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Promising Practices by State Agencies
This website is meant to spread the word and spark the imagination as integrated employment opportunities are expanding for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities. It is designed to increase communication and broaden perceptions about how it is possible to improve employment outcomes at the system level.
We are always looking for new state agency promising practices!
If you know of innovative initiatives, policies, strategies or activities occurring at your state’s ID/DD agency, and you would like to nominate your story, please contact:
Jaimie Timmons at Jaimie.timmons@umb.eduTell us about new and creative state-level promising practices that increase access to integrated employment for individuals with ID/DD!
return to the Access to Integrated Employment project home page
Implementation of priority policy goals
State ID/DD agency’s regulations, mission or goal statements around employment and activities related to the achievement of those goals.
- Mandatory Situational Assessments in Tennessee
- Employment First! Making Integrated Employment the Preferred Outcome in Tennessee
- Washington State's Working-Age Adult Policy
- Washington: Promoting Public Sector Jobs for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
- Reaching Target Employment Goals: The Five-year Initiative from Florida’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities
Agency organization and operation
Practices or policies around the state ID/DD agency organizational structure (such as new departments, committees, or regional/local re-organization) with respect to the provision of employment
Funding and service contracting
Innovative and/or effective funding mechanisms, including development of rates, use of blended or braided funding, or use of funding incentives for providers who are successful in helping people with ID/DD find and maintain employment.
- North Carolina: Using an Outcomes-based Long Term Vocational Services Funding Model
- Shifting Resources Away from Sheltered Workshops in Vermont
- Oklahoma: Contracting with Industry for the Provision of Job Coaching Supports
- Oklahoma’s Outcomes-based Rate Setting System
Training and technical assistance
Formal training supported by ID/DD state agencies to help increase the use of innovative employment techniques.
- Maine's Peer-Support Training: Helping People with ID/DD Transition Out of Sheltered Workshops
- Integrated Employment Outcomes Through Person-to-Person Technical Assistance: New Hampshire
- Wisconsin's Job Development Mentors Project
- Community Employment Training by and for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in Tennessee
- The Maine Employment Curriculum: Delivering Best Practices for Employment Support Professionals
Collaboration
Practices that encourage formal and informal interagency relationships that more holistically support individuals with ID/DD in employment.
- Washington: Collaborating with a Community College and a Supported-Employment Agency to Facilitate the Transition From High School to Community Employment
- Massachusetts: Using a Collaborative, Person-Centered Planning Approach to Facilitate Community Employment
- The Tennessee Employment Consortium (TEC): A Statewide Collaboration for Change
- Delaware's Early Start to Supported Employment Pilot Project
- Working Together to Convert the Last Sheltered Workshop in Vermont to Individualized Supports
- Working Together: Collaboration between Colorado’s Developmental Disabilities Division and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation
Performance measurement, quality assurance, and program oversight
Use of individual and provider level outcome data to assess progress and communicate the importance of employment.
Communication
Practices that exemplify shared, multi-level communication as the norm, as well as timely and appropriate communication of core organizational values and message.
