Competitive Integrated Employment (CIE)
The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) defines competitive integrated employment (CIE) as work that is performed on a full-time or part-time basis for which an individual is
Compensated at or above minimum wage and comparable to the customary rate paid by the employer to employees without disabilities performing similar duties and with similar training and experience;
Receiving the same level of benefits provided to other employees without disabilities in similar positions;
At a location where the employee interacts with other individuals without disabilities; and
Presented opportunities for advancement similar to other employees without disabilities in similar positions.
The California Department of Education (CDE), the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR), and the California Department of Developmental Services (DDS) has specific laws that guide the work they do. These laws encompass the following:
The DOR must follow the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by the 2014 WIOA.
The DDS must follow the Lanterman Act and the CMS Rules.
The DOR provides vocational rehabilitation (VR) services to people with disabilities to help them get a job. The DOR works with other agencies, including local educational agencies (LEA), colleges, community rehabilitation programs, regional centers, and other resources to provide these services. The DOR also provides students with disabilities services to prepare them for having a job. These are called pre-employment transition services. The DOR has offices, statewide, to provide VR services to people with disabilities.
How do you get DOR services?
A person is eligible for DOR services if he or she
Has a disability that creates a barrier to getting a job.
Needs VR services to prepare for, get, or be successful in a job.
Is able to use the DOR services to get a job.
What is an Individualized Plan for Employment (IPE)?
The IPE is a written plan that shows a person’s goal for work and the services to be provided to reach the goal. The IPE is developed by the person and their DOR counselor. The IPE is reviewed each year.
Services are provided that will help the person reach their work goal. These services may include vocational counseling and guidance, assessment, assistive technology, help with benefits planning, transition services, training or school after high school, on-the-job training, and job-related services and supports.
For more information on VR services and the IPE process see the Consumer Information Handbook.
The CDE oversees the state’s public school systems, which include over 10,000 schools in California. These schools have over six million students. The CDE works with many partners to provide educational supports for infants and preschoolers, through young adults, with disabilities. Many school programs provide these supports. Some of the supports are as follows:
Family-centered services.
Special education.
Transition from high school to adult life, including further education or employment.
*For more information on special education see the CDE Special Education website CDE Special Education Division*
*Students with Disabilities Statistics: See Statistics Here*
How do you get into Special Education?
Eligibility for special education is determined through an assessment process. The school brings together an IEP team consisting of the parents or guardians of the student with a disability, the teacher, and other school representatives to decide if the child is an individual with exceptional needs. If the child is found to be an individual with exceptional needs, the child is eligible for special education and related services.
What is an Individualized Education Program (IEP)?
An IEP is a plan made by an IEP team. The student’s IEP is reviewed every year. The local DOR and regional center staff are typically invited to the IEP meeting to talk about transition services they may provide or pay for.
The IEP includes:
The student’s goals for when they leave high school. For example, attend training, attend more school, and get a job.
The transition services the student needs to help them achieve those goals.
*Transition services are activities that prepare students with disabilities to move from school to post-school life. The activities must be based on the student's needs, preferences, and interests, and shall include needed activities in the following areas:
Instruction
Related services
Community experiences
Development of employment and other post-school adult living objectives
Acquisition of daily living skills (when appropriate)
Functional vocational evaluation
The DDS provides services and supports to people with ID/DD. These services are provided through 21 nonprofit organizations called regional centers.
These services include pre-employment services (services that prepare you for getting a job) and support services to assist an employee on the job.
How do you get DDS services?
A person is eligible for regional center services if they have a developmental disability. Developmental disabilities begin before age 18 and are expected to continue indefinitely. Eligibility is determined through an intake and assessment process done by the regional centers.
What is an Individual Program Plan (IPP)?
The IPP is an agreement between a person and the regional center. The IPP lists the person’s goals and the services and supports that the regional center will help them get to meet their goals. The IPP is developed by the person with the disability, their regional center representative(s) and others through a person-centered process.
*For specific information on the IPP process see the Individual Program Plan Resource Manual*
Informational:
What Will the CIE Blueprint Do?
The main goal of the Blueprint is to assist more people with ID/DD to get CIE jobs. There are about 780 people with ID/DD that enter CIE per year now. By June 30, 2018, the three departments have a goal of assisting 300 more people with ID/DD achieve CIE and by June 30, 2019, assisting 500 more people with ID/DD achieve CIE. There will be additional yearly goals in years 3, 4 and 5 of the Blueprint. A stakeholder process that involves people with disabilities will be used to set those yearly goals.
The Blueprint has targeted outcomes for each goal. A targeted outcome is a number or activity we can measure to see how well we did in implementing the Blueprint. For example, one targeted outcome is to help people making subminimum wage move into CIE, which is real work for real pay in the real world.
This user friendly overview highlights the objectives and strategies for each goal. The Blueprint uses the DDS Employment Data Dashboard to track the most important goal of the number of people in CIE.
The Blueprint Goals, as well as the Objectives and Strategies for each Goal, are listed below:
Goal 1 – Improve how the three departments work together to prepare and support people with ID/DD who want a CIE job.
Objectives of Goal 1
Improve information sharing between the three departments.
Work together to use current resources better.
Work together more on planning, implementation, and evaluation of CIE.
Strategies for Goal 1
Develop and communicate written guidance.
Encourage local level relationships among agencies to support CIE.
Improve data collection and sharing.
Goal 2 – Create more options for people with ID/DD to get ready for and get a CIE job.
Objectives of Goal 2
Get more people with ID/DD in work experience, employment preparation services, foundational employment skills training, post-secondary education and training, customized employment, and supported employment individual placements.
Get more people with ID/DD in the California workforce development system, including America’s Job Center of California (also known as One-Stops).
Improve how the departments work together with employers. This includes “job-driven” training with regard to hiring people with ID/DD in both the public and private sectors.
Strategies for Goal 2
Identify and improve practices that assist persons with ID/DD to get ready for and get CIE jobs.
Find out how many people we can help achieve CIE today.
Support transition from school to preparing for a CIE job.
Develop new ways to work with employers.
Develop tools and resources.
Goal 3 – Assist and support people with ID/DD to make their own choices about working in CIE jobs.
Objectives of Goal 3
Offer people with ID/DD, their families, and employers, information on CIE.
Strategies for Goal 3
Make more people aware of tools and resources available to help them achieve their work goals of CIE.
Support the community to obtain additional system knowledge, skill, and ability to assist individuals to achieve CIE.
Increase the number of activities that assist people with ID/DD in choosing CIE jobs.
This Blueprint lists the goals, objectives, and strategies that will guide the departments over the next five years and highlights how the departments, at the local and state level, will work together to help each person on choosing a pathway to CIE. The Blueprint also has a list of actions the three departments will take, with help from stakeholders, to make changes to increase CIE outcomes.
The departments will track how effective the strategies in the Blueprint are. Data will be electronically posted on the Employment Data Dashboard and CIE website (see link below) each year and will include an evaluation of progress and recommended next steps with stakeholder input.
For more information or a copy of the entire Blueprint, please visit the CIE website at this link: Blueprint
(all the above information is from the CIE website)