| Introduction
by Cary Griffin, Director of Training, The Rural
Institute
This monograph represents an amalgamation of
articles and resources from invited contributors and the personnel,
consumers, and family members associated with eleven community
employment demonstration sites we established this year across
Montana. Our hope is that this publication exemplifies best practices
in community employment, stirs interest in entrepreneurship, and
showcases the inventiveness of rural residents. Employers, demonstration
site staff, consumers, families, local Social Security personnel,
and Montana Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors all contributed
significant effort to the substantial outcomes of these projects.
Continued thanks go to Joe Mathews, Montana’s Director of
Disability Services, for his ongoing advice and counsel.
The projects represented here focus on creating
jobs for individuals with the most severe disabilities using both
unique and tested supported employment, self-employment, and consumer-directed
approaches. Projects include the Montana Career Design Initiative,
funded by Developmental Disabilities Planning and Advisory Council
(DDPAC); the Montana Rural Employment Initiative Special Projects
and Demonstrations Initiative, funded by the Rehabilitation Services
Administration of the U.S. Department of Education; and the Montana
Consumer Controlled Careers Program, funded by the Administration
on Developmental Disabilities of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. Together, these projects and the associated
consumers, staff, and employers developed approximately 30 jobs
this year, mostly for people once considered “too disabled”
for employment.
Special thanks go to all those Montanans who
wrote to share their personal experiences. We also appreciate
the ongoing efforts of John and Connie Lyle O’Brien, two
clear voices in building community. Thanks to Kelly Lawless in
Texas, Margo Stevens in Utah, and Dan Rounds, Bernie Grimme, and
Dave Miller in South Dakota, our friends and colleagues outside
Montana, for contributing to this resource.
Please use the resources in this manual and let
us know what works and what you want to see in the future. If
you want your agency to become a demonstration site, need training
or technical assistance, or need help finding a job or launching
a small business, we are here to help.
Thanks again to all our many collaborators!
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