LEADOn! Article

Rhode Island Governor Employment First Executive Order

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On October 22, the Governor of Rhode Island signed an Executive Order declaring that “communitybased integrated employment shall be the priority and the preferred opportunity for Rhode Islanders with disabilities” and requiring that all Rhode Island Executive Branch agencies, including its Department of Health, “promote Employment First principles and … adopt the goal of increasing the percentage of developmentally disabled people in the State’s workforce.” The Executive Order follows a 2013 settlement with the United States Department of Justice over the state’s funding of segregated, sheltered workshops that paid people with disabilities below the minimum wage. Coinciding with reforms required by that settlement – including use of Medicaid home and community-based services waiver funds to promote competitive integrated employment – the Executive Order will help ensure that the state’s public health programs aimed at people with developmental disabilities focus on integrated employment as an important outcome.

A scanned PDF version of the Executive Order is available via the Governor’s website.

http://www.governor.ri.gov/documents/executiveorders/2014/Expanding%20Community%20Integrated%20Employment%20Opportunities%20for%20 Individuals%20with%20Disabilities.pdf