Help youth see how work and benefits go together.
There are many myths about work and benefits that hold people back from working to their full potential or earning and saving money. You can change that! Equip youth and their families with the resources and tools they need to make informed decisions about benefits and work.
You don't need to learn it all! With the basics, you can dispel myths, be a positive messenger, and use appropriate tools and resources to teach others and get answers.
Use the following resources to address benefits and work topics. Be sure to share them with youth and their families, too.
Disability Hub MN is a free statewide resource designed to address benefits planning and other disability-related questions.
When you run into a tough question about benefits or simply need help, contact a Hub expert by phone, email or chat.
Check out the Hub's benefits planning toolkit to explore additional training, desk aids and resources to support you in this work.
Disability Benefits 101, or DB101, helps people plan ahead and learn how work and benefits go together. DB101 has information on the federal and state benefits most commonly used by people with disabilities. It also provides an estimator designed especially for transition-age youth plus short videos and try-it tools you can use to support youth with disabilities.
Level 2: Orientation to DB101
This course takes about 35 minutes to complete and will help you understand how to use DB101 with the youth you support. You'll learn about:
DB101 also offers content and tools designed with youth in transition in mind. Highlights of the youth and families section include:
Disability Hub MN's benefits planning toolkit offers self-directed training for professionals. Each training level builds on the one before, providing increasing details to support various levels of benefits complexity.
All professionals who work with people with disabilities are encouraged to complete Level 1 training: The basics. Complete Level 2 training: Go deeper or Level 3 training: Benefits coach as relevant for your specific role.
The benefits planning toolkit also offers resources and tools, such as desk aids and short videos, to support you in this work.
Disability Benefits 101, or DB 101, offers a collection of content plus various teaching tools to demonstrate work and benefits concepts. Visit DB101 and follow the instructions below to explore some of the site's tools.
EXPLORE AN ARTICLE
Step 1: Navigate to DB101's "Supplemental Security Income (SSI)" article
Step 2: Read the "Supplemental Security Income (SSI): The Basics" article
USE A TRY-IT TOOL
Step 1: Navigate to DB101's "Supplemental Security Income (SSI)" article and click "SSI and Work" in the sub-menu
Step 2: Try the "On SSI? Get a quick estimate of how working may affect your income" try-it tool
This tool can give people a quick idea of what their income would look like if they had a typical SSI benefit.
Step 3: Review the try-it tool results
Using the details above, the person would have more than $800 more each month with this plan. Pay special attention to The Bottom Line messages as you scroll down the page. Here you'll see that the person's SSI would not be reduced because of the Student Earned Income Exclusion work incentive.
Step 4: Click "Close"
Step 5: Click "Add to favorites" in the yellow box to save the try-it tool to your favorites in My Vault
When you need the tool in the future, simply navigate to My Favorites on your My Vault dashboard.
CHECK OUT INFORMATION on the Student Earned Income Exclusion (SEIE) work incentive
Step 1: Navigate to DB101's section on the SEIE
Step 2: Click "+ Show More" to read about the SEIE
Step 3: Try the "Your Countable Earned Income (with SEIE)" try-it tool
Enter the following information:
The results show countable earned income as $0. This means the person earned $1,200 this month and would keep their full SSI payment because of the SEIE.
Step 4: Click "Add to favorites" in the yellow box to save the try-it tool to your favorites in My Vault
When you need the tool in the future, simply navigate to My Favorites on your My Vault dashboard.
DB101’s school and work estimator shows people younger than 25 how working and staying in school can help them. Complete a sample estimator session using the information in this school and work estimator sample scenario (PDF). Once you’re familiar with the estimator, teach youth to use it, too.
Step 1: On DB101, sign in to your My Vault account
Step 2: Navigate to the school and work estimator
Step 3: Complete the estimator
Step 4: Consider asking these questions when using the sample scenario with youth:
For help using the school and work estimator, contact a Hub expert through chat, phone or email.
Get familiar with My Vault's planning paths and activities.
Even though youth might not care about benefits today, it's important for them to understand enough about work and benefits so they can advocate for their goals and use benefits planning resources appropriately.
Step 1: Walk through the Build your dream worksheet (PDF).
This worksheet will help youth think about their future and how much money they'll need to live the life they want.
As you walk through the worksheet, ask questions like:
Step 2: Ask: What do you need to have enough money to pay for the things in your budget?
Answer: A job!
Some people have cash benefits, like SSI, but most often this isn't enough to live on.
Step 1: Ask what they've heard about SSIs.
Step 2: Ask if they've heard that you can't work if you're on SSIs.
If so, explain that this isn't right. SSI is designed so that people are better off when they work. Plus, people on SSI need to work if they want to afford more than just the very basics.
Step 3: Review the budget from the build your dream activity.
Help youth complete a benefits lookup in My Vault so they understand their current benefits and can use that information to plan for the future.
Step 1: Introduce My Vault.
Step 2: Help youth create their own My Vault account: My Vault: How to create an account (PDF).
Step 3: Guide youth toward the Get a benefits lookup activity in the My Vault benefits planning path.
Step 1: Review Benefits for young people: Why benefits matter in Disability Benefits 101.
Step 2: Help youth understand work incentives — rules that can help them work, keep benefits if they need them, and have more money. For example:
Additional resources:
Step 1: Walk through a practice school and work estimator session.
Step 2: Ask follow-up questions based on the results.
Step 3: Help the youth do another session using their own information.
For help using the the school and work estimator, contact a Hub expert through chat, phone or email.
Picture a proud young man bringing home the results from a school and work estimator session. He can now show his parents how he'll be better off working and address some of their concerns.
When youth are engaged, they tend to bring their parents along on the journey. You can help them do that by sparking their interest and giving them positive experiences they can demonstrate to their families. You can also provide tools and tips that empower young people to advocate for themselves.
Make sure youth and their families know about ABLE accounts which help individuals with disabilities save while preserving their eligibility for SSI and Medicaid. Minnesota ABLE Plan is Minnesota's ABLE account program.
