin a revolving loan fund for people who need some start-up capital for their own businesses. Our local advocacy agency is host to the fund, and as we have extra funds coming in, we put them into that account. Then, people have that available if they need some start-up funds for their businesses, and they have been paying those back.

Another big piece of what we did was [to] focus on self-determination. Everyone with a developmental disability in our organization has an individual budget, including all of the funding sources coming to them like PASS Plans, VA, MRS, and their personal funds. Through the individual budgets and self-determination, people are able to hire their own staff.