NYAPRS Note: A great new opportunity to help children with disabilities in New York State to succeed in school and at the workplace. Great thanks are due to OMH’s John Allen and the program team that included Cornell University and the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene.
The Office of Mental Health, through the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, received notification from the U.S. Department of Education of an award of $32,500,000 to implement “Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) initiative. PROMISE was proposed by the Obama Administration to improve the education and career outcomes of low income children with disabilities receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The program is designed to serve children with disabilities, ages 14-16, who are receiving SSI and their families.
The NYS PROMISE approach is based on a nationally-informed, systems-focused, and locally-based model of partnership. The NYS PROMISE methodology aims to achieve higher postsecondary employment, educational, and economic outcomes for youth ages 14-16. The interventions will be implemented across three diverse geographic areas (western NY, the capital region, and New York City), which represent a strong sample of rural, suburban and urban areas of NY State. Two thousand students receiving SSI, with an array of disabilities, aged 14-16, across 20-25 local education agencies.
Building upon past cross-agency successes under the Medicaid Infrastructure Grant, the NYS PROMISE will assemble a statewide New York Employment Service System State Coordinating Council (NYESS SCC) that will, at minimum, include the Office of Mental Health (OMH); the New York State Education Department Office of Career and Continuing Education Services (NYSED) –of Adult Career and Continuing Education Services -Vocational Rehabilitation (ACCES-VR), and the Office of Special Education (OSE); the Department of Labor (DOL) Workforce Development System; the Department of Health (DOH), Office of Medicaid Management (OMM); Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); and, the Office for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD).