By Lauren Orichio, Supported Employment Program Manager

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and this year’s theme is Access to Good Jobs for All. One way King County creates quality employment opportunities for our community members with disabilities is through the Supported Employment Program, which helps departments to create new positions that meet workgroup needs and are tailored to people with developmental disabilities. The program is on track to meet all of its strategic plan goals, and it will take all of us coming together at King County to continue to build an inclusive workforce by creating roles which allow members of our community to exercise their potential.

Pictured: This graph shows how many Supported Employees are currently employed by various King County departments.

Individuals in the program are supported by a Job Coach for the duration of their career. This coach is integral to assisting with recruitment, onboarding, training, and ongoing performance monitoring. King County established this program in 1990 to help address the 70% unemployment rate for this population. Employees in the program work for almost every department and office and contribute in ways that meet their unique skillset and fill important duties in a workgroup.

In 2022, a group of county staff from varying departments and roles came together to create a strategic plan spanning 2024-2028, providing direction for the future of the program. Three main goal areas developed by this group of champions were:

• Expansion of the program to every department and office,
• Increased training for supported employees’ workgroups and supervisors,
• Raise awareness of the program through inclusion in the county Equity Race and Social Justice plan

All of these efforts are currently underway. Departments without Supported Employees are engaging in conversations around creating new roles, and just under 200 county staff who supervise or directly work with someone in the program have attended trainings on best practices in Supported Employment. The nature of work has changed for many of us as a result of the pandemic, and 94% of employees in the program are again settled into consistent tasks and bodies of work.

Across all departments and programs, King County provides jobs which enable people to build connections contribute to their communities in a meaningful way. This month, the Department of Human Resources Disability Services group challenges you to think about how we can continue to expand access to good jobs for all. If you are interested in working through the creative and rewarding process of creating a supported employment role in your workgroup, or just want to learn more about the program in general, please reach out to Supported Employment Program Manager Lauren Orichio at LOrichio@kingcounty.gov.

For more information and success stories, visit the program website. Supported employee Ting Chao recently celebrated his 25th anniversary with the Department of Adult and Juvenile Detention (DAJD). Read about his experience and anniversary here.