California Ready Willing and Able Apprenticeship Program (2025)
“Launching in 2025, Ready, Willing, and Able is a groundbreaking initiative developed by the California Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) and the Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation America (IWSI America). This program is dedicated to creating inclusive, skills-based apprenticeships that connect individuals with disabilities to high-demand careers across California.
What is an apprenticeship?
An apprenticeship is a paid, structured training program that combines on-the-job experience with classroom learning, allowing participants to gain industry-recognized skills and credentials while earning a wage.
With a focus on key industries like healthcare, IT, renewable energy, and advanced manufacturing, the program equips apprentices with industry-recognized training, mentorship, and career support. Employers benefit from a diverse and skilled workforce prepared to meet the challenges of an evolving job market. Through strategic partnerships and targeted outreach, Ready, Willing, and Able is not just building careers—it’s reshaping workplaces and communities for a more inclusive future.”
California Mental Health Cooperative Programs Employment with Support
“California’s Mental Health Cooperative Programs provide collaborative employment services to assist people with severe psychiatric disabilities enter or re-enter their community workforce. These community-based collaborations between local county mental health and Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) field offices provide improved access and specialized employment services and mental health supports for consumers historically un-served or under-served in vocational rehabilitation.”
California A 339: Qualified ABLE Program Age Limit (2023)
“Existing federal law, the Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE Act), encourages and assists individuals and families to save private funds for the purpose of supporting eligible individuals with disabilities to maintain their health, independence, and quality of life by excluding from gross income distributions used for qualified disability expenses by a beneficiary of a qualified ABLE program established and maintained by a state, as specified. Under the ABLE Act, pursuant to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023, an eligible individual for a taxable year is an individual entitled to specified benefits based on blindness or disability or for whom there is a disability certification filed with the Secretary of the Treasury, and such blindness or disability occurred before the date on which the individual attained 26 years of age, or, on and after January 1, 2026, 46 years of age.”
California A 447: Public Postsecondary Education- Disabled Students (2023)
“Authorizes and requests the University of California, to establish and maintain inclusive college programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities at four-year public postsecondary educational institutions. Requests inclusive college programs operated by the California State University, and inclusive college programs operated by the University of California, to do certain things, including, among other things, provide students with a person-centered planning process.”
California A 857: Vocational Services- Formerly Incarcerated Persons (2023)
“This bill would require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide each inmate, upon release, informational materials about vocational rehabilitation services and independent living programs offered by the Department of Rehabilitation, as specified, and an enrollment form for vocational rehabilitation services. The bill would also expand the scope of vocational rehabilitation services offered by the Department of Rehabilitation to include service provided to former inmates with disabilities.”
California Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment Project (CSP)
“What is CSP
The California Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment Project (CSP) is a Disability Innovation grant awarded to DOR by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration. CSP is a pilot research project, providing a comprehensive set of interventions and support to increase competitive integrated employment outcomes, economic self-sufficiency, independence, and inclusion for individuals with the most significant disabilities currently in, or contemplating entering, subminimum wage employment.
CSP Purpose
The CSP will test new service delivery practices and establish evidence-based approaches to vocational service delivery that address future needs with the transition from subminimum wage into competitive integrated employment for individuals traditionally excluded from competitive integrated employment, in particular individuals with ID/DD.”
“The Pathways to Success Project (PSP) is a Disability Innovation grant awarded to DOR by the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration. PSP will identify and demonstrate practices, which are supported by evidence, in improving Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) outcomes for eligible individuals with disabilities, including previously served VR participants to advance in high-demand, high-quality careers. PSP participants are served by sector-specific specialist teams that are experts in the industry and translate that knowledge to increased opportunities for consumers, served in-person or remotely, to enter career pathways for those occupations. The PSP sector-specific teams effectively engage with businesses, utilize work-based learning experiences, internships, apprenticeships, and career-level employment for DOR consumers.
PSP Career Pathways
PSP is a demonstration project which focuses on six high-wage, high-skill and high demand career pathways: Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology, Construction & Transportation, Green Energy, Health Care, and Information Technology & Communications. PSP includes a unique service delivery design by assigning, building, and serving statewide caseloads based on the consumer’s identified goal rather than geography.”
