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Funds are used to pay the costs of case management and direct services provided by agency personnel and to purchase VR services from outside vendors. A variety of services may be provided to an individual under an IPE, including but not limited to, assessment, counseling, vocational evaluation, vocational/job training, job placement, supported employment services, reader services for the blind, interpreter services for the deaf, medical and related services, prosthetic and orthotic devices, rehabilitation technology, and other goods and services necessary for an individual with a disability to achieve an employment outcome.

Funds may be used to provide VR services for the benefit of groups of individuals with disabilities, including:

(1) Development, improvement, establishment or, under special circumstances, construction of community rehabilitation programs;

(2) Special services to provide access to information for individuals who are blind, ,deaf or hearing impaired, or who are deaf-blind;

(3) Technical assistance to small businesses that are not subject to title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act and that are seeking to employ individuals with disabilities;

(4) Supervision and management services to small businesses operated by individuals with significant disabilities, including enterprises established under the Randolph-Sheppard Act, as well as the acquisition of vending facilities or other equipment and initial stocks and supplies; and

(5) Consultation and technical assistance to assist educational agencies in planning for the transition of students with disabilities from school to post-school activities.

VR funds may also be used to cover the administrative costs of operating the VR program, including but not limited to:

(1) personnel development activities consistent with the State’s Comprehensive System of Personnel Development;

(2) expenses of the State Rehabilitation Council, if a State has such a Council;

(3) the costs associated with mediations and due process hearings involving disputes between a VR participant and the State agency; and

(4) the provision of inter-component staff training and technical assistance to other entities of the workforce development system with regard to the VR program and to the promotion of meaningful participation by individuals with disabilities in workforce activities, including program accessibility reasonable accommodations, and rehabilitation technology.

The Department has encouraged State VR agencies to use ARRA funds to serve individuals on waiting lists in agencies currently using an order of selection; increase services to eligible consumers; and expand services to traditionally underserved and unserved populations in the State, including students with disabilities transitioning from school to the workplace.

Section 107 of the Rehabilitation Act (Act), requires the Commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) to conduct annual reviews and periodic on-site monitoring of programs authorized under Title I of the Act to determine whether a State VR` agency is complying substantially with the provisions of its State plan under section 101 of the Act and with the Evaluation Standards and Performance Indicators established under section 106 of the Act.

In order to achieve this purpose, RSA collects and analyzes data and other information related to performance and compliance. The State plan must also identify the State’s goals and priorities, describe the strategies that will be used to achieve its goals and to improve the State’s performance with respect to the program’s indicators, an evaluation of the extent to which the State goals were achieved, and include the results of an evaluation of the effectiveness of the VR program.

Information on the FY 2009 Monitoring Process and Protocol and the Monitoring Information Guide and FY 2007 and 2008 Monitoring Reports can be found at http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/rehab/107-reports/index.html

RSA plans to audit States use of VR ARRA funds in conjunction with its annual review process.

The Department provides performance information, in the form of State monitoring reports, at the following Web address:
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/rehab/107-reports/2008/index.html

Performance information about the VR State Grants program may be obtained at the Department website at http://www.ed.gov/programs/rsabvrs/performance.html.

Information regarding the FY 2009 program performance plan for the VR program is available at http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/2009plan/g3vocrehabstate.doc

Not applicable