AIDD Provides $930,000 in Funding for Employment First Initiatives

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Community Living (ACL), Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD) has awarded two grants and one cooperative agreement under Projects of National Significance to fund two employment initiatives. These funds will be used to work towards improving employment outcomes and increasing competitive integrated employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Details of the awards are as follows:

Projects of National Significance:

Partnerships in Employment Systems Change

The grantee award recipients are:

• Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
• Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education (Anchorage, AK)

The grantees have been awarded a total of $732,000 for this initiative. These grants are in addition to the six grants that were awarded in September 2011 for the Partnerships in Employment Systems Change Initiative. By funding additional entities, AIDD can continue to work toward improving systems to support competitive integrated employment outcomes for individuals with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), with a focus on youth and young adults.

These projects will focus on systems change to prioritize employment as the first and preferred option for youth and young adults with I/DD. In addition, the grants will create partnerships in states to promote systems change efforts leading to the development of policies that support competitive employment in integrated settings for youth and young adults with I/DD.

As with the current Partnerships in Employment Systems Change grants, AIDD will ensure the success of the grantees’ efforts by supporting them with additional data collection, technical assistance, and evaluation activities.

Projects of National Significance:

Community of Practice for Supporting Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston has been awarded a $190,000 cooperative agreement to establish a community of practice composed of 5–10 states in the first year, with plans to expand as appropriate, build capacity, reform delivery systems, and improve strategies related to competitive integrated employment.

ICI will convene a Delphi panel to identify issues and emerging and promising practices across the country for consideration by the community of practice. The panel will include Employment First from the U.S. Department of Labor, the State Employment Leadership Network, and the Partnerships in Employment Systems Change projects.