Oliver Lyons

Oliver Lyons, MA, Research Associate. His work focuses on increasing the effectiveness of employment consultants who work with individuals with IDD, and building capacity and supporting community rehabilitation providers with organizational transformation. He is a core member of the community life engagement (CLE) team at the Institute for Community Inclusion, having played a pivotal role in the development and testing of the Community Life Engagement Toolkit which aims to assist providers to improve the quality of their CLE services and has authored many briefs and articles related to the topic. Additionally, in collaboration with the National Center for College Students with Disabilities he has  coordinated the development of an online database of disability resources available at colleges nationwide. Oliver also has many years of experience with both quantitative and qualitative data analysis methods.

Using Mobile Communication Technology at SEEC

SEEC (Seeking Equality, Empowerment, and Community) is a Maryland-based provider of employment, community living, and community development supports to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Because SEEC has no central facility, having ways to maintain contact between staff and management is paramount. From prepaid cell phones in 2005 to outfitting every staff member with a tablet or a laptop today, SEEC has embraced mobile communication since it started its conversion.

Essential Elements in Organizational Transformation: Findings From a Delphi Panel of Experts

The findings from Institute for Community Inclusion’s (ICI’s) Delphi Process on Organizational Transformation can guide providers as they work to transform their services. These findings support the prioritization of goals and the development of key action areas that have proven successful.
In this brief, we will:
1. share ten essential elements in organizational transformation ranked in their order of importance according to ICI’s Delphi process, and
2. offer a set of considerations to providers as they move their organizational transformation efforts forward.

Bringing Employment First to Scale: Who are Employment Consultants? Characteristics of the workforce that connects jobseekers with intellectual and developmental disabilities to employment

In 1987, the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston began a series of surveys aimed at providing a longitudinal description of the characteristics and service delivery provided by Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs)(Domin & Butterworth, 2012). Despite direct support staff comprising one of the nation’s largest labor market segments, there has been very little research into the wages and stability of that workforce (Bogenschutz, Hewitt, Nord, & Hepperlen, 2014).

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