Thursday 10/1; Wednesday 10/7; Thursday 10/8; Monday 10/26

Thursday 10/29

All sessions are Virtual

from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Registration Fee: Members: Free Non-Members: $500

All registrants will receive access to the course materials one week

prior to the first ACRE training session

To receive a certificate an “ACRE Certificate of Achievement”, participants

must attend all 5 sessions (40 hours of training) and successfully complete all

activities and field-based assignments.

Several field assignments include leading an employment seeker at your

organization through the employment process as taught in class

Session 1 (10/1)

Application of Core Values and

Principles of Practice

This session focuses on the history, core values, and

principles of Supported Employment. This includes the rights and

responsibilities of people receiving services, ethical guidelines, and

philosophy of community employment, as well as disability legislation, funding,

regulations, and policies impacting people with disabilities.

Session 2-3 (10/7 & 10/8)

Assessment & Career Planning

This 2-day session focuses on

individualized assessment and employment/career planning. Discovery is

introduced as the foundation of career planning and participants will learn

how to design and implement a discovery process for employment seekers.

This includes learning how to gather information about the employment seeker

(skills, interests, community connections, conditions for success) while

encouraging the employment seeker’s active participation and decision-making

throughout the career planning process.

Participants will have an opportunity to complete each step

of the discovery process with an employment seeker, learn how to facilitate a

customized employment planning meeting, and develop a vocational profile.

Trainees will learn the basics of self-employment/entrepreneurship, the impact

of wages on disability benefits, the availability of work incentives, and how

to make referrals to other agencies for assistance.

Session 4: (10/26)

Community Research & Job Development

This session provides an overview of customized employment

and uses the information obtained about the employment seeker during the

discovery process to create a Job Development plan. Participants will learn how

to develop relationships with businesses, assist employment seekers with the

job search process, develop employment proposals, understand LEAN process

improvement, and negotiate a win-win job match based on the employment seeker’s

ideal conditions of employment and the needs of a business.

Participants will have an opportunity to complete each step

of the job development process with an employment seeker.

Session 5: (10/29)

Workplace & Related Supports

This session focuses on developing workplace supports with

an overview of systematic instruction. Participants will learn how to do an

effective job analysis, and implement job training, fading plans, and

strategies for developing comprehensive workplace supports.

Participants will learn creative strategies to ensure the

employee enters the job in the most inclusive manner possible and help them to

maximize their job performance and meet the expectations of the workplace.

Facilitator: Kevin Walker has over 31 years of experience with Penn-Mar Human

Services, and served in various direct support, managerial, and administrative ​roles

before becoming the Director of Business Development. Kevin spearheaded

Penn-Mar’s Employment 1st initiative in 2009, and for the past 8 years has provided

training and technical assistance to like-minded provider organizations. In July of 2020,

Kevin assisted with the development and launch of Penn-Mar’s consulting division.

Kevin is a Certified Workforce Incentives Practitioner and

a 2020 graduate of Leadership Baltimore County. He is a

certified ACRE trainer and led in the development of a Penn-Mar

centric ACRE endorsed curriculum. Kevin has been involved in ACRE

projects in California, District of Columbia, Maryland, Minnesota, and

Oklahoma, and is also a curriculum reviewer for ACRE.

Kevin serves as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the U.S. Department of

Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy on the National Expansion of

Employment Opportunities Network (NEON) project and has provided training and

technical assistance to providers in Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland,

Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Washington, for NEON.

Facilitator: Tricia Zeltwanger has been employed with Penn-Mar Human Services

since 1991. Tricia held the position of Contract Manager until 2012 when she took

the position as a Job Developer. Tricia’s vital role is to connect with our community

through networking and developing employer partnerships. Tricia is a 2014 graduate

of Leadership York. She created the York Business Networking Group and has served

as its President since 2015. Tricia is an Ambassador for the York County Economic

Alliance and serves on the Board of Southern York County Business Association.

Tricia trains Penn-Mar new hires on Customized Employment and is

passionate about the needs and goals of each employment seeker.

Tricia has demonstrated a high level of success in placing many

employment seekers in community employment.

*DDA ACRE Reimbursement*

The DDA has been committed to assisting service providers during these

transition years leading up to the full implementation of the LTSS Maryland-

DDA Module system and new employment services rates by reimbursing providers

for the DDA-approved employment training program or certification competency test.

For any staff that a current and approved provider pays for and sends to

a DDA approved employment training program or certification competency test

until Employment Services become effective or a provider is fully billing the

fee for services in LTSS Maryland-

DDA Module, the DDA will reimburse the

provider for the associated fees.

Providers will need to invoice DDA with the following information and

submit to your Regional Directors:

• Name and title of the employee

• Name of the provider organization

• Date(s) and location of the training

• Name of the training and training provider

• Supporting documentation that the

employee has completed the course successfully

• For reimbursement of fees for the Certified Employment Support Professional (CESP)

exam through the Association of People Supporting Employment

First (APSE), provide supporting documentation that the employee has passed the

exam.

• Training fees

Please remember that anyone delivering Discovery, Job Development and

Self-Employment Development supports after Employment Services are effective

must have proof of competency in the best practices of Customized Employment as

evidenced by completing and passing the Certified Employment Support

Professional exam through the Association of People Supporting Employment First

(APSE). The cost of both the ACRE training and the CESP exam is reimbursable by

DDA until the new Employment Services rates become effective or the provider is

fully billing in LTSS Maryland -DDA Module.