The Partnership Plus Online Toolkit is designed to assist State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies in taking advantage of the new service delivery option under the NEW Ticket to Work program.  Under the new Ticket regulations, the Ticket of a beneficiary whom a State VR agency served under the traditional Cost Reimbursement program (available only to VR agencies) still has value after the VR case is closed.  As a result, an EN that gets the Ticket assignment after VR closes a Cost Reimbursement case can qualify for Milestone and Outcome payments as the beneficiary attains specific levels of work or earnings.
 
The Toolkit, located at http://partnershipplus.cessi.net/, is designed to assist State VR agencies in:

1.  Assessing and choosing among agency options for serving beneficiaries with disabilities.
2.  Identifying potential partners and developing partnerships with ENs.
3.  Maximizing program income received from SSA.
4.  Communicating effectively with beneficiaries, partners, potential partners, and other interested stakeholders.
5.  Creating systems and processes associated with both the Ticket program and the Cost Reimbursement program.

Partnership Plus offers many benefits to all involved. It has the potential to be a win-win-win situation for beneficiaries, VR agencies and ENs. To learn more about Partnership Plus and the benefits to beneficiaries, ENs and VR agencies, check out the Toolkit at: http://partnershipplus.cessi.net/

Other Key Tools for VR Agencies

To learn more about the traditional Cost Reimbursement program and how State VR agencies work with Social Security beneficiaries with disabilities, visit SSA’s Work Site to access the most up-to-date version of the
VR Providers Handbook:

www.socialsecurity.gov/work/documents/VRProviderHandbook.doc.

For more information on the Ticket to Work Program, please visit:
 
www.ssa.gov/work - SSA’s Work Site
www.yourtickettowork.com - MAXIMUS
Ticket Operations Manager
www.cessi.net/ttw - CESSI, Ticket Recruitment
and Outreach Manager