News Release
US Department of Labor announces webinar on best practices for increasing competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities
Hosted by the National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities, this federal interagency webinar will allow state and local practitioners across the workforce systems supporting people with disabilities to discuss how they apply innovative collaborative resource sharing that benefits businesses and job seekers with disabilities.
The webinar is presented collaboratively with the department’s Employment and Training Administration and with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Administration for Community Living, the Rehabilitation Services Administration, the Office of Special Education Programs, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Social Security Administration.
The event will feature speakers from the following organizations:
- Colorado’s Office of Employment First; Department of Healthcare Policy and Financing’s Office of Community Living; Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
- North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services and Division of Mental Health; Developmental Disabilities; Substance Abuse Services.
- Arizona’s Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities; Rehabilitation Services Administration; Baboquivari Unified School District.
Speakers will share innovative approaches for the use of various funding sources to increase competitive integrated employment to benefit jobseekers with disabilities and employers in need of talented workers.
The webinar continues ODEP’s efforts to expand competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities. The agency works with federal partners and directly with states and service providers to help them leverage all available funding to maximize opportunities for people with significant disabilities to set and achieve personal goals for employment.
ODEP’s initiatives align with the Biden-Harris administration’s whole-of-government approach to ensuring the economic security of Americans with disabilities, including people from historically underserved communities. In July 2021, the agency published a fact sheet describing American Rescue Plan Act investments to expand CIE for workers with disabilities.
In concert with ODEP’s efforts, the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration recently announced its Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment demonstration project. The initiative will focus on the use of innovative approaches to increasing competitive integrated employment for individuals served by state vocational rehabilitation agencies.
