ACL Announces New Resources to Expand Employment Opportunities for Individuals with Disabilities

The Administration for Community Living (ACL), along with partners from the U.S. Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services, and Social Security Administration have developed two new resources to help expand opportunities for competitive, integrated employment for people with disabilities.

The first resource, Resource Leveraging & Service Coordination to Increase Competitive Integrated Employment for Individuals with Disabilities, provides guidance on how state and local governments can utilize streams of funding to maximize resources from a range of federal programs to improve competitive integrated employment outcomes for transition-age youth and adults with disabilities. The guidance focuses on the techniques of blending, braiding, and sequencing resources to expand opportunities and boost outcomes.

The second resource, A Framework for Community Engagement – A Pathway to Competitive Integrated Employment, is intended for both policymakers and service providers and offers an overview of community engagement strategies that will improve employment opportunities through collaborative and coordinated service planning and delivery. The guidance stresses the importance of community engagement efforts that build relationships and social networks, sharpen workplace skills, and teach new workplace skills. It also describes how employment opportunities should be individualized, interactive, and supported.