Since the early 2000s, federal policy has encouraged customized employment strategies to help people with significant disabilities secure paid jobs. Through customized employment, the relationship between the job seeker and employer is personalized so that the needs of both are met through negotiation of the worker’s job duties and flexible work arrangements. About eight years ago, the nonprofit SourceAmerica launched a new program called Pathways to Careers that combined several types of customized employment strategies, such as an assessment of program participants’ strengths (called Discovery), paid internships and work experiences, and post-employment career support. Pathways started with a pilot site in Clearfield, Utah, and expanded to four other sites in Massachusetts; Michigan; Virginia; and Ogden, Utah.

Mathematica is conducting an evaluation of Pathways, which will be the focus of a webinar that Mathematica is hosting on March 11. On this episode of On the Evidence, Shane Kanady, the vice president of workforce development at SourceAmerica, and Noelle Denny-Brown, a senior researcher at Mathematica, discuss findings from Mathematica’s evaluation as well as what’s next for the Pathways program.

A Q&A blog based on the interview is available here: http://ow.ly/uLcF50ywDm2

Register for the webinar on Pathways on March 11, 2020 here: http://ow.ly/b7Dt50ywDjQ

Find more information about Mathematica’s research on the Pathways-to-Careers program here: http://ow.ly/pwpy50ywDgr