Enacting changes to state policies is a slow and complex process. But this kind of systems change can be transformative when it creates opportunities for people with disabilities to engage with and contribute to their communities. Learn more about state policy and systems change in these resources.
Watch the part 1 archive here. Watch part 2 here. ELC members, Minnesota and Nevada, kick off 2017 talking about their current status, achievements and plans for the coming year. Project staff report on the follow up survey of Delphi panel members.
January 17, 2017
Watch part 1 archive here. Watch part 2 here. Securing state agency and organizational investment in building capacity to support, fund, and deliver employment services
November 15, 2016 & December 20, 2016
Listen to the archive here. A conversation about current federal and state policies to improve employment opportunities and outcomes for individuals with intellectual disabilities. ELC members discussed the challenges facing states and strategies that are being used to advance systems change.
April 17, 2016
Listen to the archive here. Conversations about Employment Learning Community states positioning themselves to improve their practices leading to increased employment outcomes.
March 22, 2016
Beginning in FY 2012 and 2013, the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) funded eight Partnerships in Employment (PIE) systems change projects under the Projects of National Significance program. PIE is a national transition systems change project whose purpose is to identify, develop, and promote policies and practices to improve transition, post-secondary, and competitive employment outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Read the brief here. This study examined data from a sample of 12,213 people with IDD who responded to the NCI Adult Consumer Survey in 2012–2013. This sample captured data from 26 states. The purpose of the study was to observe and describe different demographic characteristics among the respondents, and how those characteristics correlate to different outcomes. Gender was one of the demographic categories included in the survey, and all respondents were categorized as male or female.
PIE project work is framed by the High-Performing States Transition Model, which contains 8 key elements: collaboration, leadership, state goals and policy, funding and contracting, staff training, service innovation, performance management and quality assurance, and youth leadership development and family engagement. This document is one in a series of PIE Project Fact Sheets that chronicle how PIE grantee states are making change under the elements of the High-Performing States Transition Model.
Youth with intellectual disabilities often face challenges when preparing to leave school settings to move into life in their communities. These young adults may experience high rates of unemployment, increased rates of poverty, and involvement in service systems that do not have the resources needed to provide quality services for all who need them.
Policy shifts over the past 20 years have created an agenda that calls for a sustained commitment to integrated employment for individuals with disabilities. But despite these clear intentions, unemployment of individuals with disabilities continues to be a major public policy issue.