RSA Announces Real Pay for Real Jobs Awards Totaling $177M

On September 21, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) announced 14 awards to state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies for the Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment (SWTCIE) program demonstration projects. With a total of $177M, individual grant sizes range from $8,973,845 to $13,943,946.  Recipients of these five-year grant awards will develop innovative approaches to preparing people with disabilities for better-paying jobs and to receive equitable wages. Innovations include the involvement of Kennedy Center’s Very Special Arts in the Florida Arts to Competitive Integrative Employment (ArtCIE) Project, Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment (CT/PIE) with a focus on essential workers, Green Jobs, and the transportation industry, and the New York based Promoting the Advancement of Competitive Integrated Employment (PACIE) use of collaborative partnerships with the NY Office of Special Education, Family and Community Engagement (FACE) Centers, Boards of Cooperative Education (BOCES), and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Read the announcement here.