Given the national landscape and the emphasis on community employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD), this webpage focuses on service providers engaged in practices that reflect individual integrated employment as a priority outcome. By spreading the word about these promising practices, we hope to maximize the capacity of providers to present integrated employment as the preferred option for their customers.
Agency Culture - A shared philosophical belief that integrated employment should be the preferred outcome and that opportunities for employment should be available to everyone interested in working.
Services and service innovation - Optimum use of the resources available to encourage creative employment support strategies; openness to risk-taking and the organizational flexibility to take action when innovation emerges.
Customer focus and engagement - A consistent emphasis on the needs of customers including individuals, families, schools, employers and other community partners.
Communication of goals and expectations - Practices that exemplify shared, multi-level, multi-stakeholder communication as the norm, as well as timely and appropriate communication of core organizational values and message.
Employment performance measurement - Collection and use of data as a strategic planning tool and for self-assessment to further goals, monitor success and implement changes.
Staff Qualifications and Knowledge - Staff training and opportunities for professional development in evidence-based job placement strategies, up-to-date knowledge of local employment and disability resources, service innovations, employment programs and legislation.
Community Life Engagement - how providers support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to access and participate in their communities outside of employment as part of a meaningful day.
LaunchAbility is a CRP that serves people with IDD in several locations throughout North Texas. LaunchAbility’s employment services program offers placement exclusively in the community.
The LaunchAbility Academy Training Program was established in collaboration with the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services (DARS) as a way to engage employers and prepare job seekers for employment.
Progressive Employment Concepts (PEC), a community rehabilitation provider with several locations in northern California, was founded in 1995 to support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to find employment in their communities. PEC currently supports 90 people in individual jobs. A core belief at PEC is that everyone it serves is job- ready and can work in competitive employment in their communities.
New England Business Associates (NEBA), a community rehabilitation provider (CRP) in Springfield, Massachusetts, provides individualized employment services to local youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This organization sets itself apart from other employment providers in many ways, from its appearance, to the attitudes of its staff, to the manner in which it provides services.
Over the last five years, LCS, a provider in Racine, Wisconsin, has developed the capacity of its staff to expand integrated employment service options. LCS has hired and retained staff who are passionate about integrated employment, and has invested in supporting them to deliver high-quality integrated employment services.
Through state-of-the-art training and other resources, LCS has navigated internal and external challenges to building staff competencies, and has solidified its mission of sustaining highly qualified staff.
Work Inc. is a medium-sized CRP in Massachusetts that has served people with IDD for the last 32 years. Over the last 15 years, since Work Inc. began tracking employment services data, its approach to employment supports in the community has evolved. The agency’s data- tracking methods have both guided and developed alongside this change process.