Inclusive Florida:
Powered by The Able Trust

The Able Trust supports Florida’s system of employing Floridians with disabilities — whether their first job or their last — by being the thought leader for disability workforce inclusion. A persistent workforce participation gap of more than 40 percent exists between individuals with disabilities and those without a disability. The Able Trust is working to close this gap through a new initiative — Inclusive Florida: Powered by The Able Trust. This program is a unique combination of research, outreach, and capacity building that will help strengthen our current system to ensure more Floridians with disabilities are able to enter the job market.

Through the Inclusive Florida program, more Florida job seekers with disabilities will be able to: 

  • Become a part of their community,
  • Gain financial independence, and
  • Realize their full potential.

Inclusive Florida: Powered by The Able Trust will help strengthen Florida’s workforce and move Florida into a leadership position in disability employment. We will accomplish this by leading with data. We will conduct statewide research and this analysis will drive our decisions.

The data will be complimented by outreach to our partners, businesses, educational institutions and community leaders across the state. Through our Inclusive Florida Listening Tour, we will visit communities to hear first-hand from these various audiences that are crucial to Florida’s workforce.

Everyone has important information for us to learn from and in addition to learning about disability inclusion challenges, we want to hear about best practices. What is working in one Florida community that might work well in another?

The research and data will be used in combination with input from stakeholders across Florida to develop quality standards for employment and workforce development services. The Able Trust will identify and use new strategies and standards to support statewide services and ensure Floridians with disabilities enter and thrive in employment.

This multipronged strategy will be used to improve our understanding of disability employment in Florida and increase the number of Floridians with disabilities in our workforce.

 Listening sessions are being held around the state and information on the findings from these important meetings will be integrated into a final report to be released later this year.