Interagency partnerships and funding: Individual supports for youth with significant disabilities as they move into postsecondary education and employment options

Abstract

Massachusetts youth with significant disabilities, ages 18 to 22, have new opportunities to enter postsecondary education and employment options while still under the auspices of their local school districts. This article describes how an interagency partnership of adult service agencies, the Community Based Employment Services (CBES) program, was utilized by high school-based Youth Support Teams (YSTs) to develop a new individual support model of collaborative funding for transition-aged youth.

Section 1 of this article presents the rationale for using an individual support model of service delivery and describes the six-step process that supports the vision of participating youth. Section 2 discusses the development and main components of the CBES partnership.