IA's UCEDD Hires the Nation's First Employment Specialist for the Money Follows the Person Initiative

November 30, 2011

SueAnn Morrow

 

Continuing to support efforts toward becoming an Employment First state, Iowa's UCEDD has hired SueAnn Morrow as an employment specialist to support the state's Money Follows the Person (MFP) program. SueAnn joined Iowa's Center for Disabilities and Development (CDD) in September, bringing with her years of experience dealing with the issues of integrated employment and career advancement opportunities for individuals with disabilities. CDD assists the Iowa Department of Human Services to implement Iowa's MFP program that focuses on transitioning individuals from ICFs/MR to more integrated settings in the community.  Nationally, she is the first employment specialist hired with 100% federal dollars to support a state's MFP program.

SueAnn's major goal is a big one: she'd like to help change the system to establish employment as the first option for helping people with disabilities find meaningful work and move out of poverty. Working with state providers and organizations, such as Vocational Rehabilitation, Iowa Workforce Development and the Department of Human Services, she focuses on building community capacity to provide quality employment services to all who need them. She also works to identify and overcome barriers to employment, such as the redirection of service dollars from facility-based to community employment.

But SueAnn also provides direct services to individuals. She works with people to help them find jobs that not only are well-suited to them, but also will bring the most benefit to their employers and to the communities in which they work. She focuses on job coach development so that they are able to provide the least intrusive, most appropriate supports to individuals working in community settings.  

SueAnn is known for her work at the state level in both Missouri and Iowa, and at the national level as a member of the National Board of Editors for the College of Direct Support, and through her work with APSE. SueAnn currently serves as the president of APSE's Iowa Chapter. She has worked with Iowa's UCEDD previously, in support of the state's Medicaid Infrastructure grant (MIG) and she participates in the Supported Employment Leadership Network (SELN).

At the recent Alliance for Full Participation Summit, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius noted the importance of including employment services as part of the Money Follows the Person initiative to provide additional support for those who want to move out of institutions into the communities of their choice. Secretary Sebelius called MFP "the perfect opportunity to start a person with disabilities on the path to meaningful employment." Citing SueAnn's new role as a model for other states to follow, she added, "We've seen this really come to life in Iowa."

Members of the AUCD network who would like to learn more about SueAnn's role as MFP employment specialist may contact her at [email protected], or get in touch with Brooke Lovelace, the coordinator  of Iowa's MFP program, at [email protected].