Summary Report: Workshop on International Environmental Governance: Grounding Policy Reform in Rigorous Analysis

From June 27 to 28, 2011, the Federal Office for the Environment of Switzerland, the Global Environmental Governance Project of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and the World Trade Institute at the University of Bern hosted a workshop on International Environmental Governance: Grounding Policy Reform in Rigorous Analysis. The workshop started a dialogue between academics and researchers on one hand and policymakers on the other in order to provide analytical input to the political negotiations on institutional reform in the run-up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012. The workshop focused explicitly on international environmental governance, with the purpose to create a common language between academics and policymakers, develop a joint understanding of the critical concerns demanding further analysis and political action, and identify points of convergence. The immediate goals were to identify existing and generate new reform ideas, as well as to launch a long-term, focused research and policy network that could bridge analysis and action. The event took place at the World Trade Institute in Bern, Switzerland, and brought together 40 renowned academics, international organization representatives, think tank officers, and policymakers from 17 countries

Service Provider Promising Practice - Work Inc. (Massachusetts): Using Data to Track Job Development Activities During Organizational Change

Work Inc. is a medium-sized CRP in Massachusetts that has served people with IDD for the last 32 years. Over the last 15 years, since Work Inc. began tracking employment services data, its approach to employment supports in the community has evolved. The agency’s data-tracking methods have both guided and developed alongside this change process

Policy and State-level Strategies to Promote Employment (Bringing Employment First to Scale, Issue No. 3)

At the national level, integrated employment has become an important policy priority. Greater expectations are being placed on those charged with delivering employment supports, and disability systems are responding. However, the promise of integrated employment has yet to be realized for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The number of individuals supported in integrated employment by state IDD agencies has remained the same since 2000, participation in non-work services has grown rapidly, and promising practices for employment supports identified in the research are not widely implemented. What are the state-level strategies that can change this trajectory? This brief: Describes the national landscape regarding employment policy and outcomes for people with IDD; Introduces a new line of research that considers state employment systems’ policies and practices and their relationship to individual outcomes; and defines policies and practices of high-performing state employment systems

Integrating Research, Training, and Knowledge Translation (Bringing Employment First to Scale, Issue No. 1)

What our new center is about: People with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) can work and want to work--yet the majority don’t have jobs. State and national policies exist to increase employment, but systems have not aligned to make integrated employment a priority. To meet this need, the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at UMass Boston is hosting a new rehabilitation research and training center, or RRTC. It’s called the RRTC on Advancing Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Because change is critical at multiple levels, the RRTC integrates four focus areas: individual and family knowledge and engagement, effective employment supports, organizational change for community rehabilitation providers, and state-level policy and strategy. What is Employment First? States that adopt an Employment First policy focus on employment in individual integrated jobs in the typical labor market as the preferred option for all citizens with disabilities. This means that employment is the priority for funding, individual planning, and the supports an individual receives

RRTC on Advancing Employment: Bringing Employment First to Scale

The RRTC on Advancing Employment for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, housed at the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston, is convening a State of the Science process in 2017. Towards that end, we are hosting a variety of listening sessions with multiple audiences to reflect the level of stakeholder engagement that has been a hallmark of the RRTC since our launch. In this listening session, we will focus on a “knowledge to action” agenda that grounds our research in issues important to the lives of individuals with disabilities and the systems and people that provide support. This engagement and feedback on our research findings will help us to refine State of the Science papers, and will inform a one-day event in Washington, DC that will connect federal policymakers with voices from the field. This session will include a short orientation to the project, and a brief summary of its major findings. Most of the session will be an interactive discussion on how community rehabilitation providers can translate the project’s research findings into actions that promote integrated employment outcomes. This session is an attempt to involve the APSE community in agenda-setting that will inform the trajectory of future research, and will promote knowledge translation to move research findings into everyday practice

State of the Science Paper – Engaging Families, Brief Summary

This brief summarizes a paper (State of the Science: Engaging Families, 2017) that explores the role of families in individuals’ employment outcomes through a scoping literature review, as well as findings from a qualitative study involving family members and individuals

Service Provider Promising Practice: New England Business Associates (Massachusetts) - Everyone is Job-Ready

New England Business Associates (NEBA), a community rehabilitation provider in Springfield, Massachusetts, provides individualized employment services to local youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This organization sets itself apart from other employment providers in many ways, from its appearance, to the attitudes of its staff, to the manner in which it provides services

Listen Up! Listening Session for the RRTC on Advancing Employment

Slides from a conference listening session about the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Advancing Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Service Provider Promising Practice - Able Opportunities and the Work Independence Network (Washington): Creating an Individual Placement Model Focusing on the Needs of Both Job Seekers and Employers

Able Opportunities is a certified vendor for the state of Washington’s Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, Developmental Disabilities Administration, Division of Developmental Disability, and Department of Labor and Industry. The Work Independence Network (WIN) began in 2005 as a partnership between Able Opportunities, Harrison Medical Center, and Kitsap County Developmental Disabilities to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) find jobs. Through WIN, Able Opportunities strives to meet the needs of both job seekers and employers through the use of innovative business model tools, including cost-benefit analysis and production charts. WIN’s goal is to help people with disabilities find meaningful work in their communities that pays at least minimum wage, while ensuring the satisfaction of the businesses hiring them. Within the WIN project model, staff members from Able Opportunities conduct outreach with local employers to create or carve out jobs for people with disabilities. The cost-effectiveness of the arrangement is emphasized to the employer, as well as the workforce diversity that results from hiring employees with disabilities. Able Opportunities works with the employer to provide any necessary job accommodations. The process used in the WIN model to delegate tasks, analyze costs, and write job descriptions is documented at the Able Opportunitie

CRP Organizational Change (Bringing Employment First to Scale, Issue No. 2)

Federal and state policy shifts have opened the doors to meaningful community employment for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities (IDD). Progress is apparent across the country: creative outcomes for individuals with significant support needs through customized jobs and self-employment, innovative practices at the provider level, and state investment in an Employment First philosophy. Despite these achievements, the number of individuals supported in integrated employment by state agencies that serve individuals with IDD has remained the same since 2000. While some community rehabilitation providers (CRPs) across the country have transformed their services to focus on integrated employment, including closing facility-based programs, most have not yet reallocated resources to promote gainful community employment as a top priority. This brief: Describes the national landscape regarding employment supports provided by community rehabilitation providers; Introduces a new line of research that documents and facilitates transformation efforts that will lead to greater community employment options for individuals with IDD