State Differences in the Transition Service Delivery of Centers for Independent Living

Abstract

Background

Centers for Independent Living (CILs) are disability led organizations with broad service offerings for supporting youth with disabilities (YWD) in achieving their postschool goals.

Objective

The current study was conducted to investigate state-level trends in the youth transition service delivery of CILs.

Methods

This brief report describes our analysis of publicly available CIL administrative data on consumer ages for federal fiscal years 2015 through 2022.

Results

Our findings show that there is a great deal of variation in the percentage of youth CIL consumers served over time both within and across states.

Conclusions

CIL support for transition age youth is continuously evolving across different contexts. Given the importance of interagency collaboration to the positive postschool outcomes of YWD and the potential of CIL service delivery, trends in their services and operations merit the ongoing attention of the field. In this brief report, our results are discussed alongside implications for future research.