Building a better financial future

Ticket to Work Program
If you are 18 through 64 and receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, then you qualify for the free Ticket to Work program to help you with career development and opportunities for Employment! The Ticket to Work Program provides most people receiving Social Security benefits (beneficiaries) more choices for receiving employment services.

Rhode Island Employment Networks (EN)
Providers in every state that offer specialized services such as career counseling, vocational rehabilitation, and job placement and training. Under this program, the Social Security Administration (SSA) issues "Tickets to Work" to eligible beneficiaries who, in turn, may choose to assign those tickets to an Employment Network (EN) of their choice to obtain employment services, vocational rehabilitation services, or other support services necessary to achieve a vocational (work) goal. The EN, if they accept the ticket, will coordinate and provide appropriate services to help the beneficiary find and maintain employment.

FREE Work Incentives Webinars
WISE are community events held by local organizations for beneficiaries to learn about the Ticket to Work Program and available Work Incentives through accessible, informal, learning opportunities. You can also attend a national online webinar. If you are interested in learning about the Ticket to Work Program or Work Incentives, you can attend a free Work Incentive Seminar Event (WISE).

Impact tour newsletterMichael Morris, Executive Director, National Disability Institute estimates that 40% of working age people with disabilities live in poverty.

"A dependence on public benefits for income, health care, food and housing, becomes a trap that requires people to stay poor to stay eligible. Whether it's access to quality education, effective transition from school to work, a need for housing, technology or long term supports, we know that enduring poverty and the lack of economic empowerment diminishes choice and quality of life and the meaning of freedom, opportunity and self determination," he told those attending a recent conference sponsored by RIDDC and its network partners the Sherlock Center on Disabilities and the Disability Law Center.


He said that while the goals sound lofty and the research is thin, the basic premise is that people who are poor - with or without disabilities - have a right to be part of the financial mainstream and have proven, when given access to services that work, that they can budget, plan, save, and be just as responsible as middle income America in managing their finances.

The National Disability Institute's Washington Insider is a monthly newsletter highlighting key federal policy news related to key NDI priority areas. The Washington Insider will track legislative and policy initiatives in the areas of taxation, asset building, and economic development that specifically impact people with disabilities and are gaining momentum in Washington. Sign up to recieve the Washington Insider via email each month.

Roadmap report

Despite being generally a marginalized population, Morris said that there are things that people with disabilities and their families can do to control income and assets so they can have more choices about where they live with whom they live and what they do in their spare time.

Some of these strategies include:

The Developmental Disabilities Council is currently involved in a variety of initiatives in the area of Asset Development that have been and will be implemented in 2009, 2010 and 2011. For more information contact Sue Babin at 737-1238 or Email her

Employment Resources
Included below is some general information and Guides from RI and other states/countries relating to employment resources in RI for both young adults, adults with disabilities and other interested persons.

Self Employment
Until recently, self-employment was viewed as an employment goal only for people with disabilities who had a business background and/or were thought capable of designing and implementing a business plan. For many individuals, particularly those who had cognitive disabilities, self-employment was not viewed as an attainable goal. Not So. Check out START-UP / USA. It provides technical assistance and disseminates resources nationally to individuals interested in pursuing self-employment. This includes the live web cast series with successful entrepreneurs who share their secrets for success.

JAN Entrepreneurship Resources for Starting Your Own Business
JAN consultants handle each inquiry on a case-by-case basis offering self-employment and small business development expertise and referrals regarding business planning, financing strategies, marketing research, disability-specific programs, income supports and benefits planning, e-commerce, independent contracting, home-based business options, and small business initiatives for people with disabilities. Resource materials are available through various links listed within this website.

The Able Act
Can Congress Help? Maybe. Here's what Rhode Island's Rep. Jim Langeivn had to say at the recently held Asset Development Conference sponsored by the Rhode Island Developmental Disabilities Network.