by SWTCIE Illinois Evaluation Team: Strauser, D. George, Austin, Bryan S., Lee, Chun-Lung,
Kosciulek, John F., & Rumrill, S.Dec 17, 2024 12:30 pm
High-quality interagency collaboration is supported by research as a mechanism to improve post-secondary outcomes, including employment, for people with disabilities (Flowers et al., 2017; Kohler et al., 2016; Luecking & Luecking, 2015; Mazzotti et al., 2021; Povenmire-Kirk et al., 2015; Trach, 2012). To better understand the interaction and relationships among Illinois disability service partners and their current level of collaboration with each other, the SWTCIE Illinois evaluation team developed and administered an online survey to Illinois disability service providers. The guiding evaluation question of the survey was: What are the linkages and relationships among SWTCIE Illinois Partners?
These findings provide additional details to the October SIEDUB about linkages and relationships between Illinois disability service providers in Illinois. These findings are based on the three open-ended questions that were analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006; 2022). The three open-ended questions were: (1) Why is interagency collaboration important to your organization effectively serving people with disabilities? (2) How does your organization build trust with other organizations that serve people with disabilities? and (3) What are the challenges that your organization experiences when collaborating as a partner in serving people with disabilities?