Inviting New Self Hired Supported Employment Staff to the Portal

Hello Self Hired Supported Employment Staff and Brokers!

We are very excited to invite you to access our easy to use Supported Employment portal.

An individual you support has Self Hired Supported Employment services (SEMP) built into their budget and we are asking you to be a "SEMP Reporter.'  In order to continue to be able to utilize SEMP in their Self Direction Services, a "SEMP Reporter" role has been developed to share pertinent employment information with Independent Support Services and OPWDD regarding the individual’s job.

The SEMP portal will allow SEMP staff to report where the individual is working, their job title, wage, and if it is an integrated setting. The SEMP reporter will also be prompted to upload a current pay stub that corresponds to the month’s survey that is being completed. Please work with the circle and employer to get a pay stub to upload. After uploading the initial paystub, you do not have to upload a new pay stub every month, unless there is a raise or the individual gets a new job! ISS is required to have this information on file as a SEMP provider and OPWDD asks us to complete a report with this information on a quarterly basis.

We are asking that SEMP staff report this information monthly for the individuals they serve. If an individual does not have a Job Developer, we are asking the Job Coach to report the information. If there is no Job Developer or Job Coach currently working, we are asking for the Broker’s assistance to discuss why this is needed with the family and alert the SDC of who should be assigned as a SEMP reporter going forward. A broker or parent can also be assigned as a SEMP reporter.

Some reminders:

  • If a person is still actively employed, just didn’t work that month, on a temporary leave or has a seasonal position, please ensure you are selecting “YES” for if the participant was employed. For “Choose Level of Employment” select one of the options with “temporary time off.”
  • The information being provided will help us prepare and send a required report to OPWDD.  Hopefully, the report will generate the data proving that Self Directing SEMP services is the most effective way to get the individuals we support maintained jobs in the community!
  • The Portal Help page for SEMP (https://help.issny.org/books/support-staff-resources) contains important information to assist you with completing the “SEMP Survey”.  Please review the available documentation before logging into the system.

To further assist you, below you will find training videos to teach you how to use the portal.

Please take the time to log in, explore, and report accurate information! To reach the SEMP Survey, log into the Portal (https://portal.issny.org/) and click the "Go to SEMP Survey" link on your home page.

There are 2 training videos you can watch by clicking (or copy and paste link into your browser):

Any questions please contact: Kim Warga, Assistant Director of Program Services & SEMP Liaison at Independent Support Services, (631) 864-2536 x406, or Mary Abbatiello, Director of Program Services at Independent Support Services, (631) 864-2536 x403.

Thank you!


Updated 04/24/23.