Jean Winsor

Jean E. Winsor is a Senior Research Associate and Project Manager at the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI). Her research focuses on state systems and integrated employment, with an emphasis on bridging research to practice through technical assistance to employment system stakeholders. She is the coordinator for the StateData.info project, is a policy specialist for the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN),, and is Project Director for the Florida EmployMe1st Project.

During her tenure at ICI she has investigated the policies and practices of states with high rates of integrated employment, states that have engaged in multi-agency systems change to support youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities to obtain community employment, and states that are using Employment First agendas as a catalyst for systems change. Dr. Winsor has also engaged in research to better understand the methods states use to collect data on employment outcomes, the strategies states use to fund employment services, and the factors that impact the choices individuals with intellectual and development disabilities make about employment.

Prior to joining ICI in 2002, Jean provided school and community-based supports to adolescents and adults with IDD for ten years.  Dr. Winsor received her B.A. in Psychology from Binghamton University-SUNY and her M.S. in Educational Psychology and Methodology from the University at Albany-SUNY. She is a graduate of the Ph.D. in Public Policy Program with a Concentration in Special Education and Disability Policy at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Click here to follow Dr. Winsor's work on SelectedWorks.

The Power of Friendship

Friendship is important for all of us! This includes people with and without disabilities. People often feel better and happier when they have friends. As part of a research project about the choices people with disabilities make about work, we interviewed 16 people with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). These people also chose family members and professional staff people for us to interview. We asked them how they made decisions about working and making friends.

Services for People with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities in the U.S. Territories

The following report represents an expansion of the data collection activities mandated by a 2012 Administration of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA). Prior to 2012, the AIDD funded data projects, Access to Integrated Employment, Family and Individual Information Systems project (FISP), Residential Information Systems Project (RISP) and the State of the States in Developmental Disabilities only collected data from the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Data Note 16: State Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Agencies Expenditures for Integrated Employment Services

Originally published 4/2008

In FY2004, the average expenditure per person for integrated employment as reported by state Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MR/DD) agencies was $6,251 (Table 1). This figure has increased steadily since the mid-1990s indicating that states have slowly begun allocating additional resources towards integrated employment. However, growth in expenditures is likely a result of changes in federal law as opposed to changes in the amount of state dollars available to fund integrated employment.