Advancing Employment

Advancing Employment is dedicated to building a community for inclusive employment in Georgia. It is here where individuals with disabilities, their families, service providers, and others interested in employment can learn and connect with one another. We believe competitive integrated employment is possible for everyone.

Advancing Employment is Georgia’s Technical Assistance Center for Best Practices in Employment Supports.  This Center started from and is mostly funded by a grant from the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities (GCDD). Advancing Employment seeks to improve employment supports and outcomes for individuals with disabilities who want to work through a technical assistance center that supports provider transformation. This process supports the shifting of a disability service provider from a focus on sheltered workshops and other non-work programs to services that foster competitive, integrated employment.

The Advancing Employment initiative provides selected Georgia employment service providers specialized planning and training sessions in order to provide best practice support for people with disabilities in their organizations. Our project also operates a Community of Practice (CoP).  This CoP is a virtual space within Advancing Employment where all Georgia providers can share information, receive new training through webinars and utilize resources that will ultimately serve people with developmental disabilities in their employment goals. To access the CoP, our mailing list sign-up to receive our monthly e-newsletter, and a wealth of resources, visit our Advancing Employment website.

Learn more by contacting us at advancingemployment@uga.edu.

Meet our Team

  • Doug Crandell: Project Director

    Doug Crandell, MFA has worked for decades in the field of community-based employment practices. He works with providers, stakeholders and employers to increase employment opportunities for people with disabilities. He provides training and technical assistance to Georgia's supported employment providers, both through webinars and on-site mentoring. In addition, he has provided hands-on, real-time training to organizations across the country.

  • Tracy Rackensperger, Ph.D.: Resources and Outreach Manager

    Tracy has worked with people with developmental disabilities for nearly 20 years. Dr. Rackensperger has expertise in overseeing the development and implementation of community education and outreach activities, developing and conducting training materials, providing technical assistance, and preparing articles for research publication.

  • Hamida Jinnah, Ph.D.: Project Evaluator

    Hamida has expertise and experience evaluating a wide variety of programs. She uses a multi-method approach to evaluation and has experience in both randomized control evaluations using large data sets and qualitative focus groups and interviews. She has expertise in developing logic models, conducting strategic planning, needs assessment, formative (process) and summative (outcome) evaluations for organizations.

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