Massachusetts is home to a number of Regional Employment Collaborative working to improve employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.

With funding from the Department of Developmental Services, the Department of Mental Health and Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, these collaboratives are growing in size and scope.

How can you benefit from partnering with the Employment Collaboratives?

The Employment Collaboratives work like portals. They contact and engage a wide variety of employers, determine their needs, and help them match potential job opportunities with qualified applicants with disabilities. The Employer Liaisons work with local employers as well as employers who have a presence in multiple regions. Each region hosts a Job Developers Network comprised of Collaborative members who operate employment placement and support services who coordinate their efforts and share job leads.

Employers appreciate the collaborative approach because it creates a single point of access where they can go to find qualified applicants as well as increase the diversity of their workforce. Most importantly, the Employment Collaborative model works. In the last twelve months the Collaboratives have helped employers across Massachusetts fill 385 job vacancies with qualified job candidates. (Under the leadership of Riverside Community Care and the Institute for Community Inclusion, most of the Employment Collaboratives began or were re-launched this past year.)

To connect with your local Employment Collaborative, contact the Project Coordinators or Employer Liaisons in your region (see the list below). For general information, contact Stephanie L. Marks, MEd, Director of Employment Collaboratives, for Riverside Community Care, at (781) 686-8146 or smarks@riversidecc.org.

Regional Contacts

Central Mass Employment Collaborative (CMEC)
David Beccia, Project Coordinator
(781) 686-8144, dbeccia@riversidecc.org
Southern Central Mass from Worcester to Rhode Island border; east to west from Medway to Brimfield

Greater Boston Employment Collaborative (GBEC)
Rotem Marshall-White, Project Coordinator/Employer Liaison
(781) 234-5186, rmarshallwhite@riversidecc.org
Metro Boston area within the Rte. 128 loop

North Suburban Employment Collaborative (NSEC)
Kristianne Widman, Project Coordinator/Employer Liaison
(617) 352-2040, kwidman@riversidecc.org
North Shore, Metro North, and Central Middlesex Areas – from Cape Ann to Concord

Greater Merrimack Valley Employment Collaborative (GMVEC)
Heather Mantell, Project Coordinator/Employer Liaison
(617) 512-3983, hmantell@riversidecc.org
Lowell/Lawrence/Haverhill region South

Shore Collaborative on Employment (SSCE)
Dave Urban, Employer Liaison
(617) 287-4366, david.urban@umb.edu
South Shore – from Milton to Plymouth

Western Massachusetts Employment Collaborative (WMEC)
Pam Mendes, Employer Liaison
(617) 360-1646, pmendes@riversidecc.org
Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties