RRTC Brochure

At a time when US unemployment rates are at a historic low, over eight million working age adults with significant disabilities are not employed. A recent Harris Survey reports that 72 percent of people with significant disabilities who are unemployed would prefer to work and contribute to the enconomy.

Multiple barriers to unemployment have been identified in numerous national reports and research studies including but not limited to

• Fear of loss of health benefits
• Lack of skills and education
• Lack of transportation
• Employer attitudes and discrimination
• Lack of choice in employment services and providers

Community Options, Inc. in partnership with the Center for the Study and Advancement of Disability Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, the Law Health Policy and Disability Center at the University of Iowa and the John Jay Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, was awarded five-year funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) to establish a Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Workforce Investment and Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities.

Specific research studies include:

1. The development of a policy matrix with critical variables in a post ADA environment to analyze the relationship between select state and federal policies upon the employment of persons with disabilities.
2. The analysis of targeting state policies and practices regarding individuals with disabilities and the implementation of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) and the Workforce Investment Act, including analysis consistent with ADA and Section 504 requirements of equal access and opportunity.
3. The analysis of selected state efforts to implement work incentive programs to improve the work status and outcomes of persons with disabilities and the critical linkage to access to affordable health care.
4. The analysis of policy-based implications of outcome based reimbursement and customer direction and control on the delivery of employment and rehabilitation services to persons with disabilities.
5. The analysis through case studies of small and large businesses of the effect of civil rights protections and multiple environmental factors on promoting or depressing the employment status of persons with disabilities.

Based upon research findings from these studies and others conducted by NIDRR funded RRTC's on Employment Policy, State Service Systems, Community Rehabilitation Programs, Workplace Supports, and Educational Supports, the Center will seek to offer new and revised approaches to workforce development and employment policy and serve as an information and technical assistance resource to government leaders and decisionmakers at a State and Federal level, individuals with disabilities, parents, and family members and other interested parties.

With the support of the National Advisory Board, the Center will seek to be outcome focused and actively involve individuals with disabilities, parents, and family members in all facets of center activities including training, research information, dissemination, and technical assistance. The overriding goal of the Center is to expand, improve, and modify disability and generic policy that impacts positively the employment status of Americans with disabilities, and increases their independence and self-sufficiency.

Outcomes expected include:

1. Policies improved at a State and Federal level as a result of Center's research, training, and technical assistance activities.
2. New relationships forged between State and Federal policy due to knowledge utilization from Center activities.
3. Improved understanding of public policy and its relationship to improving the economic independence of persons with disabilities.
4. Identification of new research questions for further study to eliminate barriers to economic independence for Americans with disabilities.

Each summer, a leadership institute will bring together state and federal policymakers and business and disability experts to continue to translate research findings to policy goals that promote work opportunities with appropriate supports and assistance including health care, technology and person assistance.

Project Director
Michael Morris, Community Options, Inc.,
michael.morris@comop.org

Co-Director and Principle Researcher
Michael Collins, Community Options, Inc.,
michael@dad.state.vt.us

Information Coordinators
Sharon Brent, Community Options, Inc.,
sharon.brent@comop.org

Sally Weiss, Community Options, Inc.,
sally.weiss@comop.org

Principal Investigators

Robert Silverstein, George Washington University
ihorxs@gwumc.edu

Allen Jensen, George Washington University,
ihoacj@gwumc.edu

Peter Blanck, University of Iowa
peter-blanck@uiowa.edu

Carl Van Horn, Rutgers University
vanhorn@rci.rutgers.edu

Duke Storen, Rutgers University
storen@rci.rutgers.edu

For further information about the Center's research, information dissemination, training and technical assistance activities, please contact the Community Options, Inc. Washington, DC office at (202) 721-0120.