New Funding Structure for WorkWORLD

Our funding structure has changed. This page describes new options for accessing WorkWORLD^TM. Other related pages include the Key Contacts page, which provides information about support for WorkWORLD and key leadership in each state, and the Achieving Free WorkWORLD in Your State Through Pledges page, which shows how collaborative efforts can help make WorkWORLD free in your state.

The Employment Support Institute (ESI) at Virginia Commonwealth University's (VCU) School of Business created WorkWORLD software to help people with disabilities and their advocates nationally who receive or are eligible for government disability benefits to find safe paths to higher net income and to get, keep, or improve their healthcare package.

WorkWORLD creates advantages for consumers, taxpayers, and agencies charged with serving people with disabilities. Everyone benefits financially when people do not fear higher earnings. Our testimonial page shows, from multiple perspectives, how WorkWORLD helps people in the disability community.

If you are a resident of Virginia, your state agencies have an agreement with ESI to provide WorkWORLD to you for free. Residents of other states must purchase WorkWORLD.

See how to get WorkWORLD for complete information about ordering WorkWORLD from any state.

Changes in distribution and other steps we are taking to keep WorkWORLD available for all are explained below. You can read the remainder of this page in sequence or jump directly to the following specific sections:

Background
Funding and Purchasing Methods
Sample Memoranda Of Understanding (MOU)
Value of WorkWORLD
More Information
Provide Your Opinion: Key Contacts

Background

WorkWORLD software improves the lives of people with disabilities by showing how work incentives may be used in their specific situation to help transition from dependence on government benefits to greater self-reliance and economic self-sufficiency. Taxpayers also benefit as greater independence and higher net income for people with disabilities reduces demand for expensive government-funded benefit programs.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) contributed enhancement and distribution funding for WorkWORLD for over 6 years. SSA's funding ended in 2005. As a result we are initiating new strategies to keep this innovative employment support system continuously improving, available, and updated.

Agencies within a state can make WorkWORLD freely available to citizens of their state by selecting one of the funding methods below.

Funding and Purchasing Methods

In order for people to access new versions of the Help/Information System and WorkWORLD software, we have devised a variety of funding and purchasing methods:

Residents of any state that have a current single-agency or multi-agency Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ESI for professional hours to customize WorkWORLD with state-specific information will get the software and Help system for free (see below for links to sample MOU.) Orders from state residents for free CD mailings will be honored, provided their street address and phone number are within one of these states. States that currently have this type of arrangement with ESI are: Virginia.
States that do not have an active agreement with us to customize the software will need to establish an MOU that commits professional fee hours in order for ESI to deliver new version releases of WorkWORLD as they occur throughout the year. States will have agreements to pay for delivery of WorkWORLD updates through professional fees on a mutually agreed invoice schedule (see below for links to sample MOU.) Orders from state residents for free CD mailings will be honored, provided their street address and phone number are within one of these states.
Through the insightful support of NISH, WorkWORLD was available to all residents of selected states. NISH provided this support in the form of time-limited seed money in order to help Community Rehabilitation Providers and others improve the net income, health care, and vocational outcomes of all people with disabilities. Orders from state residents for free CD mailings were honored, provided their street address and phone number were within one of these states.
Individuals in other states that have not established any MOU with ESI may order new versions of the stand-alone WorkWORLD Help/Information System for $25, and may order new versions of the complete WorkWORLD software (which includes the Help/Information System) for $50. These prices include a free one-year automatic subscription to all available software updates.

See how to get WorkWORLD for complete information about ordering WorkWORLD from any state.

As we gain sufficient donations and/or state and federal support we will work to re-establish the free distribution of the help system as well as free access to the software and updates. It will take about 20 state agreements to replace the loss of SSA funding. The per-state cost of updating, maintaining, and delivering can go down after we gain more than 20 states with MOU agreements.

The Achieving Free WorkWORLD in Your State Through Pledges page shows how state agencies, community-based organizations, and individuals can help build a state funding pool to make WorkWORLD free to residents of your state.

Sample Memoranda Of Understanding (MOU)

Sample copies of the three Memorandum of Understanding methods that establish state commitment for providing WorkWORLD updates throughout the year are available for you to download, read, and review.

Get the documents in Microsoft Word (.doc) format:

Get the documents in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format:

Value of WorkWORLD

The following list of bullets describes why state agencies and citizens they serve should be interested in having WorkWORLD available to all in their state:

Reduce fear of increasing earnings by promoting learned optimism
Focus on an individual's options while removing fear-provoking irrelevant information
Provide links to evolving external information
Analyze complex interacting employment policies to create individualized policy interpretations for particular situations
Promote choice through "what if" option exploration where outputs show all stakeholders safe paths to better individual and family outcomes
Exceed training and information systems that only inform people about work incentives by displaying motivating incentives for safe use of work incentives
Increase net income while expanding career options and protecting the health care and financial security of the individual as well as the family
Find solutions to real or perceived barriers to earnings and getting or keeping health care
Realize self-determination, life-long learning, and individual/family control over rules and resources
Reduce taxpayer burden as greater independence for people with disabilities lowers demand for government-funded benefit programs.

More Information

See how to get WorkWORLD for complete information about ordering WorkWORLD from any state.

For additional information, please read the comprehensive document Using WorkWORLD to Achieve Employment, Housing, and Self-Determination Outcomes for People with Disabilities: Options for State Agencies and Other Organizations to Sustain ESI's WorkWORLD Software and Training and Consultation Services. It is available in two formats:

Get the State Options document in Microsoft Word (.doc) format.

Get the State Options document in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format.

Provide Your Opinion: Key Contacts

Providing your opinion could help state and federal leadership value WorkWORLD and help motivate agencies to work with ESI to provide WorkWORLD for free in your state. To get a listing of key contacts at federal agencies and agencies in your state that may provide support for continued free access to WorkWORLD updates throughout the year, jump to the Key Contacts page.