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Acting DDS commissioner outlines employment initiatives, new assessment tool and workforce-training push
Summary
Acting Department of Developmental Services Commissioner Sarah Peterson told the commission the agency has ended approvals for subminimum-wage waivers, will adopt the Supports Intensity Scale (SIS‑A) to replace ICAP, and is expanding employer partnerships and workforce training including a paid DSW‑to‑LPN program.
Acting Commissioner Sarah Peterson of the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) told the Permanent Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities that her department has moved to strengthen pathways to competitive, integrated employment and to shore up the workforce that supports those outcomes.
Peterson said DDS "closed the front door to approving applications for waivers of the minimum wage" in April and that "as of October 1st, there's no longer anyone in Massachusetts, in group and individual supported employment who earn a subminimum wage." She framed that step as consistent with the department's 2010 Employment First policy and welcomed a recent U.S. Department of Labor proposed rule that would phase out certificates allowing pay below the federal minimum wage ($7.25).
The commissioner announced DDS will replace its longstanding ICAP assessment with the Supports Intensity Scale, adult version (SIS‑A). "The tool that we've selected is the supports intensity scale adult version or the SIS‑A," Peterson said, describing it as a strengths‑based, standardized, web‑enabled assessment that can be customized with supplemental questions for Massachusetts and used to guide person‑centered planning.
Peterson and Holly McCarthy, DDS director of community life and engagement, described partnerships that use community‑based day supports (CBDS) as training pipelines into paid work. As an example, Peterson cited a Riverside–UMass Amherst partnership that places a little over 30 supported employees on campus and said two participants transitioned from supported employment into continuing paid roles at the university.
Peterson also outlined workforce development steps aimed at recruiting and retaining direct support professionals, including a DDS DSW‑to‑LPN program that paid employees while they attended an LPN program. "That program, last year, we had 18 people graduate from it. We already have 22 people enrolled for this upcoming year," she said, calling it part of a broader recruitment and retention strategy.
Commissioners asked how the mock training environments operate and whether participants are paid; Peterson said mock settings prepare people for real‑world work and that participants are paid once they move to an actual work setting. She and McCarthy also noted ongoing collaboration with MassAbility, DESE and employers such as CVS, TJ Maxx and Sodexo, and pointed commissioners to a DDS blueprint and to a commission‑produced video and resource page intended for employers and providers.
The department provided counts and program details: Peterson said DDS supported about 25,100 people in group supported employment and about 38,100 in individual supported employment across the state. She invited commissioners to follow up with DDS staff and said Holly McCarthy’s contact information and links to the blueprint and examples are in the meeting slides.
What happens next: commissioners encouraged continued coordination between DDS and the commission; Peterson said DDS will share resources and engage with subcommittees that focus on workforce and employment.
