Employment Initiatives

The CDD is working toward better employment outcomes for people with developmental disabilities. Everyone deserves to work in a meaningful job and earn a livable wage. People with developmental disabilities bring enormous value to the workplace.

In the past decade, there has been a movement toward increasing competitive, integrated employment for people with developmental disabilities. While the data suggests slight increases in employment of people with disabilities over the past ten years, they still continue to lag behind their working age peers without disabilities in terms of hours worked, wages earned and unemployment/under-employment rates both nationally and in NYS.

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeships combine paid on-the-job training with classroom instruction to prepare workers for highly skilled careers. Workers benefit from apprenticeships by receiving a skills-based education that prepares them for good-paying jobs. Apprenticeship programs help employers recruit, build, and retain a highly skilled workforce.

Competitive Integrated Employment

Competitive Integrated Employment, for people with disabilities, is work performed by an individual on a part-time or full-time basis, including self-employment, within an integrated setting in the community.  Integrated settings are typical businesses in which individuals with disabilities work side-by-side with people without disabilities, encounter members of the public, and are eligible for the same advancement opportunities as workers without disabilities.

Customized Employment

Customized employment is a process for achieving competitive integrated employment or self-employment through a relationship between employee and employer that is personalized to meet the needs of both. It is a universal strategy that benefits many people, including people with disabilities who might not have found success through other employment strategies. 

Disability Resource Coordinators (DRCs)

DRCs are credentialed staff that help ensure that individuals with disabilities access all the different programs and services they need, including career and training services offered through the Department of Labor Career Centers. 

Find a Disability Resource Coordinator

Employment First

Employment First means that employment in the general workforce should be the first and preferred option for individuals with disabilities receiving assistance from publicly-funded systems. This means that people with disabilities should be able to work in typical work settings, earn regular wages and benefits, and work alongside people without disabilities. 

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the process of starting and managing a business.

Mentorship

Mentorship in the workplace is a learning partnership in which a more knowledgeable or experienced person (mentor) shares their knowledge, skills, and experience with a junior worker (mentee), to guide and nurture their professional development.

In alignment with the CDD's mission and the goals outlined in the 2022-2026 State Plan, the CDD has funded a number of projects aimed to support people with developmental disabilities in the area of employment. 

Apprenticeship Program

Advance 2 Apprenticeship is a CDD-supported employment initiative through the Strong Center for Developmental Disabilities. This project aims to improve access to apprenticeship programs for people with developmental disabilities within the manufacturing industry. 

Watch the Video

Entrepreneurship for People with Developmental Disabilities

For some people with disabilities looking for equitable and meaningful employment, starting their own business makes the most sense. With CDD support, the Small Business Development Center at Farmingdale State College has developed an entrepreneurship program to assist people with disabilities in starting a business.

Watch the Video

Yes She Can: Work Mentorship for Women with Developmental Disabilities

Women with developmental disabilities are under-supported by employment programs. Yes She Can has created a CDD-supported mentorship program that provides real world learning and experience, and true path to future employment and greater independence. The program pairs young women with developmental disabilities with a  mentor to learn and practice skills needed in a work setting to increase future job prospects.

Yes She Can Website

Bringing Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT) to New York

Family Employment Awareness Training (FEAT) is a CDD-supported training program that introduces families to employment possibilities through knowledge, discussion, and real-life success stories.

FEAT was developed at Kansas University and has been implemented in several states. The curriculum introduces families to employment pathways by connecting them with resources and next steps they can take on their family member's career discovery journey. In New York, the FEAT team, out of Indiana University, will be working with the Chinese American Planning Council (CPC), a non-profit organization based in New York City, to bring FEAT to underserved populations in New York City. 

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), a national movement that celebrates and encourages hiring people with disabilities.

See the CDD’s videos featuring innovative projects to promote employment for people with disabilities and what self-advocates have to say about the value of equitable jobs.