Policymakers

Career Preparation

Young people benefit substantially from timely and diverse career-preparation and work-based learning opportunities that allow them to explore career interests and develop soft and hard job skills. These opportunities can take the form of job shadowing, internships, pre-apprenticeships, apprenticeships and summer work experiences. State career-preparation and work-based learning programs include summer work programs and transition camps. ODEP’s Center for Advancing Policy on Employment for Youth (CAPE-Youth) maintains and updates a 50-state scan that categorizes state programs in every state based on their key activities or correspondence to the Guideposts for Success, including career preparation and work-based learning.

Apprenticeship

ODEP's apprenticeship initiative focused on increasing systems capacity to provide integrated inclusive apprenticeship training to youth and young adults with a full range of disabilities, including those with the most significant disabilities, and to utilize the increased flexibilities detailed in DOL's apprenticeship regulations, 29 CFR Part 29, issued in 2008.

This Training and Employment Notice No. 04-15 disseminates the following report and provides information and resources on promising strategies to promote the inclusion of youth and adults with disabilities in registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship.
This Training and Employment Notice No. 10-09 [PDF] describes an issue paper and toolkit on improving transition outcomes for youth and young adults with disabilities through apprenticeship.
Apprenticeship Issue Paper [PDF]
Toolkit:

Youth Supplemental Security Income Recipients

ODEP funded the Evaluation of Initiatives to Improve Adult Outcomes and Employment Opportunities for Young Recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to help identify where and how to best build on existing research and lessons from the field and to identify new and follow-up research questions and promising models or strategies that could be tested for assisting youth SSI recipients and those at risk of receiving SSI benefits with the transition to sustained, gainful employment.

Publications
- A synthesis of strategies, models, and definitions related to the employment of young SSI recipients
  The Potential Strategies to Improve the Employment Outcomes of Youth SSI Recipients report, documents promising strategies to promote sustained, gainful employment for youth with disabilities receiving SSI and those at risk of receiving SSI benefits in the future.
  The Transition to Employment: Better Data Needed to Identify Best Practices for Youth SSI Recipients [Issue Brief]
- A report and issue brief that identifies the target population of such interventions
  The Target Population Profiles report identifies potential target populations for interventions and the characteristics of youth SSI recipients who are most likely to benefit from these strategies. We consider three potential target populations: youth involved with SSI, youth involved with programs other than SSI, and other youth with disabilities.
  Youth Populations that Could Benefit from Employment Interventions [Issue Brief]
- A report and two issue briefs outlining a framework for selecting and testing innovations for this population
  The Considerations for Identifying Promising and Testable Interventions report identify promising interventions that could assist youth with disabilities. This report builds on findings from the project's first two reports, which summarized previous evidence on intervention models for youth with disabilities and options to identify target populations of youth.
  A Framework for Selecting Employment Interventions to Benefit Youth [Issue Brief]
  A Worksheet to Select Employment Interventions That Benefit Youth [Issue Brief]
- A description of the Community of Practice and its activities
  Community of Practice: Organizational Features and Lessons Learned report documents the role of, involvement in, and contributions of the Community of Practice (CoP) to the Supplemental Security Income Youth Recipient and Employment Transition Formative Research project.
  Youth Transition to Employment: Creating and Using a Community of Practice to Generate New Knowledge [Issue Brief]
- A report on collaborations between VR agencies and workforce development boards
  Many Hands Make Employment Work: Collaborations Between VR Agencies and Workforce Development Boards to Provide Work-Based Learning Experiences is a research brief that presents two examples of collaborations between state vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies and local workforce development boards to deliver programs that provide work-based learning experiences (WBLEs) to students with disabilities.
Topical Webinars
- Benefits Counseling as a Tool to Improve Employment Outcomes for Youth Who Receive Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
  Part one of this five-part webinar series explores how benefits counseling, when paired with other interventions, can improve employment outcomes for young people with disabilities.
- Employment Options for Youth SSI Recipients [Recording]
  Part two of this five-part webinar series showcases viable employment services and pre-employment transition services for youth recipients of Supplemental Security Income.
- Innovations in Education for Youth Recipients of Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
  Part three of this five-part webinar series highlights education interventions that engage students, families, and professionals and promote the seamless transition from school to work.
- Innovative Strategies to Improve Outcomes for SSI Youth Recipients: Case Examples from the PROMISE Model Demonstration Projects [Recording]
  Part four of this five-part series highlights three projects from the Promoting Readiness of Minors in SSI (PROMISE) Model Demonstration to share interventions tested and experiences with what works to improve the education, employment, and financial outcomes of youth SSI recipients.
- Innovations for Youth Recipients of Supplemental Security Income [Recording]
  Part five of this five-part series provides an overview of the activities and findings of the SSI youth project, including the experiences of and key lessons from the project's Community of Practice.

Policymakers

Career Preparation

Apprenticeship

Youth Supplemental Security Income Recipients

Additional Resources