Grant will provide vocational rehab services

YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County Mental Health Board and Trumbull LifeLines each put up $100,000 in local funds to secure a $738,697 federal grant for vocational rehabilitation services for people with mental illness.

“Without the availability of local funding to match these federal funds, the project would not have been possible,” said Ronald Marian, executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health Board.

The project is a cooperative partnership between the two county mental health boards. The Burdman Group, which will provide the services, has a goal of serving 225 individuals in the two counties over the next year.

Services include: Assessments for determining eligibility and vocational rehabilitation needs; counseling and guidance; job search placement assistance, job retention and follow-up; personal and vocational adjustment; books, tools, and other training materials; interpreter; rehabilitation teaching and orientation; mobility; occupational licenses, tools and equipment; market analyses, and the development of business plans.

Burdman Group is a private non-profit agency that provides vocational rehabilitation though its employment and job retention services offices as well as outpatient and residential behavioral health services. The agency also operates Sojourner House domestic violence services.