HUD Exchange - Getting to Work: A Training Curriculum for HIV/AIDS Service Providers and Housing Providers - Module 3
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Getting to Work: A Training Curriculum for HIV/AIDS Service Providers and Housing Providers
Module 3: Incorporating Employment into the HIV/AIDS Service Menu
Employment Gives Identity
Narrator: Helping people living with HIV or AIDS get back to work is not a one-person job.
Dylan Orr, J.D.
Chief Of Staff
Office of Disability Employment Policy / U.S. Dept. of Labor:
Improving employment for any marginalize community does require a collective effort. It requires all the people that touch that person to really work together. It requires the service providers themselves to be thinking about an employment in any way that they can. And then connecting to those service providers or organizations systems that may be around them to help that individual be employed.
Narrator: By linking arms with supportive partners in your area, you will discover new opportunities for your clients and your agency.
Brett Andrews: Partnerships are crucially important for not just the client’s point of view and for the client’s perspective and benefit, but for the service providers because we often get a very tunneled vision with them, and funding can do that. Funding that is siloed can have you provide services just within the scope of that funding, looking for partnerships. And this has been a movement for nonprofits for quite some time,
have challenged themselves to have a full understanding of what their network of service providers are because you never want to lose anyone to care you never want to lose anyone to contact. So the referral system is rich it’s strong. Catholic Charities is one, AIDS Emergency Fund who provides short-term financial assistance for people who need to pay their utility bills.
We quickly send folks over there to take care of their immediate financial needs. They send us their clients back so that we can take care of their longer term financial and health care needs. So it really is about having an ongoing understanding of what is out there in the community to make sure that you can accurately refer your client to the next service provider that can address,
whatever is in front of them that very well could be the barrier to their employment.
Narrator: The first step in this effort can be remarkably simple.
Dylan Orr, J.D.
Chief Of Staff
Office of Disability Employment Policy / U.S. Dept. of Labor:
So many of the things that service providers can do today do not require any funding they just require conversations or some times they just adding something to form that ask somebody a question, sometimes if people are doing an intake process and they’re not asked the question, were you formally employed? Are you interested in employment? What do you need? What do you want? What are your future goals in this area?
Incorporating Employment into the HIV/AIDS Service Menu
This is the final module in the three-part Getting to Work series. In it, we will explore promising strategies for delivering employment services, including cultivating collaborations with key partners. We will also highlight successful programs.
This module explores promising strategies for delivering employment services, ranging from modest changes in existing practices to full-fledged program development and capacity building.
Partnerships with other organizations and service delivery systems are often the key to success.
This module explores promising strategies for delivering employment services. These approaches range from modest changes to existing practices, like adding a question regarding employment to client intake forms or starting an employment-focused peer support group to full-fledged program development and capacity building, resulting in HIV/AIDS service providers offering training, job placement assistance, and ongoing support. Regardless of the approach taken, partnerships with other organizations and service delivery systems are often the key to success. This module introduces some of the potential partners available to HIV/AIDS service providers as they begin to vocationalize, with a particular emphasis on resources to help people with disabilities prepare for and succeed in employment. It also presents several HIV/AIDS-specific employment programs implemented by HIV/AIDS service providers.
This module:
Things Your Organization Can Do to Vocationalize
Understanding Vocational Rehabilitation Services
American Job Center Network Locator
Disability Employment Initiative (DEI)
Executive Order 13548
Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act
Rehabilitation Services Administration-Frequently Asked Questions
National Disability Rights Network-Vocational Rehabilitation
Listing of RSA programs by State
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies
Directory of Independent Living Centers
Ticket to Work Program Overview
Ticket to Work Directory of Services by State
Ticket to Work-Employment Networks
Employment Network (EN) Profiles
Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) Overview
iFOUR Program—Chicago, IL (Chicago House)
MATCH, NY NY
Housing Works NY, NY
Positive Resource Center (PRC) (San Francisco, CA)
Education for Life (EFL): Project for Pride in Living—Twin Cities, MN
Levi Strauss & Co.
(HOPWA) Getting to Work Employment Initiative
Getting to Work Wrap-Up
Sustainability: Ensuring Long Term Success
Navigating Workforce Systems
Living and Working with HIV
Job Readiness Services
Benefits Planning and Returning to Work
Vocational Assessments
Vocationalizing
DOL/ODEP HIV/AIDS Topic Page
Resource Guide for Individuals Seeking to Enter or Reenter the Workforce
HIV/AIDS Service Providers with Employment/Training Services
Job Accommodation Network
HIV/AIDS Employment Roundtable Proceedings Report
HIV/AIDS Employment Roundtable Proceedings Report
Where do I begin?
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The information in this unit will help HIV/AIDS service providers begin to form collaborations with community partners that will help them to better meet the employment needs of their clients.
People living with HIV or AIDS are eligible to participate in a number of well-established, publicly funded employment services, including:
Each of these will be described within this module. For more information on the services these potential partners provide and how they can be identified in your local area, see the list of Handouts and Resources.
People living with HIV or AIDS are eligible to participate in a number of well-established, publicly funded employment services, including:
Some PLWHA may not be aware of these resources, while others may not be comfortable accessing them without help. Educating clients about these resources and assisting with access is an easy and cost-effective strategy to improve employment outcomes for clients. In addition, building your own organizational relationships with existing employment service providers will help you to facilitate access and success for your clients.
Employment Gives Identity
Mark: When I first got involved in the services as someone who needed the services, I had an opportunity to really understand that employment was central to the lives of everyone including myself and struggling to feel hopeful about the future and take the steps that were sometimes not easy to take care of myself, and adhere to my treatments and stay engaged in medical care, feeling hopeful about the future was extremely important to me. And the help that I got from the Workforce Development System and the Vocational Rehabilitation System really created an opportunity for me to begin to envision a larger life for myself when I was still really under the foot of hopelessness related to my HIV diagnoses.
American Job Centers (AJCs) bring together local employment and training services under one roof to serve people with and without disabilities, including people living with HIV/AIDS. AJCs are locally organized and often have local names.
American Job Centers bring together local employment and training services under one roof to serve people with and without disabilities, including people living with HIV/AIDS. AJCs are locally organized and often have local names, for example, CTWorks, Workforce One, RochesterWorks!, Oakland Private Industry Council, Inc., etc.
There are thousands of AJCs across the country and their services are available to the entire community. AJCs employ staff that help job seekers prepare for employment and connect with employers. They also help businesses with recruiting job candidates, or training and retaining employees. They are funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration and are overseen by regional Workforce Investment Boards, comprised of members appointed by regional local officials.It is important to note that every community across the nation is linked to a Workforce Investment Board, and half of each Workforce Investment Board’s members must be representatives from private businesses. Other members might include representatives from unions, community colleges and other local organizations.
Characteristics: Thousands across the country
Services available to the entire community
Staff help job seekers prepare for employment and connect with employers
Staff help businesses recruit job candidates, or to train and retain employees
Funded through the DOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
Overseen by regional Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs)
AJCs offer a broad range of services to job seekers, including:
All of these services are available at no charge to job seekers with and without disabilities.In addition, the Disability Employment Initiative (DEI), which operates many states across the country, places skilled Disability Resource Coordinators in American Job Centers to improve education, training and employment (including self-employment) opportunities for youth and adults who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security Disability benefits.
Individuals using American Job Centers can request individualized assistance from Disability Resource Coordinators if on-site. Many American Job Centers are also Employment Networks, meaning they accept Tickets under the Ticket to Work program. There is more information on the Ticket to Work program later in the Module. To learn about which states currently offer Disability Employment Initiative resources, see the American Job Centers Network Locator in the Resources section.
HIV/AIDS service providers can contact their local American Job Center administrators or Disability Resource Coordinators, where available, to discuss ideas for developing partnerships. Some examples of collaborations include:
Visiting the local American Job Center(s) to gain more knowledge about the employment services process and better advise clients, and establishing a referral plan
Inviting a Disability Resource Coordinator or other American Job Center staff members to meet with the HIV/AIDS service provider’s clients and/or staff to provide an overview of available services
Coordinating events at the American Job Center or in the HIV/AIDS service provider’s offices
AIDS Connecticut, for example, collaborated with the Disability Resource Coordinator at a local American Jobs Center, to coordinate a special community event for HIV/AIDS service providers focused on connecting PLWHA with employment and training opportunities.
To learn more about the resources and services available in your local American Job Center, see the American Job Center Network Locator in the Resources section(Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources).
Employment Gives Identity
Jill Larmett
Disability Resource Coordinator
Capital Workforce Partners:
You can have access to services such as career counseling, resume assistance, job readiness workshops, and labor market statistics. There is funding if you are eligible for education and retraining and on-the-job training. There are tax incentives, employer incentives, and job centers also have career centers. So if you don’t have the tools that you need to do an effective job search, you can come to our career centers where you have free use of computers with Internet, free paper, free stamps and free faxing, all the tools again that you need to get the job right there at your fingertips.
Vocational rehabilitation (VR) is the primary system of services and resources that specifically addresses the employment needs of individuals with disabilities. The VR program has a long history, having existed in one form or another since the 1920s. In general, the VR program is administered through a federal and state partnership, with the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).
Throughout this section we will refer to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. This Act was discussed in Module 2 related to workplace discrimination.
Additional information on the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the RSA can be found in the Resources section(Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources).
Vocational Rehabilitation services include transition, training, and placement services. These include assessment, counseling and referrals, assistance with expenses related to training and work, services to help students transitioning from school to work, supported employment, and job placement.
Accommodations Other Employment Supports: Interpreter services
Reader services
Rehabilitation technology services and devices
Physical and mental restoration services
Transportation related to other VR services
Personal assistance services while receiving VR services
To be eligible for VR services, an individual must:
Individuals who are receiving SSI or SSDI and intending to achieve an employment outcome are presumed eligible for VR services.
To be eligible for Vocational Rehabilitation services, an individual must first want to be employed, specifically that they want to secure an employment outcome as defined by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
Secondly, the person must be an individual with a disability, including PLWHA. For these individuals, qualifying employment outcomes are defined as entering or retaining full-time or, if appropriate, part-time competitive employment, in the integrated labor market, supported employment, or any other type of employment in an integrated setting that is consistent with an individual's strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed choice. The term "integrated setting" means one typically found in the community where eligible individuals interact with individuals without disabilities other than those who are providing services to those applicants or eligible individuals, to the same extent that individuals without disabilities in comparable positions interact with other persons.
Finally, the individual must require VR services to prepare for, secure, retain or regain employment that is consistent with the individual’s strengths, resources, priorities, concerns, abilities, capabilities, interests, and informed choice.
Integrated Setting: Setting typically found in the community where eligible individuals interact with individuals without disabilities other than those who are providing services to those applicants or eligible individuals, to the same extent that individuals without disabilities in comparable positions interact with other persons.
According to the Rehabilitation Act, an “individual with a disability” is someone who: 1) has a physical or mental impairment that results in a substantial impediment to employment; and 2) can benefit, in terms of an employment outcome, from the provision of VR services.
For reporting purposes, state VR agencies provide the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) with a single primary disability, and, if a secondary disability exists, a single secondary disability. The primary disability is the infirmity or impairment that is most substantial in impeding one’s ability to work. The secondary disability contributes to the impediment but is not the primary cause.
There are 19 impairments (e.g., blindness; mobility orthopedic/neurological impediments; general physical debilitation, i.e., fatigue, weakness or pain; other physical impairment; psychosocial impediments). HIV/AIDS is not classified as one of the impairments.
VR service provision focuses upon impairments attributable to an individual’s disability—not the cause of the disability.
Important: If the individual is receiving SSI or SSDI and intends to achieve an employment outcome, then he or she is presumed eligible for VR services without further determination by the VR agency.
The VR service provision focuses on impairments attributable to an individual’s disability—not the cause of the disability. Thus, PLWHA who are not experiencing substantial impediment to employment as a result of HIV/AIDS are not eligible for VR services based on their HIV/AIDS status.
HIV/AIDS service providers might offer to review the list of impairments with the client to confirm whether the client is eligible for services based on HIV/AIDS. You may find that individuals qualify for services based on a different impairment cause. For example, a chemically dependent individual living with HIV might be eligible for VR services based on a cognitive impairment attributable to drug abuse. It is also critical to assess functional limitations, such as mobility, communication, self-care, interpersonal skills, work tolerance and work skills.
Once all determinations have been made, a qualified VR counselor employed by the state agency will determine eligibility for services. Note that if an individual is receiving SSI or SSDI, then he or she is presumed eligible for VR services without further determination by the VR agency.
An individual is presumed to be able to benefit from VR services unless the VR agency can demonstrate, through clear and convincing evidence that the individual cannot benefit in terms of achieving an employment outcome due to the severity of his or her disability. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and regulations prohibit determining any person with a disability, including PLWHA, ineligible under the VR program based on an assumption, belief, or limited information that the individual is incapable of working in an integrated setting.
When in doubt about a PLWHA’s ability to benefit from VR services, the Rehabilitation Act and regulations require the state VR agency conduct an individualized assessment. This assessment includes trial work experiences in realistic work settings to determine if he/she is capable of working in an integrated setting when provided appropriate VR services or if there is clear and convincing evidence that he/she cannot perform the work tasks.
When determining whether an individual is eligible for VR services, qualified personnel must determine whether the individual has a physical or mental impairment, and whether that impairment constitutes a substantial impediment to achieving an employment outcome. Additionally, a qualified VR counselor employed by the VR agency must determine whether the individual with a disability requires VR services to achieve an employment outcome. Finally, individuals determined eligible for the receipt of SSI and SSDI benefits, and intend to achieve an employment outcome, are presumed eligible for VR services.
By partnering with VR agencies, HIV/AIDS providers can enhance the services available to PLWHA. As a first step, a director or manager of an HIV/AIDS service organization might contact the local VR field office administrator for an introductory meeting.
These activities support better informed HIV/AIDS service providers and VR counselors, and better prepared and supported shared clients.
A link to find your local VR agencies can be found in the Resources section(Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources).
Vocational Rehabilitation
Liza Conyers: Caption Person Title The main focus of vocational rehabilitation is that it singularly focused on employment. But understanding that there are these other barriers like housing and health and mental health that are related to that. So it is a very collaborative and important system in terms of getting people access to care.
The Ticket to Work program, a program of the Social Security Administration (SSA), is one of the main “work incentives” available to individuals receiving SSDI or SSI benefits. Through it, eligible individuals between the ages of 18 and 64 receive a “ticket” that allows them to receive career counseling and job placement services from authorized employment service providers called Employment Networks (EN). As a result, SSDI/SSI beneficiaries can seek services from a wider array of providers; the ticket serves as a guarantee of funding on their behalf. Participation in the Ticket program is free and voluntary.
While participating in the Ticket to Work Program, beneficiaries can get help exploring their options without immediately losing their benefits. They can also use a combination of work incentives to maximize their income until they earn enough to support themselves.
If an individual and an Employment Network (EN) decide to work together, they jointly develop an individual work plan, defining employment goals and the specialized services to be delivered. These services may include career counseling, training, job placement, and ongoing support. ENs can be organizations, government agencies, employers, or even individuals. Examples of ENs include: Many American Job Centers, including all of those that participate in the Disability Employment Initiative, state workforce agencies, and Workforce Investment Boards.
SSI/SSDI beneficiaries may also choose to use their ticket to access services provided by a Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agency (previously discussed in the VR section). If an individual and VR agency decide to work together, they will also jointly develop a plan for achieving identified work goals. VR agencies typically provide more significant training and rehabilitation services than ENs; thus, when someone needs ongoing support after VR agency support ends, he or she may be able to continue to work with an EN. Through a program called Partnership Plus, a beneficiary may also receive services from a VR agency and then an EN under the Ticket to Work program.
A link to find your local ENs and additional information about ENs can be found in the Resources section(Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources).
HIV/AIDS service providers seeking to understand available local resources to meet their clients’ employment services needs should learn about and connect with local ENs in order to make appropriate referrals.
HIV/AIDS service providers with employment programs can also explore the possibility of becoming ENs themselves. This is one way to leverage existing resources to sustain employment services that result in employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
The Social Security Administration offers several resources to help service providers considering becoming ENs get started. See the Resources section (Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources) for additional information.
The Social Security Administration’s Work Incentive Planning and Assistance program provides information on benefits and publicly funded health insurance.
A link to additional information about the WIPA program can be found in the Resources section (Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources) of this module.
Each WIPA location is staffed with benefits specialists, called Community Work Incentive Coordinators (CWIC), who can answer individual questions about the SSI/SSDI work incentives and benefits planning. They can also provide information about job placement and career development, reflecting the WIPA program’s ultimate goal to support the successful employment of SSI/SSDI beneficiaries with disabilities.
You will find additional information about the WIPA program in the Resources section (Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources) of this module.
In the Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) program:
Benefits specialists, called Community Work Incentive Coordinators (CWICs), staff each WIPA location
CWICs can answer individual questions about the SSI/SSDI work incentives and benefits planning
CWICs can provide information about job placement and career development
Community partnerships are a key priority of the WIPA program. HIV/AIDS service providers can share information about the local WIPA sites with clients and invite the local WIPA grantee to present trainings on available services and work incentives for clients and/or staff. This provides an opportunity to discuss best practices for linkage and referral.
Sometimes, the CWICs may meet with clients at an HIV/AIDS service providers’ site. This may support clients who are apprehensive about accessing new services, meeting with unfamiliar professionals, or traveling to new locations. Clients may also request the support of a trusted case manager/staff member in preparing for benefits counseling sessions (e.g., drafting questions, organizing documents and information, or even sitting in on a session to help them take notes, manage language or literacy challenges, and ensure that they understand their options).
Most communities have multiple nonprofit organizations offering workforce development and vocational rehabilitation services. They may have contracts with American Job Centers, state VR agencies, or SSA as Employment Networks that accept tickets under the Ticket to Work program. These organizations may deliver services to specific populations, for example, independent living centers that provide services to people with disabilities. Others may focus on populations such as previously incarcerated individuals, youth, immigrants, seniors, veterans, women or transgender individuals. Services offered by these programs may be ideally suited to the needs and interests of PLWHA.
Connections developed with community-based organizations can expand the employment options that clients understand and that work effectively to meet their employment needs.
A link to additional information about the nation-wide network of independent living centers can be found in the Resources section (Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources) of this module.
By partnering with Community-Based Organizations, HIV/AIDS service providers can enhance the services available to PLWHA.
By partnering with Community-Based Organizations, HIV/AIDS service providers can enhance the services available to PLWHA.
An HIV/AIDS service provider might:Reach out directly to organizations that offer programs that could benefit your clients or whose clients could benefit from your services
Offer to provide an in-service presentation on HIV/AIDS and local HIV/AIDS services for community based organizations
Invite staff members from particular organizations to visit the HIV/AIDS service provider’s facility and deliver a presentation for staff and/or clients
Take part in events organized by local workforce development and job training industry groups
Community colleges are a primary source of job training programs as well as General Educational Development (GED) and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs in many communities. Often these programs have been created in conjunction with local employers in the context of current and anticipated skills needs. For PLWHA with limited education or experience, as well as those in need of training to pursue new careers, community colleges can be a promising option.
Many community colleges have disability programs and services for students, with disability specialists providing assistance in obtaining accommodations or arranging academic adjustments students need for training and educational success. Reaching out to these offices can help HIV/AIDS service providers learn more about options available to their clients as well as in-demand skills.
One example of a potential partnership activity might be inviting someone from the disability student services office to come to your organization to speak about course offerings, financial aid resources, their services and how to request accommodations in an educational environment. Other educational institutions, including four-year public and private universities in a service provider’s local area, may also be potential partners in providing such guidance.
Employers both large and small have been involved in responding to HIV/AIDS since the earliest days of the epidemic in America. In fact, employers and key employer representatives are among the boards of directors, volunteer and donor bases of most HIV/AIDS service organizations and advocacy programs. These employers’ involvement may stem from a personal connection to the issue, a desire to strengthen their community through increased employment options for PLWHA, and/or an interest in fostering a stream of potential skilled employees for their own company.
It is also helpful to know that some employers are under an affirmative obligation to hire people with disabilities. For example, under the new regulations under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, federal contractors must establish a 7% aspirational hiring goal for people with disabilities across each of their job groups, or to their entire workforce if the contractor has 100 or fewer employees. For more information, see the Resources section (Link will bring you to slide 7 List of Handouts and Resources).
Employers are frequently overlooked as potential partners in a community’s response to HIV/AIDS. However, by actively reaching out to them, HIV/AIDS service providers can reap significant benefits.
Employers are frequently overlooked as potential partners in a community’s response to HIV/AIDS. However, by actively reaching out to them, HIV/AIDS service providers can reap significant benefits.
HIV/AIDS service providers might:Partner with specific employers to facilitate mentoring and internship opportunities for their clients
Meet with employers to learn about current and projected hiring trends to better assist clients
Encourage companies to participate in awareness-raising and fundraising activities
Educate employers about strategies for fostering a disability-inclusive corporate culture, including HIV/AIDS initiatives
Answer Choices:
Answer Choices:
Answer Choices:
This unit presents profiles of several HIV/AIDS-specific employment programs implemented by HIV/AIDS service providers
At the most basic level, HIV/AIDS-focused employment initiatives are designed to assist PLWHA to enter or renter the workforce. This section will profile five employment programs developed by HIV/AIDS service providers. On average, participants in these programs are 40 to 45 years old and have been out of the workplace for five to seven years. Many live at or below the federal poverty level. Furthermore, as a result of their diagnosis, they may be living in isolation, away from their families and/or cultural community. While increasing self-sufficiency is a primary outcome measure, all of the programs profiled in this section were conceived to serve the whole person - addressing all of these challenges. Each can be understood within five primary service components:
In addition, these services are enhanced through collaboration with local and state workforce development and vocational rehabilitation agencies; legal services and benefits counseling programs; advocacy organizations and initiatives for people with disabilities; local and national HIV/AIDS and social services organizations; and university-based researchers for program support and evaluation.
Beverly is over 50, living with HIV, and transgender. She moved to Oregon from a state in the deep south, where she had been out of the workforce for 17 years and had legal challenges, difficulty navigating HIV treatment, and problems accessing services that would support her gender identity needs.
As soon as she moved to Portland, Beverly contacted the Cascade AIDS Project (also known as CAP) to access housing and employment services available through CAP’s Working Choices program. With the support of her Working Choices team, Beverly developed a plan for pursuing her GED and a part-time job.
Working Choices referred her to the Portland Community College Margaret Carter Skill Center, which is a very affordable adult basic education program. At the Margaret Carter Skill Center, Beverly met with staff to talk about her education goals, took a pre-GED placement test, and with staff help, signed up for GED preparation classes.
Working Choices was able to cover the tuition expense for these classes as well as transportation costs for Beverly to get to and from school. Working Choices also referred Beverly to an agency for help legally changing her name and gender on her IDs. Over the course of the next several months, Beverly worked closely with CAP staff to secure permanent, stable housing and other resources to help meet her basic needs so she could really focus on school and employment.
She was referred to Vocational Rehabilitation for additional employment support. Beverly had worked in the past, but her gap in employment, disabilities, and new location made it impossible for her to return to the type of employment she had maintained earlier in life.
Through Vocational Rehabilitation, Beverly was matched with a Job Developer and was able to try out supported employment to see how she felt working in a different work environment. Beverly also took part in a weekly job club offered by Working Choices.
A short time later, Beverly was hired to work nights as a janitor in an office building. As she adjusts to her new job, Beverly is continuing to prepare for her GED.
She is also developing new employment goals for herself, including working full-time and transitioning to a job with higher wages. Beverly is a great motivator and shares her story with many new Working Choices participants.
Arick grew up in a Chicago housing project, with few positive role models. Early drug use led to illegal activity to support that use. When Arick learned that he was HIV-positive in 2004, he responded with denial, and refused to consider treatment. About a year after his diagnosis, Arick entered prison on forgery charges.
While he was incarcerated, Arick connected with service providers and other people who were living with HIV or AIDS, who encouraged him to care for himself and begin to plan for his future. After leaving prison, Arick sought help with housing and employment at Chicago House, an HIV/AIDS service provider.
Six months later, he was successfully working for Chicago House, reaching out to other people who were struggling with poverty, drug use and incarceration. Now a powerful advocate for others, Arick leads the Illinois Alliance for Sound AIDS Policy, which he helped to found, at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
In this role, he has testified on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS before the Illinois General Assembly and the United States Congress. He also continues to work as an HIV tester and counselor, offering support and serving as positive role model to people learning to live with HIV or AIDS.
Employment Gives Identity
Narrator: Recognizing the contribution of people living with HIV or AIDS to their workplace and their community has countless rewards.
Vanessa Johnson: That’s still our reward for being compassionate emphatic teacher, you want the student to get the lesson, to get the lesson you’re like eureka. And then just re-affirms why do the work, and it helps me realized that yeah I'm on the right path. Because my life is their lives, their lives are my lives. So, I’m not that far removed.
Congratulations! You have completed the 3rd and final module of the Getting to Work Training Curriculum, Incorporating Employment into the HIV/AIDS Service Menu Let’s recap what topics have been covered within this three-part curriculum. The first module provided important foundational information, showing how employment needs are changing for PLWHA because of advances in treatment. It also explored implications of episodic disabilities on employment for PLWHA and research relating employment to improved health for this population. Module 2 moved us into more specific information about vocationalizing—how organizations can move toward an employment mindset, stages that an individual goes through when considering employment, as well as laws and regulations around employment for PLWHA and incentive programs for those who become employed. Module 3 pulls all of this together for organizations taking the next step—how to identify and work with community partners who can help you as a HIV/AIDS service provider meet the employment and training needs of clients. This module ends with descriptions of some model employment programs designed for PLWHA. The intent of this series was not to be all-inclusive, but rather provide you with information and resources that will be helpful to your organization as you incorporate employment into your service model. We hope that you have learned some new ideas-whether this means just starting a conversation, developing a new partnership with a workforce or vocational rehabilitation provider, creating new service options, or developing an entire employment program. Whatever you do, you now have some key knowledge and tools for “getting to work” – knowledge and tools that give you the potential to create new opportunities and change the lives of PLWHA.
Things Your Organization Can Do to Vocationalize
Understanding Vocational Rehabilitation Services
American Job Center Network Locator
Disability Employment Initiative (DEI)
Executive Order 13548
Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act
Rehabilitation Services Administration-Frequently Asked Questions
National Disability Rights Network-Vocational Rehabilitation
Listing of RSA programs by State
State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies
Directory of Independent Living Centers
Ticket to Work Program Overview
Ticket to Work Directory of Services by State
Ticket to Work-Employment Networks
Employment Network (EN) Profiles
Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) Overview
iFOUR Program—Chicago, IL (Chicago House)
MATCH, NY NY
Housing Works NY, NY
Positive Resource Center (PRC) (San Francisco, CA)
Education for Life (EFL): Project for Pride in Living—Twin Cities, MN
Levi Strauss & Co.
(HOPWA) Getting to Work Employment Initiative
Getting to Work Wrap-Up
Sustainability: Ensuring Long Term Success
Navigating Workforce Systems
Living and Working with HIV
Job Readiness Services
Benefits Planning and Returning to Work
Vocational Assessments
Vocationalizing
DOL/ODEP HIV/AIDS Topic Page
Resource Guide for Individuals Seeking to Enter or Reenter the Workforce
HIV/AIDS Service Providers with Employment/Training Services
Job Accommodation Network
HIV/AIDS Employment Roundtable Proceedings Report
HIV/AIDS Employment Roundtable Proceedings Report
The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development would like to acknowledge the following organizations and agencies for their substantial contributions to
this project:
In addition, we would like to thank the numerous individuals – members of the HIV/AIDS community, HIV/AIDS service provider community, researchers, government personnel, and advocates – who reviewed content, were featured in videos, and/or whose work in the area of HIV/AIDS and employment provided the foundation for content herein.
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