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SWTCIE Illinois Evaluation Dissemination and Utilization Brief (SIEDUB)
Developed by the SWTCIE Illinois evaluation team, the SIEDUB disseminates monthly evaluation findings of the SWTCIE Illinois project, addressing each of the six constructs of focus (Quality of Life, Interagency Collaboration, Vocational Rehabilitation Services, Implementation, Knowledge Translation, and Sustainability).
All Results

blog posts

  • Employment Specialists Perspectives of the Pilot Year of SWTCIE Illinois

    Mar 18, 2025 12:30 pm4 views

    In the Fall 2024, as part of the ongoing evaluation for the pilot year of the SWTCIE Illinois project, the Evaluation Team interviewed all 12 project employment specialists, using the Sustainability Evaluation Framework construct to guide the discussions and collect insights on their perspectives while supporting SWTCIE Illinois participants. Three themes were developed: Impact on the SWTCIE Illinois Participant, Technical Assistance and Support and Networking/Community Engagement, and the findings revealed multiple implications for the SWTCIE Illinois project.

  • Training and Development, Technical Assistance, and Outreach (TDTAO): Community Research Specialist (CRS) Activity Log Report for Quarter 4 (Q4: July-September 2024)

    Feb 18, 2025 12:30 pm44 views

    Training and Development, Technical Assistance, and Outreach (TDTAO) is a key subconstruct of focus for SWTCIE evaluation, falling under the primary constructs of Interagency Collaboration and Implementation. This SIEDUB includes two reports of significant TDTAO endeavors under SWTCIE, highlighting and providing implications for interagency collaboration and implementation. Read on for the community research specialists’ (CRS) activity log report for quarter 4 (July-September 2024).

  • Facilitating Organizational Transformation Towards Competitive Integrated Employment

    Jan 14, 2025 12:30 pm32 views

    The SWTCIE Illinois Evaluation Team conducted a survey of the staff of the six project agencies to gather data related to organizational transformation towards competitive integrated employment. The construct of interest in the survey from our project evaluation framework was Transformative Business Model. In SWTCIE Illinois, a transformative business model is a process of business model exploration, creation, adoption, and transformation aimed at (1) sustainable development and long-term prosperity of the organization and its stakeholders, and (2) adopting solutions that foster sustainability (Geissdoerfer et al., 2018). The evaluation question of focus was: What evidence exists regarding 14c organization transformative business model development and sustainability?

  • Importance, trust, and Challenges for Effective Interagency Collaboration: Illinois Disability Service Provider Perspectives

    Dec 17, 2024 12:30 pm28 views

    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? 

  • Training and Development, Technical Assistance, and Outreach (TDTAO): Community Research Specialist (CRS) Activity Log Report for Quarter 3 (Q3: April-June 2024); and Employment Specialist Roundtable Event Exit Survey Report

    Nov 18, 2024 12:30 pm36 views

    Training and Development, Technical Assistance, and Outreach (TDTAO) is a key subconstruct of focus for SWTCIE evaluation, falling under the primary constructs of Interagency Collaboration and Implementation. This SIEDUB includes two reports of significant TDTAO endeavors under SWTCIE, highlighting and providing implications for interagency collaboration and implementation. Read on for the community research specialists’ (CRS) activity log report for quarter 3 (April-June 2024) and the results of the exit survey from the employment specialist roundtable event held in Champaign on August 29-30, 2024.

  • Interagency Collaboration Survey: Linkages and Relationships among Illinois Disability Service Providers

    Oct 15, 2024 12:30 pm40 views

    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). The need to collaborate is important for effective comprehensive service provision for both adults and youth with disabilities, but much of the collaboration research has been focused on young adults with disabilities transitioning out of high schools and into adult services (Carter et al., 2020; Mazzotti et al. 2021; & Saleh et al., 2019). 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?  

  • Vocational Rehabilitation Services: Competitive Integrated Employment Trends for Illinois Division of Rehabilitation Services Customers with Intellectual Disabilities

    Sep 17, 2024 12:30 pm105 views

    The number of people with disabilities working in subminimum wage employment has continued to diminish over time. At least 13 states have enacted laws that no longer allow employers to hold a 14(c) certificate, necessary to pay U.S. citizens less than minimum wage. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, as of September 1, 2024, there are 62 Illinois employers that are 14(c) certificate holders or have certificates that are pending and 2,954 Illinois workers with disabilities employed in subminimum wage jobs.

  • Hello and welcome to the inaugural issue of SIEDUB!

    Aug 16, 2024 12:30 pm62 views

    This is the first of many publications to document progress of SWTCIE Illinois (IL) that is finishing up the pilot year, Year 2, of the project. 

    In this initial issue we:

    1. Articulate the programmatic goals and activities of SWTCIE IL, 
    2. Lay out the SWTCIE IL Evaluation Framework (SIEF) and its importance in relation to assessing key outcomes, and 
    3. Describe how each issue of SIEDUB can be used to inform and improve SWTCIE IL competitive integrated employment (CIE) practices and strategies.