Generang Systems Change for Asian Americans with Disabilies through Vocaonal Rehabilitaon in Illinois Proposal Idenficaon Number : 322-p Co-Presenter(s) and Co-Authors : Samuel B. Kim, MPH, Alireza Karduni, MUPP, and Rooshey Hasnain,EdD Co-Authors only : John Capua, Ashmeet Oberoi,PhD, and Fredrik Langi Co-Partners : Francisco Alvarado, MD,MS, Jamie Taradash, and Jing Zhang, PhD University of Illinois at Chicago and ADOPT, Chicago, IL, USA Department of Human Services - Division of Rehabilitaon Services, Chicago, IL, USA Chinese Mutual Aid Associaon, Chicago, IL, USA Asian Human Services, Chicago, IL, USA Illinois Department of Human Services ASIAN SERVICES HUMAN Asians Americans with Disabilies (AAWD): A Diverse and Underserved Community Asian Americans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States. They comprise 5.25% of the overall populaon, and 5.8% of them live in the greater Chicago area, many of whom (approximately 15%) have disabilies (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Lile research has been done on the needs and capacies of AAWDs and employment from a VR perspecve. Even less is known of the numbers of AAWDs and the impact their disabilies have on their immigraon experience. To address these issues, ADOPT has partnered with over 50 local mul-cultural agencies, minority businesses, and key city-based stakeholders to create a unique outreach framework. ADOPT is an outreach project that is based in communies, collaborave, and informed by research. Its mission is to connect working-age Asians, immigrants, and refugees who have disabilies to culturally and linguiscally appropriate VR supports and services so that they can gain access to gainful employment. Barriers to VR and Employment Recent demographic reports indicate that Asian Americans with disabilies (AAWDs) in Illinois are increasing in number and diversity, thus posing new cultural and language challenges for the state VR system. There is alarming evidence that AAWDs do not use public services and supports effecvely, especially VR services. Compared to other ethnic and racial minories with disabilies, AAWDs are underrepresented in the public and federal VR system. Methods for Idenfying Effecve Strategies for Outreach Illinois Employment/VR Disparity In Illinois in June 2012, only 33.2% of working-age people with disabilies were working, while 76.7% of non-disabled adults were employed. Impact of Geographic Informaon Systems (GIS ) Mapping Ethnic/Racial VR Trends Analysis Percent of Last Case Visits Among Total Asians Percent of Last Case Visits for Asian Per Year in Total Populaon A Success Story For 18 years, a Bhutanese refugee with a significant hearing impairment lived in a refugee camp in Nepal. In August of 2009, she reseled in Chicago with her brothers. ADOPT connected with her, discovering that she was not aware of DRS or of the opon of working in this country. Through ADOPT's outreach efforts, she was connected to a VR office and counselor who worked with her, her family, and a community agency. As a result, a major hotel gave her a job-training evaluaon, and she is now looking for a job and learning about transportaon opons with the help of ADOPT and an Asian-oriented job-placement agency. Percent of Last Case Visits Among Each Race Total These charts show the breakdown of ethnic/racial characteriscs and the increase in new VR clients from diverse cultural and linguisc backgrounds from 2004 to 2012. ADOPT's outreach efforts have resulted in an overall increase across all ethnic and racial groups, including Asians. Aim A detailed literature review was conducted on outreach strategies and models to improve VR access. We developed an outreach framework comprised of 10 broad based approaches that individually and collecvely improve access to VR services and employment. This framework helps us to bridge the gap between Asian American communies and the state VR system through process-oriented outreach acvies, strategies, and capacity-building. 0.99% Geographic informaon system (GIS) maps help to highlight the ethnic, racial, and language diversity of various neighborhoods in Chicago Illinois New Office 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 Persian: Gujarati: Hindi: Urdu: Other Indic languages: Chinese: Japanese: Korean: Mon-Khmer, Cambodian: Hmong: Thai: Laotian: Vietnamese: Other Asian languages: Tagalog: Other Pacific Island languages: Arabic: Chicago city, Illinois % LEP Cook County, Illinois % LEP Illinois % LEP Race/Ethnicity Percent American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.2 Asian 0.99 Black/African American 30.64 Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.12 Hispanic/Latino 7.72 Multiracial 1.51 White 58.83 Percent of Asian Speakers who are Limited in English Proficiency Only 0.99% of AAWDs are served by the state VR system. These numbers are alarmingly low, given that as many as about 4% of working-age Asians in Illinois have disabilies (ACS, 2012). Building Community Collaboraon and Partnerships Strengthening Language and Linguisc Capacies Ethnic Media Outreach Data Collecon, Research, and Evaluaon Promong Advocacy/ Empowerment Incorporate Cultural and Linguisc Service Delivery Develop Grassroots Leadership Mobilize Coalions and Task Forces Recruitment and Workforce Diversity Cultural Brokering Training/ Professional Development Disability-Friendly Employers Within Chicago Neighborhoods English Proficiency of Asian Language Speakers within Chicago Neighborhoods