Funding Employment Inclusion for Ontario Youth with Disabilities

For sites operating or seeking to operate a Project SEARCH Ontario program, we have gathered information to support your advocacy efforts in your own community. Information regarding the Project SEARCH program can be found at this site. Please feel free to use the resources and tools below in your advocacy work. 

Background information:

To best prepare yourself with information about the program and funding needs, review and share the information below.

• View our cost benefit report of funding employment programs (PDF) to see how a small public investment in employment experience programming for high school students with disabilities leads to lifetime benefits for individuals, communities and society
• Download and share an infographic summary (PDF) of this cost-benefit report that can help to spread awareness with others
• Project SEARCH Ontario overview (PDF) to expand access and impact
• Project SEARCH Ontario Policy Brief (PDF) to remove system barriers

Advocacy tools:

Feel free to use and customize these downloadable tools for your own advocacy and presentations.

• Project SEARCH Ontario Funding Call to Action slide deck (.PPTX)
• Project SEARCH Ontario Letter to engage community support (.DOCX)

External tools:

We encourage those interested to review some of the available tools to help with their advocacy efforts.

Publications outlining the Project SEARCH Model and it’s effectiveness:

• Wehman, P., Schall, C. M., McDonough, J., Graham, C., Brooke, V., Riehle, J. E., ... & Avellone, L. (2017). Effects of an employer-based intervention on employment outcomes for youth with significant support needs due to autism (PDF). Autism, 21(3), 276-290.
• Wehman, P., Schall, C., McDonough, J., Sima, A., Brooke, A., Ham, W., ... & Riehle, E. (2020). Competitive employment for transition-aged youth with significant impact from autism: A multi-site randomized clinical trial (PDF). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50, 1882-1897.

The CERIC Advocacy Playbook (PDF) provides tools and tactics for advocating for employment equity in Ontario.

For anyone running or seeking to operate a youth employment program, we have gathered information to support your advocacy efforts in your own community. If you are seeking additional information regarding the Holland Bloorview’s Employment Pathways programs, please visit this site. Please feel free to use the resources and tools below in your advocacy work. 

Background information:

To best prepare yourself with information about youth employment programs and funding needs, review and share the information below.

• View our cost benefit report of funding employment programs (PDF) to see how a small public investment in employment experience programming for high school students with disabilities leads to lifetime benefits for individuals, communities and society
• Download and share an infographic summary (PDF) of this cost-benefit report that can help to spread awareness with others

Advocacy tools:

Feel free to use and customize these downloadable tools for your own advocacy and presentations.

• Funding youth employment programs call to action slide deck (.PPTX)
• Funding youth employment programs letter to engage community support (.DOCX)

External tools:

We encourage those interested to review some of the available tools to help with their advocacy efforts. One tool that we recommend is the CERIC Advocacy Playbook (PDF), which provides tools and tactics for advocating for employment equity in Ontario.