Easter Seals Inc.

Filing Period

Jan 1, 2011 to Dec 31, 2011

Signed

Jul 27, 2012

Return Version

2011v1.2

Gross Receipts

$89,076,300

Mission

Major Activities

Activity 2

Easter Seals Project Action (ESPA) is a cooperative agreement funded by the Department of Transportation. Its mission is to further accessible transportation in our nation for people with disabilities of all ages through partnerships, resources, training and outreach.In 2011, ESPA carried the message of accessible transportation to almost every state and the District of Columbia, reaching 4,000 more persons served than in 2010. Easter Seals Project Action supported or participated in 111 events - an average of more than two per week.Easter Seals Project Action made significant progress in the health and transportation initiative designed to expand awareness about the connection between access to transportation and health and wellness. ESPA continues as a national leader in travel training as well as a leader in raising awareness in the planning community about the importance of accessible transportation within the Livability and Sustainability Program. Through its very close partnership with the two national transit associations, APTA and CTAA, ESPA promoted collaborations in the Partnership for Mobility Management and the National Human Services Consortium.Easter Seals Project Action's collaborations to publish resources included a total revision of outdated training materials for motorcoach operators with the American Bus Association and a new pocket guide to Livability. In addition, staff members are sought as collaborators, speakers and technical assistance specialists in the field of accessible transportation. This year, ESPA's education and awareness efforts on Youth Transportation yielded new service-learning programs now doing site testing in 2012.ESPA launched new social networking tools as more resources move away from print to the Web, including a Blog, Twitter, online dialogues and online communities. A new format was created for the Web site, slated for deployment in 2012.Training & Technical Assistance: Responding to an ESPA survey, issued in early 2011, we changed our approach to training based on requests from the people we serve. As a result, ESPA moved to do fewer overall training events and, instead, conducted more focused, in-depth training. We trained 2,676 people in 34 events, a decrease of 35 percent in overall persons trained over 2010. Technical assistance continues to expand to local communities rather than through a centralized process, with greater depth of engagement. Rates of support in technical assistance and information and referral stayed similar to 2010 with a total of 1825 persons served. Technical assistance and Information/Referral services were provided for 1,576 people, plus 249 new members joined and participated in our online communities.2010 was the first year for the change from the former Mobility Planning Services Institute centralized, one-time-workshop model. Staff went out to ten communities in 2011 while continuing to provide intensive follow-up required in the new Accessible Transportation Coalition Institutes (ATCI) community-based systems-change model with the 12 sites from the previous year. The time needed and devoted to providing in-depth technical assistance during 2011 increased significantly over the previous year. The model for ATCI was enhanced with a second training day that applies specific materials based on what transpires on the first day.The total number of customers who contacted ESPA through attending training, using our 800# or getting targeted technical assistance was 4,501.Outreach/Communication expanded awareness at 77 events with over 5,686 attendees - doubling the 2285 number of people reached in 2010. Of this number, staff presented at 49 events for a growth of 16.3 percent, over the 41 events from 2010.E-news was sent out monthly with a total of 8,513 subscribers at year's end, representing an 8.4 percent increase in subscriptions compared to the 7,796 of 2010.Print newsletters were sent out quarterly with subscriptions totaling 15,250 by year's end,

Activity 3

The current National Center for Senior Transportation (NCST) cooperative agreement ends in 2011. Despite $68K less in funding, the staff of the NCST expanded the number of people reached through technical assistance and outreach. The NCST educates and expands awareness of the issues around and the need for more transportation options for older adults in their communities. The program is distinct in its focus on community grant-making for the purpose of finding and testing best practices in senior transportation options, unlike other East Seals federal transportation grants. The NCST has gained prominence as a key "go to" organization for information on transportation options for older adults, serving a very wide group of national and local stakeholders through the outreach of staff and the partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a). Easter Seals and n4a co-lead this grant.Key initiatives in 2011 were the student scholars program, community mini-grants, a focus on diversity and building bridges with the gerontology and public health community, which led to strong partnerships with the Centers for Disease Control and the American Medical Association. The NCST continues to lead the way in diversity outreach, and hosting coalition building meetings that further the understanding of the many barriers that elders from multi-cultural and multi-lingual communities face. Through partnerships with national aging organizations and services providers, NCST has increased national awareness of the transportation needs of older adults. The partnership with the Eldercare Locator continues to make the NCST a resource to assist older adults who need a ride.Training: 1,211 people were trained in 18 events, a decrease of only 88 people or 7 percent from 2010 - despite a $68,637 reduction in funding from the prior year.Technical assistance and information and referral: 1,160 people were provided with technical assistance and information and referral service, up 63 percent from 2010. This is due in large part to the new Eldercare locator relationship implemented in 2011.The total number of customers who contacted NCST either through attending training, using our 800# or getting targeted technical assistance was 2,377 in 2011 - a growth of 18 percent over the 2,011 individuals assisted in 2010.Outreach/Communication created awareness at 53 events almost doubling the number of people reached in 2010: 3,433 attendees in 2011 from 1,151 from 2010. Staff presented at 34 events.E-news subscriptions grew 30 percent and were sent monthly with a year-end subscriber total of 4,733, up from 3,334 in 2010. Print newsletters were sent twice over the year with a 16 percent increase in subscriptions: 2,897 by the end of the year compared with 2,418 in 2010.Web site visitors grew by 62 percent from the 2,908 monthly average in 2010 to 4,726 unduplicated visitors in 2011. The first NCST on-line dialogue engaged an additional 118 people.The total number of persons served more than doubled from 8,914 in 2010, which includes the average monthly Web site visitors, to 18,310 in 2011.The total number of events held or participated in totaled 77 for 2011 - 45 percent more than the 53 events in 2010.Grant effectiveness for 2011 continued to increase from 2,266 persons served per FTE in 2010 to 2,690 persons served per FTE in 2011, a 19 percent increase over 2010.Total FTEs for 2011 was 6.7 (3.7 ES staff and 3 n4a staff). Grant effectiveness for 2011 (# persons served/# FTEs) was 2,733 persons served/FTE, a 108 percent increase over the 1,311 persons served/FTE in 2010.

Filer

EIN

36-2171729