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Jennifer Bose

Jennifer Bose is a researcher on the State Systems team at the Institute for Community Inclusion. She earned her B.A. in psychology from Wellesley College in 1992 and an M.A. in education and developmental psychology from Boston College in 1997. Her primary research interests are the study of promising practices in employment at the state, organizational, employment specialist and individual level and the interactions between individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), families and disability service agencies. Her work includes research on effective strategies to find employment, factors affecting the employment choices made by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, diabetes management in the workplace and Employment First policy implementation. Besides continuing to research promising employment practices, much of her current work centers around tools to increase self-determination for transition-age youth with IDD, including Charting the Life Course™ and alternatives to guardianship.

Email: Jennifer.bose@umb.edu * Phone: 617-287-4353

Planning and Budgeting for Life on Their Terms: Managing Self-Directed Services

Managing self-directed services takes planning, budgeting, and support—but it also creates opportunities for greater choice and independence. This brief highlights how people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families manage services to build personalized supports that help them pursue employment and community life.

Using Self-Directed Services to Achieve Competitive Integrated Employment and Enhance Community Life Engagement

Self-directed services give people with intellectual and developmental disabilities greater choice and control over the supports they use to pursue employment and community life. This research brief highlights real stories and practical strategies showing how self-direction can improve independence, build strong support networks, and expand opportunities for competitive integrated employment.

Addressing Staffing Shortages: Lessons from Advance Opportunities

This promising practice describes how Advance Opportunities, an employment provider in Minnesota, implemented a multi-faceted approach to address a staffing shortage that was made worse by COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. These approaches included investing in a dedicated HR staff member, changing recruitment methods, starting a mentorship program for new staff, creating a friendly work environment, optimizing their workflows to improve efficiency, and providing financial incentives. As a result, Advance was able to recruit and retain talented employment staff.

Rise: A Data-Driven Approach to Hire and Retain Staff

Rise, a Minnesota-based nonprofit, implemented new hiring and retention practices to target potential employees in untapped applicant pools. Rise used internal data to better identify promising job candidates and track employee activities to better allocate pay raises. With the creation of employee metrics, Rise was able to define clear paths for professional development and promotions into higher paying positions while rewarding good results. Learn more!

Troy: Living a Full Life in his Community

Troy is 31 years old and lives in Missouri. Troy is an active volunteer in his community and has a paid job on the facilities team at a local school. Troy volunteers serving food through the local chapter of Meals on Wheels — a national organization that prepares and delivers food to homes and community kitchens for older adults and people with disabilities. He also volunteers  serving meals at a local summer camp, Strong Tower Ranch. Troy is a long-time member of the local Special Olympics basketball team and a huge Chicago Bulls fan. Troy’s dedication to serving others through volunteering, his love of basketball, and the connections he made in his paid position at the school all culminated into an offer to serve as volunteer assistant coach for the community’s Little League basketball team.

Addressing Staffing Shortages in Employment Services: Trillium’s Strategies for Recruitment, Training, and Retention

This promising practice describes how Trillium, an employment provider in Washington State, faced staff shortages and implemented several strategies to address them. These approaches included building relationships with their community, supporting staff professional development, empowering their employees, and offering financial incentives for new hires.

Minnesota Transformation Initiative: The State’s Department of Human Services Supports the Move from Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment

This promising practice follows Minnesota’s statewide capacity-building efforts to provide community-based services to people with disabilities since adopting its Employment First policy in 2014.

Alabama Department of Mental Health: Increasing the Number of Certified Benefits Counselors

In 2016, Alabama’s Department of Mental Health (ADMH)/Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) contracted with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS) to train Community Partner Work Incentive counselors (CPWICs) to provide benefits counseling to individuals served by ADMH who were moving from facility-based day services into competitive integrated employment. State agency staff were aware that many individuals and their families chose not to pursue integrated employment for fear of losing Medicaid, cash benefits, and other income support programs.

Benefits Counseling Service from the Alabama Department of Mental Health Encourages Community Employment

In 2016, Alabama’s Department of Mental Health (ADMH)/Division of Developmental Disabilities (DDD) contracted with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services (ADRS) to train Community Partner Work Incentive counselors to provide benefits counseling to individuals served by ADMH who were moving from facilitybased day services into competitive integrated employment. State agency staff were aware that many individuals and their families chose not to pursue integrated employment for fear of losing Medicaid, cash benefits, and other income support programs.

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