 The Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing (HCP&F) has received a comprehensive Medicaid Infrastructure Grant (MIG) from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), under the authority of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, for the purpose of improving competitive employment opportunities for people with disabilities in Colorado. Colorado WIN Partners has been contracted by HCP&F to assist with the development and planning of this grant, to provide outreach, training and education in coordination with the MIG Project Team at HCP&F, and assist in building a coalition of partners to assist in its implementation and marketing efforts.
 The Denver Regional Mobility and Access Council (DRMAC) is contracting with Colorado WIN Partners to assist in facilitating stakeholders in developing a work plan to establish a contact center (“call center”) that would serve the Denver metro area. The purpose of this project is to determine the call and scheduling center options that would best support coordinated specialized transportation service delivery and a high level of customer service. This will reflect the vision for a customer-oriented contact center developed by DRMAC’s Call Center and Technology Committee.
 Social Security Administration (SSA) awarded Colorado WIN Partners a cooperative agreement to lead and manage a 5-year national demonstration project, generating empirical evidence, based on both process and random-assignment evaluations, on the impacts of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) waivers and enhanced coordination of services for youth with disabilities. Under this project, a two-pronged intervention was tested: 1.) the effectiveness of altering certain SSI rules as an incentive to encourage beneficiaries to initiate work or to increase their work activity and increase their earnings; and, 2.) a service delivery system to assist youth with disabilities, ages 14-25 receiving SSA disability benefits, to successfully transition from school, which may include post-secondary education, to employment and economic self-sufficiency based out of a One-Stop Career Center. Colorado WIN Partners managed the project implementation, recruitment and enrollment of participants, delivery of services, and subcontract execution with four local Workforce Centers.
Colorado WIN Partners also entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., SSA’s national evaluation contractor, in order to participate in the project’s national evaluation. Under this agreement, Mathematica enrolled 880 youth and randomly assigned them to treatment and control groups. Colorado WIN Partners enrolled treatment group members into the study, delivered services, and conducted a process evaluation and analyzed impacts on outcomes of participants in the study. Colorado WIN Partners and Mathematica shared research designs, data, and research results as necessary to carry out the evaluations under this agreement.
CTTIC is a 24 hour curriculum that was created and runs as part of the Colorado Clinical Sciences Translational Institute. Dr. Yvonne Kellar-Guenther worked with trial coordinators and Principal Investigators (PIs) to develop this curriculum and get the courses up and running. Dr. Kellar-Guenther still teaches 2 courses: Writing Informed Consent and Recruitment.
 The Colorado Workforce Development Council received funding from Social Security Administration and the U. S. Department of Labor to implement the Disability Program Navigator Initiative (formerly Consumer Navigators) throughout Colorado’s Workforce System (One-Stops). Colorado WIN Partners/UCD was contracted to provide statewide technical assistance and training for the twenty Disability Program Navigators throughout the state. Colorado WIN Partners delivered training, conducted monthly statewide teleconferences, established a statewide listserv, developed 10 on-line disabaility awareness training modules for use by Colorado’s Workforce System and provided on site visits to ensure successful implementation of this model. Colorado WIN Partners also assisted in evaluating the effectiveness of this model throughout Colorado’s Workforce System.
In addition, the Colorado Workforce Development Council (CWDC), the recipient of Colorado’s Disability Program Navigator (DPN) grant, received additional funding from the US Department of Labor (DOL) to develop and refine various technical assistance and training tools for use by Colorado’s Disability Program Navigators (DPNs), Workforce Development System and other Workforce Systems around the country. Colorado WIN Partners (WIN) at the University of Colorado Denver took the lead on developing these tools in collaboration with the CWDC and Colorado’s DPN Initiative. These tools included: The DPN Maturity Model, The State and Local DPN Maturity Model Matrices, The State and Local DPN Maturity Model Inventories, and the On-Line Universal Access/Disability Awareness Training modules available 24/7 to Colorado’s Workforce System.
The Integrative Services project is a 3-year grant from HRSA (Health Related Services Administration) to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) that ends in 2011. CDPHE subcontracted with Colorado WIN Partners to lead the project, assist with the state youth advisory team, and evaluate the project. The goal of Integrative Services is to assist 4 Colorado communities move along the path to becoming Medical Home communities.
 Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs for Child and family Health) was a 14 month capacity-building project funded by the Colorado Department of Human Services SSUF funds. Colorado WIN Partners teamed up with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Arapahoe County Early Childhood Council to form a Wellness Council (child care navigator, family navigator, public health nurse, Medicaid, workforce specialist, physician extender, mental health specialist, Part C specialist, and TANF caseworker). The Wellness Council was formed using existing navigation-type positions in Arapahoe County who were likely to be working with TANF-eligible clients. The goals for this council included (1) forming collaborative relationships to provide wrap-around care for TANF eligible families, (2) learning about the needs of TANF eligible families and what services exist in the communities, (3) learning what providers need in order to better serve TANF eligible families, (4) providing a multi-agency entry point for TANF eligible families, (5) providing comprehensive, collaborative services for TANF eligible families by tapping into the Wellness Council, and (6) creating and testing a plan to follow-through on referrals to ensure families are getting the care they need (closing the loop activities).
 Colorado’s WIRED Initiative, funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, was designed to align workforce, economic development, and education in support of the regional economy. In November 2007, the Colorado Office of Workforce Development (COWD), the recipient of Colorado’s Disability Program Navigator (DPN) grant received additional funding from the US Department of Labor to assist Colorado’s WIRED Initiative with incorporating the disability perspective in all of its goals and activities. Colorado WIN Partners took the lead on this new initiative by the US Department of Labor and worked collaboratively with the COWD and Colorado’s DPN Initiative. Two reports were submitted to the US Department of Labor and Colorado’s WIRED Initiative. They were entitled: 1) A Demographic Snapshot of Metro Denver WIRED Region: Status of Individuals with Disabilities; and, 2) A Report of the Metro Denver WIRED region’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats as it relates to people with disabilities: WIRED From a Disability Perspective: SWOT Analysis. In addition WIN Partners received additional funding from COWD through the US Department of Labor (DOL) to develop and refine various technical assistance and training tools for use by Colorado’s Disability Program Navigators (DPNs), Workforce Development System and other Workforce Systems around the country. Three of the tools developed included: the DPN Maturity Model; the state and local DPN Maturity Model Matrices; and, the state and local DPN Maturity Model Inventories. The DPN maturity Model Inventories have been automated for use around the county and can be found at: http://www.winpartnerssurvey.org/development/index.php
The Colorado Workforce Development Council received a Work Incentive Grant from the U.S. Department of Labor called Project TRAIN (Training Resources And Incentives Network). The Colorado Office of Workforce Development contracted with Colorado WIN Partners/UCD to provide statewide technical assistance and training for the Project. The purpose of Project TRAIN was to assist Colorado’s Workforce System in creating a universally accessible workforce system for all of its’ customers. This goal was achieved through statewide replication of Project WIN’s Consumer Navigator (now Colorado Disability Program Navigator) model, creating universally accessible workstations, increasing the number of Benefit Planners available within Colorado and providing technical assistance and training for Colorado’s Workforce System.
 Funded by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and the Colorado Workforce Development Council, this demonstration project was sponsored to support and sustain successful inclusion and employment of young adults with developmental disabilities through services provided by the Jefferson County workforce system.This project was designed to 1) develop individual “portfolios” to provide person-centered workforce system services to 40 young adults; 2) identify accommodations needed for young adults receiving services; and, 3) educate young adults with disabilities and their parents/caregivers about agencies and services young adults can use in preparing for life after high school.Colorado WIN Partners (CWP) facilitated the implementation of the demonstration project and subcontracted with a local workforce center for the delivery of services.CWP collaborated on the curriculum development and delivery in conjunction with SSA, the local county Department of Human Services (Medicaid), mental health center, community centered board, local school district, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, and local nonprofit advocacy and community agencies (Arc in Jefferson County and Savio House). CWP also designed and implemented the evaluation of the “portfolio” use; tracked the accommodations needed, as well as whether or not they were provided for youth using the portfolio; and, evaluated the trainings.
Colorado WIN Partners was contracted by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment to direct and operate the WELLS Center, a facility that produces customized curriculum focused on human patient simulation and interfaced with cutting-edge technology for delivery to healthcare educators, practitioners and students. WIN Partners was responsible for the marketing, business development, fiscal management, programmatic operations and delivery of training through the Center.
The Colorado Office of Workforce Development contracted with Colorado WIN Partners to collaborate with Colorado’s State Youth Council in providing statewide technical assistance, training, and evaluation activities. Colorado WIN Partners provided technical assistance to 6 youth transition workforce center sites funded through a federal grant with the Office of Disability & Employment Policy and expanded this technical assistance effort to all of the workforce regions throughout the state. WIN Partners was also charged with developing and disseminating training curriculum based on the US Department of Labor’s “Promising Practices.”
 This was a five-year systems change grant funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy and awarded to the Colorado Office of Workforce Development. The Colorado Office of Workforce Development contracted with Colorado WIN Partners/UCD or training, technical assistance and evaluation of this youth transition systems change grant. In the first year of the grant, a resource mapping process was employed at both the state and local levels. The results of both state-level and local resource mapping data was incorporated into a multi-agency, statewide plan that served as the basis for policy and procedural changes. The goals of the grant were to restructure state and local workforce investment delivery systems in order to better meet the needs of youth with disabilities; and extend the most successful transition practices learned from the K-12 efforts into the state’s system of workforce development (One-Stop system), including the postsecondary school sector. By the final year of the grant, transition systems change activities were in place in each of the nine federally recognized workforce regions in Colorado including innovative efforts to design, refine, and implement practices designed to eliminate barriers to success for youth with disabilities.
 Colorado Project WIN (Work Incentives Network) was a five-year systems change grant funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration. This project worked to expand employment opportunities for individuals with a mental or a physical disability, or both, who receive public assistance. The grant was awarded in October of 1998 to the University of Colorado Denver and a consortium of Colorado state agencies (Colorado Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, Colorado Department of Education, Colorado Office of Self Sufficiency and the Colorado Health Care Policy and Financing) in partnership with people with disabilities. In order to achieve positive systems change, Project WIN utilized four strategies: 1) Convening a Stakeholders Policy Forum which included policy makers from the various systems to look at recommending policy changes; 2) Developing an Information Clearinghouse where various audiences could receive accurate and updated information, technical assistance and training; 3) Piloting Consumer Navigators within two of Colorado's Workforce Centers to ensure universal access to all programs and services through these Centers; and, 4) Piloting various Demonstration Projects, e.g., piloting the use of assistive technology in the resource rooms of Workforce Centers to ensure greater accessibility and use by hard to serve populations and looking at creating a Medicaid Buy-In program for Colorado citizens.
The success of Project WIN has had national impact. Currently, the Consumer Navigator model (now called the Disability Program Navigator) has been replicated in all but 5 states and/or territories across the country through grants awarded by the Social Security Administration and U.S. Department of Labor. Colorado has 20 of these positions. Because of the success of implementing the Consumer Navigator model, Colorado WIN Partners was selected to provide National Technical Assistance and Training for the University of Iowa Law Health Policy and Disability Center, (contractor through SSA and USDOL). WIN Partners was also requested to take part in the National Evaluation of the Disability Program Navigators.
The Association of University Centers on Disabilities, a national association was hired by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) to perform a gap analysis of the 9 content areas of the www.DisabilityInfo.Gov website. Colorado WIN Partners was selected as the consultant and content expert for the Civil Rights Content Area of the website. Colorado WIN Partners updated the content area for this site.
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