Ability Works Employment Services

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Executive Summary

Ability Works Employment Services is a nonprofit in California that helps adults with disabilities find and keep real jobs in the community at fair wages. A job developer builds relationships with employers and matches job seekers to roles, and job coaches train on the job and fade their support as workers gain confidence.

Many people with disabilities want to work but are left out of the job market because of misunderstanding, lack of support or barriers to transportation. Employers are often willing to hire when they understand what a worker can do and have a coach to help. With this grant we will pay the job developer and job coaches who make those matches work. We do not promise any person a job, and every job pays at least the legal minimum wage.

What we are asking for. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $261,000. We are asking for $75,000 from a state employment fund to Job Developer and Job Coach salaries. The rest of the budget comes from other grants, sponsors and donors that are listed in the funding section. Every dollar amount in this plan is an estimate and none of it is a promise of any result for the people we serve.

Company Description

Ability Works Employment Services is a nonprofit organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, governed by a volunteer board that includes people with disabilities and family members. The board meets monthly, approves the budget and oversees the executive director. A new organization without its own determination letter can use a fiscal sponsor, explained in the funding section.

What we believe. People with disabilities have the right to choose their work, to be paid fairly and to be included in the community. We follow the person's goals and treat every worker as an employee, not a client.

What we do:
- Job development. Our job developer builds relationships with employers and finds jobs that match each worker's skills and interests.
- Job coaching. Coaches teach the job on site, help with routines and communicate with the employer, and step back over time.
- Career planning. We help people explore interests, build a résumé and practice interviews.
- Employer support. We train employers and teams on inclusion and workplace supports.

Standards. Every job is a competitive job in the community that pays at least the legal minimum wage and is paid by the employer. We do not place anyone in sub-minimum wage work or in a segregated setting.

What we do not do. We do not give medical or legal advice, make decisions for workers or promise a job. Workers make their own choices, with support from family and guardians where appropriate.

Our board has at least five members, including at least one person who has used our services or lives in the community we serve, and only a minority of board members may be related to each other or paid by the organization.

We keep a written conflict of interest policy, a whistleblower policy and a record retention policy, and the board reviews them every year.

Problem & Opportunity

Many adults with disabilities who want to work are not working.

1. Low employment. A large share of working-age adults with disabilities are not employed, even though many want to work.
2. Employer misunderstanding. Some employers worry about cost or difficulty and do not know what supports are available.
3. Few supports on the job. Without coaching, some workers lose jobs because of problems that could have been solved.
4. Transportation. Getting to work is a major barrier for people who cannot drive.
5. Benefits worries. Families fear losing health coverage or income if a person works, and they need clear information.

Why it matters now. Employers face labor shortages, and many are looking for reliable workers. Supported employment helps people build independence and helps businesses.

How we know the need is real. We reviewed the number of adults with disabilities in our region and employment rates, interviewed 40 job seekers and family members and talked with 25 employers. Job seekers said they wanted real jobs and a coach, and employers said they would hire with support. The numbers are in the appendix.

We update these facts every year using public data, partner reports and what the people we serve tell us, and we change the program when the facts change. If a need turns out to be smaller than we thought, we will say so and put the money where it is needed most.

Products & Services

What the funded project will do. With this grant we will pay the salaries of a job developer and job coaches for a full year.

How a worker takes part:
1. Referral and goals. A person is referred by a school, agency or family, or comes on their own. We start by learning their goals, strengths and interests.
2. Career planning. We explore jobs, visit workplaces and plan the supports the person wants.
3. Job match. The job developer finds an employer and works out a role that fits.
4. On-the-job coaching. A job coach teaches the job, helps with routines and communicates with the employer. The employer pays the wages.
5. Fading support. Coaching steps back as the worker gains confidence, with follow-up for as long as needed.
6. Retention and growth. We help with promotions, new skills and moving to better jobs.

What the grant pays for. The request covers the salaries of the job developer and job coaches.

What we do not promise. We do not promise that any person will get a job or keep one. We report how many people we work with, how many are hired and how long they stay.

Safety and rights. Workers are covered by workers' compensation and employment laws. We follow safety rules at each work site, keep coaches in the public areas, report suspected abuse or neglect as the law requires and direct anyone in crisis to 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. We call 911 in emergencies.

We start small, check what works and grow only when we can do the work well. Every few months we review the numbers and the stories from the people we serve and change the plan where it is not working.

We write plain-language handouts for every step so people know what to expect, what it costs and who to call with questions, and we ask each person at the end whether the help was useful and what we could do better.

Market Analysis

Who benefits from this project are adults with disabilities in our service area who want to work, and the employers who gain reliable employees.

Who we serve. Adults aged 18 and older with intellectual, developmental, physical, sensory or psychiatric disabilities. Many have never held a competitive job, and many have low incomes.

How many people we plan to serve. In Year 1 we plan to work with about 80 job seekers and help about 40 get hired in competitive jobs. By Year 5 we plan to work with about 160 job seekers a year. We chose these numbers from the capacity of one developer and two coaches at first and a larger team by the fifth year.

Where we serve. Our city and nearby communities, with employers in retail, food service, health care, warehousing and offices.

Who else benefits. Employers who find dependable workers, families who gain peace of mind and the community when more people are included at work.

How we will be careful. We respect each person's goals and privacy, share information with employers only with permission and never share a diagnosis unless the worker chooses.

We choose how many people to serve from the number of staff, hours and rooms we really have, not from the size of the need. If we reach fewer people than planned, we will report it and explain why.

Competitive Landscape

Other choices job seekers have in our area.

1. State vocational rehabilitation. Provides funding and services but can have waits and limited coaching.
2. Sheltered workshops and sub-minimum wage programs. Offer work but pay below minimum wage and keep people separate.
3. Disability service providers. Offer day programs but not always competitive jobs.
4. Public workforce centers. Offer job services but may not have coaching.
5. Other supported employment programs.

What makes us different. We focus only on competitive jobs at fair wages, combine a job developer with job coaches and follow the worker's choices. We work with vocational rehabilitation and others and share referrals.

How we avoid duplication. We have agreements with vocational rehabilitation and school transition programs about who provides what and share a referral form.

We keep a written list of every other organization that does similar work in our area and review it each year. If another group can serve a person better, we refer the person and say so plainly. Funders can expect us to tell the truth about overlap, to share what we learn and to work as part of a larger network of help.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How we will reach the job seekers and employers we serve once the project is funded.

Referral partners. Schools, vocational rehabilitation counselors, disability agencies, family groups and mental health providers will refer job seekers.

Employer outreach. The job developer will visit employers, offer free consultations and share success stories with permission. Employer sponsors help us reach peers.

Community events. Job fairs, employer breakfasts and family information nights introduce the program.

Word of mouth. Workers, families and employers tell their stories. With permission, we share them.

Digital outreach. An accessible website and social media will share job openings, stories and how to apply. We will not post identifiable photos without written permission.

Access. We provide materials in plain language, large print and in English and Spanish, meet people where they feel comfortable and offer transportation help through passes.

Measuring outreach. We will track how each worker and employer found us and adjust our outreach where it is not working.

Marketing budget. Outreach and events are part of the program budget.

Most people hear about services from someone they already trust, so we spend more time with partners and neighbors than on advertising. We write our materials in plain language, test them with a few people from the community and fix anything that confuses them.

Operations Plan

How the project will be carried out, in plain terms.

Timeline for Year 1. Months 1 and 2: hire the job developer and coaches, train staff and sign referral agreements. Months 3 to 12: enroll job seekers, place and coach workers and hold employer events.

Space. Our staff meet job seekers in a small office, in the community and at job sites. Employers provide the work site.

Partners. Vocational rehabilitation, schools, disability agencies and employers. Each has a written agreement describing roles and information sharing.

Rights, safety and privacy rules. Every job is competitive, pays at least the legal minimum wage and is paid by the employer. We help workers understand how earnings affect benefits and refer them to a certified benefits counselor for advice. We follow site safety rules, ensure workers' compensation applies and protect privacy. Staff are trained on mandated reporting, and we call 911 in emergencies and direct anyone in crisis to 988.

Transportation. Transit passes are bought from transit providers and given to workers, and no cash is given.

Records and reporting. We track people served, jobs, hours, wages and retention in a secure system and report to funders each quarter.

Training. Staff receive training in supported employment, person-centered planning and workplace safety.

We write down every step of the project in a short manual so that any trained staff member can carry it out the same way. We hold a short team meeting every week to review problems, safety concerns and numbers, and we ask the people we serve for feedback at least twice a year.

Management & Organization

The executive director leads the organization and manages the budget and partners. The job developer works with employers and job seekers, and the job coaches provide on-the-job training and support.

The team. Pay figures include payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance. The numbers in parentheses are how many people we plan to have in Years 1 through 5.
- Executive Director: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $64,000 a year each.
- Job Developer: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $52,000 a year each.
- Job Coach: 2, 2, 3, 3, 4 (Years 1 to 5), about $44,000 a year each.

Governance and money controls. A volunteer board of directors oversees the budget and the executive director. Two people review every payment, the board reviews financial statements every month, an outside accountant prepares the yearly tax return and audit-ready records, and every grant is tracked in its own budget line. We screen staff and volunteers who work with the people we serve, train everyone on privacy and safety and keep written policies on conflicts of interest and complaints.

Staff and advisors. We seek staff with experience in supported employment and welcome people with disabilities on our team. An advisory group of workers, a family member, an employer and a benefits counselor meets quarterly. We post a clear complaint process for workers and families.

Feedback and complaints. Anyone we serve can give feedback or a complaint by phone, in writing or in person, and can ask to speak with the board chair. We reply within five working days, keep a log of every complaint and report the themes to the board each quarter. No one loses services for speaking up.

Milestones Narrative

Goals for each of the first five years and how we will measure results. These are goals, not promises.
- Before the grant starts (2 to 3 months before the grant starts): hire the job developer and coaches, train staff, sign referral agreements with schools and vocational rehabilitation and recruit employer partners
- Year 1: work with about 80 job seekers and help about 40 get hired. The budget is $261,000.
- Year 2: add employer partners and a second job developer. The budget is $263,500.
- Year 3: add coaches for evening and weekend shifts. The budget is $365,000.
- Year 4: expand to new industries and a transition-age program. The budget is $367,500.
- Year 5: work with about 160 job seekers a year and publish a plain results report. The budget is $415,500.

How we will measure results: job seekers served, people hired in competitive jobs at fair wages, hours and wages, job retention at 90 days and one year, employer satisfaction and workers who say they would recommend the program. We report results to funders in the same plain numbers we use here, and we say honestly when a goal was missed and what we changed.

We report to funders every quarter and send a short plain-language summary to our board each month. At the end of each year we review all of the goals, publish a short results report and update the plan for the next year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $75,000 from a state employment fund for Job Developer and Job Coach salaries, for January through December 2027.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Job Developer and Job Coach salaries, $75,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 36% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $261,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $9,500 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grant revenue $211,000; individual donations $30,000; employer partner sponsors $20,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $64,000; job developer $52,000; job coach $88,000; assistive tools and job-Site supports about $14,000; transportation passes paid to transit providers about $10,000; outreach and employer events about $8,000; administration and insurance about $14,000.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $16,500 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $4,800 for laptops, tablets and communication aids for job coaches, $2,700 for assistive technology demonstration kit and a locking cabinet, $2,200 for opening assistive supplies, $1,800 for background checks and coach certification, $2,600 for policy review and legal setup, and $2,400 for banners, brochures and an accessible website.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($16,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $2,100) and a cash cushion of about $62,500, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $81,500. We start with $18,000 of our own savings and $65,000 in startup support from a local foundation and our board, $83,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $261,000 in Year 1 to about $415,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $211,000, $201,500, $291,000, $281,500, $317,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans a small surplus each year, about $9,500, $9,300, $11,900, $11,400 and $12,300 in Years 1 to 5, which we put into savings.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $73,500, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $13,050 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

After the grant. Individual donors and employer sponsors grow each year, so grants become a smaller share. Vocational rehabilitation and employers may help pay for coaching, and successful workers help us reach new employers.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- Workers may lose jobs. We coach early, check in often and help find new jobs.
- Employers may be slow to hire. We build many partnerships and share success stories.
- A grant may end. We grow donors and sponsors each year and keep savings.
- Transportation can break down. We provide passes and plan routes with workers.
- A safety problem may occur. We follow site rules and train staff.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller with one site or one staff member and track results carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this proposal:

- Your IRS determination letter showing 501(c)(3) status, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your board list and board minutes approving the application.
- Your most recent budget and financial statements.
- A list of other funders and what each has given or been asked to give.
- Your referral agreements with schools and vocational rehabilitation.
- Employer partner letters and a sample job match plan.
- Your privacy policy and safety procedures.
- Letters of support from workers and families.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $211,000 in Year 1, growing to $317,500 in Year 5.
- Individual Donations: $30,000 in Year 1, growing to $54,000 in Year 5.
- Employer Partner Sponsors: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $44,000 in Year 5.
- Staff pay is shown in the management section and includes payroll taxes and workers' compensation.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: assistive tools and job-Site supports $14,000, transportation passes paid to transit providers $10,000, outreach and employer events $8,000, and administration and insurance $14,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year as the program grows.
- Grant and partner payments arrive after we bill, so about $13,050 (5% of Year 1 income) is owed to us at the end of Year 1.
- The program does not pay income tax. Any surplus stays in the program.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real numbers.

Plain words used in this proposal:
- Grant: money given for a specific purpose that does not have to be paid back, as long as it is spent as promised.
- Request: the part of the budget we are asking this funder to pay for.
- Surplus: money left over after a year's costs. A small surplus is healthy because it builds savings for slow months.
- Startup costs: one-time costs, such as equipment, paid once before the program runs at full speed.
- Working capital: cash kept in the bank to pay bills while waiting for grant payments.
- In-kind: goods or services given instead of money, such as donated space.
- Fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for a new group and passes the money to its program, usually for a fee.
- 501(c)(3): the tax status that lets a nonprofit receive tax-deductible gifts and many grants.

How to read the numbers. Every income and cost figure is a plan, not a result. Income rises as sponsors and donors join, costs rise a little each year, and each year's budget is planned to balance with a small surplus. Startup costs are shown separately because they are paid once. If a real number turns out different, we will update the plan and tell our funders why.

Startup Costs