NH Vocational Rehabilitation Continues To Open Services To Waitlist Customers

CONCORD – New Hampshire Vocational Rehabilitation announced this week that services to an additional 100 waitlisted customers with disabilities have been opened. NH VR developed the waitlist after the bureau was placed into an Order of Selection in May. In September, services were extended to 100 waitlisted customers.

Earlier this year, customers on the waitlist were provided with information and referral suggestions but they couldn’t move forward in the vocational rehabilitation process. The release of an additional 100 individuals on the list allows those customers who need community rehabilitation program services, assessments, and assistance – such as writing a plan for employment, job placement, and other services – to be helped.

“These individuals have been waiting nearly seven months for services,” noted Lisa Hinson-Hatz, the director of the NH VR. “It has been frustrating for them, our staff, and vendors that provide services. However, we are pleased that we can begin serving these customers.”

Customers enter the waitlist based on their significance of disability and their application date for services. Even under the Order of Selection, 15 percent of federal grant money is allocated to Pre-Employment Transition Services for teenagers and young adults under 21 who are still in an educational setting.

“Along with all of our committed and hardworking team members at NH VR, I am thrilled that we can continue to open up services to additional customers,” stated Frank Edelblut, commissioner of education. “We are committed to working out of the order so that we can service all of our customers, all of the time.”

Currently, according to Hinson-Hatz, there are 1,007 customers left on the waiting list as of Nov. 27, 2018, who are in the pipeline for services.

Back in October, NH VR presented employment leadership awards to five New Hampshire companies that have integrated, supported, and retained workers with disabilities at their companies. They were five of more than 500 Granite State businesses that hired more than 610 employees during the past fiscal year. NH VR also received an additional $1.23 million in federal support to student programs like Project IMPACCT during the bureau’s difficult fiscal status.