Our VR Y-TAC Team

Mindy Larson

Deputy Director, Center for Workforce Development

Mindy Larson is Deputy Director of the Center for Workforce Development at the Institute for Educational Leadership. She currently serves as a senior manager for the Vocational Rehabilitation Youth Technical Assistance Center (Y-TAC) as well as the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth (NCWD/Youth), a federal technical assistance center funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy.

Since joining IEL in 2010, Larson has provided technical assistance on a wide range of youth transition issues to state and local youth service professionals in workforce development agencies, post-secondary institutions, special education transition programs, state education agencies, and other human service agencies. Larson also co-designed and facilitated the Youth Workforce Leaders Academy, a year-long cross-system professional learning community for D.C. youth service providers. Larson is an editor and co-author of multiple technical assistance guides, briefs, and other publications produced by NCWD/Youth on topics relevant to youth transition to adulthood.

Prior to joining IEL, Larson worked for the District of Columbia Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services as manager of a U.S. Department of Labor funded youth re-entry employment and education project serving youth connected to the juvenile justice system. In this role, she managed cross-system partnerships between the juvenile justice agency and the public school system, including the office of special education, the workforce development agency, community-based service providers, and employers. From 2000 to 2007, Larson worked at the National Youth Employment Coalition where she managing professional development programs, a disconnected youth post-secondary transition initiative, and development of quality standards, performance measures guidance, and program improvement tools for youth employment and training programs. She has a B.A. from Pennsylvania State University and a M.A. in Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University.