If you help Social Security disability beneficiaries become employed - or you're exploring this field - the National Employment Network Association (NENA) is here to serve you. Visit us often!
EN Security Clearance Survey
SSA now requires ENs to get a security clearance (called a "suitability determination") before hiring or contracting anyone who will have access to personally identifiable information of Social Security disability beneficiaries. Some ENs say this requirement has prevented them from new hires or contractors for several months. SSA Ticket Program leaders have invited NENA to gather information about how the "suitability determination" requirement affects ENs.
This review by SSA has a limited time frame; we must act quickly to provide information that could support positive changes to the "suitability determination" policy. Please complete this survey by midnight Eastern, Saturday January 21. Thank you for participating in this survey! Your privacy will be protected, all participation is anonymous. Findings will be reported on www.nenaticket.com. Click here to take the survey.
NENA Events
• January Job Placement Group, Friday Jan. 20, 3 p.m. Eastern/Noon Pacific call (805) 309-2350 or (800) 309-2350, access code 842538#
• Quarterly Teleconference, Wednesday Feb. 15, 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific “Marketing to Beneficiaries” call (805) 309-2350 or (800) 309-2350, access code 7709937#
NENA Goes to Washington
NENA’s December 7-8 delegation to Washington DC to visit with SSA, Maximus and Congressional staff was very productive. To view the “NENA Goes to Washington” EN satisfaction survey prepared for that trip click here.
EN Annual Performance Outcome Report Part 1
Due Feb. 3 for Use in EN Report Cards
The Annual Performance Outcome Report (APOR) Part 1 required of employment networks went out by email on Jan. 16, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. You should know several things about APOR Part 1:
• It came from ssaenapor@maximus.com to your primary contact person’s address;
• It’s a spreadsheet file with 10 questions to complete using Excel or similar software;
• You must return it by email to the same address no later than Feb. 3;
• The final, saved spreadsheet with your EN’s data must be named with your EN’s nine-digit DUNS number, looking like this: “999999999.csv” and inside the file it must also have your DUNS number on row 2 Column A, looking like this: “APOR999999999”;
• SSA will transfer this data into your EN Report Card, to be published in mid-March;
• SSA will not contact you to review your EN Report Card before publication, and the process for correcting this information later is cumbersome, so get it right the first time;
• Part 2 of the APOR will be provided upon completion of Part 1;
• If you have an EN contract and you haven’t received your APOR Part 1 email with the report form for your EN, contact your Maximus rep and request one – because SSA threatens to terminate contracts of ENs that don’t complete both Part 1 and Part 2.
NENA has recommended that SSA delete APOR Part 1, Column H, “ What is the average number of days from start of services to a client's first job?” The implementation of this question is so flawed as to harm the Ticket Program.
A days-to-employment statistic does not create the valid comparison between ENs that SSA desires. There are significant differences among beneficiaries and the specialties of some ENs. Some beneficiaries take much longer than others to find a job. Even those with the most skills and experience could take a very long time because the type of job for which they are qualified is not plentiful in the job market.
This statistic can create unreasonable expectations in some beneficiaries and discourage others who think the time is too long. The time it takes from ticket assignment to placement varies so much from one beneficiary to another based upon so many different factors that it renders this statistic useless.
NENA Annual Report
To review NENA’s 2010-2011 Annual Report, presented at the 1st Annual National Training Conference in September, click here.