PTE Grant Overview
General Overview
The purpose of Minnesota’s Pathways to Employment (PTE) is to increase the employment rate and earnings of people with disabilities, and meet the needs of Minnesota employers through full use of the state’s workforce.
Some of the desired outcomes for Pathways to Employment are:
- An increased rate of competitive employment of people with disabilities
- Increased numbers of employers who recruit and hire people with disabilities and thereby better meet their workforce needs
- Improved quality of life of competitively employed people with disabilities
- Greater earnings by people with disabilities
- Well-coordinated services and supports that prepare people with disabilities to enter and succeed in the competitive workforce
Since 2001, PTE has worked to further develop the state’s infrastructure to better support the employment efforts of Minnesotans with disabilities. PTE has provided policy and program support to the Medical Assistance for Employed Persons with Disabilities program (MA-EPD), developed policies that focus on employment in community integration and consumer-directed initiatives, and worked within the Minnesota Department of Human Services and with partner agencies to generate ongoing support of employment of people with disabilities.
A four-year Medicaid infrastructure grant (2005-2008) gave Minnesota additional resources for improving the systems that support people with disabilities and Minnesota employers. An additional two-year grant (2009-2010) gives the state time and resources to develop sustainability strategies for the most promising PTE activities.
PTE is guided by a five year (2006-2010) strategic plan which identifies six strategic goals:
- Strategic Goal 1: Partner with Business
- Strategic Goal 2: Policy Development
- Strategic Goal 3: Coordinate Services
- Strategic Goal 4: Improve Communications
- Strategic Goal 5: Youth Transition
- Strategic Goal 6: Data and Outcomes
PTE has several initiatives to achieve each of these goals, all of which are covered here. Select a goal of interest in the table of contents.