# Presentation: 124168

## CustomizedSelf Employment Part I

- DOL / VETS
- Competitive Grantees Conference
- Denver, Colorado – August, 7 2007

## Session Objectives

- Introducing *Customized Self Employment*
- Examine options and supports for self employment for job seekers with barriers to employment
- Hear examples of veterans obtaining employment through customized self employment

## Rich Toscano

- National consultant to the Northeast Program Evaluation Center at Yale / New Haven on Evidence-based research initiatives for veterans with mental illness, substance abuse issues and spinal cord injuries
- Currently servicing as a Public Service Adjunct Faculty capacity at the University of Georgia – Institute on Human Development and Disability where he oversees the implementation of Olmstead related initiatives for Customized Employment, an ODEP/Workforce Action Grant sponsored by the Statewide Independent Living Center.

## Daria Pampaloni

- PsychoSocial Rehabilitation Fellow at Yale School of Medicine currently working for the VA West Haven, CT campus as a Compensated Work Therapy/Supported Employment Specialist

## Evolution of Customized Employment

- The marketplace has changed...high percentage of wage employment opportunities are outsourced in today’s economy.
- Wage employment environments are shifting to “quasi” self employment establishing product and outcome-based contract relationship.

## Evolution of Customized Employment

- Customized Employment Provides individuals more flexibility to:
- work from home or alternative locations,
- adjust hours to meet personal rhythms and life circumstances,
- be more creative in pursuing work tasks.

## Evolution of Customized Employment

- Americans are responding to the changing marketplace by building *flexible careers* consistent with
- lifestyle choices,
-  family circumstances and
- personal needs, talents and goal

## Myths of Self Employment

- Historical statistics that continue to be quoted by the Small Business Administration and many Workforce Resource Centers suggest that only 20 to 25% of new small business / entrepreneurships succeed.
- The Census Bureau reported that over 75% of small businesses started in the early 90s were still in business in the late 90s, which totally contradicts the historical statistics that many of us still quote today.

## Veterans and Employment

- The Department of Veterans Affairs is a silo in the system...the “institutionalization” of the modern era
- The VA is a safe haven for veterans who have difficulty adapting or integrating back into society
- Every VA Medical Center in the country today has many Vietnam era Veterans who consider the VA Center their community for acceptance and social outlets
- The current military engagements are resulting in  thousands of Veterans who are presenting with symptoms of PTSD and beginning the cycle of dependence

## Veterans and Employment

- The medical response in the military theater is saving the lives of soldiers who would have died in past wars, but those lives are dramatically changed...
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Polytrauma Injuries
- Post Traumatic Stress Disorders

## DOL / VETS Impact Issues

- VHA (Veterans Health Affairs) and                VBA (Veterans Benefits Administration) alone will not be able to address the employment needs of tens of thousands of Veterans that will require creative approaches to enter or return to the workplace
- Traditional wage employment will not be sufficient to meet the need and will not adequately reflect the potential skills and contributions these men and women can make to society

## Veterans Business Owners Initiative 

- Initiated by VA-Bedford
- CARF Innovative Program Award
- VA Kiser Award
- Non-profit status
- Business Gymnasium
- Empowerment Bank
- Veterans Business Owners Association

## Veterans Business Owners AssociationWest Haven Chapter

- Meets bi-weekly
- Emphasizes “Life-Style” entrepreneurship
- Balancing Self, Family, and Business needs
- Incorporates “small business” education
- Invites speakers from local resources
- Combines peer support with
- 	psycho-therapeutic interventions

## Stories from Veterans Business Owners Association

- Property owner/manager; boat upholstery
- Affordable children’s clothing
- Handyman business