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Expanding Opportunities for Youth With Disabilities
DOL will consider recommendations submitted from the Youth
Advisory Committee. Composed of 15 young people (ages 14 to 28) with diverse
disabilities and backgrounds, the Committee’s role is to advise the
Secretary of Labor and her designees (which include the Office of the 21st
Century Workforce and the Office of Disability Employment Policy) on education,
transition, employment, health, rehabilitation, and independent living issues
affecting young people with disabilities.
DOL will promote work-based learning opportunities for young
people with disabilities. ODEP will work in collaboration with the Office of
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to promote mentoring activities at the
federal, state and local levels for young people with disabilities. Moreover,
ODEP will expand the Workforce Recruitment Program, which provides internships
for young people with disabilities in the Federal Government, to a
public-private partnership with large and small businesses so that young people
with disabilities get the work experience they need to be successful in their
adult lives.
ODEP will expand the Youth-To-Work Grant Program in 2002. This
program provides capacity building to workforce investment-assisted youth
programs and the High School/High Tech Programs to prepare more young people
with disabilities for employment and independence by helping them earn a high
school diploma, allowing more young people with disabilities to participate in
vocational training or education, and to learn daily skills such as budgeting,
career planning, and securing housing and employment. The Youth-To-Work Grant
Program ensures that more young workers with disabilities have adequate access
to the training and education opportunities needed to maintain and upgrade
their skills.
DOL will continue to promote leadership by young people with
disabilities through the Youth Leadership Network. DOL will continue to
participate as a Federal interagency sponsor of the National Youth Leadership
Network. The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) is dedicated to advancing
the next generation of disability leaders. Led by a 20-member Youth Leadership
Council, the NYLN currently includes 250 youth leaders with diverse
disabilities.
DOL will work to increase successful transitions to employment and
post-secondary activities for young people with disabilities. ODEP will work
with other DOL agencies, the Department of Education (ED), and other
appropriate federal departments on activities to promote the transition of
young people with disabilities from school to post-secondary opportunities
and/or employment. Actions will include research and disseminating successful
strategies for transitioning young adults with significant disabilities into
employment.
ETA will implement the June 20, 2001 Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) between DOL and the Department of Education. The purpose of this MOU is
the development of a coordinated, interagency initiative to raise educational
attainment and improve basic skills among current and future workers. The
initiative is focused on improving basic skills in the current workforce
through collaboration between the Workforce Investment System and literacy
providers and on increasing Job Corps students’ access to high school
diplomas by promoting joint activities between Job Corps Centers and public
schools.
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