Progressive Employment Research Intern, Scholarly Writing

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 research 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.

The Research Internship is designed to provide hands-on experience in qualitative research and scholarly dissemination. The primary goal of the internship is to enhance interns’ skills in qualitative research methods and processes while supporting the development and submission of a manuscript to a peer-reviewed journal. Interns will work closely with research staff and contribute to various stages of the research process, depending on project needs, internship timing, and the availability of research activities.

Examples of Duties

ICI and partners will provide learning opportunities for interns to gain

experience with

• Working on federally-funded research grants

• Qualitative research methods and analysis.
• Developing skills in literature