Affiliations: Consultant, 22820 Peach Tree Road, Boyds, MD 20841,
USA. Tel.: +1 301 515 1889; E-mail: rwconley@wildblue.net
Abstract: This paper describes how supported employment programs are part a
set of comprehensive employment programs that began with the rehabilitation
program in 1920. It describes a survey of the directors of supported employment
programs in 24 service providers in Maryland (85 percent response rate). Two
important conclusions were drawn. First, the individuals who are primarily
responsible for the provision of supported employment services believe that
improvement is needed to find more jobs, higher paying jobs, and jobs with more
weekly hours for supported employees. Second, They acknowledged that a number
of issues must be resolved. Transportation must be improved, particularly to
jobs available during the evenings and weekends. Improved methods of funding
should developed that more accurately support the individual service needs of
diverse consumers, and with financial incentives to encourage both efficiency
and effectiveness. All respondents agreed that meaningful data systems should
be developed that would identify successes, failures, and problems, and most
respondents believed that the system should identify the performance of each
service provider.
