Self-Employment
Self-employment has long been an employment alternative for individuals seeking a new or better career. Today, many jobseekers with disabilities are turning to the flexibility of self-employment to meet both their career aspirations and financial goals. Self-employed persons have increased latitude in determining the hours they work, the type of work they do, and how much money they make.
ODEP has positioned itself as a leader in the growing movement to encourage and support entrepreneurship among individuals with disabilities. The agency has sought to create and cultivate and array of Federal, state, and local partnerships to further this effort and will continue to ecnourage the allocation of funding and resources to support inidividuals starting their own businesses.
ODEP's Self-Employment Initiatives and Resources
ODEP's Self-Employment Media and Press Releases
ODEP's Collaborative Self-Employment Policy Initiatives
Veterans and Entrepreneurship
Youth Entrepreneurship Resources
Other Entrepreneurship Resources
ODEP's Self-Employment Initiatives and Resources
In October 2006, ODEP initiated self-employment initiatives by funding one national technical assistance center and three cooperative agreements (NY, AK, and FL). The goal of these initiatives is to promote a systems-change approach to increase self-employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
In 2001, ODEP implemented a five-year Customized Employment initiative to build the capacity of workforce systems to serve all customers, including those with disabilities. Self-Employment is one form of Customized Employment, allowing individuals to receive assistance in the creation of an independently owned small business (typically a micro enterprise, under five employees) based on the strengths and dreams of an individual and the unmet needs of a local market. Such assistance incorporated individualized planning and support strategies needed for success. The following are highlights of many of the ODEP-funded customized employment projects and products that provided self-employment assistance to individuals with disabilities.
Enhancing Self-employment Options for People with Disabilities: Indianapolis, IN
The Indiana Customized Employment project leveraged resources and worked with state and local entities to help One-Stop customers with disabilities achieve self-employment.Funding Self-Employment: Cobb County, GA
CobbWorks! Inc. improved access to Individual Training Accounts for people with disabilities interested in customized employment and microenterprise/self-employment.
Through the effort of the Montana, Choice, Control, Career project, the needs of individuals witih disabilities seeking self-employment are being effectively and dynamically met. Through a unique use of blended resources and partnerships throughout the state, this project has assisted its customers in creating truly unique and customized careers.
Self-Employment: Sample Forms and Guidelines
Self-employment resource materials developed by the Georgia Customized Employment Project.
Georgia Workforce Action Grant: Jobs for All: An Olmstead Initiative
A case study about an individual labeled with Cerebral Palsy who had been told he could never hold a job. He had always dreamed of running his own business.
Indiana Customized Employment Project Program
A case study about an individual who is blind that demonstrates how the Indiana project used blending and braiding of funding and resources to provide a successful self-employment venture.
Easter Seals Central Alabama ACE Micro-Enterprise Program
A personal account of how an individual with a disability was assisted with self-employment opportunities by this Customized Employment project.
Self-Employment and Microenterprise: A Customized Employment Option
An excerpt from the portfolio, Customized Employment: Applying Practical Solutions for Employment Success. It provides self-employment statistics, self-employment assistance steps, and online resources.
The Job Accommodation Network's Entrepreneurship resources, an ODEP-supported service provides business ownership opportunities for people with disabilities.
Road to Self-Sufficiency: A Guide to Entrepreneurship for Youth with Disabilities
This ODEP-funded guide was developed to serve as a resource for organizations working with youth on career exploration and employment options, and policymakers who support youth programs through policy and practice. The Guide shows how entrepreneurship education can be implemented in programs and offers suggestions on how to introduce self-employment as an option for all youth, including youth with disabilities.
Encouraging Future Innovation: Youth Entrepreneurship Education
An ODEP fact sheet on benefits, advantages, how to get started, and resources on entrepreneurship education, including information for youth with disabilities in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.
ODEP's Self-Employment Media and Press Releases
ODEP's video on Employment Solutions for Small Business presents a roundtable discussion of three small business owners discussing how they saved time and money by including employees with disabilities in their companies.
ODEP's Collaborative Self-Employment Policy Initiatives
Self-Employment Technical Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) (pdf) HTML Version (Feb. 23, 2005)
Created to encourage the workforce investment system to make entrepreneurial training opportunities for people interested in self-employment under Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.
Strategic Alliance Memorandum (SAM) between the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) (December 2003)
This SAM formalized an agreement between the SBA and DOL to implement a coordinated, interagency initiative to improve opportunities for people with disablities to be employed by small businesses or to become small business owners.
This notice informed the workforce investment system of the implementation of the SBA and DOL December 2003 SAM to assist adult workers with disabilities acquire skills and resources necessary to successfully begin and operate a small business and educate small business owners about the benefits of hiring people with disabilities.
Veterans and Entrepreneurship
The Department of Veterans Affairs Veteran Benefits Administration's offers a Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Program in partnership with the Small Business Administration and the Association of Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). Co-jointly, they provide entrepreneurial assistance to qualified service-connected disabled veterans.
The Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Veterans Business Development (OVBD) is dedicated to serving the veteran entrepreneur by formulating, executing, and promoting policies and programs of the agency that provides assistance to veterans seeking to start and develop small businesses.
Youth Entrepreneurship Resources
Road to Self-Sufficiency: A Guide to Entrepreneurship for Youth with Disabilities
This ODEP-funded guide was developed to serve as a resource for organizations working with youth on career exploration and employment options, and policymakers who support youth programs through policy and practice. The Guide shows how entrepreneurship education can be implemented in programs and offers suggestions on how to introduce self-employment as an option for all youth, including youth with disabilities.
Encouraging Future Innovation: Youth Entrepreneurship Education
An ODEP fact sheet on benefits, advantages, how to get started, and resources on entrepreneurship education, including information for youth with disabilities in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education.
Through a collaboration with the Small Business Administration and Junior Achievement, this site walks the user through five easy steps of business ownership for new or veteran business owners. This site, though geared to youth, has applications for a general audience interested in self-employment.
Other Entrepreneurship Resources
Business.gov, the official business link to the U.S. Government, is managed by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) in a partnership with 21 other federal agencies. This partnership, known as Business Gateway, is a Presidential E-government initiative that provides a single access point to government services and information to help the nation's businesses with their operations.
Project GATE (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship)
Project GATE, a joint initiative of DOL's Employment and Training Administration and the Small Business Administration, helps emerging entrepreneurs in rural and urban communities achieve the American dream of owning their own business.
Office of Small Business Development Centers (SBDCs)
This U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) office provides management assistance to current and prospective small business owners. It offers one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance in central and easily accessible branch locations. The program is a cooperative effort of the private sector; the educational community; and federal, state, and local governments and is an integral component of Entrepreneurial Development's network of training and counseling services.
Assets for Independence (AFI)
AFI is a program run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It provides grants to enable community-based nonprofits and State, local, and Tribal government agencies to implement and demonstrate an asset-based approach for offering low-income families help out of poverty. More than 200 AFI Projects provide training and supportive services related to family finances and financial management which include specialized training on starting a business, owning a home, or attending a post-secondary school, among many other services.
Self-employment, Telecommuting, and Establishing a Small Business as Employment Outcomes (July 2000)
A Technical Assistance Circular (TAC) from the U.S. Department of Education highlights the changes in the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998, contained in the Workforce Investment Act. It includes two specific references to self-employment, telecommuting, and establishing a small business as viable employment outcomes under the State Vocational Rehabilitation Services Program.
The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity (1996-2006)
The Kauffman Index measures the monthly rate of business creation at the individual owner level, reporting the percent of non-business owners who start businesses with more than fifteen hours worked per week. The total sample size for the period from 1996 to 2006 for the adult population is more than eight
