In September 2022, the Rehabilitation Services Administration awarded five-year grants for Disability Innovation Fund demonstration projects. A part of the Subminimum Wage to Competitive Integrated Employment (SWTCIE) program, these federal FY2022 grants provided funding to 14 state vocational rehabilitation agencies to implement Innovative Model Demonstration projects. These projects aim to decrease subminimum wage employment and increase competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities currently employed in or contemplating subminimum wage employment. This Mathematica brief explores how SWTCIE projects engage people with disabilities and lived experience through communities of practice, stakeholder groups, and mentoring programs.

The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center at Virginia Commonwealth University is launching a Native Outreach webinar series entitled “Voicing Resiliency: State Vocational Rehabilitation Best Practices with Indigenous Communities.” The first webinar will take place on April 3, 2024 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. ET and will feature Jim Warne and Treva Roanhorse. The speakers will provide insight into the culture surrounding Indigenous Disability and discuss the history of Indigenous Disability services in Indian Country throughout the past and into the present.

As youth and young adults with disabilities (Y&YADs) transition into adulthood, they face a complex series of milestones and hurdles in achieving economic self-sufficiency. Y&YADs struggle to navigate access to community services, support, and programs that meet their basic needs. This Cape Youth brief provides policy considerations that help Y&YADs foster economic self-sufficiency through financial literacy and independence. These strategies can reduce financial pressures for Y&YADs as they transition to employment and adulthood.

The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program helps more than 800,000 people with disabilities obtain, maintain, and advance in employment each year, yet hundreds of millions of dollars in federal VR funding go unspent by state VR agencies. Unspent federal VR funding is problematic because it means that fewer people with disabilities can be served by the VR program. The VR program provides critical support for people with disabilities, and states should use the full funds available to them to maximize its impact. Various barriers such as complex and restrictive program rules, however, limit how states obtain and spend federal VR funding. This Mathematica resource provides solutions to increase states’ spending of federal VR funding.

For people with disabilities, the decision to disclose information about a disability can be nuanced and complex. Creating an apprenticeship environment that is welcoming and inclusive for people with disabilities requires an understanding of an array of legal and ethical issues that are at play. This Jobs for the Future brief shares the various topics related to disability disclosure and self-identification, including the legal parameters regarding disclosure and other important matters that must be taken into consideration by apprenticeship sponsors, employers, providers of related technical instruction, and workforce partners, as well as program applicants and apprentices themselves.

The LEAD Center hosted a workshop at the National Association of Workforce Development Professionals Youth Development Symposium on November 6, 2023, to share how financial empowerment and financial literacy can promote employment outcomes as well as how to support others to prepare financially for a job. The workshop attendees also learned how to access financial education-related resources and considerations. The workshop recording is provided, as well as the presentation slides and transcript.

The Retaining Employment and Talent After Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN) demonstration aims to help workers with recently acquired injuries and disabilities remain in the labor force. Following a pilot phase, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded cooperative agreements to state agencies in Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, and Vermont to fully implement RETAIN services. These five RETAIN programs aim to identify and recruit a subset of workers who could be at risk of exiting the labor force and applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). This Mathematica brief compares the characteristics of people who enrolled in RETAIN in 2022 with all workers and with applicants for SSDI and SSI.

Registered Apprenticeships are recognized as a key strategy to improving job quality and creating access to good-paying jobs for all, including populations historically underrepresented – women, people of color, and individuals with a disability – and underserved populations. The U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau will be hosting a webinar on November 16, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET to discuss creating access to good-paying jobs for youth and young adult women. It will highlight the importance of educating young women on the advantages of apprenticeship, feature programs and training opportunities, discuss recruitment strategies, and share information on Department of Labor apprenticeship programs.

This Native Center webinar is a part of a series that examines the history of disability within Native communities, present-day challenges, and the possible solutions to creating a more equitable and accessible future for Native people with disabilities. Participants come away from the series with a greater understanding of the unique intersectionality of disability and Native populations as well as culturally-based strategies and approaches that can help improve the quality of life for Native people with disabilities. The Native Center will be hosting the November webinar on November 16, 2023 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. MDT, which will highlight available resources and programs for Native veterans.

As of 2021, up to 17.5% of working age American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians reported they have a disability. However, only 2.2% of Division of Indian and Native American Programs grantee participants reported they have a disability. Low reporting may indicate that participants do not know that they can receive accommodations to help them be more successful during a training program and at their workplace if they disclose that they have a disability. Also, workforce development staff may not realize that they can leverage partners to provide more comprehensive services for participants with disabilities to ensure their success and/or may not know how to broach the topic with customers.

The National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities hosted part-two of a two-part series on December 10, 2021 where attendees learned best practices and strategies in building partnerships and leveraging resources across federal, state, and local systems.