Position Title: Progressive Employment Training & Technical Assistance Internship

(part-time / up to 400 hours total)

General Summary: 

The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts Boston and partners at the Disability Policy Consortium are looking for members of the disability community to work in a paid Training & Technical Assistance (TTA) internship as part of a research team studying employment for people with disabilities. The goal of the project is to study the Progressive Employment model, an emerging evidence-based practice that helps job seekers with disabilities to obtain competitive integrated employment. The ICI has a five-year research grant to explore the impact of the Progressive Employment model.

Progressive Employment (PE) is a dual-customer service delivery model that uses work-based learning strategies (activities in real workplaces) to introduce job seekers to businesses to meet their collective needs. Progressive Employment rapidly engages job seekers in work settings to aid informed choice as they develop their career goals. The underlying premise is that “everyone is ready for something.” This model, developed in 2009 by the Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, offers businesses a variety of options for meeting, interacting with, and trying out a new pool of potential job applicants.

TTA Interns on this project will assist with the development of materials for trainings and other deliverables to support the implementation of the Progressive Employment model through this project. This will include helping to develop materials associated with in-person, virtual, and online training and other technical assistance (TA) related work including communities of practice (CoPs), affinity groups, webinars, etc. TTA is focused on employment service delivery personnel in different levels and roles across systems.

ICI and partners will provide learning opportunities for interns to gain experience with:

• Working on federally-funded research grants
• Developing content/curriculum for in-person or virtual training
• Adapting content/curriculum for online/asynchronous delivery

Examples of Duties: 

1. Participate in team meetings and virtual training sessions as directed.
2. Work with training and technical assistance (TA) lead staff to develop work plans and provide updates on progress
3. Assist with training content development by:
1. Utilizing training platforms and applications such as: Canva, PowerPoint, Google Docs, Rise 360, Articulate, etc. to create or modify training content and other materials.
2. Reviewing and modify a variety of online materials
4. Provide staff support for training events as needed
5. Assist with note-taking or technological support for virtual meetings as directed.

Qualifications: 

• Identify as a person with lived experience of any type of disability
• Strong knowledge of and experience in using a computer. Including using: email, online calendars, the Zoom video conference platform, search engines to gather information, Microsoft applications such as Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Teams.
• Willingness to develop new skills. Skills may include, learning new computer applications, co-facilitating meetings, writing in plain language, doing accessibility checks, creating alt tags, etc.
• Prior experience with curriculum development, presentation materials development, and working on online training content, preferred.
• Ability to review comprehensive training content and documents and help organize and synthesize information for clear training presentations (synchronously or asynchronsously)
• Willingness to learn about the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the Rehabilitation Act and other federal legislation impacting individuals with disabilities

We strongly encourage people with disabilities from historically marginalized groups to apply. This may include people with disabilities who are Asian, Black, Indigenous, immigrants, LGBTQ+, and Latine.

Supervision:

Interns will be supervised by ICI staff and will also have access to a mentor from the Disability Policy Consortium on this project. We do not provide job coaches or support people. You can bring your own support person or job coach if you need one.

Tell us if you have any other accommodation needs. Let us know if you need anything to make the internship more accessible. We will provide accommodations, such as assistive technology or sign language interpreters.

Other Information:

The ICI is hiring up to two intern positions. Each intern will be paid to work for up to 400 hours during a one-year period (e.g., 10-week full time paid internships @ 40 hours/week; or 20-week part-time paid internship @ 20 hours/week, etc.). The hourly rate is commensurate with experience. Hiring range $25.00 – 31.00/hour.

Application Instructions:

Please apply online with your resume, cover letter and list of three references. 

Review of candidates will begin following the application closing date.

Salary Range: Commensurate with experience

This is a non-union exempt position. 

All official salary offers must be approved by Human Resources.

UMass Boston is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact HRDirect@umb.edu or 617-287-5150.