Increasing Job Retention with the PRIME Project

Promoting Retention in Meaningful Employment (PRIME): A Five-Year Initiative to Transform Job Retention for People with Disabilities

While vocational rehabilitation agencies excel at helping people with disabilities secure employment, a critical challenge persists: maintaining that employment over time. Current data reveals a concerning trend—approximately two-thirds of individuals retain their jobs at six months post-exit from VR services, but this drops dramatically to only one in five still employed at twelve months.

The PRIME (Promoting Retention in Meaningful Employment) project addresses this gap through an innovative, multi-faceted approach funded by the Disability Innovation Fund. This five-year initiative recognizes that true career success extends far beyond job placement—it requires sustained support that helps individuals build meaningful, lasting careers.

About This Webinar

Join the IPARRT research team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison for an engaging presentation on the PRIME project and the critical importance of job retention in vocational rehabilitation. Led by Principal Investigator Dr. Tim Tansey along with colleagues Emily Brinck and Dr. Cayte Anderson, this webinar explores why retention matters, what the data tells us about current outcomes, and how PRIME is working to change the trajectory for people with disabilities.

What You'll Learn

In this webinar, you will:

Understand the retention challenge facing vocational rehabilitation, including data showing the dramatic drop-off in employment between six and twelve months post-exit
Explore key factors that influence job retention, including both services that support long-term success (supported employment, job coaching, rehabilitation technology) and barriers that increase risk (long-term unemployment, benefit concerns, workplace environment issues)
Discover PRIME's innovative approach combining personalized training, AI-powered support tools, peer communities, and retention specialists to help individuals maintain employment
Learn about research findings on return on investment for retention services and which populations face the greatest challenges
Examine WIOA performance measures and how retention data impacts program evaluation and funding
Gain insights into how VR agencies can better support long-term employment outcomes within current policy frameworks

Catherine (Cayte) Anderson, Ph.D., LPC, CRC
Researcher and SVRA Liaison
University of Wisconsin-Madison VRTAC-QE

Catherine (Cayte) Anderson, Ph.D., LPC, CRC serves as a research professor with the Innovative Partnership for the Advancement of Rehabilitation Research & Training (IPARRT) housed within the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER). In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the process evaluation of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Worker Connection initiative in addition to actively contributing to the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment (VRTAC-QE), the Wisconsin Career Advancement grant, and specific research studies focused on youth in transition.

Dr. Anderson received her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has provided leadership on numerous research, demonstration, and systems-change grants for over 25 years. She also recently served as President of the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC) Board of Directors from 2020-2022. Dr. Anderson regularly publishes in peer-reviewed professional journals, including open-source venues to promote knowledge translation in the field. Her research interests include understanding and improving employment, career, and financial outcomes for students and adults with disabilities, transition-age youth and families, interagency collaboration between education and vocational rehabilitation, cultural responsiveness with low-income and marginalized disability populations, and use of evidence-based practices within vocational rehabilitation.

Emily A. Brinck, Ph.D., LPC-IT, CRC, CVE
Researcher
Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER)
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Emily A. Brinck, LPC-IT, CRC, CVE is a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) department serving on the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment (VRTAC-QE) and the Wisconsin Career Advancement grant. She received her Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Counselor Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, her Master's in Management from Indiana University, and a Bachelor of Education: Intervention Specialist from Miami University.

Dr. Brinck has had the opportunity to work on the Wisconsin Promoting the Readiness of Minors in Supplemental Security Income (PROMISE) as well as the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Employer Practices (RRTC) grants. She has published articles in the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, and Rehabilitation Psychology. Her research interest includes interagency collaboration between schools, vocational rehabilitation, and employers; transition services to post-secondary employment and education; and counselor supervision.

Timothy Tansey, Ph.D., CRC, CVE
Professor and Principal Investigator
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Tansey received his Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a professor in the Rehabilitation Counselor Education program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Tansey has over 20 years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor, educator, or rehabilitation researcher. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles in the areas of applying novel technology in vocational rehabilitation and rehabilitation counselor education, evidence-based practices in vocational rehabilitation, self-regulation, and self-determination. Dr. Tansey has extensive experience in adapting technology and utilizing social media for knowledge translation and dissemination activities.

Dr. Tansey is the principal investigator on the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment, a project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. He is currently the principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or co-investigator on several other federally-funded research or national technical assistance center grants from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Social Security Administration and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research).

These current projects seek to ascertain evidence-based practices in the vocational rehabilitation of youth with disabilities, identify employer practices in the recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of persons with disabilities, and provide technical assistance to state vocational rehabilitation toward increasing competitive, integrated employment of persons with disabilities living in areas of extreme poverty. Dr. Tansey has developed doctoral-level training focused on online and hybrid pedagogy as well as established numerous online, hybrid, and technology-enhanced courses. He serves as the co-editor of the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin and on the editorial boards for numerous other journals.