This project was home to research, training, and outreach activities that promoted employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Browse the Think Work website for resources created under the RRTC.
The RRTC supported four activities:
(1) Choosing Work: Effective Knowledge Translation and Support for Individuals and Families
This line of research created a comprehensive information, outreach, and support framework for individuals and families that enables timely access to information about employment throughout the lifespan.
(2) Increasing the Effectiveness of Employment Consultants
This work defined a model for employment support that incorporated research, practice, job seeker support needs, organizational culture, and personal resources. The intervention aimed to improve the quality of services provided by employment consultants through online training, data-based performance feedback, and facilitated peer-to-peer support.
(3) Building Capacity and Supporting Organizational Transformation for Community Rehabilitation Providers (CRPs)
Project staff developed a model framework and the Agency Change Toolkit to support community rehabilitation providers in implementing an Employment First focus.
(4) Policies and Practices of High-Performing State Employment Systems
This line of research defined the characteristics of a high-performing state system that promotes cross-agency and resource integration. Research identified effective state practices and policies that lead to employment outcomes and described Employment First policy implementation and outcomes at both the national and state levels.
About
The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) on Advancing Employment for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) was a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston that ran from 2014–2019.
It was funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research in the Administration for Community Living in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.