The WorkWORLD HELP/Information System is a comprehensive compilation of topics related to Federal and State work incentives and benefits. The software is a useful resource for people with disabilities, advocates, work incentive and benefit counselors, and others seeking help finding employment-based paths to higher net income through the best use of Federal and State work incentives and benefits. Accessible from its Table of Contents, Index, or by Searching for any word in a topic, the Help/Information System is also extensively hyperlinked to allow for instant jumps back and forth between related topics.
The HELP/Information System can be used alone or concurrently with WorkWORLD for the Web, a separate application that takes into account the complex interaction of earnings, benefit programs, and work incentives to provide individualized recommendations for safe options as well as alerts to possible problems. WorkWORLD for the Web calculates the effects on net income of trying different paths to independence, and provides text, numeric, and graphic results.
WorkWORLD was initially developed by the Employment Support Institute (ESI) at Virginia Commonwealth University with funding from the federal Social Security Administration (SSA). The software has been continuously enhanced and updated over 13 years and now contains more than 4,400 topics in the original Help system with 26,000 hyperlinks and over 10,000 keywords (index topics).
The WorkWORLD HELP/Information System is currently maintained through a partnership of state agencies in Virginia: The Department for Aging and Rehabilitative Services, the Virginia Board for Persons with Disabilities, the Department of Education, the Department for Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, and the Virginia Department of Social Services.