State IDD Agency Promising Practices
Since 2001, ThinkWork researchers have examined data from state IDD agencies that serve a high proportion of people in integrated employment services, resulting in the development of the High Performing States model. The model identifies 7 elements that transmit and maintain commitment to the goals of community inclusion and integrated employment (see below). These elements are used to guide systems change activities across more than 40 states through the State Employment Leadership Network and other contracted technical assistance activities.
With these effective strategies, state IDD agencies have made gains in competitive employment opportunities for people with IDD.
Check out ThinkWork’s Promising Practices based on the 7 elements that highlight states engaged in systems change!
We’ve sorted state IDD agency provider promising practices into the following topics:
These promising practices emphasize actions state IDD agencies take to prioritize competitive jobs and community life as the preferred options for youth and working-age adults with IDD.
Funding and Service Contracting
These promising practices emphasize financing strategies that prioritize and support competitive jobs and community life for youth and working-age adults with IDD.
Training & Technical Assistance
These promising practices emphasize state IDD agency investment in education, training, and technical assistance to support statewide goals regarding the transition to competitive jobs and community life for youth and working-age adults with IDD.
These promising practices emphasize state IDD agencies’ actions to support implementation of creative and best practices for engagement in competitive jobs and community life.
These promising practices describe state IDD agencies’ efforts to develop, maintain, and use data on employment outcomes to evaluate the impact of policies and procedures that support competitive jobs and community life.
These promising practices emphasize the importance of intra- and interagency approaches to support competitive jobs and community life for youth and working-age adults with IDD.