Minnesota state jobs program for people with disabilities fails to live up to promise

A state hiring program designed to reverse Minnesota's historically low rate of employment of people with disabilities in state government has fallen short of expectations amid reports of mismanagement and lack of coordination between agencies.

In October 2016, then-Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled Connect 700, a program that was hailed as an innovative way to give individuals with disabilities a greater role in state government by granting them early preference during the hiring process for hundreds of state jobs. The program enabled people to skip the normal, competitive interviewing process, provided they meet the minimum job requirements and could demonstrate their ability to perform the tasks by working up to 700 hours on the job.

http://www.startribune.com/minnesota-state-jobs-program-for-people-with-disabilities-fails-to-live-up-to-promise/567337342/