Universal Access-NY Overview What is Universal Access-NY? Universal Access-NY is a complete online planning toolkit, where a One-Stop Delivery System can assess its practices, and develop work plans to improve physical and programmatic accessibility for all One-Stop customers. This web site was developed by Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute, through the support and guidance of the New York State Department of Labor, with funding from two U.S. Department of Labor Work Incentive Grants (WIG 1 and 2). This web site was designed for use in a collaborative manner, bringing together One-Stop personnel, agency partners, business leaders and customers with disabilities. Universal Access-NY supports continuous improvement, with features that encourage multiple uses and incremental systems change. For more information, contact: David Brewer, Senior Extension Associate Employment and Disability Institute Cornell University (607) 255-7727 201 ILR Extension (607) 255-2891 (TTY) Ithaca, NY 14853 drb22@cornell.edu Features of Universal Access-NY… Password-Protected Accounts – Each One-Stop has its own unique account. When a One-Stop planning team signs in, they view their contact information, team members, and the results of previous planning efforts. Collaborative Self-Assessment – The self-assessment portion of the online toolkit is made up of 76 indicators, which have been sorted into 5 categories: 1. Outreach and Intake 2. Physical Access 3. Service Delivery 4. Youth 5. Technology One-Stop planning teams have the opportunity to select one or more of these areas for further study. Planning teams quickly prioritize one or more indicators for work plan development. Work Plan Development – Once an indicator has been selected for work plan development, Universal Access-NY brings the planning team to a work plan development web page. When a work plan is completed and saved, the planning team has a printer-friendly document for distribution to team members and other stakeholders. Help and Discussion Forums Universal Access-NY planning teams can navigate to a list of Internet links, organized by the 5 categories above, of effective national practices and resources. Teams may also engage in threaded discussions to make announcements or pose questions to a growing online community of end-users. Universal Access-NY Directions Sign-On Page Once your team has entered a Username and Password, provided by Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute, the planning process can begin… Point your browser to the following Internet address: http://www.universalaccessny.org Enter your username and password, provided by Cornell University’s Employment and Disability Institute, to gain entry to your account. Home Page Click on “contact info” to contact the Employment and Disability Institute web team for assistance. Important to remember: Click on “logout” to save your work and exit the program. Click on “Create New Universal Access Survey” to begin a new planning process. Click on the text under “Closed Survey(s) to view this team’s past efforts. Click on “Edit One-Stop Information” to change your planning team’s contact information. Navigational Links and Team Members Important to Remember: Whenever possible, use the navigational buttons to move around the web site. Pull down the month and year that your team is meeting to create this survey. Type the names and positions and/or roles of each of your team members in this box. Examples of Potential Team Members: One Stop Staff, One Stop Customers with Disabilities, NYS Department of Labor Personnel, Disability Program Navigators, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors, Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped, Center for Independent Living, Education, Local Rehabilitation Agencies, other agencies, Department of Social Services, Office of the Aging, Business Leaders Preliminary Questions Check boxes to indicate “Needs Improvement” next to the questions where your team believes a Work Plan may be necessary to support further development. Click on “To learn more about this topic…” to obtain immediate information about each preliminary question. Click on “Save Preliminary Questions” after a careful discussion and one or more boxes have been checked. Universal Access Indicators Your planning team must rate all of the Indicators presented on this web page before a Work Plan can be developed. The ratings are as follows: 5 = Exemplary, can educate others about this issue 4 = Indicator evident across all situations 3 = Indicator evident across some, but not all, situations 2 = Indicator not evident, planning is underway 1 = Indicator not evident, no planning has been initiated This is the Topic and Preliminary Question that your planning team checked earlier Enter one number, 1 through 5, as indicated above. Change Desired? Check the box if your team wished to consider this indicator for Work Plan development. At least one indicator must be checked. Complete all of these ratings and click on the “Save Indicators” button at the bottom of the page to proceed to the Work Plan Selection page. The Strategic Work Plan The Strategic Work Plan is the means through which your planning team will turn prioritized areas of concern into meaningful actions. Features of an effective Work Plan include: * Collaborative Implementation – the team shares responsibility for the tasks and outcomes of the Work Plan; * Measurable Results – the Work Plan describes how its impact on customers will be captured; * Reflection – timelines and actions include a description of how the team will review the ongoing results of the Work Plan. Your team should indicate how and when future Work Plans will be developed. Work Plan Selection After your planning team has selected one or more indicators to improve, each of those selected will be gathered onto one screen. Your team must now review each indicator to decide which one(s) should be chosen for Work Plan development. Your team can return to this web page to prioritize and develop more indicators, or edit existing Work Plans. Indicator transferred from previous screen along with rating. Click on “Create Strategic Work Plan” to create a new Work Plan for this indicator. Click on at least one indicator to move on to the Strategic Work Plan. At the top of the plan are: the topic area, name, current rating, and description of the indicator your team has selected. Your Work Plan should directly support improvement of this indicator. The Strategic Work Plan is divided into text boxes. The following section provides questions that your planning team should consider when completing each text box. Current Status: How would your team describe your One-Stop and this indicator at your One-Stop? What exactly is the problem? Desired Outcome: What is the desired outcome of your plan, in measurable terms? What will be different after your plan is completed? Desired Rating: 1-5, compared to your current rating Overall Strategy: Summarize in one sentence the overall strategy your team will take. What will you do, overall? Your planning team must create a “to-do” list of observable steps toward your desired outcome. For each step fill in the task description, who will be responsible for the task, and the completion date. Click on “ADD TASK” to add each additional step. List Major Tasks: Task: Person(s) Responsible: Completion Date: Funding Sources: How will your team support each Major Task? List at least one resource for each Major Task that requires funding. How results will be measured and documented: How will your team evaluate your Work Plan activities? Describe the measurement process your team will use? How results will be used to revise strategies: How will your team respond to the outcomes of this project? Describe your reflective Process. How results will be shared internally and externally: Celebrating success is a good way to get support for future endeavors. How will your community know of your collaborative efforts? Click on SAVE STRATEGIC WORK PLAN to create a draft Work Plan and return to the Home Page. Help Forum Discussion Forum At the top of the Help Forum web page, teams can ask questions and discuss issues with teams from other One-Stops. This area is organized by the five Preliminary Question topics: Outreach and Intake, Physical Access, Service Delivery, Youth, and Technology. All discussions are archived for future reference. Resources The Resource list is located at the bottom of the Help Forum page and contains Internet links to resources organized by each of the five Preliminary Question topic areas. Subject: Outreach and Intake Title: WIA Section 188 Disability Checklist Link: http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/crc/section188.htm Title: Independence: Program on Employment and Disability Link: http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/ped/il/independence/default.htm Subject: Physical Access Title: One-Stop Toolkit Link: http://www.onestoptoolkit.org/ Title: Northeast ADA and IT Center Link: http://www.northeastada.org/ Universal Access-NY Facilitator Tips Assigning a Team Facilitator: Designating a team facilitator will enhance the quality of the collaborative planning process. The team facilitator should: * Establish team meeting times and locations * Distribute copies of planning documents to all team members before each meeting * Share responsibilities for gathering information and data * Validate team members’ concerns and ideas during the planning process to build consensus * Incorporate language provided by team members into the narrative of the Work Plan * Share responsibilities for implementing and monitoring Work Plan activities Select a Diverse Team: Develop a planning team that reflects the spectrum of services and people in your community. Include agency representatives, customers with disabilities, business leaders, along with One-Stop staff. Multiple Planning Meetings: It is important to remember that any information you enter into the web site will be saved by clicking the buttons on the bottom of each page, clicking on the Home Page button, and logging out. Because your ongoing progress can be saved, your team can complete this process over a period of time to encourage flexibility and collaborative planning. Common Courtesy: Team members should consider themselves individually and collectively responsible to maintain a productive and open atmosphere for discussion. Complements paid to each other for participation and work completed can only move this process forward. Preliminary Questions: By spending more time considering each Preliminary Question and narrowing your focus, your team will spend less time rating Indicators. Rating Indicators: It is best to use objective data assembled by your planning team when determining indicator ratings. If your team cannot reach consensus on a 1-5 rating for an indicator, remind the group that the team can come back to this at a future time. Suggest the lowest rating offered by a team member to move things along. Team Member worries: Some team members will feel cautious or defensive about rating their One-Stop. Remind team members that rating indicators is a way to prioritize areas for needed improvement. This is a quality improvement tool, and not a means to monitor the One-Stop for compliance. Cornell University – D.Brewer 7/7/05