EmployAbility, Inc. is in the planning stage for developing an organizational strategic plan. It is focusing attention specifically on expanding and improving supported employment. In the next two years, EmployAbility, Inc. plans to target 25 individuals for movement from 14c minimum wage work to competitive work. The technical assistance provided by T-TAP is intended to help EmployAbility, Inc., Inc accomplish the following objectives:

• Improve its assessment and job development processes in order to make better job matches that are successful for the individuals as well as the businesses.
• Develop internal training and staff development that will give its staff the necessary skills to develop competitive employment opportunities for the individuals served.
• Develop and/or realign the organizational structure to support the development of competitive employment opportunities.
• Improve its ability to do Customized Employment.

At Work is following a strategic plan designed to create a wider spectrum of employment integration techniques to achieve a higher level of competence in community inclusion. This will be accomplished by better utilizing supported employment and creating small businesses in the community owned and operated by individuals with disabilities, including micro-enterprises in which individuals with disabilities establish their own businesses. The technical assistance provided by T-TAP is intended to help At Work accomplish the following objectives:

• Instill the expectation that every individual paid under the DOL 14c waiver will participate in training that will increase his or her competitive job skills.
• Educate staff, clients, and families in alternatives to traditional employment outcomes, resulting in a wider variety of available options.
• Develop a broader range of skills in those individuals served by At Work to create new options for non-stereotypic community jobs.

The Babcock Center is in the midst of a substantial organizational change with a firm commitment to providing a person-centered and self-directed model of supports to services to the eleven hundred men and women with disabilities served. The Babcock Center has a plan to assist 200 individuals with disabilities currently attending the Work Activity Centers to find competitive employment by July 2005. The technical assistance provided by T-TAP is intended to help Babcock accomplish the following objectives:

• Transform the resources of the organization from center-based vocational programs to community-based and person-centered options.
• Learn how to actively engage the people served and their family members in the planning and change process.
• Assist people with significant disabilities to find and maintain competitive employment.
• Use an assessment process that is based on the values and interests of the people receiving services.
• Learn how to assist people with disabilities to start, own and be successful with their own businesses based on interests and desires.
• Learn the art of creating and designing jobs around people with disability rather than trying to fit people into existing jobs.
• Learn how to market the skills and abilities of people with disabilities in the employment market based on what they have to offer emplo7yers rather than trying to find employers willing to give someone with a disability a chance to prove themselves.
• Transform the Work Activity Centers into employment assistance centers where people with disabilities can find the assistance they need in creating or finding the employment of their choice.
  

Cranston ARC has embarked on an organizational change activity that strives to expand employment opportunities as an alternative to traditional supports offered to the individuals with disabilities it serves under the DOL 14c waiver. Over the next two years, 30-40 individuals currently served through use of DOL 14c Special Minimum Wage waiver are targeted to move into competitive employment. The technical assistance provided by T-TAP is intended to help Cranston ARC accomplish the following objectives:

• Provide information to families regarding employment and how employment may impact, their family member in areas such as work schedule, earnings and SSI, and day options when not working.
• Develop an internal structure at Cranston ARC that will allow the agency to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the individuals as their work schedules dictate.
• Utilize outside agencies to help identify and secure work for individuals.
• Collaborate with other agencies for training, job staring, etc.