Dear Prospective Participant,
We, Langston Universty RRTC in collaboration with Institute for Community Inclusion, University of Massachusetts Boston, are pleased to invite you to particpate in a virtual Focus Group Session focusing on improving employment experiences and outcomes for idividuals with disabilities who are often treated unfairly because of their race, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation, rural location, and/or their poverty status.
You were invited to participate in the Focus Group because of your expertise, knowledge, and/or lived experience. The Focus Group Sessions will be conducted in four (4) states: Oklahoma, Massachussetts, West Virginia, and Georgia and participants will be drawn from respective states based on eligibility and address provided in the application survey data.
Who is Eligible to Participate? Participants must be people with disabilities from underserved populations and residents of any of the above four states, and who meet at least one of the following criteria:
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Are from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds.
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Are individuals who live in rural areas,
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Are individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+,
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Are individuals who identify as experiencing poverty.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to gain your perspectives regarding ways to improve employment experiences and outcomes for people with disabilities who are often treated unfairly because of their race, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, rural location, and/or their poverty status.
Benefits of Participation
There are no direct benefits to you as a participant in this study. However, we hope to gather information that will inform policies, practices and interventions that will improve fairness in employment for people with disabilities who are often treated unfairly because of their race, sex, gender identity or sexual orientation, rural location, and/or their poverty have fair opportunities to find and maintain employment.
Risks of Participation
There are risks involved in all research studies. This study may include only minimal risks. You may become uncomfortable when answering some questions or listening to other participants’ opinions or views. No procedures are experimental or involve any risk to participants which are greater than those ordinarily encountered in daily life.
Confidentiality
The confidentiality of participants’ survey responses will be protected to the extent allowed by law. The virtual Focus Group session will be audio-recorded for the purpose of writing a report of the study. All research data and records will be stored securely and will only be shared with authorized individuals. In any sort of report that we might publish, we will not include any information that will make it possible to identify you as a participant. The identifiable information gathered in this study may be your name and mailing address that will be used to send your gift card and your personal email or phone number through which you will receive the zoom link for virtual focus group discussion. After the storage time the information gathered will be deleted permanently from each research team members’ password-protected computers.
Procedures
If you volunteer to participate in this study, you will first apply by filling in the short demographic data sheet below. The research team will then reach out to successful applicants on next step for conducting a virtual Focus Group discussion on the study topic.
Compensation
There is no financial cost to you to participate in this study. The study will take 90-120 minutes of your time. However, all Focus Group participants will receive a $50 Gift card each after participating. Selected participants will be required to have signed this electronic informed consent form and provided correct address to which the gift card will be sent via registered mail.