Project Description:
California Employment Consortium for Youth and Young Adults with Intellectual and Other Developmental Disabilities (CECY) establishes a highly knowledgeable and experienced employment work group comprised of the required 4 state agencies, rehabilitation, education, developmental disabilities (DD), State Council on DD, and a Self-Advocate, Disability Rights California, the Family Resource Centers Network, the Association of Regional Center Agencies and the Tarjan Center UCEDD. CECY?s goals are to: (1) Strengthen interagency collaboration, practices, and policies at the state and local levels, and (2) Enhance the understanding of youth and young adults, families and professionals of the effective practices and supports for youth and young adults with ID/DD to work in competitive integrated settings.
We will use a multi-faceted approach to apply key elements from high performing states in integrated competitive employment and principles of Collaborative Leadership. We will establish a unified value, vision, and expectation for competitive integrated employment that will serve as the basis for the strategies used for stimulating policy to practice, training, technical assistance, and a shared method for monitoring progress through available state and local employment data. The main activities of CECY are to develop a shared vision and skills for collaborative partnership at the state and local levels; identify models for transition to employment through 8 Local Employment Collaborative Teams and in postsecondary education through the College to Career Program; enhance knowledge skills, and attitudes through local training, webinars, state and national conferences; and disseminate information through California?s Employment First web site that will contain a resource bank with online resources and materials, evidence-based and promising practices, and project stories of success.
In order to assess our project impact, we will evaluate our activities and who we reach throughout the project, as well as key outcomes. Indicators of success include increased knowledge of postsecondary education and employment opportunities; and supports, increased collaboration at the state and local level, increased referrals, increased access to services, supports, resources, and tools leading to increased competitive, integrated employment of youth and young adults with ID/DD.
Keyword(s):
Employment, Transition, Postsecondary education, Integrated, IWDD
Target Audience:
Students/Trainees (long or intermediate trainees), Professionals and Para-Professionals, Family Members/Caregivers, Adults with Disabilities, Children/Adolescents with Disabilities/SHCN, Legislators/Policy Makers, General Public
Unserved or Under-served Populations:
Racial or Ethnic Minorities, Geographic Areas, Specific Groups
