Community Life Engagement

Community Life Engagement refers to the ways people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) access and participate in their communities outside of employment, and the supports that enable such engagement. This can include volunteer work; postsecondary, adult, or continuing education; accessing community facilities such as the library, gym, or recreation center; and any activities that people with and without disabilities do in their spare time.

Our Community Life Engagement initiative involves conducting research on Community Life Engagement in the Employment First context, and developing guidance for states and service providers. This project is funded by the National Institute for Disability Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research Field Initiated Program and by the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities as part of the Access to Integrated Employment project.

Major activities:

• Engaging with the State Employment Leadership Network to identify emerging needs and issues at the state level.
• Conducting interviews with 13 knowledgeable people representing state IDD agencies, service providers, researchers, family members, and individuals with IDD.
• Conducting case studies of Community Life Engagement efforts at three exemplary service providers.
• Developing a promising practices series on state and service provider implementation of Community Life Engagement.
• Surveying state IDD agencies about their Community Life Engagement policies and practices.
• Developing, piloting, refining, and disseminating guideposts and toolkits for states and service providers.

Project Team

Jennifer Sullivan Sulewski, Principal Investigator (jennifer.sulewski@umb.edu)

Jaimie Timmons, Senior Research Associate

Allison Hall, Senior Research Associate

Oliver Lyons, Research Study Coordinator

Miwa Tanabe, Program Coordinator

Featured Publications

You can also search for Community Life Engagement publications in the complete database of ThinkWork publications by clicking here.

Resources

Sulewski, J.S. (2014, November). Community Life Engagement: A New Initiative of the Institute for Community Inclusion and State Employment Leadership Network. Poster presentation at the annual meeting of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, Washington, DC.

Sulewski, J. S. (2010). In search of meaningful daytimes: Case studies of community-based nonwork supports. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 35(1–2), 39–54.

Sulewski, J. S., Butterworth, J., & Gilmore, D. S. (2008). Community-based non-work supports: Findings from the National Survey of Day and Employment Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities.Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 46(6), 456–467.

Sulewski, J. S., Butterworth, J., & Gilmore, D.S. (2006). Community-based non-work services: Findings from the National Survey of Day and Employment Programs for People with Developmental Disabilities.Research to Practice Brief. Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Boston, Institute for Community Inclusion.

Sullivan, J. A., Boeltzig, H., Metzel, D. S., Butterworth, J., & Gilmore, D. S. (2004). The National Survey of Community Rehabilitation Providers, FY2002-2003. Report 2: Non-work services. Research to Practice Brief. Boston, MA: University of Massachusetts Boston, Institute for Community Inclusion.