Opening your page…
You can still use the navigation while it loads.
Opening your page…
You can still use the navigation while it loads.
Disability Services
Competitive, integrated work is the first and expected option — not a prize for looking ready.
35–45 minutes · 6 lessons · Voluntary learning
Competitive, integrated employment is the first and expected option — including for people with complex support needs.
Readiness culture, a full day-program slot, and “too complex” are how first becomes never.
Empty chairs are data. Map who never hears the first option.
Both frames exist. Using fear as the plan is how first becomes never.
A repeatable method: ask, try work in the community, name the money, connect, document, review.
Take this back to one person you already serve.
Bring one live work object into the application workspace. Name who it was built for, who may carry the burden, and one change or formal escalation.
Competitive, integrated work is the first and expected option in Minnesota — not a prize for looking ready. At the Department of Human Services, Employment First is a practice, not a poster. If the people we serve only hear about day programs, we did not offer a choice. We offered a default. This course is a staff guide: presume people can work, including people with complex support needs. Name the fear about benefits. Use informed choice without a conflict of interest. And review the no until the person says stop.
If work was never on the table, that was not a choice. That was a default.
Use this aid while applying Employment First and Economic Inclusion to a live DHS work object.
Bring one live work object into the application workspace. Name who it was built for, who may carry the burden, and one change or formal escalation.
Participation and course completion in this program do not count toward DHS-required training credits unless management, a director, or DHS leadership expressly approves an exception.
State page: competitive, integrated employment is the first and expected option. Evidence, not the staff course.
Guiding principles: first option, informed choice, agency accountability, review when a person declines work.
Working-age Minnesotans with disabilities are to be offered a competitive wage before other supports.
DHS, DEED, and MDE path. Engage / Plan / Find / Keep is the shared framework.
Professional training: presumption, choice, and the day-program myth. Evidence for practice, not a copy-paste.
Home and community-based employment services guidance for lead agencies and providers.
Benefits and work. Use with a planner. Do not substitute hallway advice.
Work toolkit, informed choice, and benefits planning for professionals.
Consultation is a government-to-government path, not a vendor checkbox.