SWTCIE Illinois
Funded by U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA), the Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment (SWTCIE) Innovative Model Demonstration Project supports innovative activities aimed at increasing Competitive Integrated Employment for youth and other individuals with disabilities seeking or engaged in subminimum wage (SMW) employment.
Illinois was one of 13 states chosen for this federal award. This five-year grant project runs October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2027, and is a partnership between the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Rehabilitation Services and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Applied Health Sciences.
Project goals
- Implement a statewide innovative, collaborative, and coordinated partnership model.
- Establish partnerships with at least six 14(c) certificate holders.
- Identify strategies for addressing challenges associated with access to competitive integrative employment (CIE).
- Provide integrated services that support CIE.
- Support integration into the community through CIE.
- Identify and coordinate wraparound services for any individual served by SWTCIE Illinois who obtains CIE.
- Develop evidence-based practices and share those practices with other entities holding section 14(c) certificates, state vocational rehabilitation agencies, local rehabilitation providers, state and local workforce agencies, and regional and local employers.
- Provide entities holding section 14(c) certificates with readily accessible transformative business models for adoption.