2e Support for transition to adulthood
| CA-UC Davis at the MIND Institute, UCEDD/LEND | |||
| Program Type | UCEDD | Fiscal Year | 2020 |
| Contact | Steve Ruder, BA | ||
| [email protected] | |||
| Phone | 916-703-0235 | ||
| Project Description | |||
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CEDDs transition program is designed to strengthen the preparation of teens and young adults with DD for adult life in the community. It includes the exploration of options for post-secondary education, purposeful work or volunteer service, and community living. Young adults and their parents learn to work together to define their unique understanding of a successful life and to identify the actions needed to achieve their goals. In addition to training for students and their parents, training is also provided to teachers in how to support their students. CEDDs Think Transition Workgroup includes employment specialists, transition teachers, staff from various community resource organizations, mentor parents, and people with disabilities. The group sponsors workshops addressing pre-transition planning, transition issues, and exploring the range of opportunities and supports for adults with DD. CEDD staff member Steve Ruder has organized a Northern California Business Advisory Council (BAC) to promote collaboration among local businesses/employers and employment and training programs. The purpose of the BAC is to provide advice, guidance, and support for the continuing expansion of high quality workforce development programs for people with DD. The BAC is also a vehicle to increase the level of service among the different agencies supporting people with disabilities with their employment. Planning meetings are opportunities for different support agencies to share information and effective strategies with each other and to discuss practices that are counterproductive. Department of Rehabilitation and local workforce development agencies have the opportunity to provide agency staff with information about their services and also learn about the challenges and opportunities support agencies are experiencing. CEDD staff also participate in efforts at the state and local levels with DDNP to develop infrastructure, interagency communication and collaboration to support transition to adulthood for people with DD. CEDDs Consumer Internship / Career Preparation Program provides internship opportunities for youth and young adults with DD at CEDD and the MIND Institute. The program provides exposure to career options, the opportunity to engage in volunteer service, training designed to improve job-seeking skills and soft skills, and instruction in the areas of disability disclosure, communicating accommodation needs, benefits planning, and assistive technology. Rather than trying to fit interns into a pre-designed position, we attempt to customize the internship to the interests and talents of the particular person. Internship duties may include community outreach, youth mentoring, and participation with community partners as a CEDD representative; staffing the front desk of the MIND Institute; event planning and preparation; computer work, including web-based research, data entry, programming; and general office work. Interns work on finding employment opportunities that might be a good fit for them and completing job applications. We ask our interns to share their stories, both verbally and in writing, in various CEDD forums. The interns provide valuable insights and contributions, and their presence has helped shape the way our CEDD staff works to include people with disabilities in all our activities. |
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