State Agency Promising Practices: Reaching Target Employment Goals - The Five-year Initiative from Florida’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD)

Authors

Jennifer Bose, University of Massachusetts BostonFollow
ThinkWork! at the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston

Document Type

Occasional Paper

Publication Date

2009

Keywords

Implementation of Priority Policy Goals, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, I/DD, Developmental Disabilities, Employment, Access to Integrated Employment, ThinkWork

Disciplines

Organization Development | Rehabilitation and Therapy | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Social Work | Sociology | Vocational Rehabilitation Counseling

Abstract

The state of Florida has implemented a five-year employment initiative for people with ID/DD. The goal is to enable at least 50% of adults (ages 18 to 55) receiving APD-funded day services as of July 1, 2004, to achieve community employment by July 1, 2009. APD-funded services include adult day training, supported employment, and non-residential supports and services. Florida is specifically targeting a total of 25% of individuals who were in Adult Day Training (ADT) on July 1, 2004, to be employed by July 1, 2009. The impetus for this five-year initiative was multifold. Governor Jeb Bush created a Blue Ribbon Task Force in 2003 to provide guidance on improving inclusive community living options, transition outcomes, and employment opportunities. The development of the initiative was also directly supported by statewide survey data from 2003, which indicated that 70% of unemployed people with developmental disabilities wanted a job.

Recommended Citation

Bose, Jennifer and ThinkWork! at the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston, "State Agency Promising Practices: Reaching Target Employment Goals - The Five-year Initiative from Florida’s Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD)" (2009). ThinkWork! Publications. 68.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/thinkwork/68