UMass Boston

Winsor will be honored at a ceremony at the 148th AAIDD Annual Meeting in June for her outstanding contributions to the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Jean Winsor, a senior research associate and project manager at UMass Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) is the winner of the 2024 Policy Award by the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD).

She began working at ICI in 2002 as a graduate assistant while completing her PhD in public policy. She rapidly emerged as a leader in research and advocacy for employment policy and systems change and has since extended this work into state consultation and evaluation.

Winsor co-developed the Higher Performing States Framework, an evidence-based model first published in 2007. This model has provided a foundation for employment policy and strategy in over 35 states and is used to guide the work of the State Employment Leadership Network (SELN), ICI’s membership supported state IDD agency community of practice committed to improving employment outcomes.

Currently, Winsor is the principal investigator on three ICI research projects: Access to Integrated Employment, ICI’s longitudinal data project on employment and day services for people with IDD; The Impact of State Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) Agency Employment Contracting Methods and Service Payment Rates on Employment for Individuals with IDD, a field-initiated research project on funding for employment services; and Florida’s Arts to Competitive Integrated Employment (ArtCIE) model demonstration project evaluation, a Rehabilitation Services Administration Disability Innovation Fund project.

Winsor is strongly invested in supporting the voices of individuals with IDD by involving people with lived experience in informed and meaningful roles in her research and policy work.

Read the full press release from AAIDD about Winsor’s award.