Thank You from the Y-TAC Team!
The Vocational Rehabilitation Youth Technical Assistance Center grant ended on December 31, 2020.
The Y-TAC Team is grateful for the opportunity to provide five years of technical assistance to VR state agencies and partners to increase capacity to serve underserved students and youth with disabilities. During these five years, we had the honor of meeting and working with so many amazing VR professionals and agency leaders who are committed to continuously improving their engagement and outcomes with youth with disabilities.
The Y-TAC remains live to maintain access to the resources, including webinar recordings and publications, developed under this grant. Many Y-TAC resources will also continue to be available in the NCRTM Library at https://ncrtm.ed.gov/. The contents of the Y-TAC website will not be updated since the grant has ended.
As Y-TAC concluded its work, we hope you will use the following Y-TAC resources released in late 2020 to continue to reach and effectively serve youth with disabilities.
WIOA Title I Partnership Development for VR Professionals (NEW)
This guide provides: an overview of Title I of WIOA, with emphasis on youth activities and potential connections to Title IV VR services; a detailed look at the characteristics of the 16-to-24 year old out-of-school youth (OSY) population, including effective strategies for recruitment, engagement, and training; and a primer on partnership formation, including research-based practices and numerous examples from the field. Companion resource: WIOA Eligibility Diagram.
This toolkit describes how VR professionals can use the VR Learning Lab Model, which Y-TAC developed and field-tested, to promote youth voice and engagement in service systems improvement. The toolkit includes a step-by-step guide to conducting VR Learning Labs based upon Y-TAC’s field test with VR state agencies.
This brief provides an overview of the potential impact that trauma, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and chronic stress can have on young people with disabilities and strategies that VR professionals can use to effectively engage and support youth.
The Essential Guide to School Transition, Competitive Integrated Employment, and Compliance with the ADA, Olmstead, and Section 511 of WIOA (The Essential Guide) summarizes the current landscape of law and policy regarding youth with disabilities in transition from school to work. The Essential Guide focuses solely on employment, and synthesizes multiple federal statutes and regulations to provide a clear and accessible analysis and explanation of current legal requirements. The guide also describes successful strategies for WIOA Pre-Employment Transition Services and WIOA provisions related to serving out-of-school youth with disabilities.
Practice Brief (NEW): Implementing Customized Employment with Youth with Disabilities
This practice brief provides an introduction and overview of customized employment (CE) and a practical example of successful implementation with youth with disabilities. It also orients VR professionals to other useful resources on CE.
Recorded on December 18, 2020, this webinar features a conversation about collaboration between VR and adult education providers and the importance of innovation to successfully engage and serve young adults with disabilities. Gain insights on the process of innovating and developing collaborative relationships from two of the Minds that Move Us Initiative teams.
Webinar Recording (NEW): An Introduction to Runaway and Homeless Youth
Recorded on December 2, 2020, this webinar features Andrew Palomo, Director of Community Strategies, and EJ Velez, Youth Council Leader, from the National Network for Youth discussing with Y-TAC strategies and emerging practices in partnership building and techniques for engaging youth with disabilities who are experiencing homeless during the COVID 19 pandemic. Check out the related resource: Practice Brief – An Introduction To Runaway and Homeless Youth For Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals.
As the numbers of youth with disabilities being served by VR agencies has increased, many agencies are focusing professional development efforts on strengthening competencies among staff and partners to effectively engage and support youth. This webinar recorded on September 24, 2020, featured strategies employed by several VR agencies through technical assistance from Y-TAC to enhance their agency’s capacity to serve youth with disabilities. Check out the related resource: Youth Service Professionals’ Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (YSP/KSA) Training Series
We wish you all the best in 2021 and beyond! You are welcome to stay in touch with the Y-TAC team at the Institute for Educational Leadership at cwd@iel.org.
For more information about building VR staff and partners’ capacity to engage and serve youth through the Youth Service Professionals’ Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (YSP/KSA) training series, please contact Karin Grandon, Technical Assistance Liaison, at cwd@iel.org.
If you would like to stay informed about opportunities and resources from IEL for engaging and supporting young people with disabilities, please visit our website and subscribe to IEL’s newsletter: https://iel.org/.