Transcript

VR Workforce Studio Singers:  Singing V-R Workforce Studio.

Kaleb Jeffries: …….flying drones, that I never thought I would have the opportunity to do without DARS and that little drone program at……..

Jake Hart:  Four, three, two, one. VR Workforce Studio, podcasting the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation through the inspiring stories of people with disabilities who have gone to work.

Flora Frazier:  Working in a field that I understand.

Jake Hart:  As well as the professionals who have helped them.

James Hall:  A job and a career, you got to look at how life-changing this is.

Jake Hart:  And the businesses who have filled their talent pipelines with workers that happen to have disabilities.

Debby Hopkins:  To help expand registered apprenticeship.

Jake Hart:  These are their stories.

Megan Healy:  Because there’s such a great story to tell about people with disabilities.

Jake Hart:  Now, here are the hosts of the VR Workforce Studio, Rick Sizemore and Betsy Civilette.

Rick Sizemore:  All right, well welcome back to the VR Workforce Studio. Today we are thrilled to bring you a special, Where Are They Now, segment, as part of our end of the year wrap-up. Betsy and I are catching up with one of our most memorable guests from episode 120, Kaleb Jeffries, who joined us last year to talk about his passion for drones, meteorology and breaking into the aerospace industry. Kaleb, welcome back to the podcast.

Kaleb Jeffries:  Thank you for having me. It’s definitely, I’ve got a lot to talk about today. I’m excited to share how far I’ve come along with Sentinel Robotics and my passion with the aerospace. A lot of excitement here today.

Rick Sizemore:  Awesome.

Betsy Civilette:  Great. Well, we’re also delighted to have Kaleb’s Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Robin Sexauer, with us today. Well Robin, also welcome back to VR Workforce Studio.

Robin Sexauer:  Thank you very much.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, last year, Kaleb, there was a lot of buzzing around about the drones, weather forecasting, and Sentinel Robotic Solutions. Fast-forward, if you will, to today. We’re eager to hear what’s new. So let’s dive in, find out how things have unfolded since we last spoke.

Kaleb Jeffries:  Starting January 1st of 2024, I went full-time with the company. I got my Part 107 license. I took Jason’s class, I absolutely loved it. Had the encouragement from the company to go out and get my driver’s license. Now I’m a licensed driver on the road, doing a lot with the company in terms of real estate missions, and flying drones, and a lot of incredible stuff that I never thought I would have the opportunity to do without DARS and that little drone program at the ESCC College. So I’ve come a long way with Sentinel Robotics and I’m absolutely loving it. It leaves me for a loss of words sometimes just because of how incredible it’s been in my life, it being my first career, and I have a passion to get up every morning and look forward to coming to work and doing what I love doing.

Rick Sizemore:  The 107 that you talked about, tell us just what that is.

Kaleb Jeffries:  So it being, to put it in perspective, the FAA requires you to have either a certificate to fly in your backyard for fun, or your commercial license to get paid for flying a drone. So the fun one is recreational, and the getting paid to work is Part 107, and I happen to have both.

Betsy Civilette:  You’ve mentioned before, Kaleb, that you want to be the next Jim Cantore. And what steps have you taken toward that dream, and how has your love of meteorology evolved since we last spoke?

Kaleb Jeffries:  I’ve learned how to do aviation meteorology through that course, reading METARs, reading TAFs, understanding how it’s done on the aviation side. So when we go out into a mission, I can now read that off to Jason and be like, “This is what our conditions are, this is what we’re expecting.” How’s that going to affect our flight kind of deal.

Rick Sizemore:  You’re making it happen. You’re there with one of our favorite partners, Robin Sexauer, who’s your vocational rehabilitation counselor. Robin, you played such an integral role in connecting Kaleb with the Drone Academy and with Sentinel. What’s the biggest transformation you’ve seen in Kaleb over the past few years and as he’s continued along the career path?

Robin Sexauer:  The question for me as a VR counselor is how am I going to get him to be a meteorologist on the very rural eastern shore, and watching what a program such as the Academy through the community college and Sentinel Robotics, how he has changed into a very mature, prospering, working, self-supporting adult has been amazing. And seeing that what we cross a lot of times with VR is that you can make your dreams happen, but you might have to alter them a little bit. So maybe his title is not meteorologist, but it was a win-win partnership with Sentinel Robotics because his skills and drive to learn the weather part of it, incorporated so well into the drone part of it. And it’s really benefited everybody and probably given Sentinel a little bit more hype with their track and playing that meteorology role into it. So, it’s been very rewarding. And watching him grow and be so happy, has been the [thing for me. To the smile on his face every time I see him, and I go to a lot of community events, and they’re out there marketing what they’re doing.

Rick Sizemore:  Right, absolutely.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Robin Sexauer:  Nope.

Betsy Civilette:  Partnerships like the one between Sentinel Robotics, and VR, and DARS are critical for career success. Can you share how this partnership continues to support Kaleb and other students like him?

Peter Bale:  Yeah, so we’ve had a number of improvement paths as I was alluding to. And from when Kaleb started last October as an intern, we watched some incremental growth, to January when he became full-time. So the relationship as far as DARS and the partnership here, Robin, and the entire team from the interaction and from the evaluations that we get, the feedback from the parents, it’s just remarkable. And the fact that Erica and I, we always try and make it to the graduation events for all of the students. And I generally do a litmus test, go in, day one, have a look with Jason and see what he’s got to deal with. And by day five, it’s unbelievable. You’ve got parents with tears in their eyes. It’s a pretty special thing. I just want to say this has been a win-win for both Kaleb and the organization of DARS, and for SRSs at the end of the day.

Rick Sizemore:  Kaleb Jeffries and Peter Bale, with Sentinel Robotics Solutions, join us from the Eastern Shores Office, of the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, where Robin Sexauer works as a vocational rehabilitation counselor.

Our 24 Year-In-Review episode continues now with someone we’ve grown to know and love as the always entertaining and informative Heather Servais. She brings us RSA’s National Clearinghouse Report each and every month here on the podcast. Heather joins us now for a deeper dive into what’s new at the Rehabilitation Services Administration’s NCRTM. Welcome, Heather. For those who may be joining us for the first time, let’s start with a quick overview of what the Clearinghouse is, and your mission.

Heather Servais:  Yeah, absolutely. I’d be happy to do that. So the NCRTM has actually been around for more than 40 years. I was shocked when I was poking around, because there’s still so many folks who have never heard of NCRTM, and so we’re excited to be able to share more about what we do. We started as a paper-based system where RSA grantees would share the work that came out of their grant projects. And we’ve continued to evolve for 40 years to now we have a very robust platform that contains everything from a library that has over 3,600 materials, we feature and promote training and events from federal partners, from RSA grantees, from state VR agencies, and a big host of external stakeholders. We also host our own training and events that then create NCRTM content as well. We have a YouTube channel. We have accessibility resources for those who are interested in learning more about digital accessibility, because we know that’s so important.

But really what the NCRTM is when you boil down to it, is it’s a central Clearinghouse for VR professionals, for individuals with disabilities, businesses. And it offers the VR community, education communities, an opportunity to contribute new knowledge to the field and to gain visibility for their work. So we’re here to really amplify the work that’s being done by RSA grantees, by VR state agencies, and for others in the disability, employment and rehabilitation fields.

Rick Sizemore:  Yeah. You mentioned that Clearinghouse has been evolving. Can you share what’s new, and how these updates enhance the support it provides for vocational rehabilitation professionals, individuals with disabilities, and their families?

Heather Servais:  Yeah, absolutely. One of the things we’re most proud of at the Clearinghouse is the way that we apply and use user feedback to continue to grow, and make the platform evolve to meet customer needs. So in 2022, we launched a brand new version of the website that was much cleaner, much easier to navigate. It had expanded filtering capacities so that users could really locate the information and materials that they were interested in looking at, right away. We also added a space on the website for individuals with disabilities about job seeking. So everything somebody considering employment, to preparing for, and retaining for, and advancing in their career, there’s space for that on the Clearinghouse now. We also host training and events that will be available to individuals with disabilities and their family members. We are so excited because in this coming year we have a lot of new, fun, exciting things coming down the pike.

So for the first time ever, the NCRTM will be able to offer CRC credits for NCRTM hosted events. We host many events, or feature and promote many events from other organizations that offer CRC credits, but we are excited to be able to provide them for our users through NCRTM. So that’s going to be a great change.

In this coming year we also have some expanded support for those Disability Innovation Fund grantees. I know there’s a lot of excitement around those DIF grants, and we are very excited to be able to offer extended services including accessibility and dissemination support. And what this includes is tailored assistance to ensure that the materials that are coming out of these grants and making its way into the disability community are 508 compliant. And we’re going to be making sure that we’re working on strategies to help broaden the reach and impact of these DIF related products, and all of the innovation that’s coming out of these grants.

So we’re also really excited. We have an extensive collection of accessibility resources on how to make items accessible. So things like Microsoft Word documents, PDFs, Excel, tables, webinars. We’re going to be expanding that collection greatly over the next year or so to really make sure that we’re hitting home the importance of accessibility, and to make sure that we’re promoting that equitable access so that everyone can have materials that are accessible to them.

We are also going to be expanding and revising our Disability Innovation Fund Programs feature. So right now we have this space that you can come to on the NCRTM that shares a lot about those Disability Innovation Fund Programs. We’re going to be expanding it to create a digital DIF community. And so not only will you get to be able to go, you’ll be able to locate projects in your state. You’ll be able to explore each of the programs. You’ll be able to find some of the products and materials that are coming out. You’ll get to learn more about program successes, and hear success stories in this one space. So we’re excited about the way that we’ll be able to share the ideas, and the best practices, and really being able to amplify the impact of those DIF projects through that new page.

We’re really excited to be able to do a continuation of our Lunch and Learn series. In 2024, we hosted and collaborated with a number of different organizations and people, to be able to offer a series on a variety of topics. We worked with Dr. James Herbert at Penn State University to do a panel discussion on Council Recruitment and Retention. We also had a webinar on Managing Counselor Workload Guilt that was very well attended. We worked with the AIVRTTAC to learn about collaboration and successes in collaboration with state VR programs, and with our tribal VR programs. And we also got to engage with NARIC, who’s one of our core partners. NARIC is the National Rehabilitation Information Center. And they came and talked to us a lot about research, and how we can use research when working with customers with disabilities.

So we’re really going to be excited. We’re going to be offering a whole new series of Lunch and Learns, and several other different training topics over the course of the next year.

Rick Sizemore:  That’s so amazing. I talk with a lot of vocational rehabilitation professionals, counselors, business development staff. They’ve all been witnesses to this evolving and improving effort. So all those things that you talked about with the filters, and being able to search your topics, people really, really notice that. And those who use the Clearinghouse regularly really benefit from it. Why do you think it’s so important for our listeners, whether they’re VR professionals, employers, individuals with disabilities, to stay connected to the NCRTM and follow your reports here on the podcast?

Heather Servais:  First, for those VR professionals, whether you’re a new professional, maybe just coming into the field and you are learning about VR for the first time, or maybe you’re an experienced VR professional who’s worked as a counselor, a supervisor, and now you’re moving on to program administration or leadership. We have resources and materials to help you in every phase of your career. And that’s one of the things I think is most important.

When I was a VR counselor, I didn’t know the Clearinghouse existed. I didn’t find out about it until I was well into management. And I think often about how different of a counselor I would be if I had the connection to the resources. Things like the RSA Technical Assistance Centers, they have such a variety of resources and you can find those resources all in one place on the Clearinghouse. As an individual with a disability who’s job seeking, you can use that tool and resource on your own, or you can use it to work with your VR counselor to work through, as you’re considering all the facets that go into finding and keeping a job. And for families and educators, we have a ton of resources available. We have everything in there. We have podcast episodes, we have research briefs, we have checklists, we have toolkits, different kinds of guides. There’s a variety of different kinds of tools that are available, and it’s going to be there to help you improve your knowledge, improve your skills, and to connect you with practices and programs that are going to help you meet your needs.

Rick Sizemore:  Stick around for more from Heather at the end of today’s show. You’re listening to the VR Workforce Studio podcast. Betsy, we’ve had some amazing guests on the podcast this year.

Betsy Civilette:  Yes. And the one that stands out to me is Spenser Grandstaff.

Rick Sizemore:  Absolutely.

Betsy Civilette:  His remarkable journey from a devastating car accident that left him paralyzed, to reclaiming his artistic passion and building a thriving self-employed career through the support of Vocational Rehabilitation. And we are delighted to catch up with Spenser to learn what’s been happening since we last spoke.

Rick Sizemore:  Welcome, Spenser. It’s great to have you back on the podcast. Let’s start with what’s new?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Oh, well, thank you so much. I’m really happy to be here, and thank you for this opportunity. So, yeah. What’s new? Business as usual. It’s really been a blessing this year. I’ve really deepened connections with a lot of the businesses that I’ve been working with, and then through the established connections and whatnot, they’re connecting me with their friends. So a lot of new opportunities. Actually, this past week since we’re entering the holiday seasons, I had the opportunity to do some drone work for downtown Lynchburg’s Bright Nights, for their Christmas tree lighting.

Betsy Civilette:  Cool.

Spenser Grandstaff:  So that was really fun. Had a lot of fun with that.

Rick Sizemore:  Are we going to see that online?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Yes. I actually posted it to my personal Instagram account. I did. And I can, I’ll plug that later.

Betsy Civilette:  Oh, I’ll have to-

Rick Sizemore:  Please.

Betsy Civilette:  We’ll start following you.

Rick Sizemore:  Absolutely.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Okay, great. Yeah, I would love that. And yeah, I actually sent off the footage to them, so I think they’ll be doing that in a larger edit later on down the road.

Betsy Civilette:  Oh, that’s amazing. Well, you mentioned your passion for storytelling and screenwriting, that just seems like part of your daily journey. So what’s evolving on your storytelling journey?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Well, it’s funny that you mentioned that. I’ve actually started the process, as of about a month and a half ago, I’m working on a short film with a bunch of new friends that I’ve met through social media and friends of friends, just word of mouth. My passion is probably not everybody’s favorite genre, but I love horror movies, and the psychological thriller genre. So…

Betsy Civilette:  You got a lot of fans there. Yes.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Yeah. So, that’s something that I’ve been working with. I started writing the screenplay for that back in October, and we started shooting at the end of the month. And I’ve been working with a lot of students and also a lot of small business owners, people that were passionate about videography and stuff, so they’ve been dedicating a lot of their free time. So one of the trials has been coordinating everybody, but they’ve been so gracious in helping me out. So we’ve slowly but surely been chipping away, doing a scene here and there on the weekends, and hoping to have it wrapped up in the spring. So, fingers crossed for that. And then depending on how that goes, maybe submitting that to some film festivals, and really using this new group of friends to hopefully start doing more. I’d like to do several small projects a year and see where it goes from there.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, the film sounds epic. I mean, that’s big time. So kudos to you for really taking that on, in addition to making a living at your self-employment.

Spenser Grandstaff:  Yeah, thank you so much. It’s daunting, but really what I am passionate about. So I’m trying to, this past year and then moving into 2025, I’m really trying to pivot in such a way that I can use all of the jobs that I have to kind of fund the passion. And then move hopefully to one day making the passion the main source of income, which I know is most artists’ prerogative, so.

Rick Sizemore:  Absolutely. Well, you talk about your career and when you were here earlier this year, you talked about how DARS has helped you launch the business. Is VR still involved? In what ways are they helping you continue your journey into media, and storytelling, and film?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Yeah, they’re definitely still involved. I actually spoke with them about a month and a half ago. We’re actually nearing the end of our journey where we’re very close to wrapping up my case. I know for them, the real important thing is showing that we can take this from beginning all the way to end. And what does the end look like? And it’s full, stable employment, and showing that this is a viable pathway for people like me. So really just collecting my entire portfolio, showing them what I’ve been doing over the past couple of years. And they’re still connecting me with…

The big thing for me now is purchasing a car with the modifications that I need to go about living my life, and making sure somebody like me in a wheelchair is self-sustained. So that requires being able to get in and out of a car and load a wheelchair. So I’ve been saving up for that. The jobs that I’ve been landing, putting a big, it’s not cheap, but I’ve been able to slowly save up over time. And we’re pretty close to me being able to afford buying a truck. And they’re connecting me with the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center to get some modifications. I’ll need a crane to load the wheelchair in and out of the truck bed. So we’re very close there, and they’ve been a huge help all along the way. And that’s honestly probably the last step that I need to fully closing out the case, which I’m really excited about.

Betsy Civilette:  Oh, that’s awesome.

Rick Sizemore:  Great. It’s great.

Betsy Civilette:  Well, finally, as you look ahead, what advice would you share with others facing similar challenges, or pursuing a non-traditional career path like yours?

Spenser Grandstaff:  Sure. Yeah. It sounds simple it, and I know it’s probably not the most exciting piece of advice, but  you really just have to put yourself out there. And it’s very daunting for somebody like me, because a lot of these situations are, it’s stuff that I am already used to and have been used to prior to being in a wheelchair. But it’s a lot more intimidating now that you’re out there in a wheelchair, because you’re constantly in the back of your mind thinking about all the things that maybe that, not that you can’t do, but that you would just have to do differently. And there’s a lot of things you have to factor in.

But I was really surprised, and it’s a really heartwarming experience, me putting myself out there and seeing how much people are willing to help and go out of their way to make sure everything is a smooth process for you. And it really kind of solidified for me that there is such a thing as community and how valuable community is, and these people want to help you and want to see you succeed. So it’s really just a matter of putting yourself out there, introducing yourself. Coming in with confidence that, yeah, you do have a skill set. And yeah, you do have some things that set you back a little bit, but people will go far out of their way to bridge those gaps. And that’s really, it’s a small step that you have to take, and the universe will provide.

Rick Sizemore:  He’s lightning in a bottle. You can learn more about him at spensergrandstaff.com.

Well, it’s time for our National Clearinghouse Report with the always entertaining and informative Heather Servais. Hey, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Hey, Rick.

Rick Sizemore:  What do you have in the Clearinghouse for us this month?

Heather Servais: Well, it is December. So we are looking back on 2024 and doing our year-in-review. And for the Clearinghouse, it was a year of innovation and collaboration. And so we were so excited about the meaningful connections, our innovation, and our growth that we experienced this year. So I want to run through just a couple of the highlights that the Clearinghouse has done over the last year. And then share some of our tops, our top materials, resources, and YouTube videos, I’ll share with you.

Rick Sizemore:  All right, cool.

Heather Servais:  Absolutely. First thing I want to talk about is our NCRTM Lunch and Learn series. Over the 2024 year, we highlighted a series of Lunch and Learns on many topics from Counselor Retention and Recruitment, to Managing Counselor Workload Guilt, collaborating with TVR agencies, and also looking at research with our partners at NARIC. So that was one of our highlights. And if you haven’t had the chance to check it out, please check the show notes because we have the link to that Lunch and Learn series playlist, where you can still tune into all of those Lunch and Learns at your convenience.

We also rolled out our NCRTM Material Spotlights. This was a new feature this year where we did a series of three, and it features prominent NCRTM products in these short videos anywhere from about 10 to 15 minutes. And it’ll talk you through how to use these resources, why it’s important, and how you can connect with the grantees that made them to help you improve your work. Everything from things like self-employment, to using a contract guide, from Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Management. And for our friends over at George Washington University and their Center for Innovative Training in VR, they’re become an adult ally training. That’s what those Material Spotlights highlight. So we encourage you to check those out. The link will be in the show notes.

We continue to create curated lists, and we wanted to thank our users for letting us know about AI being one of your top needs. And so this year we created an AI curated list, and it was our top performer. So if you haven’t had a chance to check it out there’s, on that one list, there’s more than 15 resources on AI and vocational rehabilitation. We also had a self-employment and inclusive apprenticeship curated list that topped out our tops this year.

We wanted to share a little bit about some of our most accessed library materials. So when you think of the Clearinghouse, many of you want to go visit the library. Our two most popular resources were the Managing Counselor Workload Guilt materials from that Lunch and Learn, and also a Caseload Management Strategies, Summary of Effective Strategies for Managing Large Caseloads, that was produced by VRTAC-QM. So if you haven’t had a chance to check that out, please do.

And last I want to highlight our most popular YouTube video. Our most popular YouTube video this year was actually a Screen Reader Simulation. And so if you want to know why accessibility is important, go ahead and watch that screen reader. It shows you what happens when somebody who is blind or low vision uses a screen reader and a document is not accessible. So to put yourself in their shoes, and it helps you really understand that importance of accessibility. Check that out. I’m going to share in the show notes many more links of our most accessed training and events, our top web resources. So please check out the show notes.

And as we go into the new year, we would love to hear from you. So if you have new content, ideas for new content, or you are future trainings that you would like to see or ideas for new curated lists, please email us at NCRTM@neweditions.net, or you can complete our NCRTM customer feedback survey. The link to that will also be in the show notes.

Rick Sizemore: Heather Servais directs RSA’s National Clearinghouse of Rehabilitation Training Materials and joins us each month for the Clearinghouse Report. Links and resources from the NCRTM are included in the show notes at vrworkforcestudio.com. Thanks, Heather.

Heather Servais:  Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Rick.

Rick Sizemore:  Well, thank you for getting involved in today’s show. If you or someone you know has a disability and wants to get into the workforce, vocational rehabilitation may just be the answer to kickstart your career. Visit us at vrworkforcestudio.com to find links and resources, as well as our contact information. On behalf of my cohost, Betsy Civilette, I’m Rick Sizemore, inviting you to join us as we podcast the sparks that ignite vocational rehabilitation.

Jake Hart:  The VR Workforce Studio podcast is owned and operated by Vocational Rehabilitation’s Partners in Podcasting. Audio content for the podcast is provided to VR Partners in Podcasting by the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services in exchange for promotional considerations.