Start-Up Sites

START-UP/Alaska

START-UP/Alaska builds upon existing activities to increase the employment rate of Alaskans with disabilities. Many people with disabilities have expressed interest in being self-employed and some groundwork has been laid, but Alaska lacks a comprehensive self-employment infrastructure. To address the barriers to self-employment, START-UP/Alaska will implement several strategies. The project will identify strengths and limitations of existing resources and ascertain training, technical assistance and policy needs. They will disseminate a customized self-employment model at the one-stop job centers in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and southeast Alaska. The project will develop and test a business incubator program in Anchorage. In addition, they will modify and or develop policy that facilitates permanent, systemic change that results in increased numbers of Alaskans with disabilities becoming self-employed.

START-UP/Alaska's consortia partners include the Governor's Council on Disabilities and Special Education (Council), the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the Employment Security Division, the Division of Business Partnerships, the Division of Public Assistance, the CHD and the Small Business Development Center at the University of Alaska Anchorage, the Division of Behavioral Health, the Division of Senior and Disabilities Services and the Division of Teaching and Learning Support.

START-UP/Alaska Contact Information:

Richard Rainery
RainStorm Concepts
V: (907) 242-3235
rrainery@gmail.com

Millie Ryan
Governor’s Council on Disabilities & Special Education
V: (907) 269-8992
millie.ryan@alaska.gov

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START-UP/Florida

START-UP/Florida will evaluate three demonstration models currently being used in Florida for self-employment and entrepreneurial activities, expand technical assistance and training opportunities for interagency staff who serve persons with disabilities, and identify barriers and challenges to implementation of these models. In addition, best practices and strategies to overcome these barriers will be identified and disseminated. The three models (BOSS, Fast TracT and METTA) have been used in Florida to train youth, adults, veterans, older workers, and targeted developmentally disabled clients for self employment of entrepreneurial activities. Jacksonville, Lakeland, and Ft. Lauderdale/Miami have been selected for intensive training and technical assistance, and will serve as incubators for further expansion of the models.

The following partners have been brought together to address a special need for this project. The Agency of Workforce Innovation is the lead agency and will serve as the fiscal agent for START-UP/Florida. The project has been developed in coordination with Workforce Florida, Inc., the Agency for Persons with Disabilities, the Florida Department of Education, Division for Vocational Rehabilitation, the University of South Florida's University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, Griffin-Hammis and Associates LLC, the National Disability Institute and three Florida Regional Workforce Boards.

START-UP/Florida Contact Information:

Mable Hicks, Operations Review Specialist
Agency for Workforce Innovation
One Stop Program Support
107 East Madison Street, MSC #G-229
Tallahassee, FL 32399-4137
V: (850) 245-7 292
mable.hicks@flaawi.com

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START-UP/New York

START-UP/New York brings together a multidisciplinary collaboration of highly skilled partners to provide a customized, intensive, and well-rounded training, technical assistance, counseling, and support program for people with disabilities interested in self-employment. The project will develop an improved model for developing community infrastructure and capacity through public and private investment and collaboration to support and provide technical assistance to individuals with disabilities who seek self-employment in Onondaga County. They will document the strengths and weaknesses of the consortium model to assist in the start-up, sustainability, and replicable of successful micro-enterprise and small business ventures launched by individuals with disabilities. The project will recruit persons with disabilities receiving SSI/SSDI benefits in Onondaga County, representing a range of disabilities from diverse ethnic and racial groups who have aspirations for self-employment. START-UP/New York will implement the Self-Employment Plan by providing customized training, informed by assessment results, personal preferences, and peer advisors.

The key partners of START-UP/New York include the Burton Blatt Institute, Centers of Innovation on Disability at Syracuse University, the South Side Entrepreneurial Connect Project and Incubator of the Whitman School of Management; ARISE, and Advocates for Human Potential. Additional partners include CNY Works, Enable, the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, the Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Onondaga County Office of Economic Development, Vocational and Educational Services for Individuals with Disabilities of the New York State Education Department and additional local disability service partners.

START-UP/New York Contact Information:

Sarah G. Merrick
Social Services Program Coordinator
County of Onondaga
Department of Social Services
John H. Mulroy Civic Center
421 Montgomery St. - 12th Floor
Syracuse, N.Y. 13202
V: (315) 435-2985 x165 F: (315) 435-8354

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