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Current Contract Putting Work Into Consumers' Lives:   The Putting Work Into Consumers' Lives Project, funded by the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services, is designed to increase the employment options available to people with serious, persistent mental illness. Taking a unique approach, the Project targets providers, comsumers, and employers, helping to build a support network that better enhances the ability of consumers to seek, sevure, and sustain employment. The project establishes a process that couples seamless service with partnering among all three grous to assure employment opportunity that has been elusive to so many with serious, persistent mental illness. Over the course of a year, beginning with an intensive training and continuing with close follow along consultation to individual provider staff, the project helps participating agencies to better integrate vocational outcomes into their service delivers.   Providers are trained to: assess effectively consumers' career options, assist appropriate vocational placement of consumers interested in employment that takes into account benefits concerns and issues around disclosure, and offeran integrated workplace intervention that increases the possibility of successful and sustained work.   At the same time the project helps providers initiate a local lavor market strategy that organizes the business community in support of the employment goals of the participating providers and their consumer population.   To find out more about how your agency can get involved in this project AT NO COST to you e-mail us at: sa12@columbia.edu