Missouri's fourteen local Workforce Investment Boards will oversee local implementation of a federal grant that will enhance the ability of working-age, disabled Missourians to find jobs by linking them to employment opportunities and improving access to services and work supports that help them successfully enter or reenter the workforce.
The Department of Economic Development’s Division of Workforce Development, in partnership with several state and local disability service providers, secured the $1.2 million cooperative grant from the U.S. Department of Labor and the Social Security Administration to implement the Disability Program Navigator Initiative. The program’s main goal is to increase employment and self-sufficiency for disabled individuals by providing universal access to employment and training services through more than 40 Missouri one-stop Career Centers statewide.
According to 2004 Census data, only 23.9 percent of working-age Missourians with disabilities had a full-time/full-year job compared to 58.9 percent for people with no disabilities -- a gap of 34.9 percent. Working age disabled are those age 21-64 with one or more self-reported disability. In 2004, 447,000 out of the 3.3 million working-age Missourians (13.6 percent) had disabilities, which was above the national average of 12.1 percent. Missouri had the 14th highest disability rate in the nation.
The Division will issue grants to each of Missouri’s 14 Local Workforce Investment Boards to partner with community rehabilitation providers and others to offer Disability Program Navigator services. Disability Program Navigators will function as experts on workforce development issues and policies impacting individuals with disabilities who are seeking employment, skill development, job retention assistance, or career advancement.
The focus of the navigators will be on increasing the employment rate for people with disabilities and training other staff on resources beneficial to the disabled through the workforce system, Social Security Administration employment support programs, and other available programs, including Ticket to Work. In addition, they will work with business and industry groups to improve the market penetration of programs serving this the disabled.
As part of the grant application process, the department sought input and received letters of support from state and local disability service providers including the Statewide Independent Living Council, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Department of Social Service’s Rehabilitation Services for the Blind program, the Governor's Council on Disabilities and the Missouri Planning Council for Developmental Disabilities. These groups will continue to meet quarterly to plan and support the implementation of the Navigator program.
