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Community Living
ODEP will use part of its $8.3 million allocation for
Olmstead-related employment activities to work within DOL and with other
federal agencies to identify and propose options for increasing the
availability of, and providing some path of career progression for personal
assistants and other direct care staff. There is an urgent need to increase the
employment status and labor supply of personal assistants and other direct care
staff and community service workers. Working with other federal agencies,
including the Departments of Education and Health & Human Services, the
overarching goal is to develop a cross-agency/cross-department plan to increase
the availability and quality of personal assistants and other direct care
staff, and identify options for their education, training, and career
progression.
ODEP will support collaboration with DOL’s ETA, the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Department of
Transportation (DOT), to develop strategies to encourage integration of housing
and transportation services for people with disabilities within One-Stop Career
Centers. A lack of available, affordable transportation and housing are two of
the most often cited barriers to employment, particularly for people with
disabilities. The incorporation of housing and transportation services such as
hiring mobility managers, developing individual transportation plans,
conducting travel training, working cooperatively with transit and public
housing authorities, creating transportation and housing information centers
and inventories, and creating linkages with local housing and transit providers
and advocacy organizations would make the One-Stop Centers more responsive to
the employment support needs of people with disabilities. As part of this
effort, on June 26 and June 27, 2002, DOL and the Department of Transportation
co-sponsored a two-day summit.
For more information, please contact:
U.S. Department of
Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy
200 Constitution Avenue,
N.W., Room S1303, Washington, D.C. 20210
(202) 693-7880 main voice
(202) 693-7888 main fax
(202) 693-7881 main TTY
www.dol.gov/odep
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