EMPLOYMENT FIRST
By
Sequaya Tasker
Dave Benjamin
OUTCOMES
Participants will learn information
about:
“Employment First”
Transitioning Youth Initiative
Changes to DDA’s Waivers to support
“Employment First”
WHAT IS EMPLOYMENT FIRST?
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Where the assigned work tasks offer at least minimum or
prevailing wages and benefits,
Where typical opportunities exist for integration and
interactions with co-workers without disabilities, with
customers, and/or the general public,
Using typical or customized employment techniques to secure
membership in workforce, where employees with disabilities
are included on the payroll of a competitive business or
industry or are self-employed business owners,
And being the first and preferred outcome for working-age
youth and adults with disabilities, including those with
complex and significant disabilities, for who working in the
past has been limited, or has not traditionally occurred.
NATIONAL TRENDS
Supported Employment (SE) has been twenty plus years
in implementation in U.S.
 First ten years (1986-1996) resulted in nearly 25% of
people with developmental disabilities employed in
community settings.
 The right to integrated employment is established by The
American Disabilities Act and Supreme Court’s
Olmstead Ruling.
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NATIONAL TRENDS
President Barack Obama’s Agenda for Disabilities seeks to:
“increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities by
effectively implementing regulations that require the federal
government and its contractors to employ people with
disabilities, providing private-sector employers with resources to
Accommodate employees with disabilities, and encouraging
those employers to use existing tax benefits to hire more workers
with disabilities and supporting small businesses owned by
people with disabilities.“
The White House disabilities agenda is posted at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/disabilities
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
The Developmental Disabilities
Administration ( DDA) believes
that all people with
developmental disabilities CAN
work, and contribute to their
community, when given
opportunity, training, and
supports that build on an
individual’s strengths.
EMPLOYMENT FIRST
DDA’S COMMITMENT
Employment will be the first option considered for all
people of working age (16 – 64) who receive
DDA services.
EMPLOYMENT FIRST
STRATEGIC PLANNING
 In
2008, through various town hall
meetings, focus groups, conferences, and
other gatherings, the DDA engaged
stakeholders in strategic planning for
employment services.
 An Advisory Group was formed to create
a strategic employment plan and to help
guide DDA through necessary
Employment System’s Change
MARYLAND’S EMPLOYMENT FIRST
ADVISORY GROUP
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DDA regional office and
headquarters staff
Family Members
MD Association for Persons in
Supported Employment (APSE)
MD Assoc. of Non-Public Special
Education Facilities (MANSEF)
MD Center for DD (UCED)
MD Coalition for Inclusive
Education
MD DD Council
MD Association for Community
Services (Provider Network)
MD Dept. of Disabilities
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MD Dept. of Labor, Licensing
and Regulations
MD Div. of Rehab. (DORS)
MD Mental Hygiene
Administration
MD School for the Blind
MD State Department of
Education 5 local school
transition coordinators
MD Works
People On the Go of
Maryland
Resource Coordination
The Arc of Maryland
University of MD (Special
Ed)
EMPLOYMENT FIRST VALUES
ALL MARYLANDER’S WITH DEVELOPMENTAL
DISABILITIES OF WORKING AGE:
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WORK!
Realize economic self-sufficiency through;
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earning wages and benefits that are
commensurate to the job and
responsibilities,
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the opportunity to save income and build
assets, and
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continued access to healthcare and other
necessary services, in order to achieve
the highest quality of life possible
(Employed Individuals With Disabilities
Program);
EMPLOYMENT FIRST VALUES
Actively explore and develop their own
unique career path;
 Engage in the negotiation and terms of
their employment;
 Engage in all aspects of the work
environment;
 Build and maintain connections and
relationships throughout their career
path;
 Have access to current information,
resources and quality services to support
their career paths.
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Employment Discovery and
Customization
and
Community Learning Services
(approved by CMS in DDA’s waiver
application 7/08)
EMPLOYMENT DISCOVERY AND
CUSTOMIZATION
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Time-limited (3-month period) assessment, discovery,
customization, and training activities to assist an
individual in gaining competitive employment at an
integrated job site where the individual is receiving
comparable wages.
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Include but are not limited to: community-based
situational assessments; job development; job and task
analysis activities; job training; work skill training;
modification of work materials, procedures, and
protocols; etc.
EMPLOYMENT DISCOVERY AND
CUSTOMIZATION
A job
development strategy
More intense in nature than typical
job development (i.e., job carving vs.
circling want ads, internet job search,
cold calling)
Good model for truly “discovering” a
person’s strengths, skills and interests
EMPLOYMENT DISCOVERY AND
CUSTOMIZATION
 Good
model for people who are interested in
working that are:
 newly entering DDA services (including TY)
and are not sure what type of work they want
to do;
 currently receiving Day Habilitation Services,
OR;
 currently receiving Supported Employment
Services and are interested in changing
jobs/careers.
* No services will be provided to an individual if the service is available to them
under a program funded through section 110 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
COMMUNITY LEARNING SERVICES
 Community-based
services, i.e., non site-
based
 Assist people in developing the skills and
social supports necessary to gain
employment; promote positive growth,
and; provide activities, special assistance,
support, and education.
 Highly individualized (*No more than 4
people with similar interests)
COMMUNITY LEARNING SERVICES
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Supports in the areas of:
 Vocational (i.e., career exploration, volunteering, job
shadowing, job try-outs, visits to local One Stop
Career Centers, etc…)
 Self Improvement (i.e., continuing education classes,
classes at local craft store, joining a local civic
organization, building a social and personal network,
etc.)
 Health and Wellbeing (i.e., exercise classes at the
local YMCA or gym, healthy cooking classes, joining
a weight control program, etc.)
COMMUNITY LEARNING SERVICES
 Good
model for people who are:
retired;
 working less than 4 hours in a day, as a supplemental
service during the day;
 transitioning youth that are not sure about their future
career, or;
 currently receiving services in a Day Program or
Sheltered Workshop and are interested in receiving
services IN THE COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY LEARNING SERVICES
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Are not:
 an alternative to work -Employment is the
expectation for all adults in our society
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“center-based” “Meaningful day” or “retirement”
activities, i.e., art therapy, recreational therapy,
exercise classes, cooking classes, that are provided
on-site
Progress towards the person’s employment goals will be
assessed on an ongoing basis and reviewed annually or
with greater frequency upon request.
GOVERNOR’S TRANSITIONING YOUTH INITIATIVE
TRANSITIONING YOUTH FUNDING
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Established in 1989
Purpose:
1. To demonstrate the students
with the most significant
disabilities can work and
contribute to their
communities and Maryland’s
economy.
2. To create a seamless
transition from school to
work (local school > DORS
> DDA)
GOVERNOR’S TRANSITIONING YOUTH INITIATIVE
TRANSITIONING YOUTH FUNDING
Eligibility
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To be eligible for funding through the
Governor's Transitioning Youth Initiative
(GTYI) the individual must be
determined to have a “developmental
disability,” as defined above.
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Additionally, the student is eligible from
the end of the school year in which
he/she turns age 21. If the date of
graduation is after the individual's 21st
birthday, the individual shall continue to
be eligible for one year after the date of
graduation.
DDA REGIONAL OFFICES
Central Maryland Regional Office
(serving Anne Arundel, Baltimore, and Howard Counties,
and Baltimore City)
1401 Severn St., Baltimore, MD 21230
410-234-8200; TDD (410)363-9430
Southern Maryland Regional Office
(serving Calvert, Charles, Montgomery, Prince Georges
and St. Mary’s Counties)
312 Marshall Avenue, Suite 700, Laurel, MD 20707
301-362-5100; TDD 301-362-5131
DDA REGIONAL OFFICES
Western Maryland Regional Office
(serving Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, and
Washington Counties)
1370 Marshall Street, Hagerstown MD 21740
301-791-4670; TDD 1-888-791-0193
Eastern Shore Regional Office
(serving Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s,
Somerset, Talbot, Worcester, and Wicomico Counties)
1500 Riverside Drive, Salisbury, MD 21802
410-334-6920; TDD 1-800-735-2258
QUESTIONS
RESOURCES
Benz, M., Yovanoff, P. & Doren, B. (1997). School to work
components that predict post school success for student
with and without disabilities. Exceptional Children,
63,152-165
Flannery, K.B., Yovanoff, P., Benz, M.R., & McGrath-Kato, M.
(2008). Improving employment outcomes of individuals with
disabilities through short-term post-secondary training. Career
Development for Exceptional Individuals, 31(1), 26-36
Taylor. S. (2004). The right not to work: Power and
disability. Monthly Review, 55 (10).