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.

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.

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.

What makes an excellent Benefits Practitioner? A Benefits Practitioner must abide by a strict code of professional conduct. Critical to the delivery of effective benefits and work incentives planning and assistance are the communication skills of the Benefits Practitioner. Good communication skills provide the cornerstone for superior and ethical work incentives counseling, and this program teaches participants how to engage in active listening and "values-free" communication.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) administers two disability benefit programs: Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The disability determination process is the same for both programs and will be reviewed in this course. All workers who have a FICA deduction from their paychecks are purchasing a disability insurance plan and retirement pension. The SSI program provides means-tested benefits and health care to low-income individuals with disabilities. This program has strict rules and processes for both the standard of disability and the determination process. Learn how disability decisions are made, who makes them, and what an applicant can do after receiving an unfavorable decision.

Congress has made provisions for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to provide work incentives for beneficiaries of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In addition to the disability programs and work incentive provisions that the SSA oversees, they also administer a vocational rehabili­tation (VR) program for providers of VR services that serve SSDI and SSI beneficiaries. The addition of the Ticket to Work Program creates a myriad of rehabilitation, placement and job support programs available to recipients with disabilities who seek to return to the work force.

The SSA has implemented many work incentive programs that will assist SSDI beneficiaries of cash and health benefits in making a successful transition to work. These work incentive programs can be of significant benefit to any beneficiary who wishes to attempt a return to the work force. Learn how each program works and interacts with each other, how to trouble shoot during the return to work process and help debunk the "urban legends" surrounding a beneficiary's return to work.

SSA implements several protections to support the return to work of SSDI beneficiaries beyond IRWE, Subsidies and Special Conditions. Individuals who receive SSDI and meet certain criteria are provided protections from Continuing Disability Reviews as well as Expedited Reinstatement of Benefits should attempts at work prove unsuccessful. These additional considerations are meant to remove common obstacles to returning to work and debunk ongoing "urban legends" surrounding detachment from entitlements. For those entitled to SSDI, Medicare is provided as a health insurance program following a 24-month waiting period following entitlement. SSA provides for extended Medicare coverage when a beneficiary attempts work for significant periods of time.

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federally-administered means-tested program available to individuals who are aged, blind or disabled who meet specific eligibility criteria. Having replaced individual state programs in 1974, SSI is intended to provide a basic level of income and health care to assist a recipient in meeting the basic needs for food and shelter. The SSI program, administered by the Social Security Administration, contains a vast system of rules and regulations concerning categorical, financial and disability eligibility. This session will provide an organized, thematic view of this complex and important social program.

Recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) with disabilities have many valuable work incentive programs that can assist in making the transition from recipient to worker. The vast array of work incentive programs will allow any SSI recipient to return to work while gradually reducing cash benefits and moving toward greater economic self-sufficiency. This session will provide an overview of these programs that are critical to anyone wishing to move toward greater financial independence.

Overpayments continue to pose a substantial obstacle to beneficiaries who are attempting to return to the work force. Overpayments occur in both the Social Security Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income programs. How overpayments occur and what a beneficiary can do about them are the questions that will be answered during this presentation. Along with examining the overpayment process, participants will also learn specific strategies to assist overpaid beneficiaries and support them in resolving this issue.

Many individuals who receive other means-tested federal and state entitlements may also receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and/or SNAP. Created by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (P.L. 104-193), TANF replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The objective of the program is to promote work, responsibility and self-sufficiency. The SNAP Program helps low-income people meet their nutritional needs. Both programs are means-tested; meaning that an individual’s eligibility and amount of benefit is determined by income. Thus, any earnings a person may have could negatively impact the amount of benefit the person receives, creating a disincentive to work proper planning is not completed.

The lack of suitable, affordable housing is often a major barrier to successful employment of persons with disabilities. Still, various public and subsidized housing programs can sometimes help to overcome this barrier. This webinar class will provide a brief summary of the major federally-sponsored programs that should be available in all states, with an emphasis on those policies most applicable to persons with disabilities.

The national Unemployment Insurance Program established under the Social Security Act of 1935 provides for temporary and partial replacement of income to individuals who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. The Workers Compensation program provides a safety net including partial income replacement, health care and rehabilitation services to workers injured during the course of employment. While individuals receiving SSDI will not experience an impact on their cash benefit eligibility as a result of receiving unemployment insurance benefits, individuals receiving SSI, will as it is a means-tested program.

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a federal income tax credit for individuals who work and have earned income under certain levels. One goal of the EITC is to reduce or offset the amount of payroll taxes while at the same time encouraging individuals who might otherwise receive other public benefits to seek employment. Veterans Benefits are available to veterans of the United States Armed Services and, at times, their dependents for both service and non-service connected disabilities. Both cash and health care coverage may be available to the veteran and, at times, eligible dependents. But how will these benefits impact the receipt or eligibility for SSDI and SSI?

SSA implements several protections or safety nets to further support the return to work of SSI beneficiaries beyond IRWE, PASS and BWE. Individuals whose earnings exceed the break even point for receiving cash benefits retain their eligibility for SSI and Medicaid under the 1619(b) as long as their earnings do not exceed certain state thresholds and they meet specific eligibility criteria. This program provides for continuation of critical health care benefits. Further, individuals who receive SSI and meet certain criteria are provided special protections from Continuing Disability Reviews as well as Expedited Reinstatement of Benefits should their attempts at work not be successful.

Practitioners who will be supporting SSDI and SSI beneficiaries' return to work efforts must not only understand the importance of providing benefits and work incentives planning but also ensure that their clients have access to good information prior to making important decisions regarding work. This webinar class teaches practitioners how to collect and analyze critical benefits information while at the same time developing a portfolio of options they can use to advise the individual and to support them in making informed choices regarding work.

Many Benefits Practitioners think their job is done once they have developed some sort of report that presents options for a beneficiary when making decisions regarding work. Research shows that this is not enough! Practitioners need to consider the levels and types of support a beneficiary may need to make certain decisions. While a beneficiary may be able to select that they want to work at a certain level and utilize certain work incentives, they may not know where to go to access the supports necessary to aid them in finding a job or how to work with SSA to use certain work incentives.

Avoiding the pitfalls often associated with post-entitlement issues for SSDI and SSI beneficiaries requires proactive planning, monitoring and assistance. Anticipating potential problems that may arise and having interventions ready to support the individual is critical. While individual paths to employment vary based on the person’s desires, abilities and interests, how their benefits are impacted do not—they are static; governed by policy and procedure that can be planned for. This webinar class explores the importance of proactive planning and monitoring, long-term supports, strategies for effective crisis management and ethical considerations for practice.

Beneficiaries must be expected to be involved with several systems and agencies. The practitioner must be fully aware of any other service plan that has work as a goal, be cognizant of any work incentives or income and resource rules of ALL of these programs in order to effectively guide your beneficiary to work. As a result, Benefits Practitioners who support a caseload of individual managing their benefits and utilizing work incentives will need to effectively organize and manage their time as well as determine just how large a caseload should be.

The pandemic has caused major changes to public benefits. Most recently, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and policy changes at the federal level have greatly shifted the benefit landscape. Here is your chance to learn how the changes will affect people you serve.

Webinar Objectives:

1. Learn how renters and homeowners can avoid losing their homes through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and the Homeowner Assistance Fund

2. Review the four types of pandemic unemployment benefits, what happens now that they have ended (on September 6 or earlier, depending on the state), how people who filed claims before benefits ended may still get retroactive benefits, and how much of these benefits will NOT be taxable

3. Explore the multiple changes to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit amounts

4. Find out the details of the most recent federal economic impact (stimulus) payments, including how people can get these payments who have not yet received them

5. Understand improvements to the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit

6. Study the increases in premium tax credits (subsidies) for people enrolled in Obamacare health insurance plans

7. Discover financial assistance for people who continued their employer-sponsored health insurance coverage through COBRA

student loan relief

9. Get a reminder about continuing Medicaid during the pandemic…even for people who lose eligibility

Trainer: Michael Dalto has delivered training on disability benefits from Social Security and related work incentives for over 30 years. He created a state benefits planning certification in Maryland and trained and supported 60 benefits planners using over 50 original training sessions. He has consulted with organizations including Virginia Commonwealth University, the University of Massachusetts/Boston, Boston University and Griffin-Hammis Associates. Michael directs High Note Consulting, LLC.

”One of a Work Incentive Practitioner's greatest challenges is to persuade Title II beneficiaries that they can be better off financially if they earn enough to stop their cash benefits.  Because of the infamous "cash cliff" - the all-or-nothing nature of Title II benefits - most beneficiaries choose to keep their earnings below SGA.  Unfortunately, this fear-borne practice condemns many beneficiaries to a life of poverty.  In reality, almost every Title II beneficiary can be financially better off working their way off Title II if they can earn enough.  And once a person's cash benefits have stopped, they can earn as much as possible, unencumbered by the need to keep earnings below SGA.

This session describes three categories of Title II beneficiaries based on their fears and motivations regarding benefits:  "green" people who are eager to work full-time despite the impact on Title II; "yellow" people who are cautious about benefits, but who might consider performing SGA if their net income with full-time earnings (and without cash benefits) would be greater than if they worked part-time and kept Title II; and "red" people, who resist any action that could cause benefits to stop.  The workshop features appropriate strategies to discuss the possibility of performing SGA with "green", "yellow" and "red" people.

The training also highlights some key "do's" and "don't's" about discussing the possibility of performing SGA.  These include using an online tool to estimate the impact of income and payroll taxes on a person's net income, and always presenting beneficiaries with full-time earnings options that would yield higher net incomes, even without Title II, than working part-time and keeping Title II."

A three-part webinar series that looks at the impact of system responses to the social reality that faces people with disabilities.

LEADING BY DESIGN WEBINAR SERIES
Leadership, in the context of true person-centered practice,
is a “waking up to people’s capacities and the organizational
and systemic practices that devalue and demean those
capacities. Once leadership wakes us up, we face a choice.
We can go back to sleep, we can leave the field, or we can
join in inventing ways that bring us closer to our highest purposes.”
- John O’Brien (from Conversations on Citizenship
and Person-Centered Work, 2011. p. 114)
When positive change comes for people with disabilities, it’s
because people come to realize that most service organizations
have the tendency to engage in actions that avoid addressing
the social reality that faces people with disabilities.
This three-part webinar series invites participants to explore
what it means to be person-centered through a variety of
lenses. Each 90 minute session will offer a different contextual
framework in which to examine the degree to which
disability service organization designs lead to authentic
person-centered practice.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
The webinar series is primarily intended for audiences
who are interested in understanding the influences of person-
centered service design and implementation in a system-
centered service culture. Those who influence decisions
that impact the lives of people with disabilities, particularly
in structured services and programs may find these webinars
most useful.

• Executive Directors
• Program Managers
• Program/Service Coordinators
• Advocates of Persons with Disabilities

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

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

Questions are fateful. The questions that service organizations ask and respond to set everything else in motion. These responses become the architect for programs, services and ultimately the experience for people with disabilities. Join this session to explore the design questions that inform and shape traditional, transitional and transformational organizational models.

Mike Mayer and Derrick Dufresne’s Beyond Accreditation: 5 Star Quality 2.0 From Clienthood to Citizenship and John O’Brien’s Valued Outcomes of Person-Centered Planning will be the frameworks used to walk participants through a process for measuring the effectiveness of person-centered work within and beyond the service delivery system.

The relationship that we enter into with the people who rely on disability services and supports is a core indicator for how person-centered we will be in service to them. Equally important is the assumption that we may hold about the person’s future and expectation for success. This session will examine four service cultures that arise at the intersections of relationship, expectation and hope for the future.