Statement of Susan Webb, Director,
ABIL Employment Services, Phoenix, Arizona

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Social Security
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on Fourth in a Series on Social Security Disability Programs' Challenges and Opportunities

September 26, 2002

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, my name is Susan Webb and I am Director of ABIL Employment Services in Phoenix, Arizona.  AES is a participating Employment Network in the Ticket to Work Program.  I am also a member of the Ticket to Work Advisory Panel, but today I am here commenting only as an Employment Network.  It is indeed a pleasure to be with you today, and I thank you for inviting me to comment on how things are going with this new initiative. I will begin with a brief overview of our program and our outcomes so far.  Then I will comment on the different elements of the TWWIIA that have helped us implement our program.

We began as a separate program of the Arizona Bridge to Independent Living (ABIL).  ABIL is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Center for Independent Living authorized by Title VII of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended.  ABIL Employment Services enjoys the existing infrastructure of the CIL, but AES is located in a separate building with its own staff.  This specific program ONLY serves people eligible for the Ticket Program.  We started with just myself and an employment coordinator with a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, a local charitable foundation.  ABIL matched the grant 100%.  The grant has now been funded for a second year.  This foundation funding along with the CIL’s match enables us to operate for the two years we estimate that it will take before the program achieves self-funding through SSA reimbursements from the Ticket to Work Program.  Since we began we have added three more staff members, two of whom are ticket participants.

Our results thus far have exceeded our expectations.  We believe this program has tremendous potential to finally make a significant difference in the ability of those on SSI and/or SSDI to achieve employment with which they can support themselves and their families.

So far we have screened/interviewed/counseled over 900 participants.  We have accepted 109 Tickets, placed 48 people into jobs and have 26 currently employed.  We are the first EN nationally to receive a payment from SSA under the Ticket Program.

These results are early, and I don’t want to suggest that we have all the answers.  Yes, there are challenges that any employment network will experience. For example, start-up funding and collecting and reporting earnings information to SSA so we can be paid are major issues.  But there are some aspects of our operation that I want to highlight.  I believe it is the combination of all these things that has made us succeed so far.  These are elements that I believe are necessary for any EN’s operations if this program is to succeed nationally.

1.  Our program started new just for the Ticket Program.  We did not dump it on top of already overworked staff and try to weave it in with other programs.

2.  We recruited staff specifically for this Program who have background and skill in operating like a business and specifically like a staffing agency.  As such, we focus primarily on participants’ abilities, not their disabilities.

3.  Advocacy and Peer Support are our two most important services.  Since the majority of our staff are people with disabilities who know firsthand what it feels like to live on these benefits and also how hard it is to get off of them, we are able to engender trust immediately.  We “know the ropes”.

4.  We know the market.  We knew going into this program that the majority of people who are on SSI and/or SSDI are not the same people normally served by the VR system.  We have known for many years that most people on this program were not being served at all.  That is not to disparage the VR system; they are very effective in working with people who truly need their intensive services.  But the majority of people on SSI and/or SSDI are not those same people.  The Ticket Program requires a completely different approach – one that views Ticket holders as the customer and one that maintains an almost compulsive focus on employment as the outcome, not delivering services.

5.  Because we operate as a staffing agency, we are able to effectively work with employers.  Because the Ticket Program allows for 60 months of ongoing supports after the beneficiary goes to work, we are also an ongoing resource for the employer.

6.  The program is flexible.  We are able to sit down with a participant and do whatever we need to do to get them working.  We are not faced with a traditional program that calls the shots and makes the rules.  We are not told by a funder what we can and cannot do.  We don’t have to go through bureaucracy and approval processes before we can work with someone.  For us as an EN and also for the beneficiaries this has proven to be refreshing at the very least.

7.  In Arizona the State VR agency is being wonderful to work with in implementing this program.  They have established the required agreement with all the ENs who wish to participate so that we can work some joint cases together.  We haven’t actually done any yet to see how things will work out, but the spirit of collaboration and cooperation is very evident. I am confident that the Ticket Program will greatly expand the availability of services through the State agency since it will bring them more reimbursements too.

No matter how effectively we operate we would not be successful without the specific provisions of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act.  We are finding that the comprehensive reforms included in the TWWIIA, as we expected, are proving extremely beneficial:

1.  The Ticket is going directly to the beneficiary.  This sends a strong message that we respect them and their ability to direct their own lives; it also says we expect them to do so.  We are seeing incredibly motivated, talented people with tremendous work ethic who are so excited about this new opportunity.  People with all types of disabilities, all levels of education and all ethnic groups are included in our program.  They are wonderful people, and we are honored to have the opportunity to help them find the direction they need to get themselves out of poverty and add to our nation’s productivity.

2.  TWWIIA’s provisions for the Medicare extension, the Medicaid Buy-In, Expedited re-entry and CDR protections are easing the fears participants’ have that have historically prevented them from trying to work.  They now can at least try without fear of losing those safety nets.

3.  The availability of a private entity, MAXIMUS, and local Benefits Planning and Assistance is providing much-needed, timely and accurate information to participants so they can truly understand their own specific situation and how work will affect their benefits.

4.  By virtue of the TWWIIA being so comprehensive, it is also very complex.  I give many KUDOS to the SSA itself for doing such a yeoman’s job, even during the switch to a new Administration, in implementing this program.  It has been an amazingly huge job to get this thing going.  They have done a fantastic job and have done it in a timely manner when they could have found all sorts of reasons to delay things.

The areas that still need the greatest amount of work are:

1.  We have not yet achieved enough choice for consumers.  There are not yet enough ENs and those who have signed on are traditional providers for the most part who seem to be doing business much the way they have always done it.  It is my fervent hope that more providers with a different approach can be recruited to participate in this Program.

2.  The EN payment system is a real challenge.  There are three things I think would help.  First, ENs should be able to choose on an individual case basis as to whether they want to use the milestone/outcome plan or outcome only plan.  This would better enable ENs to serve people regardless of which work incentives they might use.  Second, Congress should allow some form of payment even when a beneficiary does not totally leave benefits.  I believe all work is valuable and some work is better than none.  We are turning people away who need or want to work part time simply because the payment structure does not allow us to serve them.  We are also turning SSI beneficiaries away whose initial earnings potential is not above the $1,174 break-even point   Third, the SGA level for purposes of being paid should be the same for blind and non-blind beneficiaries.

In closing, let me say that while I realize that I am being quite positive here today, I know there are many who believe the program creates seemingly insurmountable challenges.  From an EN perspective I believe that effective marketing, training and technical assistance is essential for ENs, especially non-traditional ones, to be able to successfully participate.  We need all our stakeholders working together.  The potential increase in employment and savings to the Trust Fund are enormous and long-overdue.  I firmly believe the TWWIIA includes the basis for great success.  Thank you again for the opportunity to be with you today.