RRTC on Advancing Employment
This project is home to research, training, and outreach activities that promote employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Browse all our publications below, or click on the activities links under numbers 1–4.
We are funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research in the Administration for Community Living in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The RRTC is a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Activities supported by the RRTC include:
(1) Choosing Work: Effective Knowledge Translation and Support for Individuals and Families
The goal of this line of research is to create a comprehensive information, outreach, and support framework for individuals and families that enables ready and timely access to information about employment throughout the lifespan. Research activities include a scoping literature review, online and in-person focus groups with individuals with IDD and their family members, and the development and testing of an intervention that promotes individual and family engagement in employment planning.
Contact: John Kramer (john.kramer@umb.edu)
Find presentations and publications from this project here...
(2) Increasing the Effectiveness of Employment Consultants
This work will define a model for employment support that incorporates research, practice, job seeker support needs, organizational culture, and personal resources. Project partners and staff will implement an intervention to improve the quality of services provided by employment consultants through online training, data-based performance feedback, and facilitated peer-to-peer support.
Contact: Alberto Migliore (alberto.migliore@umb.edu)
Find presentations and publications from this project here...
(3) Building Capacity and Supporting Organizational Transformation for Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs)
Project staff will develop a model framework and toolkit to support community rehabilitation providers in implementing an Employment First focus. The demonstration of an efficient, scalable strategy that enables CRPs to create change within their own organizations is a key feature of this research.
Contact: Jaimie Timmons (jaimie.timmons@umb.edu)
Find presentations and publications from this project here...
(4) Policies and Practices of High-Performing State Employment Systems
This research strand will define the characteristics of a high-performing state system that promotes cross-agency and resource integration. The strand will also identify effective state practices and policies that lead to employment outcomes, and will and describe Employment First policy implementation and outcomes at both the national and state level.
Contact: Allison Hall (allison.hall@umb.edu)
Find presentations and publications from this project here...
Project Team
- John Butterworth, Principal Investigator: john.butterworth@umb.edu
- Allison Hall, Co-Principal Investigator and Project Director; Lead, Policy Strand: allison.hall@umb.edu
- Cindy Thomas, Training and Technical Assistance Director: cindy.thomas@umb.edu
- John Kramer, Lead, Individuals and Families Strand: john.kramer@umb.edu
- Alberto Migliore, Lead, Employment Consultant Strand: alberto.migliore@umb.edu
- Jaimie Timmons, Lead, Community Rehabilitation Provider Strand: Jaimie.timmons@umb.edu
Resources
Webinars
- Organizational Transformation: From Workshops to Community Employment
- Employment Support Professionals: Leaders for Change
- Does All Mean All? Culturally Diverse Families and Access to Services
- Financial Well-Being: Reframing the Conversation
- Informed Choice and Employment First: What Does It Really Mean?
- "44" Series - Our webinar series takes a fresh look at issues and opportunities around employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). That’s why we call it "New Conversations About Integrated Employment." These webinars encourage creative thinking, and provoke reactions. Each conversation brings an original perspective to topics around IDD and employment.
Publications
- RRTC Fact Sheet
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: Integrating Research, Training, and Knowledge Translation
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: CRP Organizational Change
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: Policy and State-level Strategies to Promote Employment
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: Achieving Best Practice in Employment Supports
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: Knowledge Translation for Individuals and Families
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: Who are Employment Consultants? Characteristics of the workforce that connects jobseekers with intellectual and developmental disabilities to employment
- The Truth Comes From Us: Supporting Workers with Developmental Disabilities
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: Organizational Transformation: Guiding Principles for Community Provider
- Bringing Employment First to Scale: From Sheltered Work to Competitive Integrated Employment
Project Partners
Building quality supports: Implementation support beyond training
Improving employment outcomes requires not just training, but intentional investment in coaching and supervisory practices that support implementation of best practice. This presentation for the Reinventing Quality Conference 2021 addresses strategies for improving implementation support from practice, research, and policy perspectives. Findings from a project that supported
Pushing the Integrated Employment Agenda: A Case Study of Iowa’s High-Performing Employment System
Meet our partners: Building strong expectations about employment
This video features our ThinkWork partners, Green Mountain Self-Advocates. They talk about what they want employment professionals to know, and how to best support them.
Using data-enabled performance feedback and guidance to assist employment consultants in their work with job seekers: An experimental study
Key Findings and Lessons Learned from Research on Integrated Employment for individuals with IDD
Pushing the Integrated Employment Agenda: A Case Study of Oklahoma’s High-Performing Employment System
Read this brief to learn about the factors that contribute to the effectiveness of Oklahoma’s success in achieving integrated employment outcomes for individuals with IDD across three state systems: IDD, vocational rehabilitation (VR), and education.
The Employment Journey: A Focus on Informed Choice
This study provides an in-depth analysis on the concept of informed choice and how making informed choices can contribute to improved employment outcomes. This study will explore the legal and policy context for fostering informed choice for all individuals, and the impacts of systemic initiatives furthering meaningful informed choice.
Informed Decision Making: It Takes More Than Practice
Making decisions is not just about our skills. It is essential to take a close look at the amount and variety of opportunities being presented to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Always ask, “Are these the same possibilities available to people without disabilities?” The system is eager to measure our capacity. We recommend focusing on assessing the ability of teachers and support staff to be effective communicators and providers of reasonable accommodations. A person’s capacity to teach as well as learn is fluid and changes all the time.
Key Elements of Organizational Transformation: Lessons Learned from the Provider Transformation Network
This document contains slides from a presentation given at The Arc Summer Leadership Institute in 2019. The information covers key lessons in organizational transformation that can help disability services providers implement best practices.
Click here to view and download the presentation slides