• Community Living and Employment Specialist
Email
mahoe001@umn.edu
Phone
+1 612-626-0429
Address
Masonic Institute on the Developing Brain
Rm 1-305B1c [map]
2025 E River Pkwy
MInneapolis, MN 55414

Danielle Mahoehney is an education program specialist at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration. She provides training, technical assistance, and project coordination within the areas of community living and workforce development. She works with non-profit organizations and government agencies to advance competitive, integrated employment and community-based day support options for people with disabilities.

Before joining the ICI staff in 2020, Mahoehney served the organization as a consultant on employment-focused projects. She also has worked as an advocate for The Arc Minnesota and as a direct support professional and frontline supervisor. She earned a master’s degree in social work from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame.

“Early in my career I lived in an intentional community in Florida with people with and without developmental disabilities,” she said. “It not only sparked an interest in disability as a career but also helped form my priorities in life. While I was in Florida, there were major budget cuts and I saw up close how that directly impacted the people I lived with. I love working on employment issues because they are absolutely essential to full inclusion. When people with disabilities work in settings with people without disabilities, that’s when people really get to know each other and learn that everyone has something to share. If we don’t challenge people to explore what they are capable of and take some risks, it compromises the dignity of all of us.”

Projects

Project

GoMN! Project: From Subminimum Wages to Competitive Integrated Work

This project trains individuals and families in Minnesota to transition from subminimum wage to competitive integrated employment. The training covers self-advocacy skills, supported decision- …

Project

Research and Training Center on Community Living (RTC-CL)

Conducts a wide range of research, training, and technical assistance and dissemination projects related to community supports under its center grant and related project funding. The RTC-CL is …

Project

Implementing ES-Coach to Support Provider Capacity-Building and Development

Uses smartphone technology to reduce the gap between training and field-based implementation of best and evidence-based practice. ES-Coach is a web and smartphone-based tool that collects daily …

Project

Go MN!

The Go MN! project is led by MN DEED. The project addresses people with disabilities in or contemplating subminimum wage work settings and offers them opportunities to explore careers in transporta…

Project

Implementing ES-Coach to Support Provider Capacity Building and Development

ES-Coach is a web- and smartphone-based tool that collects daily data on supports and provides feedback to employment consultants, managers, and their teams in real time, helping them to reflect, …

Project

Training for Direct Support Workers Employed in Self-Directed Programs

This project provided training for more than 1,000 direct support workers (DSWs). The purpose of the training was to provide information on the following topics: 1) disability rights movement; 2) …

Project

Day Support Consulting

Provided specialized consultation on integrated day services and staff training for MRCI, Inc., an employment provider. ICI developed new tools for staff training to support increased community …

Project

Lewin HCBS Special Projects

Assists the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in accelerating its understanding of the challenges that states face related to the HCBS direct service workforce and with potential …
Project

Direct Support Workforce Solutions

Direct Support Workforce Solutions is a national consulting group addressing the workforce needs of organizations providing community-based supports for individuals with disabilities. Drawing on …

Project

Minnesota Employment, Training, and Technical Assistance Project (MN TAP) [Archived]

Funded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, this project aimed to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities. As part of the project, the Institute for Community Inclusion …

Project

Minnesota Transformation Initiative Technical Assistant Center (MTI)

ICI and the University of Massachusetts Boston are collaboratively designing, implementing, and evaluating the Minnesota Transformation Initiative Technical Assistance Center (MTI). MTI supports …

Products

Rethinking What Works: May 2024

This issue features videos of a day and employment provider serving people with disabilities in rural Minnesota that decided to transition away from a center-based, subminimum wage service model …

Published: May 2024

Rethinking What Works: March 2024

This issue features customized employment, a process that identifies the strengths and interests of the job-seeker and matches those with the needs of a business. The issue also shares upcoming trainings and resources.Published: March 2024

Rethinking What Works: August 2024

This issue features opportunities for technical assistance from MTI, upcoming trainings, resources, and an advocacy opportunity.Published: August 2024

Impact: Employment and IDD

Employment & IDD lifts up National Disability Employment Awareness Month as a time to insist on more and better services to support people with disabilities to get and keep competitive jobs …

Published: Fall 2024

Rethinking What Works: July 2024

This issue features the transformation of Lake County Developmental Achievement Center, upcoming trainings, and resources.Published: July 2024

Rethinking What Works: January 2024

This first issue of MTI's newsletter introduces itself, its purpose, and audience. It shares upcoming trainings and featured resources.

Published: January 2024

Rethinking What Works: February 2024

This issue shares the story and video of Udac, a Duluth employment service provider that won a national award for transforming its service model from center-based day and employment services to …

Published: February 2024

Rethinking What Works: October 2024

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), and this issue of Rethinking What Works offers suggestions for honoring NDEAM and learning more about employment for people with …Published: October 2024

Rethinking What Works: June 2024

This issue features MTI's peer mentorship program which helps people with disabilities and their support networks as they explore job options. It also shares upcoming trainings and resources.

Published: June 2024

Rethinking What Works: September 2024

This issue features an Employment First conference that MTI sponsored and upcoming trainings and resources.

Published: September 2024

Rethinking What Works: April 2024

This issue features a video about a Twin Cities organization that shifted from subminimum wage work and center-based employment to competitive, integrated employment opportunities chosen by their …

Published: April 2024

How Did Employment Consultants Adjust and Innovate Services to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Background: The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced an immediate change to the delivery of employment supports and services for jobseekers and workers with intellectual and developmental disabili…

Published: 2023