Abstract
Over the last ten years, there has been tremendous growth in social enterprise businesses, defined as nonprofit or for-profit business ventures that strive to achieve a quantifiable double bottom line of financial and social returns. In many cases, these are revenue-generating businesses run by nonprofit organizations that understand and already provide services to the individuals they would employ through the business. Social enterprise businesses are self-sustaining and adopt commercial strategies to increase their effectiveness. This approach has been particularly promising in creating new opportunities for individuals with disabilities in emerging industries and increasing employment of people with disabilities. The purpose of this article is to describe and profile two different models of social enterprise businesses funded by Kessler Foundation that employ people with disabilities in integrated settings earning market-driven pay rates.
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