News Articles

State Medicaid agencies fund a multitude of supports and services for individuals with disabilities. As national public policy has recognized and emphasized the ability of individuals with disabilities to work, states have begun to integrate employment supports into the continuum of long-term care in Medicaid.

A primary goal of the NTAR Leadership Center has been to seek ways to build capacity and leadership at the state and local levels in order to encourage change across workforce development and disability-specific systems that results in improved employment opportunities for adults with disabilities. To help achieve this goal, the NTAR Leadership Center conducted a pilot State Leaders Innovation Institute (SLII) from 2008 to 2010.

Many state and local disability employment services are operated by a number of different public and nonprofit agencies (e.g., the federal/state vocational rehabilitation system, the local school system, the One-Stop Career Center system, and many community-based employment service providers). These organizations often find it necessary to access funds from more than one program, agency, or funding stream.

Maria Heidkamp and Dr. William Mabe of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University have completed a study to determine the extent to which people with disabilities who have lost their jobs are seeking services from the public workforce system. In particular, they sought to learn how large a role One-Stop Career Centers and Vocational Rehabilitation counselors play in the reemployment efforts of job seekers with disabilities. Read the report.

Kevin Hollenbeck, Principal Investigator at the W.E. Upjohn Institute, has undertaken an ambitious study for the NTAR Leadership Center to estimate what portion of a state's long-term unemployed may have a disability.