Project Independence
PROGRAMS
Work Incentive Planning Assistance
What Is WIPA?Work Incentive Planning and Assistance is a grant awarded by The Social Security Administration to local organizations to provide work incentive planning services for beneficiaries in cash payment status for Supplemental Security Income (SSI),Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), or Social Security Childhood Disability Benefits (SSCDB), previously called Disabled Adult Child (SSDAC).Who Is Eligible to Receive Services?Anyone who is currently receiving cash payments under one or more of thefollowing programs: Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Social Security Childhood Disability Benefits (SSCDB) – also known as Social Security Disabled Adult Child (SSDAC) AND is either: Working, Looking for work, or Thinking about looking for work.
As people gain experience and confidence in certain areas, services are adjusted to meet people’s evolving needs, to foser on-going progress toward independence.Work Incentive Planning Analysis– we meet in person with beneficiaries to explain what impact work earnings have on each benefit received.
xplain what work incentives are available- including learning how to keep Medi-Cal, and/or Medicare benefits for an extended period while working. Other incentives include IRWE’s (Impairment Related Work Expenses), Subsidy (Job Coaching, etc.), and many more.
Pass Plans are Plans for Self sufficiency and a tool to help bridge the vocational divide for people who want to work but cant afford to jeopardise their benefits.
Supported Employment
Since the inception of Supported Employment in 1986, society has made tremendous progress toward the realization that people with disabilities have a wide array of abilities which bring value to employers and to the community. While it was once unheard of to expect that a person with a developmental disability had the skills necessary to compete in the work force, today people are realizing their potential to work in jobs as varied as the overall job market. The Project Independence Supported Employment program is based on the idea that, in creating a successful job match, a person with a developmental disability can do the job he or she was hired to do. Our job is to provide whatever the person needs to be successful, from extra training, establishing priorities and creating task schedules, to educating employees at the job site and building natural supports.
The Gallup Organization’s book Wellbeing: The FiveEssential Elements by Tom Rath and Jim Harter describes five universal, interconnected elements that shape our lives: Career Wellbeing, Social Wellbeing, Financial Wellbeing,Physical Wellbeing, and Community Wellbeing. The authors report “Career Wellbeing is probably the most underestimated of the elements. When you ask people what affects their wellbeing most, they think of health and wealth.Even though people spend more of their waking hours at work than anywhere else, people underestimate how work influences their overall wellbeing and daily experience… work is not only a core part of your time use on a day-to-day basis, but also of your identity as a person... Work is crucial to how we relate to people and evaluate our lives at a very basic level.” Full employment: A job for all who want to work.
Independent and Supported Living Services
Our Independent Living program helps clients live on their own in apartments and other properties throughout Orange County. With help from staff, clients learn how to budget, plan meals, grocery shop, cook, handle housekeeping tasks and do laundry. Project Independence staff helps ensure that our clients’ needs are met while encouraging and fostering independence and choice. Supported Living Services are available, as needed, on a limited basis for people who require more intensive support.
People living, working and playing alongside their nondisabled peers was the promise of the Lanterman Act. Landmark legislation 45 years ago that set California apart from the rest of the country. We still believe in that promise and see the day when all institutional care is a thing of the past and people live in environments that we all favor. A place where individual needs are respected, privacy is a given and choice in food, friends and lifestyle is guaranteed.
Positive Behavior Support Day Services
OurPositive Behavior Support Program serves adults with developmental disabilities who are 22 years of age or older and who require a 1:3, 1:2, or 1:1 staff ratio. The program is designed to serve adults who exhibit behaviors which prevent them from successfully functioning within the community, vocational, or recreational settings without close supervision. Upon acceptance to the program, each individual goes through a 30 day assessment period utilizingFunctional Analysis of Behavior Assessment, Learning Modality Assessment, and a Quality of Life Assessment. After collecting and analyzing the data, a Positive Behavior Support plan is developed to break existing patterns of behavior and to teach new behaviors so that he or she can realize their potential within the community.
35 years ago when we first began services to support individuals moving from state hospitals, autism was rare and almost always meant a lifetime of institutionalization. Now autism is no longer rare and thankfully no longer a life sentence to a developmental center. Our long term goal at PI is to help develop communities that embrace individuals with different perspectives and ways of communicating. We hope by collaborating with schools, universities families and advocacy groups we can together develop rich and dignified integrated community supports that celebrates differences.
Community Day Services
Our Day Program provides employment, volunteer opportunities and community integration to people who have significant developmental disabilities. Services include placement at appropriate jobs with 100% support, opportunities to volunteer with other nonprofit agencies, and enrollment in community college or adult education classes. We also provide our Harmony Program, which serves seniors (50 years and older) with developmental disabilities. Individuals may participate between one to five days per week depending on their needs. Activities take place in community senior centers and include social, health, fitness and memory focused routines to maximize individual capabilities.
Having friends, a job and a home of your own are all intrinsic to a healthy, happy life. But when you’re an adult with a developmental disability, these opportunities may be out of reach. Long term we envision communities that accept and embrace people with disabilities and every employer hires and supports people with disabilities as a matter of course. We live in a complex world. How much easier for the non disabled community to embace people with different skills and perspectives rather than expecting people with disabilities to change. No other sub group is expected to change in order to be accepted. Our people are different, not less.
CONTACT
Project Independence
3505 Cadillac
#O-103
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Robert Watson+
Phone: 714-549-3464#273