The Missouri Model

Missouri has developed something rare: a way to provide real, stable employment to people with moderate or severe intellectual and developmental disabilities… without relying on federal funding.

Called the “Missouri Model,” this approach treats Extended Employment Sheltered Workshops (EESWs) as what they actually are: small, independent nonprofit businesses.

The largest share of their budgets comes from contracts with local and national companies, product sales, and services that reflect each workshop’s local market and the creativity of its staff. One shop might offer furniture refinishing. Another runs a thrift store. This variety isn’t accidental. It reflects genuine entrepreneurial problem-solving, and it works.

For over half a century, EESWs have served tens of thousands of workers with disabilities, offering not just a paycheck but stability, purpose, and community. 

This long history also explains why workshops are so well-suited to serve people across a wide spectrum of disabilities and needs. Someone with above-average intelligence and a visual impairment needs entirely different support than someone with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities. Treating them as a single category isn’t just unhelpful… it can be harmful.

Missouri’s Extended Employment Sheltered Workshops are built on the understanding that people with disabilities that meaningful employment looks different for everyone.

One growing trend: some workshop employees take on jobs at private businesses with continued “follow-along” support from the workshop, a bridge that lets them try more complex, competitive work while retaining a safety net. If a placement doesn’t work out, they can return to the workshop, sometimes more than once. That flexibility matters.