Perspectives of Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors on the Factors Related to Employment Outcomes of Racial and Ethnic Minorities with Disabilities

The current study was conducted to identify effective strategies to promote employment outcomes for individuals with disabilities from diverse cultural backgrounds within the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) system. Twenty one “excellent or very good” VR counselors, who were nominated by their supervisors, participated in semi-structured qualitative interviews. Participants were 15 females and 6 males, with an average of 17 years of experience in the VR system. The participants identified five themes: (1) an empowerment approach to case management; (2) the importance of developing successful counseling relationships; (3) supports provided to help consumers adjust to or cope with their disability; (4) supports provided to assist individuals with disabilities to develop or refine skills to obtain and maintain employment; and (5) supports provided to assist employers in understanding the benefits of employing individuals with disabilities in general, and accommodating the needs of specific individuals with disabilities. Effective counselors must be flexible, provide additional supports to their clients in specific circumstances and/or challenge them when needed, and more importantly, help clients find ways to overcome and be productive on the job with the necessary accommodations and/or assistive technology

A Catalyst-for-Change Approach to Evaluation Capacity Building

Evaluation capacity building (ECB) has become a popular approach for helping community-based organizations (CBO) to meet their funders’ demands for accountability. This case study reports the ECB process with one staff member using a catalyst-for-change approach. We analyzed the role of the catalyst in diffusing evaluation knowledge and skills and in promoting evaluation mainstreaming and use within the CBO; and the outcomes achieved as a result of the catalyst’s role in the process of building evaluation capacity. Implications based on the study findings are discussed