CT needs job coaches for people with disabilities. A new state pilot could help.

Thousands of workers with disabilities in Connecticut face barriers to employment, from lower wages to segregated work opportunities. Addressing those issues has only become more pressing as the state pushes towards “competitive integrated employment,” encouraging workers with disabilities to be hired alongside workers without disabilities, with equal chances for improved wages, benefits and promotions. 

But to make that transition, the state needs to overcome a related challenge: a shortage of the counselors, coaches and support staff who help workers with disabilities succeed in the workplace. 

As efforts to address broader caregiving, special education and other support-oriented workforce shortages continue across the state, the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services is stepping in with a program targeted at creating a pipeline for these workers, part of a larger group known as direct support professionals or DSPs, in Connecticut. 

“We’re building to ensure that we have the right supports accessible to all corners of the state,” said David Doukas, the director of the BRS. “We believe that we can train people entering the workforce in this and that they’re going to provide the best support possible.”

Earlier in the summer, the agency announced it was launching a pilot for a 10-month paid training program called SPARK-CT, also known as Strengthening Professional Advancement in Rehabilitation Knowledge via Certified Training. The planning and development of the pilot was funded through federal grants, and the pilot is expected to cost around $3.7 million from the initial planning phase through completion and project closeout, according to program information shared with The Connecticut Mirror. 

The money will be used to help develop a new cohort of Direct Employment Support Professionals, a uniquely trained subset of DSPs who specialize in job coaching and providing a wide range of employment services.

Over the course of the program, selected trainees will complete experiential and field work with community-facing rehabilitation organizations, while also receiving direct training from BRS on how to provide job coaching, handle administrative tasks and support workers with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

By the end of the program, successful participants will have the knowledge necessary to take the National APSE Certified Employment Support Professional (CESP) Examination, a credential that trainees can point to as proof of their skills. 

The SPARK-CT pilot gives the state a chance to test how it can help to develop a key workforce, while also producing a cohort that can immediately fill vacant roles in a range of local organizations. 

“We’re all fishing in the same ponds for the same workforce,” Doukas said. “So the more that we can build, it is really going to benefit the entire system and the populations that we jointly serve.” 

The front door to employment

The Bureau of Rehabilitation Services, which falls under the Department of Aging and Disability Services, focuses on what is known as vocational rehabilitation, helping people with disabilities prepare for, find and keep employment. The agency also contracts with nonprofit and community-based organizations, known as community rehabilitation providers or CRPs, that help provide services directly to those in need. 

These CRPs are often the front door to employment services and other vital resources in communities, with people working with CRP staff and counselors to receive support.

But the state has faced a shortage of support staff at these community organizations for years, a trend that accelerated as DSPs left the workforce during the COVID pandemic. Reports suggest that the vacancy rate for DSP workers in Connecticut falls somewhere between 18% and 23%.

Connecticut is far from the only state dealing with this issue. “What’s happening in Connecticut is exactly what’s happening across the country,” said Chaz Compton, the project director for the Interwork Institute, an education and research center at San Diego State University that supports accessibility and inclusion efforts for people with disabilities.  

“During the pandemic the numbers of rehabilitation clients dropped because people were not coming out of their homes,” he said. “That lack of referrals impacted the ability of those community rehab programs to even stay open. Many of them closed completely.”

Years removed from the pandemic’s disruptions, the demand for services has returned, but the workforce challenges remain.

In recent years, salaries in the industry have been a concern, with workers often making at or close to minimum wage. In 2025, local DSPs, a workforce that is largely made up of women of color and other workers from marginalized backgrounds, earned roughly $19.65 per hour, or close to $41,000 a year working full time before taxes.

The pay for an entry-level DSP, meanwhile, starts at around $18.00 an hour.

Local advocates argue that increasing pay is key to improving DSP retention. “A for-profit can offer $25 an hour, but at a caregiver or caregiver agency, the starting wage is $17.25 or $18. You see that gap,” said Pamela Fields, the CEO of MidState Arc Inc. a local nonprofit that supports people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “They’re going to go where the money is.”

The current DSP shortage is affecting people seeking services, contributing to longer placement times for people with disabilities. A national survey of community providers found that in 2025, 52% of community-based providers considered additional program cuts due to ongoing staff recruitment and retention challenges. Nearly two out of three providers said they turned new clients away because of staffing issues.

While the state does not have an exact figure showing the need for DSPs, more than a hundred roles are currently posted on the Department of Developmental Services’ online DSP job board.

By providing a full-time financially-supported training that combines classroom, online and experiential instruction, the BRS hopes that it can help close this gap, particularly focusing on DSPs that can provide employment services.

The Bureau of Rehabilitation Services held information sessions about the SPARK-CT program earlier in the summer, and selected trainees began onboarding at the participating CRPs in August. Doukas said around 30 participants will be involved in the cohort, which will run until next summer.

Successful participants will be eligible for a number of financial incentives, ranging from $1,300 in completion bonuses over the course of the program to an additional $1,000 for obtaining the CESP credential. Participants will also receive roughly $32,000 in pay for their work over the course of the program. 

Meeting an urgent need

At Marrakech, Inc., a 55-year-old organization that supports people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, hiring more DSPs has become an urgent need.

“It’s a big job that has not been recognized traditionally,” said Heather LaTorra, the president and CEO of the organization, which assists more than 1,000 people a year. 

Marrakech, Inc. is one of four CRPs partnering with the Bureau of Rehabilitation Services on the SPARK-CT program.

Even before joining the state, the organization had launched various programs to build up its staff, including a four-week “Earn & Learn” program that provides paid classroom instruction to prepare entry-level DSPs.

The organization also operates its longstanding Academy for Human Service Training, an 8-week program that blends classroom instruction and experiential work, with participants learning topics mandated by the Department of Developmental Services in addition to gaining certifications in CPR, first aid and other areas. 

LaTorra has worked at the CRP for four decades, moving her way up from a volunteer and intern to leading the organization. When it comes to training a prospective DSP, she says that Marrakech, Inc. focuses on potential more so than specific qualifications. Trainees are asked to have a drivers’ license, GED or high school diploma and clear a background check. 

Almost everything else can be taught, so long as a trainee is open-minded and ready to serve. 

The state’s new SPARK-CT training pilot, LaTorra hopes, can help this work progress even further. 

“This is going to help so many people,” she said. “It’s going to help get people off waiting lists. It’s going to help the organizations hire qualified people that are well trained. And the people going through it are getting paid from day one, have a full-time job and will have many options in this field going forward.” 

The SPARK-CT program arrives as the state works to support people with disabilities, particularly when it comes to employment and workforce development. 

According to data from the Center for Research on Disability, the national unemployment rate for workers with disabilities was 9.3% in 2023, compared to 3.9% for workers without disabilities.

In Connecticut, the disparity was roughly the same over the same period, with workers with disabilities facing a 9.7% unemployment rate while unemployment for workers without disabilities stood at 4.1%.

In 2023, the median annual earnings for workers with disabilities in the state was $31,660 compared to $52,990 for workers without disabilities. In other words, a worker with a disability made roughly 60% of what a worker without a disability made.

A survey published earlier this year by DataHaven found that while 1 in 4 adults in the state live with disabilities, there continues to be significant unmet need in Connecticut. Looking specifically at economic well-being, the report authors found “ a particularly large difference in overall self-rated financial well-being,” between people with disabilities and those without.

A different approach to career pathways

“What we have seen, particularly since COVID, are two pressures on the workforce,” said Rep. Lucy Dathan, D-New Canaan, a co-chair of the legislature’s bipartisan IDD Caucus, which focuses on promoting laws and state initiatives that support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. “There is pressure for the people that are providing the services: the nursing assistants, the paraeducators, the folks who are providing day programming. But then there’s also the ability for people with IDD to get meaningful jobs for themselves.”

The issue has spurred legislation in recent years. In 2023, lawmakers passed House Bill 5001, a multifaceted measure that expanded disability support in the state, including in employment and housing, with the larger goal of reducing lengthy waitlists for services. The bill came with a sizable fiscal note, including more than $30 million from the General Fund over two years. 

In an interview, Dathan acknowledged that the legislation was a significant step, but one that requires additional follow-up work. In the future, she’s particularly interested in advancing legislation around “supported decision-making”, an alternative to conservatorship and more strict guardianship arrangements.

On the workforce side, she said that finding ways to support direct support professionals could also be worth looking into, adding that the SPARK-CT pilot seems like a helpful step forward. 

“I’m really hopeful that this program is something that’s going to be meaningful for our state,” she said.

Still, even with its potential, the SPARK-CT program faces some challenges. For one, while the training program offers pay and incentives, it still pays less than competitive full-time salaries in the area. The program also offers a pathway into the field that could help with entry-level staffing shortages, but it does not address the longstanding issue of low wages and the need for additional support for more experienced workers already employed as DSPs in the state.

Advocates say that even with these caveats, the pilot could be deeply valuable, training more people who can work as DSPs providing employment services.

“Being able to have programs that focus on those things and develop those things are hugely helpful to the sector as a whole,” said Danielle Middlebrooks, the advocacy director for the Arc of Connecticut.

The SPARK-CT pilot will end in mid-2027, and the current funding will only support one round of the programming. BRS is looking for ways to incorporate the lessons of the pilot into its work moving forward.

The ultimate goal, Doukas says, is to create a long-term pathway into DSP jobs for people in the state. But even more than that, he believes that programs like SPARK-CT, if given more permanent support, can usher in a larger shift, boosting Connecticut’s declining workforce more broadly by providing a foundation that can help people with disabilities as they take on new jobs.

“We aren’t doing this because it’s just a good thing to do. Our agency doesn’t exist because it’s philanthropic,” he said.  “Individuals with disabilities can bring meaningful contributions to the state’s economy, they represent part of the workforce solution in general.”

“If given an opportunity by employers,” he added, “they’re going to be able to fill roles.”