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VCU-RRTC-Transition
RRTC on Employment of Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities
The VCU-RRTC on Employment of Transition-Age Youth with Disabilities focuses on pre-employment training for younger adolescents, postsecondary and supported college education training for universities that are serving students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as internships for youth with emotional, learning and behavioral disorders.
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VCU-RRTC-IDD
RRTC on Employment of Persons with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
The VCU-RRTC on Employment of Persons with IDD will conduct multiphase studies that examine the critical variables that have the potential to improve the competitive integrated employment (CIE) outcomes for individuals with IDD and enhance rehabilitation professionals and other stakeholders' capacity to provide employment opportunities and supports.
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VCU-RRTC-EP
Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employer Practices for Individuals with Disabilities
The RRTC-EP investigates the most successful business practices which companies utilize to hire and retain workers with disabilities. The project includes four studies, the largest takes place in partnership with Bon Secours Virginia Health System, a long term leader in diversity and hiring of persons with disabilities.
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VCU-DRRP
Disability and Rehabilitation Research Project on Customized Employment
The VCU-DRRP helps young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including autism spectrum disorder, to achieve competitive employment based on the individual's choices, interests and skills. The project's overall objective is to test the effectiveness of customized employment as an intervention to facilitate employment for youth with disabilities.
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VCU-ACE
VCU Autism Center for Excellence
VCU-ACE is a university-based technical assistance, professional development, and educational research center for Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Commonwealth of Virginia. VCU-ACE improves services and supports for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by promoting the implementation of research-based practices in schools and the community through training, technical assistance, research, and collaboration.
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VCU-CTI
Center on Transition Innovations
The Center on Transition Innovations (CTI) at Virginia Commonwealth University is a centralized statewide portal for information, resources, demonstration, and research for educators and other stakeholders in the transition of youth with disabilities. CTI provides evidence-based resources and information along with emerging practices in the field. The results of research studies and demonstration projects conducted here in Virginia help us shape the ongoing work of CTI.
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WIPA-NTDC
Work Incentives Planning & Assistance National Training and Data Center
The Virginia Commonwealth University National Training and Data Center (NTDC) provides comprehensive training and technical assistance to Work Incentives Planning and Assistance (WIPA) projects, the Ticket to Work Help Line, and community partners to ensure accurate and timely support for beneficiaries on the road to employment and financial independence.
Webcast - Jan 27
Developing and Harnessing Social Capital to Achieve Employment Goals - By Nancy Brooks-Lane, M.S., L.M.F.T., L.P.C., Sr Consultant, Center for Social Capital - Individuals with disabilities typically have fewer opportunities to form relationships outside of the disability service system and build social capital. Social Capital benefits and is important to everyone’s career path. Integrating relationship building into each individual’s support plan is a valuable starting point. Social Capital then evolves into practice. Facilitating individuals to develop and enhance their Social Capital is one of the most effective and efficient ways to achieve state and federal policy mandates, such as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Final Rule; and most importantly assist citizens who happen to have a disability to have a working life.
Research Brief
Research Brief: The Voice of Families: Exploring Perspectives on the Pathways to Integrated Employment Like anyone else, youth and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) want to participate fully in the life of their community. Although there are many different avenues for community inclusion, finding a good job may be among the most impactful. A satisfying job provides opportunities to develop new friendships, share one’s talents, meet the needs of others, learn new skills, and assume valued roles. Moreover, a regular paycheck provides resources for meeting personal needs and makes involvement in other community activities possible. A good job can make a powerful difference in the lives of individuals with IDD!
Defining Customized Employment: Evidenced-Based Practices for Positive Outcomes
To better understand customized employment practices, researchers conducted five focus groups with 28 professionals, including national experts and people who implement customized employment for people with disabilities. The research revealed the best practices for employment specialists to follow while assisting individuals with disabilities in obtaining employment
Scoping Review of Cost Analyses of Employment Services for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
When we evaluate the outcomes for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in achieving competitive integrated employment, it is important to consider the cost-benefit of those services. Cost-benefit is an analysis of how much it costs to achieve a certain beneficial outcome. For CIE, we can calculate this in terms of how much it costs and benefits the individual worker or we can think about it in terms of the overall return on investment from the perspective of a taxpayer. The purpose of this scoping review was to analyze and synthesize the research on these cost-benefit analyses and what they tell us about different types of vocational services provided to individuals with IDD. This review looked at not only research articles, but also “grey literature” or reports, policy documents, and other ways that these cost-benefit analyses might have been published that might not have been published in a research journal. The review resulted in a total of 26 studies in addition to those other reports and documents. The main findings of the review were that services that were integrated in community businesses had the most benefit for how much they cost (from both the worker and the tax payer perspective) and lower benefits for sheltered workshops and services that segregated individuals with IDD.