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If a person receives social security and is looking for a job or is already employed, there are specially trained professionals known as Community Work Incentive Coordinators (CWIC) to help him or her make sense of complex employment and benefit-related issues.

What is a CWIC?

Community Work Incentives Coordinators (CWIC), also known as Benefits Specialists, provide confidential services to people with disabilities who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and/or Social Security Disability Income (SSDI). CWICs educate beneficiaries on how employment will affect their public benefits such as SSI, SSDI, Medicare, Medicaid, subsidized housing and food stamps. CWICs will also work with providers to support clients as they move along the employment continuum.

CWICs are funded by a U.S. Social Security program called Work Incentive Planning and Assistance see “What is a WIPA?” below) but they are not SSA employees. However, they do serve SSI and SSDI beneficiaries, including young adults who are transitioning from school to work.

CWICs provide information about:

  • Federal and state work incentives
  • Private and state job training and job placement services
  • Employer-sponsored or federally subsidized health insurance once employed
  • Legal protection and advocacy services, if needed

CWICs also:

  • Answer general questions regarding eligibility, benefits and work incentives.
  • Make referrals to community resources.
  • Gather information, verify facts and answer specific questions regarding an individual’s federal and state benefits and work incentive options.
  • Prepare a personalized benefit analysis that demonstrates the impact that earning wages will have on an individual’s public benefits.
  • Provide direct assistance to accessing specific work incentives.
  • Periodically monitor progress, reassess the impact of work on benefits, and provide additional planning for managing benefits while working.

What is WIPA?

WIPA stands for Work Incentives Planning and Assistance, a service funded by the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) as part of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999. There are more than 100 WIPA grantees in the United States. Two of those WIPA grantees, BenePLAN and Project IMPACT, are in Massachusetts. The programs employ certified Community Work Incentive Coordinators and each serves a specific region:

BenePLAN is operated by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and serves Worcester and Middlesex counties as well as the four counties in Western Massachusetts. Call toll free at 1 (877) 937-9675.

Project IMPACT is operated by the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, and serves all other counties in Massachusetts. Call toll free at 1 (800) 734-7475.