Employment Initiatives: Helping People with Disabilities Find and Keep Jobs

This service helps individuals make informed choices about pursuing CIE.

These services include discovery, job development, job coaching, workplace personal assistance (WPA), Partners with Business (PwB), and work incentive benefits counseling (WIBC) to promote and support CIE.

Resource memos:

• Authorizing Supported Employment Job Coaching for Family Care, Partnership, and PACE Members. RS memo 12-02 (PDF)
• Work Incentives Benefits Counseling and its Role in Employment for Family Care, Family Care Partnership and PACE Members, RS memo 13-01 (PDF)

This service model combines person-centered career exploration, planning, and training activities in community settings, enhancing skills, independence, and teamwork in groups of two to six workers.

Learn more: What is a Supported Employment Small Group Enclave? P-00898 (PDF)

A person-centered, team-based comprehensive employment planning and support service that helps members obtain, maintain, or advance in CIE. This service assists a member in identifying a pathway to CIE and addresses barriers to employment due to the member’s disability, benefits, or life circumstances.

These training services help individuals develop work-related skills, understanding workplace culture, and improve social and communication abilities, providing a foundation for future CIE. This service also involves community-based learning, work experiences, and community-based volunteering where the member can develop general, non-job-task-specific strengths, skills, knowledge, and experience that contribute to employability in CIE.

• Prevocational Services: Six-Month Progress Report and Service Plan Template, TA memo 11-03 (PDF)
• Progress Report and Service Plan Template, F-00395 (Word)
• Project SEARCH, P-01048-13-02 (PDF)

Project SEARCH, P-01048-13-02 (PDF), helps young adults with disabilities gain and maintain employment through training and career exploration. Find Project SEARCH site locations (opens external link).

Provides health care coverage for people with disabilities who are working or interested in working.

• Wisconsin Medicaid Purchase Plan (MAPP) Fact Sheet, P-10071
• Wisconsin Medicaid Purchase Plan (MAPP) Consumer Guide, P-00181
• Wisconsin Medicaid Purchase Plan (MAPP) Overview and Eligibility Flyer, P-03554

HEC is a pre-employment for people with disabilities who want to enroll or stay enrolled in the MAPP.

The WISE Program offers training and part-time paid work experience for adults aged 55 and older to develop skills for permanent employment.

Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is a proven supported employment model that helps people with mental health and substance use disorders find and keep jobs of their choosing. The IPS model is based on the philosophy that employment is treatment and leads to improved recovery outcomes. When working, people with mental health and substance use disorders feel better about themselves and their job role improves their self-esteem and life satisfaction. Through a continuum of support, IPS is more effective than other vocational approaches in helping job seekers find long-term competitive employment.

Interagency agreement (PDF) (opens external link) addresses interagency agreement mandates found in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Work Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Rehabilitation Act, and Center for Medicaid Services (CMS) waiver regulations to promote the creation of state, county, and provider coalitions.

• Before Age 18 (opens external link) provides planning guides and transition information by topic and age for youth and families. Use the Family Transition Planning Tool (opens external link) to answer basic questions and get a customized transition plan.
• Birth to 3: Deciding Together, P-02246: A step by step guide to decision-making as the team develops the support plans with a family.
• BPDD Supported Decision-Making Toolkit (opens external link): Supported decision making is an alternative to guardianship that keeps individuals in charge of their lives. This website has a Supported Decision-Making Guide, Toolkit and Videos.
• Explore Work (opens external link): Trainings for teens about choices and things to do to prepare for life after high school and becoming an adult.
• Family Voices of Wisconsin's What’s After High School (opens external link) is a learning session that walks families through important information for transition planning. They also have great fact sheets on their resources page.
• Health Transition WI (opens external link): Healthcare Transition is the change from pediatric to adult healthcare services that usually takes place between ages 12 and 26. This website has Healthcare Transition information and planning tools for youth and families.
• Let’s Get To Work Quick Guide (PDF) (opens external link) is a collection of resources and tools for teachers and school staff supporting the transition to integrated, community employment for students with disabilities.
• PACER’s National Parent Center on Transition and Employment (opens external link) provides individual assistance, workshops, publications, and other resources to help families make decisions about transition.
• Post-Secondary Transition Planning (PTP) (opens external link) begins at age 14 for students with disabilities. The PTP is a student’s roadmap for the future. There is a PTP app (opens external link) that helps students and families create their PTP.
• Project SEARCH (opens external link) provides students with disabilities in their last year of high school an opportunity for training and career exploration through a 9-12 month internship in a large community business. There are many Project SEARCH sites throughout Wisconsin. Find Project SEARCH site locations (opens external link).
• Promising Practices (opens external link): A website for professionals working to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
• Think College (opens external link) provides resources, technical assistance and training related to college options for students with intellectual disability. You can find the list of college programs in Wisconsin for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (opens external link).
• Think Possible!: A four-part employment training series developed for service coordinators who work with the Birth to 3 Program, the Children’s Long-Term Support (CLTS) Program, and the Children’s Community Options Program (CCOP). Think Possible! was developed to help service coordinators support the children, youth, and parents they work with every day to develop and achieve the goal of working in the community.
• Transition Action Guide (opens external link): The Transition Action Guide (TAG) was created to provide a resource to educate all partners on their roles and responsibilities in the transition process. This guide was created in collaboration between the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), Department of Workforce Development’s (DWD) Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), and the Department of Health Services (DHS) Division of Medicaid Services (DMS) and the Division of Care and Treatment Services (DCTS).
• Transition Discoveries (opens external link): Pennsylvania’s Transition Discoveries, focus’ on empowering youth during their transition to life after high school. Through the power of collaboration, Transition Discoveries connects networks into a detailed road map for success.
• Transition Improvement Grant (TIG) (opens external link) provides tools, training, and technical assistance schools to strengthen and accelerate the transition process and increase high school graduation rates, decrease dropout rates, improve the quality of postsecondary transition plans (PTP), and develop strong career, college, and community readiness among students with disabilities.
• The Opening Doors series (opens external link)are guides for planning employment, self-determination skills, post-secondary education, and adult services.
• WI Integrated Transition Key Resources (opens external link) features important resources for education, employment, and health transition planning.
• Wisconsin Statewide Transition Initiative (opens external link): The Transition Improvement Grant (TIG) provides support for continuous improvement and technical assistance to change adult practices and district policy that will positively impact the graduation rates and post school outcomes for all students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) with an increased focus on closing gaps in access and achievement for students of color.
• Wisconsin Transition Resource Guide (opens external link) provides tips and resources to help plan for adulthood and life after high school. Helps youth and their families consider choices, explore options, and take action to prepare for the future.
• Youth in Transition: You Can Work!: DHS brochure about youth in transition and competitive integrated employment as a priority initiative.

Wisconsin Disability Benefits Network (opens external link) provides training, technical assistance, and a professional forum for benefit specialists throughout Wisconsin.

• Wisconsin video story examples (opens external link) of teens with disabilities working in their communities, planning for how to achieve their future goals, and considering the possibilities.
• How workers with disabilities are helping fill the labor gap in Wisconsin (opens external video) Underutilized talent found in Madison WI.
• Stewing with Stacy: I proved them wrong: BPDD Self Determination Network (opens external video)
• Let’s Get to Work! David’s Story (opens external video)
• Norman and his Supervisor from Christian Brothers Automotive (opens external video)
• My Work Journey: Sydney Unplugged (opens external link)

Customized employment (opens external link) is a form of supported employment used to assist people with the most significant disabilities achieve competitive, integrated employment.

• Essential Elements of Customized Employment (PDF) (opens external link) describes the essential elements of Customized Employment with the aim of making service delivery more consistent.
• Customized Employment Works Everywhere (PDF) (opens external link) features stories of Customized Employment.
• Customized Self-Employment Toolkit (PDF) (opens external link) produced by the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

• Office of Disability Employment Policy Self-Employment Resource Page (opens external link) provides information and resources for self-employment planning.
• Self-Employment Toolkit V 2.0 (PDF) (opens external link) provides guidance for the small business/self-employment planning process with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR).
• Customized Self-Employment Toolkit (PDF) (opens external link) provides guidance for the customized self-employment planning process with the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
• Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment Resource Guide: Self Employment for People with Disabilities (opens external link) provides an overview of self-employment considerations and resources.

• Assistive Technology & Employment Toolkit (PDF) (opens external link) is a resource for supporting individuals with disabilities to utilize technology to pursue and maintain competitive integrated employment.
• Wisconsin Assistive Technology Program (WisTech) provides information on selecting, funding, installing, and using assistive technology.
• Guide to Assistive Technology: Types of Assistive Technology (opens external link) provides examples and direct links to AT solutions and products for vision, hearing, speech communication, learning, cognition and development, mobility, seating and positioning, computers, vehicles/transportation, environmental adaptations and more.

Wisconsin’s Act 178 Employment First legislation (opens external link) was published March 29, 2018. This legislation provides DWD/DVR, DHS/DMS/DCTS, and DPI a framework to advance CIE for people with disabilities in Wisconsin. Learn how the partners are working on Act 178 goals (opens external link).

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) Division of Medicaid Services (DMS) and Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) have a joint definition of competitive integrated employment (CIE). Find the DHS DVR Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE) – Jointly Approved CIE Definition (opens external link).

This definition is shared between both Departments and divisions so they can use the same understanding of CIE as they work together to help people get and keep jobs. WI CIE data tells us that when the employment team, that consists of the individual, DVR staff, vocational and long-term care providers work together, we all make it more likely for people to have better CIE results.

• Governor's Committee for People with Disabilities (opens external link)
• Physical Disability Resources

• DVR Service Provider Information page (opens external link)
• DVR Technical Specifications (opens external link)
• Video: Discovering the Possibilities with Wisconsin DVR (opens external video). Learn about how DVR helps people with disabilities find meaningful careers.
• Video: DVR 101: Getting Started With the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (opens external video)

• Technical Assistance Guide for Adults Seeking Integrated Employment (PDF) Guide for partner’s working with adults with disabilities to delineate roles and responsibilities for team members supporting adults seeking competitive integrated employment.
• Think Ability Wisconsin (TAW) (opens external link) Through a whole-person, whole-society approach to employment, Think Ability Wisconsin provides a comprehensive approach to support employment challenges for persons with disabilities. TAW is a growing partnership network of employers, families, educators, service providers, and people who think ABILITY. TAW navigators are available M-F from 8 AM to 5 PM to answer questions and assist with competitive integrated employment connections for anyone.
• Promising Practices (opens external link) A website for professionals working to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.
• BPDD Supported Decision-Making (PDF) (opens external link) provides information about keeping individuals with disabilities and aging adults in charge of their lives supported decision-making and other alternatives to guardianship.
• Best Practices Guide for Supported Employment Program Management (PDF) (opens external link) was developed for Supported Employment Program Managers/ Supervisors. It contains strategies and essential resources your agency can use to increase competitive integrated employment (CIE) outcomes.
• Competitive Integrated Employment Transformation Hub (opens external link) This website brings together resources from across the federal government to provide practical guidance, policy information and evidence-based best practices for people with disabilities, their families, employers, employment service providers and state agencies.

• Think Ability Wisconsin Toolkit for Self-Advocates (opens external link) provides important steps and resources for self-advocates to reach their employment goals.
• BPDD Supported Decision-Making Toolkit (opens external link) Supported decision making is an alternative to guardianship that keeps individuals in charge of their lives. This website has a Supported Decision-Making guide, toolkit, and videos.
• Let’s Talk about Rights: Guides and Video Series (opens external link) is a workbook and video series for people with disabilities and guardians learn about individual rights.
• Living Well Let’s Talk about Rights (PDF) (opens external link) A Guide for Self-Advocates
• Living Well Know your Rights (PDF) (opens external link) A Guide for Families and Guardians
• Self-Determination Channel (opens external video) features videos by self-advocates for self-advocates, including videos about work and having a job coach.
• Explore Work (opens external link) has free training activities and planning tools for youth for career exploration, workplace readiness, and self-advocacy.

• Think Ability Wisconsin Service Provider Toolkit (opens external link) provides important strategies and resources for service providers to support people in CIE.
• Let’s Talk About Rights Guides and Videos (opens external link) these guidebooks and videos can be used to train staff, self-advocates, and families/guardians on individual rights.
• Best Practices Guide for Supported Employment Program Management (PDF) (opens external link) outlines essential strategies and resources for Supported Employment Program Managers to increase competitive integrated employment (CIE) outcomes.
• Partners with Business (opens external link) is a statewide initiative to increase the capacity of employers to provide workplace supports. Grants are available annually to service providers to work on best practices for on-the-job support and learn to implement paid coworker support.
• Bringing Employment First to Scale: Guide for Employment Consultants (PDF) (opens external link) provides strategies and checklists for building trust, getting to know the job seeker, addressing supports planning, finding tasks/jobs, and providing support after hire.
• Disability: IN Wisconsin’s (PDF) (opens external link) Guide to Creating Internal Supports in the Workplace for People with Disabilities is a guide to create internal supports in the workplace for successful onboarding and retention of employees.
• Living Well Let’s Talk about Rights (PDF) (opens external link): A Guide for Providers. This toolkit provides information to learn about, understand, advocate for, and exercise personal rights and freedoms.