The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) strengthens the focus on serving individuals with disabilities.

As one of the seven major strategic components of the Disability Employment Initiative (DEI), the Integrated Resource Team (IRT) model represents a strategy that a local workforce area can use to provide an increased level of support to a job seeker with a disability.

The purpose of this resource pages is to present the IRT concept, and offer guidance on the potential role of a Disability Resource Coordinators (DRCs) in introducing the IRT approach, and facilitating for an individual job seeker.

Strategic Service Delivery Components

The DEI Program has developed a hypothetical case scenario to help DRCs and other project staff see the connections between the DEI and use strategic service delivery components that ultimately leads to a better understanding of how the different pieces work together. 

Integrated Resource Team Materials and Resource Guide

The materials here offer an additional level of detail related to the activities identified in the Integrated Resource Team (IRT) flow chart on career and training services. This information is meant to provide a cursory overview of the two potential customer flow scenarios that can take place after the customer attends a job center orientation.

                                Gainful Employment and College Degrees

The video "Making Employment Connections for Job Seekers with Disabilities," tells the story of how the IRT approach worked to assist a customer, who is deaf, receive training at his local community college and a paid internship with the goal of finding a higher paying job.                               

The IRT brings together various partners from a myriad of organizations to leverage resources, coordinate services/programs, and reduce duplication to better serve the individual customer with a disability and/or multiple employment challenges.

The ultimate goal of the IRT is to get the person with a disability a job -- not just any job, but a quality, non-stereotypical job that provides a living wage, career lattice opportunities, and benefits, and that reflects the individual’s interests, experience, education/training goals, and desires.            

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