The Missouri Difference: Workshops Making an Impact

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Dignified and meaningful employment
for people with disabilities

One of the 5,400 citizens working in Missouri workshops. The state's unique programming and hardworking shops create what many consider a trendsetting program for the nation.

The Missouri Difference:
Workshops Making an Impact

Disability employment in Missouri is DIFFERENT – and BETTER – than any other state in the country, thanks to our Missouri legislators providing more CHOICES than anywhere else.

When someone speaks to you about disability employment, make sure they:

Are working with MISSOURI data
Have the current, correct data
And are speaking about CHOICE

Everyone in Missouri who is employed by private industry, supportive employment, or through the DESE Extended Employment program – workshops – are there by choice.

All people have a more fulfilling life if they are working. In Missouri, sheltered workshops provide MORE employment options for those otherwise who would not be working.

Missouri’s Sheltered Workshops are the service providers for the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Extended Employment Sheltered Workshop Program (EESWP). Through these workshops, employment and skills training is provided to 5,400 Missourians with disabilities.

Several aspects of this program are unique in the country while others provide an important foundation for quality services:

• An individual has to first go through a rigorous process overseen by the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) to see if there is any possibility that they can work “competitively.” Only when VR determines that the individual cannot sustain employment in the private sector, can an individual choose to apply for employment in a Missouri workshop.

• In 2017, the Missouri Legislature overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan resolution (HCR 28) in support of the state’s Extended Employment Sheltered Workshop Program with more than 100 co-sponsors and unanimous approval in both House and Senate.

• In Missouri, Sheltered Employment is a valid and valued option for employment, skills training and an integral component of each communities’ business and employment vitality. No one is ever limited to the idea that a single solution is his or her only option. It is up to each person and his or her support systems to consider all options.

• Funding for the Extended Employment Sheltered Workshop Program comes from the STATE BUDGET and IS NOT a federally funded program relying on Medicaid dollars. Most funding for individual workshop operations is provided by county Senate Bill 40 revenues and, often most of all, services provided by the workshops to local and even national businesses and individuals.

• The Extended Employment Program is administered through the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It is DESE who certifies the eligibility of employees and reimburses providers for staffing and supervision of employees.

• More than 5,400 employees currently work in the Extended Employment Program, often making more than minimum wage.

• The Extended Employment Program includes 86 separate and independent businesses around the state.

• The majority of funding for these social endeavor businesses is generated privately through contract work they create with businesses and product sales.

• During the five years up to January, 2021, Extended Employers generated $4.77 in sales for every $1.00 of state aid.

• The impact of COVID-19 on Missouri workshops is as real as it has been for nearly all of Missouri’s businesses. However, since the pandemic began, workshops have provided more than three million hours of employment and added additional training opportunities for those choosing to stay at home.