Courses

Work incentives pave the way to work and financial independence for recipients of public benefits. All public benefits programs and pensions provide incentives for recipients with disabilities to return to work. During the first set of 7 webinars (Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income and Work), participants will explore the principal benefits provided by the Social Security Administration as well as the work incentives pertaining to each benefit. While SSA provides some of the most significant cash and health care benefits, reality indicates that recipients with disabilities may receive benefits from a myriad of public sources. The second set of 6 webinars (The Effect of Work on Other Federal Programs and Their Relationship the Disability Programs) participants will review the various federal programs providing benefits to individuals with disabilities, including TANF, Workers Compensation, and Veterans Benefits, as well as how each relate to one another and are impacted by earned income. Finally, the third set of 4 webinars (The Ins and Outs of Becoming a Benefits Practitioner) will introduce the practice to participants by providing suggestions as to how this complex variety of work incentives, critically needed benefits and earnings can be described and explained to an individual with a disability to both encourage work and financial independence.

This intensive certification program for Benefits Practitioners requires participation in 17 webinars, completion of a provisional certification on line examination as well as a file review that, upon successful completion, will result in full certification. The webinars are presented twice weekly over a period of eight and a half weeks. The on line examination will be administered two weeks after the conclusion of the webinar series and participants will be allowed a full work week (24/7) to complete the examination. Finally, within 3 months of successfully completing the examination a file review will be completed by Cornell faculty to ensure that the provisionally certified Benefits Practitioner is actually able to effectively use the information obtained through the webinar courses and written materials.

Full certification can be maintained by securing 60 hours of continuing education units (CEU) over the 5 year period immediately following the attainment of full certification. An on line “portal” will be made available for logging CEU activity.

Work incentives pave the way to work and financial independence for recipients of public benefits. All public benefits programs and pensions provide incentives for recipients with disabilities to return to work. During the first set of 7 webinars (Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income and Work), participants will explore the principal benefits provided by the Social Security Administration as well as the work incentives pertaining to each benefit.

While SSA provides some of the most significant cash and health care benefits, people with disabilities may receive benefits from a myriad of public sources. In the second set of 6 webinars (The Effect of Work on Other Federal Programs and Their Relationship the Disability Programs) participants will review the various federal programs providing benefits to individuals with disabilities, including TANF, Workers Compensation, and Veterans Benefits, as well as how each relate to one another and are impacted by earned income.

Finally, the third set of 4 webinars (The Ins and Outs of Becoming a Benefits Practitioner) will introduce the practice to participants by providing suggestions as to how this complex variety of work incentives, critically needed benefits, and earnings can be explained to an individual with a disability to encourage both work and financial independence.

This intensive training program for Benefits Practitioners requires participation in 17 webinars. At the completion of the 17 webinars, participants will receive a Certificate of Attendance. Credentialing can be received if the participant chooses the Work Incentives Planning and Utilization for Benefit Practitioners Certificate Series (with Credentialing as a Benefits and Work Incentives Practitioner) course.

Participants interested in completing a course in SSA Work Incentive Knowledge and Utilization must complete all seven webinar classes in this concentration area. Individuals considering the delivery of benefits and work incentive planning and assistance should consider also completing the Work Incentive Planning course and the Federal Benefit Programs course. Individuals completing all three courses and passing an online examination will be eligible for the Cornell University Certificate in Work Incentives Planning and Utilization for Benefit Practitioners.

Learn to counsel youth with disabilities to use work incentives as a tool for establishing careers, as you earn Cornell’s Youth-C credential!

You’ll learn about:

• Work incentives that can specifically benefit youths
• Calculating and tracking the use of these work incentives, and planning for periods of time when each may not apply
• Using and understanding the BPQY to ensure a youth receives applicable work incentives
• Counseling youths and parents about the benefits of work—and the benefits of work incentives
• Financial tools to assist the youth and family as the youth begins work
• Assisting with developing good money habits immediately when a job begins

Prerequisite: Either an up-to-date WIP-C™ credential from Cornell University or CWIC certification from Virginia Commonwealth University.

The class will be limited to 40 participants.

Learn to counsel Veterans with disabilities about returning to work, as you earn Cornell’s Vet-C credential.

You’ll learn about

• Disability benefits offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
• How VA benefits and SSA benefits impact each other
• What happens to VA benefits when Veterans return to work
• Tools to verify VA benefits
• Counseling Veterans about the benefits of work and how to leverage VA benefits to support work
• Outreach to organizations serving Veterans

Prerequisite: Either an up-to-date WIP-C credential from Cornell University or CWIC certification from Virginia Commonwealth University. The class will be limited to 35 participants.

(PLEASE NOTE THIS IS PART 2 OF A 2-PART SERIES.  PART 1 IS SEPTEMBER 19, 2023)

Lack of affordable housing aggravates the plight of low-income Americans as much as any other single issue.  Rents have risen to new heights during the post-pandemic period.  HUD rental assistance programs – although chronically underfunded – offer an elegant solution for people who receive their assistance.  Tenants pay a limited percentage of their income for rent and utilities, and HUD funds pay the rest.  When tenants’ incomes drop, when certain other expenses rise, or rents go up, HUD usually pays more of the rent and utility costs.  And income limits for HUD programs are based on percentages of the median income in the local area, so people who live in high-income, high-rent communities can qualify for aid if their incomes are higher, but still low compared to the average in their area.  In short, these programs ensure affordable rent and utility costs.

National training and certification for benefit planners – including WIPs – lack the time needed to cover HUD programs adequately.  Here is your chance to gain a deeper knowledge of these essential benefits that many individuals we serve receive.  Given the depth and breadth of the content, this training requires two 2-hour webinars.

The webinars address:

·      The basic calculation of tenant’s share of rent and utility costs

·      The key HUD programs.  A chart is included that details 14 HUD programs and 3 non-HUD programs.

·      Work incentives in some HUD programs

·      Asset eligibility

·      How to estimate the impact of earnings on rent and utility payments

·      How the Housing Opportunity through Modernization Act (HOTMA) will make key changes to HUD rules when final regulations are published

·      Minimum rent and hardship exemptions

·      Impact of welfare assistance reductions on rent

·      How to use two protections for tenants whose incomes increase significantly – “flat rents” in public housing, and a key Housing Choice Voucher rule

The training features a HUD rent calculation spreadsheet which you’ll learn to use to estimate the impact of income changes – including new or increased work earnings – on rent and utility payments.

Medicaid is the most important benefit that many people we serve will ever receive.  It provides comprehensive medical coverage and can supplement other health insurance.  Most importantly, it can cover a variety of disability-related services that other insurance rarely if ever covers (or covers adequately), such as home and community-based services, attendant care and community behavioral health services.  Many people are willing to give up SSI, if they’ll be financially better off without it, but only if they won’t lose Medicaid.

Luckily, SSA rules protect Medicaid for certain groups of former SSI recipients who have switched to receiving certain Title II benefits.  Often referred to as “special Medicaid eligible”, they include people whose SSI has stopped due to receipt of Childhood Disability Benefits (CDB, also known as Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits) and those whose SSI has stopped when they receive Disabled Widow’s/Widower’s Benefits (DWB).  A third – and widely misunderstood – group have lost SSI for any reason, receive Title II benefits now, and would still receive SSI if they had not received Title II cost of living increases after their SSI payments stopped.  These folks benefit from the Pickle Amendment and are commonly known (God help them) as “Pickle people”.

This training explains eligibility for each of the three groups, how eligibility is determined, how to ensure a person can get or keep Medicaid if they belong to one of these groups, how some people who lose special Medicaid eligibility may regain it later, and the role of a WIP in helping people qualify for special Medicaid eligibility.

The POMS defines deeming as “the process of considering another person's income and resources to be available for meeting an SSI claimant's (or recipient's) basic needs of food and shelter… Attribute deemed income and resources to the eligible individual whether or not they are actually available to him/her.”

How’s that for logic?

Deeming affects people on SSI who are (1) married to spouses who don’t get SSI, and (2) children under age 18 living with parent(s).  A portion of the spouse’s or parents’ income and resources is counted against the SSI recipient for SSI eligibility and payment purposes.  Deeming can make a married person or child eligible for less SSI…or none at all.  You probably knew that much.

But the specifics of SSI deeming are a mystery for most Work Incentive Practitioners.  This webinar dives deeply into the details, including:

·      When deeming applies, and when it doesn’t

·      Types of income and resources that can – or can’t - be deemed

·      Spouse-to-spouse deeming rules

·      Parent-to-child deeming rules

·      Impact of deeming on 1619(b) eligibility

Best of all, this training provides deeming spreadsheets for both spouse-to-spouse and parent-to-child deeming and walks you through some case examples.

Here’s the simple part:  SSI is intended to help a person pay for food and shelter.  Generally, to receive up to the maximum SSI benefit, an adult beneficiary must pay for their own food and shelter.  If another party provides the person with free or reduced-cost food or shelter, the amount of SSI the person receives will be reduced.

Here’s the complicated part:  Everything else.  The details about how SSA evaluates a person’s living arrangements and whether food or shelter they receive will cause their SSI to be reduced are mind-boggling.  This webinar explains the rules so you can help SSI recipients minimize the impact of food and shelter they receive on their SSI payments.

The training covers:

·      How “in-kind support and maintenance (ISM)” – free or reduced-cost food or shelter received from another party - affects SSI payments

·      When SSA uses the “value of the third reduction (VTR)” and when they use the “presumed maximum value (PMV)” to determine the reduction in SSI from food or shelter a person receives

·      The impact a person’s type of living arrangement has on ISM

·      When food or shelter from another party does NOT count as ISM

·      Which expenses count as “shelter”

·      Rental assistance, energy assistance and ISM

·      Using loans of food and shelter to maximize SSI payments

·      When ISM and deeming may apply at the same time

·      How family members can supplement a SSI beneficiary’s income without reducing their SSI payments, by contributing to ABLE accounts or making “third party payments”

A 15-week online course requiring an investment in an “inside-out” approach to working with people with disabilities. Participants actively commit to sit throughout 15 weeks of discovery and exploration of what it means to be person-centered and inclusive.

A ONE-OF-A-KIND LEARNING EXPERIENCE

A provocative 15-week program that combines interactive webinars with a self-paced online theory- to-practice curriculum. This course is designed to take the guesswork out of what it means to be truly person-centered and to build social inclusion with people with disabilities.

Participants will be immersed in a learning experience that is guided by people with disabilities, recorded interviews with experts, reflective and field-based applied learning, facilitated discussion and more. Be prepared for an “inside-out” experience. Participants are required to work with a minimum of two learning partners,* one of whom must be a person with a disability—throughout the course. These partners, along with the other participants in the course, serve as guides and supporters throughout the learning journey.

*Participants are responsible for finding your own learning partners.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Value-driven principles like inclusion, belonging, contribution and leadership are universal, and as such, this course is appropriate for anyone wishing to explore or study them. It is important to note that this course was written to provide disability service providers and practitioners a safe place to return to the roots of person-centered planning and practice; to listen to the voices of experience; apply theory to practice; and to share thoughts and ideas with others on a similar quest. This course is especially recommended for:

• Executive directors
• Program managers
• Service and/or program coordinators
• Direct support professionals
• Social workers
• Counselors
• Community inclusion practitioners/specialists
• Person-Centered Planners