The Problem
California became an employment first state in 2013, yet employment of people with disabilities has continued to linger at 17% despite their ability and desire to work for wages at or above the state minimum wage. Employment First Policy assumes everyone wants to work and that needed services are provided regardless of the severity of an individual’s disability.
Why is this a problem?
Current and recent efforts to promote cross-agency collaboration around competitive integrated employment (CIE) in California, such as the CIE Blueprint and the Employment First Committee, have proven insufficient to reach consensus around state-level goals or achieve alignment of CIE initiatives across departments.
Instead, DDS, DOR, CDE, workforce development boards, and other stakeholders continue to develop and launch their own CIE initiatives with minimal coordination with other departments.
As a result, despite unprecedented workforce challenges across the state, a potential workforce that wants to work is going untapped due to misaligned efforts and missed opportunities to leverage resources.
This fragmented approach has led to barriers that prevent people with disabilities who want to work from being able to access the opportunities and support they may need to do so.