Individuals with disabilities (IWDs) have an extensive history of segregation in the United States (Kim et al., 2001). In almost every area comprising a higher quality of life, IWDs have faced unfair treatment including education, housing, healthcare, and employment (Brock, 2018; Friedman, 2020). Unemployment is particularly concerning as the ability to secure and maintain employment profoundly impacts every other area of an individual’s life. Competitive integrated employment (CIE) is linked to increased quality of life, a sense of autonomy and empowerment, socialization, a sense of community, personal achievement, and perhaps most important, financial independence (Taylor et al., 2022). Unfortunately, IWDs are significantly more likely to be unemployed or underemployed compared to peers without disabilities (U.S. Department of Labor, 2022). In 2021, only 19.1% of individuals with disabilities were employed versus 63.7% of individuals without a disability (ibid). In addition, 29% of those with a disability were employed in part-time rather than full-time work compared to only 16% of workers without a disability (ibid). Gaps in CIE among IWDs remains a national problem in need of greater consideration and effort.
The Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services proposes to further reduce those numbers and to completely eliminate 14(c) employment through the Real Pay for Real Jobs (RPRJ) Education and Outreach, Partnership Development, provisions of Individualized Services and Capacity Building (EPIC) project. DARS will leverage previous success with Project E3 (a grant program funded by the US Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration), which was implemented in two local communities from 2017 to 2018, and leverage best practices from our current RSA-funded Disability Innovation Fund – Career Advancement Initiative Model Demonstration Project (known in Virginia as Pathways) to develop, pilot, and refine an innovative model that builds capacity at the local level, and that can be replicated and shared widely to support other states interested in eliminating SWE.