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6/23/2006
Boston University and Community Work Services
Announce Initial Study Results to Improve Job Retention Rate Among
Homeless With Disabilities; Comprehensive Case Management Can
Return Up to $25,000 Annually for Each Person
(CSRwire) BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 2006--Boston
University and Community Work Services (CWS) announce the release
of new study findings that demonstrate savings in Social Services
cost of over $25,000 per person each for each homeless persons
transitioned to permanent employment. The study has just been
released by a team of researchers from Boston University's (BU)
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and
Community Work Services (CWS), a leading Boston-based vocational
rehabilitation agency.
In announcing the release of the study results, Serena Powell,
Executive Director of Community Work Services said, "CWS is
pleased to been able to actively participate in this ground
breaking project that begins to quantify the 'best practices' of
effective case management in helping homeless people with
disabilities contribute positively to society through gainful
employment."
"Current social service programs often focus on one or two life
issues that keep the homeless from productive employment," said
Dr. William McCarriston, a co-principal investigator of the study,
consultant and past Executive Director to Community Work Services.
"At CWS we have spent years evolving techniques to acquire more
effective and enduring employment for our clients. The study
provides an empirical basis for techniques what many case managers
have felt were effective for quite some time."
"We knew that individuals who were homeless could get jobs, but we
also knew that they had significant difficulty sustaining
employment and advancing in their jobs," explained Norman Hursh,
associate professor of rehabilitation counseling at BU Sargent
College and program committee member at CWS proposed the study to
empirically determine methods of improving job acquisition and
retention rates for chronically homeless individuals with
significant disabilities. "We also studied effective employment
models that could be put in place to improve the lives of homeless
individuals within current programs. Our findings indicate that to
ending homelessness must focus not only on finding permanent
housing, but also on implementing services and programs that
provide work and life supports."
The long term demonstration program has shown that successful
employment for persons who are homeless is possible. Working with
30 experts in the field of homelessness and employment services,
the study approach identified a significant number of potential
job retention factors, studied these factors with a group of 40
homeless persons, and then expanded the study scope to over 140
homeless individuals.
Building on prior research performed at CWS, the joint study found
that 'non-traditional' case management practices played a central
role delivering positive long term impact to the employment of
homeless persons with significant physical, mental and social
disabilities. Coordination of training and skills development
combined with support to resolve housing, legal, health care,
benefits challenges within the framework of a meaningful, trusting
and open relationship with a case manager was identified by
participants as crucial to allowing individuals to establish work
and life support structures that would sustain long term
employment.
The study, funded by a grant from the U. S. Department of
Education National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation
Research (NIDRR), identifies employment services that have
positive impact on the long term employment prospects of homeless
people with significant disabilities. The researchers expect to
release additional results as analysis in this comprehensive study
proceeds.
Boston University (BU) Sargent College of Health and
Rehabilitation Sciences is an institution of higher education,
research and clinical centers whose premier academic programs
prepare dynamic health professionals and whose research and
leadership in the health and rehabilitation sciences is actively
shaping health care. BU Sargent College is the only private
institution in the country offering five nationally ranked
graduate programs in health and rehabilitation sciences. For more
information and to learn about degree programs in physical
therapy, occupational therapy, speech, language and hearing
sciences, health science, athletic training, nutrition, and
rehabilitation counseling, visit
http://www.bu.edu/sargent.
Community Work Services (CWS), makes it possible for the
hardest-to-serve homeless and disabled populations to achieve
self-sufficiency. Established in 1877, CWS is the oldest
vocational rehabilitation organization in the United States,
hailed by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as
"a program that works," the organization provides job training and
support services. For more information about CWS and to view
Research Briefs resulting from this study, visit
http://www.cwsbos.com.
Copyright Business Wire 2006
For more information please contact:
Serena Powell, Community Work Services
617-720.5328
Pam Powell, Boston University
617-353-0197
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