Opportunity populations—such as youth between the ages of 17-24 who are not in school or out of work, formerly incarcerated persons, members of indigenous communities, refugee populations, homeless persons, and people with disabilities—all face various challenges and barriers to upward mobility. This U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation report offers guidance to stakeholders as they work with and help opportunity populations understand new technologies and navigate today’s job market. The report examines three focus areas—barriers to employment, labor market design for people who face challenges and have limited access to employment and career advancement, and recommendations for addressing barriers to employment.

June 2, 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the federally funded Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services’ (OSERS) Rehabilitation Services will host a webinar on June 2, 2020 from 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT and pay tribute to this historical occasion by showcasing “Success Stories” of how the VR program helped change the lives of students and adults with disabilities.

This podcast, as part of the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families project, includes interviews with developers of the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model in San Diego County, California on the model’s implementation. IPS intends to help people with serious mental illness access and find employment. The podcast discussion also reflects IPS’ impact in serving individuals with a range of physical disabilities and health conditions other than mental illness.

The Workforce Innovation Technical Assistance Center (WINTAC) has identified a set of resources for Vocational Rehabilitation programs to use in distance service delivery to persons with disabilities during the COVID-19 crisis. This compendium, which will be updated frequently, includes resources related to COVID-19 in general, teleworking and telecounseling, effective practices for line staff to deliver services, online training opportunities, and technology and programs to facilitate remote services and organizational management. There is also a set of federal disability resources related to COVID-19 and COVID-19 resources for individuals with disabilities.

This video by the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) offers a historical perspective of RSA’s Vocational Rehabilitation program, which provides services and support to persons with disabilities to maximize their employment. The video is part of the program’s 100th year celebration.

2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the federally-funded Vocational Rehabilitation Program. To celebrate this milestone, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) has created a webpage for anniversary content. Key features of this webpage include a podcast with keynote remarks from the RSA Commissioner and graphics to promote the 100 years of Vocational Rehabilitation. Additional information and materials will be added throughout the calendar year.

This MDRC report is an evaluation of Breaking Barriers, a San Diego-based program that offered employment services for low-income persons with disabilities using an Individual Placement and Support approach. The report includes an implementation study, an impact analysis, and a cost study of the program which operated from January 2016 to June 2018. The study, which enrolled 1,061 individuals in the analysis, measured differences among program and control groups in the impact of the Breaking Barriers model on employment, earnings, continued need for public benefits and assistance, and physical and mental health outcomes.

This Brookings Institution report from the Hamilton Project examines the reasons behind the decline in labor force participation over the last two years. The analysis identifies trends in labor force participation by age, gender, race, and educational level. The report also reviews proposals for increasing participation among non-college-educated workers and how changes in caregiving responsibilities, health and disability, and criminal justice reform affect engagement with the labor market.