The Vocational Rehabilitation – Return on Investment Project (VR-ROI), a collaborative initiative led by George Washington University, invites administrators, professionals, consumers, State Rehabilitation Council (SRC) members, and other advocates to participate in a pivotal stakeholder session.

This session will focus on shaping the next generation of ROI tools to better capture, measure, and communicate the value and impact of state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies. These agencies play a vital role in helping individuals with disabilities achieve meaningful employment, and their feedback is essential to ensure the ROI models are both practical and reflective of the services and outcomes they deliver.

Over the past year, the VR-ROI team has enhanced the original model to better capture the value of VR services. Updates include new measures such as service intensity and rapid engagement, providing a more accurate and nuanced picture of program effectiveness.

In addition to the enhanced structural model, a simplified model has been developed as a practical, easy-to-implement option for agencies with limited resources.

• Review both models and provide direct feedback on their usefulness for communicating the value of VR to policymakers, funders, and other key stakeholders.
• Discuss how rapid engagement and service intensity can be measured and integrated into ROI models to better reflect the quality and timeliness of VR services.
• Consider trade-offs between detail and feasibility, weighing model complexity against ease of implementation.

Your input will play a critical role in ensuring the VR-ROI model is both useful and actionable, supporting state agencies in telling a compelling story of their impact on individuals, communities, and the workforce.

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

1. Explain how return on investment (ROI) models can be used to evaluate the performance and value of state VR programs from multiple stakeholder perspectives.
2. Differentiate between the enhanced structural VR-ROI model and the simplified model, identifying the benefits, challenges, and trade-offs of each approach.
3. Apply knowledge of ROI measures, such as service intensity and rapid engagement, to strengthen agency decision-making, communication with policymakers, and public advocacy for VR services.

Following this session, the VR-ROI Project team aims to:

1. Utilize stakeholder feedback on the usefulness, accuracy, and clarity of the enhanced structural and simplified ROI models, including suggestions for improvements and additional variables to consider.
2. Gain insights on integrating rapid engagement and service intensity into ROI models to better reflect the quality, timeliness, and effectiveness of VR services.
3. Understand perspectives on trade-offs between the two models, helping agencies and stakeholders determine which approach best aligns with their capacity and reporting needs.
4. Refine the VR-ROI model to ensure it remains practical, actionable, and valuable for communicating the impact of VR services to policymakers, partners, and the public.