The January 2025 issue of Access Press included an article, “Subminimum wages are eyed for change at federal level“” written by Jane McClure. The article was informative, but I am puzzled over the results of a grant funded project that was discussed. Danielle Mahoehney from the University of Minnesota Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) reported that clients with intellectual/development disabilities (I/DD) from eight participating service providers were provided supports enabling them to move to competitive integrated employment (CIE). From a population of 689 individuals being paid special minimum wages, 43 were successful in moving to CIE, or about 6 percent. There was no detail shared as to where the remaining 600+ people ended up, especially how many lost employment in those providers who relinquished their 14(c) certificates.
Is this project considered to be a success? Does it provide a model that should be replicated across Minnesota? The article goes on to say that none of the 689 participants lost services after the service providers in the project relinquished their 14(c) certificates. As a parent of a person with I/DD who has been happily employed under the provisions of 14(c) for many years and a Minnesota taxpayer for 50 years, these results are NOT successful.
-James S. Clapper, North Oaks
ICI Responds
It is incorrect that “clients with intellectual/development disabilities (I/DD) from eight participating service providers were provided supports enabling them to move to competitive integrated employment (CIE).” The Minnesota Transformation Initiative (MTI) supported the eight providers to transition their service models. We did not provide supports to people to move into CIE. This distinction is important, because several of the providers we supported did not have any employment services that supported people to transition into CIE when we began working with them. We provided technical assistance over an 18 month period to those providers to build those services from scratch. At the end of the project time, some providers were just launching those services, and a couple still were not ready to offer CIE-focused services to people they support. So not everyone who was in 14c employment received support to transition to CIE during the project period. Our hope is that these providers will continue to build employment services and begin to support people to make the transition to CIE. Transformation takes time, and we will see a lag in the outcomes.
Also, we cannot accurately report what has happened with each of the 689 people who were originally in SMW employment. This is because the eight providers who participated in the Transition to Competitive Wages (TCW) grant program were selected around the same time that ICI was selected as the technical assistance center (spring 2022). They jumped into their transformation work as ICI/MTI worked to build up the plans and processes for the TA center. A part of this was developing a data collection plan. Working with DHS, ICI/MTI chose to use an individual outcome data collection system developed by the University of Massachusetts-Boston’s Institute for Community Inclusion.
Our first data collection period was in the fall of 2022. By that point, many of the providers had already begun shifting people into other services, and two providers had already ended their use of subminimum wage (SMW). Because of how these timelines worked out, we don’t have a “pre-transition” data set for the providers and can’t accurately report on how individual outcomes changed “before” and “after.” What we can say is that no one lost services due to their provider’s transformation. People shifted into a combination of CIE, group employment, center-based employment at or above minimum wage, and/or day supports. We know that there are a number of people who chose to not pursue employment when 14c ended. We also know there are people who are not working but who want to work and are waiting for providers to have the services in place to support them. If all day and employment providers across Minnesota committed now to developing strong employment services that utilize best practices such as customized employment to support people with IDD to find and keep competitive, integrated employment then Minnesota would be well positioned when SMW is eventually phased out to support people to continue to work.
Read more about the Minnesota Transformation Initiative at the project website, and see videos about MTI Success Stories on YouTube.
