Affiliations: TransCen, Inc., Rockville, MD, USA | Maryland Governor's Workforce Investment Board, MD,
USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Lisa Cuozzo, Maryland Customized
Employment Partnership & Veterans Workforce Investment Program,
Westfield South Office Bldg, 1002 Veirs Mill Rd, First Floor, Wheaton, MD
20902, USA. E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) includes provisions for universal
access by people with disabilities to employment and training programs offered
to the general public by the nation's One-Stop Career Centers. In order to
reinforce these provisions there have been several federal initiatives to
promote such access, including the development of customized employment
opportunities for individuals with significant disabilities using the resources
of the One-Stop Career Center system. This article describes a partnership led
by a local WIA provider in Maryland, reports on how the WIA sponsored One-Stop
services have been adapted to serve people with significant disabilities,
reports on employment outcomes achieved through this partnership, and discusses
the implications for future One-Stop access and employment service delivery for
individuals with significant disabilities.
Keywords: One-Stop Career Centers, customized employment, disability
