DB101 Information Services includes our website (www.DB101.org) along with training and technical assistance:

The Disability Benefits 101 Website
In 2004, CWII launched Disability Benefits 101, a website on health coverage and benefits programs for workers and job seekers with a disability.  It provides easy to read descriptions of state, federal, and private benefit programs.  It also includes a series of benefits calculators.  These new tools allow users to enter information on their own particular situation and see how changes in employment and living arrangements might affect their income and eligibility for benefit programs.  DB101 currently offers calculators for those planning to go from Benefits to Work, those moving from Job to Job, youth with disabilities going from School to Work, and people interested in Medi-Cal's California Working Disabled program.  A calculator for those interested in the Social Security Plan for Achieving Self Support (PASS) program is currently in development.  Over half of the website is currently available in Spanish as well as English, and the rest will be translated by December 2007.

Outreach and Training
Finding ways to combine public and employer-sponsored health care is still a specialty of only a handful of benefits planners nationwide. Modest investments of time in training staff can yield valuable results in new employment outcomes for people with disabilities.  CWII provides information to help navigate those points where health coverage rules and benefits laws are most problematic and complex: when a consumer considers new employment or a job change, or when several programs interact with one another to support employment.  CWII offers customized benefits planning trainings to community providers, public programs and community-based organizations. We have developed training curricula for half-day to two-day trainings, customized to the needs of diverse audiences. Trainings also cover the use of our online benefits calculators, which show the effect of employment scenarios over time.

The CWII has trained public program staff across diverse organizations, such as:

• Social Security and its Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach (BPAO) Projects;
• the California Employment Development Department (EDD);
• Department of Mental Health;
• Department of Social Services (DSS);
• Department of Rehabilitation (DOR);
• Department of Health Services;
• independent living centers;
• educators in special education; and
• a range of community-based organizations working with people with disabilities.

For more information, contact us.