The past thirty years have seen considerable growth in community-based services and supports for adults with developmental disabilities. One category of community-based day supports, integrated employment, has been clearly defined and widely implemented for years. However, another emerging model, community-based non-work (CBNW), is used in a number of states but is less clearly defined and understood.
To learn more about this service category, the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) included questions about CBNW programs and policies in its 2001 national survey of state mental retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD) agencies. Findings show that while CBNW is a significant and growing part of the service mix, state definitions and requirements tend to be broad and unfocused.
