Stay Informed!

By Lauren Stebbins on 01/20/2011 @ 03:41 PM

Tags: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Economic Inclusion

People with disabilities face disproportionately high rates of unemployment. In order to address this and develop self-employment as a viable option for people with disabilities, the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) funded the Self-Employment Technical Assistance, Resources, & Training or START-UP USA, a partnership between Virginia Commonwealth University and Griffin-Hammis and Associates, LLC. START-UP USA provides technical assistance and disseminates a range of resources to people with disabilities that want to pursue self-employment. START-UP USA also provides technical assistance to three START-UP demonstration projects in New York, Alaska, and Florida.  

The New York demonstration, START-UP NY, has been particularly successful in creating a model of “inclusive entrepreneurship” that can serve as a model for replication – one the overall goals of the START-UP initiative. START-UP NY, a partnership between the Syracuse University Burton Blatt Institute (BBI), the University’s Whitman School of Management (through its South Side Innovation Center) and Onondaga County, has worked with 204 individuals with disabilities since 2007 to assist them in exploring self-employment options, of which 48 have started their own businesses. The “Inclusive Entrepreneurship” model entails working with partners to leverage financial resources, access financial literacy services and train college students to work with entrepreneurs with disabilities as business development consultants, a component of a new jointly-taught Whitman School and BBI course. BBI, on behalf of the Onondaga County Department of Social Services, managed the design and implementation of the START-UP NY program. The Whitman School’s South Side Innovation Center houses the program which enables access to other related services offered by the Center. Through this model, START-UP NY provides participants with assistance in business plan development and review, benefits planning and financing as well as other resources.  

The success of START-UP NY has led to efforts to replicate the program in Manhattan and is informing other similar initiatives throughout the state. Furthermore, a grant from the Kauffman Foundation, as part of the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative referred to as Enitiative, initiated a pilot IDA program for disabled entrepreneurs through the Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union. In addition, the Gifford Foundation’s (also in Syracuse) Matched Savings Program provided matching funds for another 35 IDA accounts for disabled entrepreneurs.  

For more information on START-UP/USA and other state and federal self-employment initiatives for people with disabilities, check out ODEP’s self-employment page.

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