The State of Delaware Department of Finance has recently collaborated with The Precisionists (TPI), a Wilmington, Del. based organization that focuses on employment for adults with disabilities. The pilot program that is about to celebrate its first anniversary uses works on the talents of autistic adults team from TPI’s workforce to tackle critical business needs within the Department of Finance’s Division of Revenue (DOR).

“When properly assessed and trained, people with autism are extremely high-performing employees working in critical and challenging jobs such as administrative business functions, including scanning documents and data entry, software testing, website QA, and data analytics,” said Ernie Dianastasis, CEO of The Precisionists, in a statement. “When you consider that more than 80 percent of people with autism in the country are either unemployed or underemployed, we are making a true difference in engaging a significant, untapped labor force. We are thrilled to partner on this project with the State of Delaware Department of Finance, which continues to demonstrate leadership and commitment to the community.”

TPI has established, reviewed, and trained the persons involved in the pilot program. A TPI team consisting of multiple data analysts and a project manager has been completely integrated with the Delaware DOR team in Wilmington since January 2020 to support the collection and Business License processing functions of DOR’s Personal Income Tax Returns.

The TPI team members obtain, overcome, and process exceptions to tax return filings for personal income tax returns. New applications, renewals for data entry into the system, and processing are obtained by TPI team members for business licenses.

“The Precisionists has created an innovative model focused on helping organizations excel by bringing the talents and strengths of people with diverse abilities into the workforce,” said Rick Geisenberger, Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Finance in a statement. “Our Department is thrilled to be part of this effort that aligns so well with our values under the leadership of Governor Carney, and strengthens our ability to continuously improve the services we provide to our customers and the State’s taxpayers.”

“The work being done by the TPI Associates has provided needed support and continuous improvement to the Division of Revenue. The resources they have provided have enabled us to better manage our day-to-day operations. The employees from The Precisionists are reliable contributors to our team,” said Jennifer Hudson, Director of the Division of Revenue, in a statement to the press.

Participants in the pilot undergo a comprehensive four-week training program. The State of Delaware hopes to find additional opportunities to apply this employment model to other areas of the organization as part of the pilot program, further promoting the Precisionists’ objective of hiring 10,000 people with a different skillset in the United States by 2025.