Michigan Rehabilitation Services seeks state match to draw down federal funds, expand services

Stephanie Beckhorn, deputy director of employment and training at the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor and Economic Opportunity at a subcommittee meeting that Michigan Rehabilitation Services is requesting state general-fund increases to expand pre-employment and vocational rehabilitation services and to draw down federal formula dollars.

The request matters because the federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) grant that funds much of MRS’s work is a formula award that requires a state match. "For every dollar we put in in state funding, we can draw down $4 from the federal government," Beckhorn said, summarizing the program’s roughly 4-to-1 federal–state leverage and explaining why the state contribution affects Michigan’s ability to claim its full federal allotment.

MRS provides individually tailored services aimed at helping people with disabilities obtain and retain competitive integrated employment. Beckhorn told the subcommittee that the agency’s fiscal 2025 budget is about $130,000,000 and that nearly 79% of that — more than $102,000,000 — comes from federal sources administered through the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Agency. She…