Lehigh Valley Center For Independant Living Inc

Programs: Lvcil's "sign language interpreter referral service" provides the deaf community with easy access to the highest quality interpreting services. Because of the ada the need for reliable sign language interpreting services grew dramatically. Slirs has operated on a 24/7 basis since january 2004. Lvcil coordinates thousands of appointments annually to provide asl interpreters to appointments between individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing and local doctors, hospitals, lawyers, schools, courts, state and local government offices, and other businesses. Program staff also offer programming for the deaf and hard of hearing including outreach and asl classes.

career path services encompass an 8 week skills building class followed by traditional community based work assessments, job development and job coaching. Services are delivered based on a strength driven person-centered plan process, which each participant, along with his/her support network creates. Participants have completed high school and are seeking their first significant employment experience. The program was started with an innovation and expansion grant through the pa office of vocational rehabilitation (ovr), and in late 2011 achieved sustainability and moved into a fee-for-service program. The program has grown to serve about 200 participants at any given time, and staffing in the program has increased steadily.

lvcil has had the opportunity to develop life (living independently for everyone) school-based services. In the life program staff works with young adults in their final years of high school to help achieve individualized needs such as cooking, laundry, community, travel and hygiene skills. These services are also driven by a person-centered plan and are typically paid by school districts on a fee-for-service basis. Life consumers also typically participate in the 8-week career path skills building class, according to individual needs and interests.

lvcil provides a range of services for persons with all types of disabilities, including but not limited to advocacy, independent living skills education, information and referral, peer support, housing search and placement, youth transition services, supported employment services, waiver supports coordination, sign language interpreter referral services and community outreach. Lvcil uses the "american with disabilities act (ada)" as its backbone to offer individual and collective advocacy on issues that impact a person's right to live independently. Lvcil's independent living skills education assists individuals with disabilities who are going to be on their own for the first time, as well as, individuals who need some extra support as their disabilities change. Independent living skills enable individuals to obtain the skills necessary to stay independent and be on their own. Lvcil's independent living skills training includes but is not limited to assistance with personal finance, care of the home, cooking, and shopping, and is provided on an individual or group basis. Peer support is a non-therapeutic helping relationship between lvcil staff and consumers in which issues relating to life with disability are discussed and coping and success strategies are discussed. Consumer-to-consumer peer relationships are facilitated through agency events which include community-based similar age peer social group activities. Information & referral, a staple in most disability services agencies, is provided to consumers, professionals and the community-at-large. It involves providing resources and ideas on topics related to specific disability needs and might range from questions on purchasing a wheelchair modified van to an explanation of rights under the ada. Lvcil is also charged as a center for independent living to work in the community to increase inclusion for all of its residents with disabilities. Lvcil achieves this through staff, board and volunteer participation in nearly 50 local, regional and statewide organizations. Lvcil brings the interests of persons with disabilities to the table and promotes full inclusion in all areas of life. Lvcil has a 21 year history of providing housing search and retention services to persons with disabilities. Housing services are provided through local city and county community development block grant (cdbg) program funds, or through the va supportive services for veterans families (ssvf) program begun in october 2012, consumers in the cdbg programs typically live on extremely low income and need assistance to address imminent loss of housing and to understand their rights under the fair housing act. Consumer in both cdbg and the ssvf program are typically homeless or near homeless. Supportive services for veteran's families, or ssvf as it is known, is a federal program of the veterans administration to assist veterans and their families to avoid or address homelessness. This program uses considerable outreach to make veterans aware of the service, and covers six counties. The ssvf program can also provide temporary financial assistance, in the form of rent, security deposit, and other related expense payment. Lvcil is the first center for independent living in the country to offer the ssvf program. Staff members also provide landlord-tenant mediation, and landlord workshops to educate local landlords on areas of interest. Lvcil uses the housing first model in serving those who are homeless or nearly homeless. Education is also provided to private landlords to encourage them to understand the benefits of renting to persons with disabilities. Community grants allow lvcil to provide additional housing services to area residents. Lvcil is a leader in transition services for young adults with disabilities. One program is the s2l group which offers young adults in high school and early adulthood the opportunity to engage in social, leadership, volunteer and other community activities. The s2l group meets at least twice a month for a wide variety of events, and members are offered the chance to attend other optional community events as well. The group plans its activities for the year, and a youth-led leadership structure steers the program. The s2l group has garnered the interest of local, state and national groups and has connections to many relevant groups, including the pa youth leadership network. To join the group young adults complete an application process and commit to a personal goal to live independently with or without support in the community someday. The s2l group is a fee-for-service program, which can be paid through several means including private pay, county funding, state programs, group fundraising or a combination of means. Real world lehigh valley is another fee-for-service transition service. It is a six week intensive summer program which focuses on vocational skills, communication, leadership and other attributes needed in the workplace. A frequent highlight in the program has been a week-long trip to state college for the penn state community on transition conference. Real world lehigh valley participants and staff serve as facilitators at the conference. This is also a fee-for service program paid through a variety of private and public sources. The s2l group and real world lehigh valley group also had the opportunity for the past two years to work in a transition advocacy grant to address areas of interest to young adults with disabilities. The youth of lvcil worked on collective advocacy and transportation issues in the project. A highlight was video explaining use of paratransit. In 2014 lvcil received another innovation and expansion grant to expand career path services into carbon and monroe counties and a satellite office was established with a full grant program operating out of the two-county area. Upon conclusion of the grant on september 30, 2016, the program moved to a fee-for-service structure. In early 2016 lvcil received another innovation and expansion grant to develop a transition experience program (tep) designed to expose high school students to employment and transition experiences. Lvcil has established a partnership with cedar crest college and tep is now housed there. Students are experience a college setting and gaining work experiences in various campus departments. Additionally, lvcil operates two other transition programs, one with iu 21 at cedarbrook nursing home called vip which allows high school seniors to gain skills and try employment experiences at the facility. The second is a partnership at lehigh carbon community college called seed which offers students with disabilities a bridge to college and career exploration on one of the college's campuses. Staff serve as career and academic coaches to the participants. Lvcil serves as a supports coordination agency in pennsylvania's adult autism waiver program, and also the office of long term living waivers. The adult autism waiver is administered through the pennsylvania bureau of autism services and is designed to specifically help adults with autism spectrum disorders, based on their identified needs, to participate in their communities in the way that they want to. As support coordinators lvcil staff members oversee, monitor and facilitate selection of aaw service providers for program participants, and have a key role in assuring participant satisfaction and assessing appropriateness of provider program services. The pennsylvania office of long term living (oltl) administers the oltl waivers. These waivers exist primarily to allow persons with physical disabilities to have the home and community based services required to live independently in the community. Attendant care service is the most common reason for an oltl waiver. Lvcil's supports coordinators provide monitoring of services, problem resolution, and annual or as needed assessments to assure continuity of service. Lvcil has been successful in developing unique community-based programs. One is the community access program; a five year project focusing on ada compliance and disability sensitivity education. The project has partners from many varied community entities including cities, municipalities, and outdoor venues. In the program, ada accessibility site surveys are offered and over a dozen specific ada trainings are available from program staff. The project's goal is to make the lehigh valley and greater commonwealth more welcoming to all persons with disabilities.