Wisconsin will pay full tuition for people with disabilities who choose high-demand careers

Over the past 15 years, Zach Mann has taught people from ages 4 to 80 how to use assistive technology. But despite his love for IT, he has struggled to find consistent work in his chosen field.

He’s not surprised that employers often reject his job applications. The unemployment rate for people who are blind or visually impaired, like he is, is disproportionately high: only 44% for working-age people with blindness or visual impairments have jobs, according to the American Foundation for the Blind. Nationally, federal data show the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is about double that of other workers.

"I don't get replies, or answers back, or second interviews or anything. It's a single interview, and that's it," said Mann, 31, who lives in West Allis and grew up in Wisconsin.

This summer, Mann decided to get an associate's degree in cybersecurity and IT networking to open up his job prospects; he hopes to someday start his own IT business. Also taking classes this fall is 20-year-old Ariela Luna from Milwaukee, who says she wants to work with people in doctor's offices as a medical assistant.

While Mann and Luna don't know each other, they are both participants in a state grant program that covers costs like tuition, living expenses, transportation and assistive technology for people with disabilities who want to work in specific high-demand fields.

The Division of Vocational Rehabilitation, the state agency that assists people with disabilities in searching for work, said it typically caps per-person spending for education and training at $6,000 annually. But an ongoing grant, which received additional funds last month, removes the funding cap for people pursuing jobs in healthcare, IT, manufacturing or construction.

Mann started working toward his degree at Waukesha County Technical College in June, and Luna is a first-year student at Milwaukee Area Technical College this fall.

Mann said because he lives on a limited income, the idea of figuring out how to pay for a degree didn't make financial sense before. But neither did living with the mental stress that comes from being willing and able to work, yet repeatedly denied the opportunity.

“I told my DVR counselor, 'Look, I’m tired of applying for jobs left and right and getting nowhere. I’ve been doing it for the past five years, and I’m tired of sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I’m going back to school,'" Mann said.

State wants to use 'underutilized' talent pools to fill jobs

Getting more workers into high-demand jobs is the goal of Wisconsin's Career Pathways Advancement Initiative. The program launched in 2021 with $14 million in federal funds and a goal of enrolling a total of 500 people in five years.

The state met that goal in two years, Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek said in an interview. The careers program received an additional $6.4 million in federal dollars last month to open another 300 spots and avoid waitlists.

Pechacek said the program fits with broader efforts by the state to use workers from "underutilized talent pools" to fill holes in the labor force.

“We know, and you know, and we all hear it from all of our businesses around the state: We cannot fill our vacancies. Currently, there’s about two open positions for every one job seeker. And that’s due to decades-long trends in the making," Pechacek said.

She referenced trends that are leaving jobs unfilled: low birth rates in Wisconsin, baby boomers aging out of the workforce and more people moving out of the state than moving in.

Those demographic shifts motivated the state to apply for federal funding from the U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration and begin the grant program. The DWD chose to target the funds at healthcare, manufacturing, IT and construction because of those industries' current demands for workers and projected job growth.

About 53% of the people enrolled in the careers program so far work in healthcare. The state projects that annually, 32,000 Wisconsin healthcare jobs will go unfilled through 2030.

"That is why it is so critical we bring everyone along with us in this type of economy and this type of labor force, because it not only helps individuals and their families but it helps our business and our economy as a whole," Pechacek said.

One main issue for disability rights advocates: the right to be considered for competitive jobs

Disability rights advocates commonly cite the need to expand access to jobs that pay competitive wages, alongside coworkers without disabilities. It's known as investing in "community integrated employment."

The Arc, a national advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, outlines several barriers to expanding access the workforce: K-12 schools inadequately preparing students for jobs; adult services failing to work as intended; the use of "disability-only" workshops that pay subminimum wages. The organization also said that "low societal expectations" about the ability of people with disabilities to work leads to job discrimination.

In Wisconsin, 26,040 people used state DVR job services in the 2022 fiscal year. Of that total, 3,446 people, or about 13%, remained employed within a 90-day window when the state tracked their data.

Those workers most often took jobs in office and administrative support, food service or production and manufacturing. They worked an average of 25 hours a week for $15.08 an hour, the report found.

This summer, various Wisconsin agencies released a plan to increase access to competitive-integrated employment across the state. It lists three main goals: increasing public awareness that work is possible for people with disabilities; strengthening state and local groups' ability to make those opportunities happen; and increasing career-focused services for K-12 students with disabilities.

Mann has used the DVR's job placement program since 2009, and for most of the time, worked with the same counselor. They still keep in touch, even after she was transferred to a different position. While Mann said he's had a positive experience, he knows that's not the case for everyone. He wishes it were.

Mann is in his second go at college. He's seen lots of improvements in accessibility to taking college classes for people with disabilities since he took classes a decade ago, he said, but can still point to issues like high price tags for assistive technology and access to transportation.

"I'm still having struggles, but I'm feeling a lot better about school and different things this time around," he said.

How do I apply for the program?

The DVR asks those looking for job placement services to call 608-261-0050 or visit https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dvrreferral/

Disability Rights Wisconsin is a nonprofit advocacy organization for people with disabilities. Its Client Assistant Program is designed to assist people who are struggling with the state's DVR job placement services or independent living centers. It can be reached at 800-362-1290.

Cleo Krejci covers higher education, vocational training and retraining as a Report For America corps member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at CKrejci@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. Support her work with a tax-deductible donation atbit.ly/RFADonation

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: To fix labor shortages, WI pays tuition for workers with disabilities