A Review of Policies and Practices Impacting Self Employment Outcomes Within the Federal/State Vocational Rehabilitation System
by Grant Revell, M.S., M.Ed. and Katherine Inge, Ph.D., O.T.R.
An objective of the START-UP/USA project, funded by U.S. Department of Labor, The Office of Disability Employment Policy, is to study the extent to which the Federal/State Vocational Rehabilitation Program supports self-employment vocational alternatives for individuals with disabilities. The purpose of this report is to provide Part II of a two part analysis of self employment participation and outcomes by individuals with disabilities within the Federal/State Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) System. Part 1 of this report, submitted in January 2009 to the Offices of Disability and Employment Policy (ODEP), U.S. Department of Labor, focused on outcomes in self employment through a longitudinal analysis of closure data contained in the RSA 911 Closure Reports for the period covering Fiscal Years 2003-2007 (Revell, Smith, & Inge, 2009). This current report focuses on lessons learned from a review of policies and practices that impact self employment outcomes achieved through the State/Federal Vocational Rehabilitation System. It describes a variety of initiatives being taken by State VR agencies to encourage and support self employment outcomes.