Anita Leal-Idrogo, Ph.D., CRC
Department of Counseling - Rehabilitation
SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY
JOB PLACEMENT GRANT
ABSTRACT
San Francisco State University (SFSU), an urban, comprehensive university, attracts diverse students from the Bay Area and has a total minority student population exceeding 50% and as such qualifies as a Minority Institution.  The San Francisco State University Rehabilitation Counseling Training Program (RCTP), the only Council on Rehabilitation Education (CORE) accredited rehabilitation counseling program in the greater Bay Area of over 3.5 million people, proposes a long term training project of 36 months designed to provide advanced training for rehabilitation counseling graduate students in job and career development and placement services to individuals with disabilities.  The underlying assumptions of this program are that:
• a)  the core area of proficiency necessary for all vocational rehabilitation professionals is the knowledge and skills that are critical to negotiate the interchange of disability (or functional capacity) and the world of work, and,

• b) conceptualizes placement as a process which works toward a consumer defined goal and is facilitated by planning based on current levels of functioning (field).

The graduate rehabilitation counseling students will be trained to follow consumers toward, into, and after, gainful employment.  They will specifically be trained to increase durable employment outcomes of consumers with disabilities using approaches that combine knowledge and skills derived from interdisciplinary specialized courses not only in rehabilitation counseling, but also in career counseling and business courses.  Through classroom activities, field work opportunities and internships, our students will prepare for careers involving individualized and context-specific career development, job development and job placement strategies and employer development strategies that will be both culturally sensitive and effective both for all people with disabilities and for employers.  In collaboration with the SFSU Urban Institute and the Private Industry Council, this project will target Bay area employers who will be included in the design, delivery, and management of the training program.  Graduate students will be trained in placement and employer development services that can offer significant assistance to employers seeking to enhance diversity in the workplace given the letter and spirit of the ADA, the 1992 Reauthorization of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.  Specifically, students will learn to:
• Understand issues and accepted practices in human resources and personnel management

• Understand issues and practices within the workplace that directly affect hiring people with disabilities exploring the challenges involved in ethnic and gender diversity in the workplace;

• Secure, evaluate, and use transferable skills and occupational information to assist people with disabilities in obtaining gainful employment receiving "hands-on" training in completing job analyses and conducting labor market surveys;

• Learn the principles and techniques of vocational and career counseling, employer development, and job placement for persons with disabilities;

• Advocate for consumers while assisting employers understand the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other relevant legislation, making it understandable to employers assisting them in embracing the intent of the law, and their understanding of what compliance with ADA involves;

• Participate in an internship, based on CORE standards, including placement and employer development goals and objective of 600 hours, supervised by certified rehabilitation counselors (CRC);

• Learn to use computerized technology including Transferable Skills Analyses to assist in vocational counseling, to research design/implement job modification, and to perform case management functions;

• Learn and use a variety of placement models based on individualized placement planning including Marketing placement, Demand-side Placement, Team Networking/Mentoring Placement, Counselor Provided placement, Specialist Provided Placement, and Supported Employment placement approaches.
 

Top of page
Home Page