Increasing Employment Opportunities for People with Disabilities: An Analysis of the Connect 700 Program and Legislation in the State of Minnesota

Abstract

Despite the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, employment remains a barrier for people with disabilities. Large disparities in employment rates between people with and without disabilities continue to persist. In response to this issue, policymakers have developed State as Model Employer policies. The Connect 700 program is one such policy within the Minnesota state government that offers an alternative non-competitive process for qualified individuals with disabilities. Participants have an on-the-job demonstration of up to 700 hours to showcase their skills and abilities while allowing supervisors to make more informed hiring decisions. The aim of this paper is to (1) provide background on the C700 program including a brief history, the application process, and essential components of the program (2) present quantitative data from various reports regarding the C700 program and incorporate interview data (3) provide an interpretation of the data and describe the current issues with the C700 program and (4) provide background on recently proposed legislation, summarize the provisions of the legislation, and analyze how the provisions of the legislation address the current issues facing the C700 program. I will end with a discussion which will include the reason why the state legislature should pass the legislation, the prospects of the legislation passing, and the limitations with my approach where I will emphasize the importance of better data collection.