Living Independently

CPWD again shows progress with a focus on results

By Tim Wheat

This year’s “704 Report” shows more clearly the emphasis on accuracy and outcomes that we began two years ago. The 2012 Federal report undoubtedly shows that we are working with people to accomplish their goals and we are focusing on outcomes over effort.

The highlight of the 2012 report is the consumer goals. This year CPWD reported that consumer’s set twice as many goals as in 2011 and that goals accomplished expanded by more than three times. Most CPWD consumer’s have more than one goal, which helps us to track and understand what people with disabilities want and need through from the Independent Living Center.

Another highlight of the report is our outreach. CPWD has expanded services to people with hearing loss by 133% over last year and we nearly doubled the number of consumers in Adams County. Now Adams County makes up about 15% of CPWD’s overall consumers. Although are emphasis is on outcomes, we have greatly expanded the number of services we are reporting. This year CPWD provided 2,608 Independent Living services an increase of 53% over what we reported in 2011.

CPWD also is reporting this year a goal success rate of over 50%. Last year our success rate was 27%; in 2010 it was 19% up from a low of 10% in 2009. Our shift from attempting to report big numbers of people has steered CPWD to focus on the results of our consumers. The higher success rate this year is a reflection of the increased independence in our community. The low results in the past were mainly due to reporting interactions with individuals, but not concentrating on value and outcome of our interactions.

Last year at this time I wrote about the annual federal report that CPWD submits at the end of the year. When we adopted our new emphasis on accuracy and outcomes we honestly reported a drop in people served by 48% and were worried that funders and bureaucrats would not understand the change. We were mainly afraid, in a time of shrinking budgets that the shock of such a large decrease would be seen as lack of performance. However, I believe the direction toward reporting outcomes has made us stronger and provides a much better idea of what a Center for Independent Living does.

This year CPWD is reporting a 15% overall drop in consumers; but within that decrease is a 25% rise in the number of new consumers and we “carried-over” 30% fewer people than last year. I hope this shows an end to the stagnation of records in our report and that CPWD is making a solid difference in people’s lives and in our community.

Still the numbers can be discouraging; going from 664 to 565 looks like a step backward. Actually this change represents CPWD’s new focus on real numbers. In the past our database would keep track of anyone and we “opened” a Consumer Service Record (CSR) for them. Literally thousands of people contacted us and successful or not we had no reason to “close” their record. We had no reason to keep it open either, except maybe years later they may have another issue and there was the CSR ready to go. We also had a bias about closing, it sounds so negative and final.

The true advantage to real numbers however is that it better describes what we do and who works with CPWD. The numbers we report now are people we know and are currently working with. The fact is we have much more demand than CPWD can supply, but that is more evident now with our commitment to real numbers and reporting outcomes. Staff spends more time, and more quality time with each individual. The staff can use the record to “tell a story” about each individual’s struggle toward independence rather than just list services and time.

And the closed file problem is gone. If we don’t work with someone in the reporting period, we don’t report it, but we don’t have to close their file for this fact to be in our reports. We also don’t have to talk with people about what this means because closing your file has an unwanted connotation while achieving your goal is certainly what we want.

Independent Living 704 Report, CPWD

By Beth Gustin

Short story of validation that to me is a reminder of why we do what we do, and that we are where we are meant to be.

I started a new group in Denver in December.  The group had tried to form before but faded out, so it was a surprise to me when six individuals came to the first group.  A general discussion was held explaining a multitude of options and possibilities for a myriad of situations one might face when experiencing vision loss.  Labeling and marking appliances came up and the residents wanted to mark their mailboxes and washers and dryers.  I was told that someone would have to talk to “the powers that be” and that it may be a challenge.

The next month I brought labeling as the topic including a variety of labeling options.  I gave examples of a few types of dots used to mark appliances to a resident who is on the Residents’ council and who was in contact with “the powers that be.”

Today, someone from maintenance came to the group and was extremely excited and willing to help make mailboxes, keyholes in doors, and washers and dryers accessible.  She had already ordered more dots, and planned to keep a supply on hand for any new residents with vision loss.  She took down names and apartment numbers and stated the requested dots would be on their doors or mailboxes by tomorrow.  She also was interested in using fabric paint or other more permanent marking for the community washers and dryers.

Pretty neat when a facility cares so much about their residents, and embraces accessibility!

We are now tackling the non-working CCTV in their computer lab, as it apparently may just need to be plugged in and then training given to individuals to use it.

Thanks for reading,

Beth

Beth Gustin MA, NCC, LPC
LSAC Program Manager
Adjustment Counseling Program
OIB Coordinator
Beyond Vision Program
Center for People With Disabilities
10351 Grant Street Suite 1
Thornton, CO 80229
P: 303.790.1390
C: 720.308.3087
e-mail: beth@cpwd.org

Independent Living Beth, Beth Gustin, CPWD, OIB

The 2011 CPWD 704 Report

The “704 Report” is the annual federal report we make to the Department of Education and to the state of Colorado about our performance. It is a very bureaucratic document, but we have made it available for our consumers and the public to see. It is a public document, named after the “Title VII” section that authorizes our federal funding.

You may examine this document at: http://www.cpwd-ilc.org/download/704/2011-704.htm

One general picture you can get of CPWD from our 704 is how many people we have worked with over the past reporting year, from October 1st to September 30th. This year our 704 shows that we have worked with 716 fewer people than we did last reporting period (Oct 2009 to Sept 2010). Our 2010 year total was 1380 and this year the total is 664. If you are just focused on big numbers you may think that we really fell short this year; however, we believe that these numbers actually show some great progress.

There are three things that we have changed this year that have really impacted this report. First is we have shifted our reporting emphasis achieving goals rather than reporting time spent. Secondly, CPWD has a new commitment to real numbers and real time in reporting, and finally we have a new online database tool for our reporting.

The change to reporting goals is to better track our outcomes in Independent Living while still being able to report what we do with our time and the federal funds. The change is looking more at what people accomplish rather than how staff spends their time. In the past CPWD had used a database tool that was focused on keeping track of contacts with people and provided this long list of services that may describe what we did with individuals. The sum of all these interactions may show generally how someone was working for independence, but often it only showed a disharmonious collection of events.

Focusing on goals not only clearly illustrates what our role as an Independent Living Center will be, but it directly challenges people to work for equality and for individuals to define success. It also allows for disappointment and the essential and valuable lessons one can learn from failure.

Of course by emphasizing goals we can also assist and teach the necessary components of success. We have not developed this direction to claim our consumers’ accomplishments for ourselves; as a matter of fact, most goals are in progress and will teeter on collapse. Most goals will change and many will be abandoned. This year however, our 704 report shows significantly more people setting and meeting their goals (27%), and an overwhelming number of our consumers have developed an Independent Living plan with goals (81%). This is up from a 10% goal success rate in 2009, with only 17% of consumers developing an Independent Living Plan.

Still the numbers can be discouraging; going from 1380 to 664 looks like a huge step backward. Actually this change represents CPWD’s new focus on real numbers. In the past our database would keep track of anyone we worked with or called us and we “opened” a Consumer Service Record (CSR) for them. Literally thousands of people contacted us and successful or not we had no reason to “close” their record. We had no reason to keep it open either, except maybe years later they may have another issue and there was the CSR ready to go. We also had a bias about closing, it sounds so negative and final.

Starting back in 2009 we began to incrementally close the CSRs we had created and lost contact with the individual. Before 2008 we would typically close between a 15% and 25% of the consumer files. In 2009 we closed about 45% and last year we closed over half of the total of active consumers. What CPWD learned was rather than less, this condensing of records made us more responsive and aware of the people we work with. Rather than a long list of faceless consumers, each staff had a much more reasonable number of people they work with.

Five and ten years ago a new CPWD staff member would suddenly be looking at a list of two-hundred consumers of which they may only know a handful. That is what happened to me back in 2004. I felt my job as an Independent Living Adviser was to be the caretaker of that huge list, not to get to know all the people personally or recognize them in public. Now, there are very few consumers that a CPWD staff member has not met personally and I would guess that any individual staff member would recognize each of the people they work with if they happen to get on the same bus.

The true advantage to real numbers however is that it better describes what we do and who works with CPWD. The numbers we report now are people we know and are currently working with. The fact is we have much more demand than CPWD can supply, but that is more evident now with our commitment to real numbers and reporting outcomes. Staff spends more time, and more quality time with each individual. The staff can use the record to “tell a story” about each individual’s struggle toward independence rather than just list services and time.

And the closed file problem is gone. If we don’t work with someone in the reporting period, we don’t report it, but we don’t have to close their file for this fact to be in our reports. We also don’t have to talk with people about what this means because closing your file has an unwanted connotation while achieving your goal is certainly what we want.

The final part of this new emphasis on accuracy and outcomes is that CPWD is using CIL Suite as our online reporting tool. This new database helps us to track outcomes and goals and we can report accurately what we need to report to organizations that provide us funding. The numbers reporting predisposition of our previous database led us to think of the database as just holding numbers. Now we can use our reporting tool and new emphasis on goals to show more accurately what we do as an organization.

Additionally, CPWD does not have any reason to look at our consumers as numbers. Our reporting tool helps us to understand each person and that individual’s Consumer Service Record will be more of a reflection of them and less of a collection of numbers, dates and times.

There is actually a lot more to the 704 Report. The Center’s goals and direction, what we feel our needs are and what we plan to do to change our community. Mostly I hope you see that this report shows how CPWD is working in partnership with people to obtain and maintain choices for independent living by promoting self-determination, self-respect and equal opportunity. That is our mission.

-Tim Wheat
The Community Organizer for CPWD
tim@cpwd.org
303-588-7069

Independent Living 704 Report, CPWD

How to participate in the 2011 State and local Elections

The 2011 coordinated election will be conducted by mail ballot. Ballots will be mailed to eligible voters beginning the week of Tuesday, Oct. 11. Although there are not the traditional polling sites the county provides Election Service Centers that will have accessible voting machines available to use as well as ballot drop-off locations. Accurate postage is necessary for ballots returned by mail, no postage is necessary for ballots delivered to the nine designated ballot drop-off locations.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 1. All ballots must be in the hands of the Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office no later than 7 p.m. At the Election Service Center you may update your voter registration information, receive a replacement mail ballot, drop-off a voted ballot and vote in person on either an ADA-accessible voting machine or use a paper ballot.

If you wish to use the accessible voting equipment to vote privately and independently, you may vote on or before November 1, 2011 at four locations in Boulder County. The dates and times the Election Service Centers are open are listed below:

Boulder County Clerk & Recorder’s Office

1750 33rd Street, Boulder

• 8 a.m.- 6 p.m., Monday-Friday, Oct. 11-Oct. 31

• 9 a.m.- 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29

• 7 a.m.- 7 p.m., Election Day, Nov. 1

University of Colorado - Recreation Center

Boulder Campus

• 8 a.m.- 6 p.m., Monday-Friday, Oct. 26-Oct. 31

• 9 a.m.- 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29

• 7 a.m.- 7 p.m., Election Day, Nov. 1

Lafayette Public Library

Lafayette - 775 West Baseline Road

• 8 a.m.- 6 p.m., Monday-Friday, Oct. 26-Oct.31

• 9 a.m.- 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29

• 7 a.m.- 7 p.m., Election Day, Nov. 1

County Clerk & Recorder’s Office

Longmont - 529 Coffman Street

• 8 a.m.- 6 p.m., Monday-Friday, Oct. 17-Oct. 31

• 9 a.m.- 3 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29

• 7 a.m.- 7 p.m., Election Day, Nov. 1

Around Colorado, Independent Living Boulder, CPWD, Election, Vote