Resources
Resources provided on this tab are sourced from reputable third parties and researchers. These resources were not created by Connected Employment, yet they are provided here for educational purposes only. For further inquiries related to the below resources, please contact the original researchers/authors.
Employment First Committee Annual Report
The Employment First Committee is a statutorily created body which is responsible for identifying and promoting strategies that increase the number of individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities who engage in competitive integrated employment. This report will detail new policies, existing implementation efforts and progress, agency initiatives, and best practices that contribute to an increase in CIE for People with I/DD within California. In this report, the Employment First Committee will also describe some of the most pressing barriers and challenges in achieving CIE for People with I/DD. The themes of these challenges center around the lack of inter-agency collaboration, lack of funding and programs, workforce capacity, and business engagement. A set of recommendations aligned with these needs and promising or best practices will also be provided.
Understanding the Provision of Self-Employment
Abstract: State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies play a critical role in helping people with disabilities gain employment; however, self-employment remains an infrequent outcome for VR participants even though self-employment rates are disproportionately higher for people with disabilities than the general population. The authors argue that policymakers need to explore new opportunities to address unintended barriers and increase equitable access to self-employment such as replacing trait focused self-employment assessments, providing technical assistance from the beginning of the self-employment process, and develop funding policies that better align with those for wage employment services.
Employment First Committee Annual Report
The Employment First Committee is a statutorily created body which is responsible for identifying and promoting strategies that increase the number of individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities who engage in competitive integrated employment. This report will detail new policies, existing implementation efforts and progress, agency initiatives, and best practices that contribute to an increase in CIE for People with I/DD within California. In this report, the Employment First Committee will also describe some of the most pressing barriers and challenges in achieving CIE for People with I/DD. The themes of these challenges center around the lack of inter-agency collaboration, lack of funding and programs, workforce capacity, and business engagement. A set of recommendations aligned with these needs and promising or best practices will also be provided.
LEAD Center Inclusive Career Pathways Roadmap
The LEAD Center Inclusive Career Pathways Roadmap is an interactive online tool that provides workforce professionals with resources to help people with disabilities achieve employment and economic self-sufficiency.
Competitive Integrated Employment Roadmap
This interactive Roadmap to CIE powerpoint presentation, helps people who have disabilities and their team explore the road to employment and urges earlier introduction to employment and career concepts, so educational entities do not wait for transition or graduation to engage in work planning.
Guide for Job Seekers & Workers with a Disability
Because of the undeserved stigma attached to disabled workers, individuals with disabilities often face incredible odds when searching for employment. This is a sad truth, but one that can be overcome if you know your rights. This guide was created to introduce disabled workers and job-seekers to the rights afforded to them by federal and state governments. In addition, we offer useful tips for finding a job, advice on staying gainfully employed, and guidance that can help you talk with an existing employer about making reasonable accommodation for you.
The Work Incentive Support Center
The Work Incentive Support Center at Cornell University has developed a SSI at Work Toolkit to help individuals with disabilities, families of individuals with disabilities, and professionals understand SSI rules. The toolkit breaks SSI benefits down by topic and offers nuts/bolts, case studies, and quick facts.
DETAC Self-Employment Brief
Disability Employment TA Center
Abstract: Self-employment is a critical component of any successful approach to employment supports for people with disabilities. In fact, we have already seen tremendous pockets of success while, on average, most systems treat entrepreneurship as a distant, unlikely possibility. From the Center On Self-Employment we know that in 2018 and 2019 only 1.7% of successful Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) closures for all VR agencies were among individuals exiting in self-employment. What is lacking nationally is a combination of imagination and coordination because the resources exist. Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) policy encourages, even requires, cross agency collaboration of the sort that can weave together funded supports and resources for people with significant disabilities to be self-employed. Those resources, the methods of braiding them together, and a few examples of success are what we will explore in this brief.
Self-employment Tips
As self-employment becomes a viable option for more and more neurodivergent adults, this guidebook will give them realistic, practical guidance and support. Updated with a new and improved assessment approach, more self-employment success stories, and the latest on policy changes and online opportunities, this guidebook is your step-by-step guide to helping adults with disabilities get a small business off to a strong start. You'lll discover the nuts and bolts of person-centered business planning, and you'll get concrete, step-by-step strategies for every aspect, from business plans to marketing to finances. A must-have resource for employment specialists, transition professionals, and individuals with disabilities and their families, this book is the go-to guide for turning a small business into a big success.
Entrepreneurship is an Option
Guide that shows how entrepreneurship education can be implemented and offers suggestions on how to introduce self-employment as an option for individuals.
California Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) Blueprint
The CIE Blueprint was a five-year plan, developed by California Department of Education (CDE), Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), and Department of Developmental Services (DDS), to assist people with intellectual and developmental disabilities get ready for and get a job earning at least minimum wage working in the community with people without disabilities.
Workforce Best Practice for People with Disabilities Toolkit
This toolkit created by the California Committee on Employment of People who have Disabilities (CCEPD) helps America’s Job Centers identify best practice examples and understand how to better serve people who have disabilities.