For Policymakers
Providing Meaningful Employment to Individuals with IDD since the 1960s
A Smart Investment. A Missouri Success Story.
Missouri has spent more than 50 years building something most states don’t have: a self-sustaining, community-rooted employment system for people with moderate and severe intellectual and developmental disabilities — one that returns more to the state than it costs.
That’s not an accident. It’s the Missouri Model, and it works.
The Economic Case
86
5,000+
Missourians with disabilities currently employed
$4 Returned
for every $1 Missouri invests in the program
60–80%
of funding earned through business contracts and sales
$0 Federal
No federal funding or Medicaid dollars, unlike most states
50+ years
What You Need to Know
Missouri’s Extended Employment Sheltered Workshops (EESWs) are independent nonprofit businesses operating in communities across the state. They employ thousands of Missourians with disabilities in real jobs — doing real work — for real pay.
Unlike most states, Missouri’s EESW program operates without federal funding or Medicaid dollars. Workshops fund the majority of their operations through business contracts, product sales, and services they provide to local and national companies. State and local support (including Senate Bill 40 county revenues) fills the gap. For every $1 Missouri invests, approximately $4 comes back.
The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) administers the program, certifies employee eligibility, and reimburses providers for staffing and supervision — providing accountability without bureaucratic overhead.
Why This Model Matters
People with disabilities have vastly different needs, abilities, and circumstances. Someone with a visual impairment and average intellect needs entirely different support than someone with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities. Missouri’s workshops are designed around that reality — serving workers across a wide spectrum of needs and abilities, in environments that are stable, safe, and structured around individual capacity.
For many workers, a sheltered workshop isn’t a temporary placement. It’s a long-term home away from home — a place where they earn a paycheck, build skills, form relationships, and contribute to their community. For their families, it’s peace of mind that didn’t exist before Missouri’s workshop founders (most of them parents) built it from the ground up.
Some workers also transition into private-sector jobs with continued “follow-along” support from the workshop, giving them a chance to take on more complex work without losing their safety net. That flexibility represents the best of both worlds: opportunity and protection.
What Policymakers Can Do
Stay informed.
Missouri’s EESW program is nationally recognized, but it requires ongoing attention to remain strong. Understanding how workshops are funded, structured, and regulated helps you advocate effectively.
Protect existing funding structures.
Senate Bill 40 county revenues and DESE reimbursements are the backbone of a system that largely pays for itself. Preserving these mechanisms protects thousands of Missouri workers and families.
Support legislation that strengthens the model.
When bills affecting disability employment, nonprofit funding, or workforce development come before you, Missouri’s workshops have a stake in the outcome.
See it for yourself.
There’s a workshop near you. A site visit puts a human face on the data, and gives you a story to tell when it matters.
The Bottom Line
Missouri built a model that works… for workers with disabilities, for their families, for local businesses, and for the state.
It’s worth understanding, worth protecting, and worth championing.
Get in Touch.
MASWM President Tim Poepsel: (573) 503-0000 or tpoepsel@empacgroupinc.com
or MASWM Legislative Chair Kit Brewer: (314) 647-3300 or cbrewer@cuinc.org
About MASWM
The Missouri Association of Sheltered workshop Managers (MASWM) is an association made up of the Missouri Sheltered workshop Managers dedicated to enhancing Missouri's extended employment sheltered workshops, programs for the people we serve and the business services we provide.
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